The Percy Family

J.P. for Cumberland, Northumberland, Sussex, Westmorland and all three Ridings of York, he was also Captain Gentlemen Pensioners and Joint Lord-Lieutenant of Sussex. He was born at Tynemouth Castle and although his title was from the north of England, his estates were Petworth and Syon Houses in the South. He joined the army in the Netherlands and took part in the famous siege of Ostend. He also hired a ship in 1588 and participated in the victory over the Spanish Armada. Known as "The Wizard" due to his scientific experiments and patronage of mathematicians, particularly a trio called his ‘Three Magi’, Henry also dabbled in astrology and alchemy. Due to his cousin’s (Thomas Percy) involvement in the Gunpowder Plot, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for sixteen years and fined £30,000.

Whilst in the Tower, Henry met Thomas Harriot (Astronomer and Mathematician) and Sir Walter Raleigh (Writer, Poet, Courtier and Explorer) where they discussed advanced scientific ideas whilst smoking tobacco. Harriot had been a navigational tutor to Sir Walter Raleigh and his captains and lived at Syon for a few years.

Using a telescope to make a map of the moon at Syon several months before Galileo did the same, Thomas Harriot may have been the first person to observe sunspots.

‘The School of Night’ mentioned in Shakespeare's ‘Love's Labour's Lost’ refers to a circle of scientific investigators that meet at Syon House.