LIVING HISTORY
Celebrating Art, Nature and Heritage at Knowsley Hall
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Sue McHugh SBAF, botanical artist, as Knowsley Hall’s 2025 Artist in Residence. Sue’s residency marks a significant moment in a commemorative year celebrating the 250th anniversary of the 13th Earl of Derby — whose contribution to the world of Natural History continues to inspire to this day.
Edward Lear at Knowsley & ‘The Owl and the Pussy Cat’
Edward Lear (1812-88), who is most famous for his limericks and nonsense verse, was also a prolific landscape watercolourist, but he began his career as a zoological draughtsman of distinction. As a young man he spent much of the period from 1831 to 1837 living and working at Knowsley under the patronage of Lord Stanley, later the 13th Earl of Derby.
Shakespeare and the Earls of Derby
Ferdinando, Lord Strange, later 5th Earl of Derby (c.1559-94), was the patron of an acting company called Lord Strange’s Men of which Shakespear himself was one of the leading players in Elizabethan England during the late 1580s and early 1590s.