LATE 18TH CENTURY

Langley Park, ten miles east of Norwich, was bought by George Proctor (d. 1744) from the Berney family in 1742. Proctor, a connoisseur and collector who had until then lived in Venice, employed the Norwich architect Matthew Brettingham (d. 1769), to build him a Palladian villa. Upon his death two years later, Langley passed to his twenty-two year old nephew and heir, Sir William Beauchamp, who assumed the name Beauchamp-Proctor when he inherited the estate and was awarded the baronetcy. He completed and enlarged the mansion and was largely responsible for building up the notable art collection at Langley. Works by artists such as Canaletto, Poussin and Van Dyck, some of which now reside in public collections, were complimented by equally refined interiors with furniture from London's leading cabinet-makers.
Records at the Norfolk County Record Office (NCRO) indicate that several notable workshops supplied furnishings to Sir William Beauchamp-Proctor, 1st Baronet (1722–1773) at Langley Park, including William Hallett (d. 1781) and his disciple William Vile (1700⁄5-1767), who was in partnership with John Cobb (1715-1778) from 1751 to 1764.