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What to See in England by Gordon Home
page 40 of 292 (13%)
style, when the year began on March 25. The day was December 22, now
represented by January 2. Colonel Wolfe's infant was christened in
Westerham Church by the vicar, the Rev. George Lewis; but although born
at the vicarage, James's parents must have moved into the house now
known as Quebec House almost immediately afterwards, for practically the
whole of the first twelve years of the boy's life were spent in the fine
old Tudor house which is still standing to-day. The vicarage is also to
be seen, and though much altered at the back, the front portion,
containing the actual room in which Wolfe was born, is the same as in
the past. It has a three-light window towards the front, and two small
windows in the gable at the side. Quebec House is near the vicarage. It
does not bear its name upon it, but it will be pointed out on inquiry.
The front is a most disappointing stucco affair, but this merely hides
the beautiful Elizabethan gables which originally adorned the house from
every point of view. Two private tenants now occupy the house, but the
interior is on the whole very little altered since little James Wolfe
played hide-and-seek in the old passages and rooms. Squerryes Court, the
seat of Lieut.-Colonel C.A.M. Warde, J.P., is the local storehouse of
Wolfe relics. Numbers of letters, portraits, and other interesting
objects are all carefully preserved there. Young Wolfe was constantly at
Squerryes, and the spot in the park where he received his first
commission is marked by a stone cenotaph.

[Illustration: QUEBEC HOUSE, WESTERHAM.

Where General James Wolfe spent the first twelve years of his life.]



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