Elizabeth Home, Countess of Home

[4][5] She belonged to the island's Creole class, a caste of people born in the West Indies but descended from white settlers.

[8][9] He was often in dispute with the island's governor Henry Bentinck, 1st Duke of Portland (his father's successor to the post) and would not allow his wife to pay her respects.

The resulting monument, the largest yet to be shipped to the West Indies, was placed in Lawes' home parish of Saint Andrew.

[7] Lady Home was one of the few colonial elite who was able to integrate reasonably well into English upper society, though, like many others in this group, she possessed a tendency to overcompensate and engage in hedonistic pursuits, flagrantly displaying her wealth.

[2][3] William Beckford, her neighbour who also had ties to colonial wealth, described Home as "the Countess of Home, known among all Irish chairmen and riff-raff of the metropolis by the name, style and title of Queen of Hell..."[9] Wealthy and childless, the Dowager Countess moved to Portman Square in 1771, renting a house in the area's south side.

Several of her new neighbours at this time were constructing residences in the square's newly developed north side, and Home followed suit.

[7] She commissioned the young architect James Wyatt, who had just completed the Pantheon in London, to construct a lavish town house at the site.

[9][3][15] The project produced one of the city's finest interiors;[2] architectural historian Eileen Harris writes that the inside of Home House is "rightly regarded as among Robert Adam's masterpieces.

"[7] Historians have remained uncertain as to why Lady Home decided to build the house, considering that she was childless and in her dotage.