 The next owner, Edward Marjoribanks a senior partner in Coutts Banks, bought the house in 1852, enlarged it and it was sold in 1868 on his death.It was bought by William Henry Smith, son of the founder of W H Smith.He further extended the building, though its appearance received a cool reception from Jerome K. Jerome who joked in "Three Men in a Boat" that it was ‘the rather uninteresting-looking river residence of my newsagent.’ On Smith’s death, his family was ennobled with the title of Viscount Hambleden.