In 1821 Sir Harry Verney (1801-1894) took up his inheritance at Claydon. He gave life to the remainder of the extraordinary house that had not been pulled down. He also brought some unexpected fame to Claydon, through his second wife Parthenope Nightingale, sister of Florence Nightingale.
Florence found a second home here at Claydon. She came to here often, enough to warrant her own bedroom and sitting room here. She often invited her trainee nurses up to Claydon. While having her nurses visit her here, she also found much interest in the local community.
Florence was involved with the design of the hospital reform at Aylesbury, after learning of Sir Harry’s interest and involvement there. She praised volunteers she met from Winslow and Buckingham who gathered in Claydon Park. She also helped various medical causes in the area, doing such things as setting up qualified local health missionaries and organising for Sir Harry’s staff to have regular medical checks with the local doctor.
Parthenope, however, is not to be overlooked by the achievements of her sister Florence. If it were not for Parthenope the Library at Claydon would never have been organised, as it is today. The records of the Verney family would also have been left to disintegrate if she had not saved and preserved them.
Parthenope catalogued the extensive collection of books belonging to the Verney’s, Calvert’s, Hay-Williams and Nightingale’s. This amounts to over 4,000 books. She undertook the mammoth task of also cataloguing the extensive collection of the Verney family papers, dating back to the 15th Century. During this process she formed such an interest in the family papers that she started to write the history of the Verney family during the Civil War.