some 1700 acres around the Hall, with 200 cattle and 2000 sheep, 700 acres under cultivation. By 1860, he had established a free agricultural college for 30 boys there. Under Hatherton, Teddesley became a political and literary salon. His first wife, Hyacinth Mary Wellesley, daughter of Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, and thus niece of the Iron Duke. The Marchioness, Hyacinthe-Gabrielle Roland, Mary's mother, a French dancer in earlier life, was residing at Teddesley when she died in 1816. Mary presided over life at Teddesley during much of Hatherton's political career but died in 1849. Hatherton married Caroline Davenport, almost twenty years his junior, in 1852. An educated middle-class woman, she had liberal political and literary interests of her own, and one of her guests at Teddesley was the novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. The Hall remained the main seat of the Hathertons for five generations, although the first Baron had also inherited Hatherton Hall, another country house, from which he derived his title. It ceased to be the family home after the death of the third Lord Hatherton in 1930. During World War II it was requisitioned by the government and used for billeting troops and prisoners of war. After the war, it remained empty for some years. The fifth Lord Hatherton sold most of the Littletons' remaining estates in the area in 1953, including the Hall. Being no longer required, it was demolished by the new owner in 1954, as were many such large houses at this time, although the service buildings were kept for storage use. Building and grounds The name of the architect who designed Teddesley Hall is not known for certain. It is certain, however, that Charles Cope Trubshaw, forebear of a dynasty of Staffordshire architects, who lived nearby, worked at Teddesley in the early days, so he is a definite candidate. Another possible designer was William Baker, a Cheshire architect who is known to have drawn up plans for buildings in Teddesley Park in 1757–59, about a decade after the likely start date for the Hall. The Hall was large but austere, a three-storied, square, brick structure, with stone dressings. There were seven windows on the upper storeys on all four faces. Its frontage to the garden had a large, projecting bay. The entrance was pedimented and pilastered and was approached by a double flight of steps. The main room was octagonal and housed an organ.