In 1637 Charles I created Richmond Park to pursue his passion for hunting. It was a controversial move because most of it was farmland. The Ranger and Deputy Ranger were responsible for managing the new park and were either a courtier, a member of the royal family or the monarch. We do not know what staff the Ranger had in the early years but, by the 1850s, the Ranger had six keepers, a carpenter, a molecatcher and five gate keepers, as well as a number of labourers.
The Ranger had to see that there was an adequate stock of deer and that the park wall and the park itself were properly maintained. The decline of deer was a continuous problem which may have been caused by overhunting, poaching or disease or all three. Charles II complained that the deer in the park had dropped from 2,000 in 1660 to 500 to 1669.
Maintaining the boundary walls was also expensive. In the 1660s nearly £3,000 was spent in repairing the wall, a large sum then. However the overall management of the park was even more expensive and Sir Robert Walpole apparently spent £14,000 of his own money on carrying out improvements, equivalent to £1,500,000 today. Walpole’s position was somewhat unusual as he was never officially the Ranger. However, being the most powerful minister in the land, he was able to persuade the King to appoint his son, the Earl of Orford as the new Ranger, when the post fell vacant in 1727. But it was Sir Robert who regularly hunted in the park and he was also allowed to reside at White Lodge, which had been built as a hunting lodge for George II and it later became the Rangers’ official residence. It is now the Royal Ballet School.
Perhaps the most unpopular Ranger was Princess Amelia, daughter of George II. She banned anyone from using the park other than those she invited. A local brewer John Lewis, brought an action, claiming that he had a right to cross the park on foot, which succeeded. Somewhat miffed by this, Princess Amelia passed the Rangership to her nephew George III, who then gave it to the Earl of Bute, his tutor and briefly Prime Minister. Thereafter the position of Ranger was held by various members of the royal family until Edward VII gave the park to the nation in 1904. Very recently volunteers known as Rangers have been appointed to help look after Richmond Park’s wildlife and give advice to the park’s visitors.