After the above described business venture failed in 1870 Mr Albert Brassey (one of Sir William Russel's main mortgagees) of Heythrop, Gloucestershire, eventually took possession of the estate in 1875. It is unsurprising that a local press report suggested the mansion had then become run down when the following was published:
'The Park and Mansion are to be forthwith thoroughly 'restored' and improved so as to fit them for occupation by any family desiring to possess a country residence in immediate proximity to a town where every essential to the enjoyment of life in the best circles of Society can at all times be commanded'
Albert Brassey set about extensive refurbishment and repairs to the house and grounds. A Mr Clowes was tenant and the property was described as 'not being suitable for a modern establishment'. It appears the house was in a poor state both inside and out. Kitchen and bedrooms needed to be upgraded, decayed wood and doors replaced, ceiling cracks repaired, windows and stairs renewed. The layout of some rooms was changed; outbuildings and cottages were brought up to standard, a conservatory built and the garden put to rights. Brassey went to a lot of trouble to get the house ready to let and had already found a new tenant - Mr Richard Vassar-Smith of Ashfield, Great Malvern, Worcestershire. Although living in Malvern at the time, Richard Vassar-Smith came from Gloucester where the family had a business. He was very involved in local Gloucester matters and probably already knew Albert Brassey. Charlton Park would make an ideal home for his growing family, especially as he intended to educate both his sons and daughters in Cheltenham.
Richard was born on 11 July 1843 to Richard Tew Smith and his wife Emily at 5 Newgate Street, London. The birth was registered in the city of London and the father's occupation was given as Inn Holder's clerk. Richard Tew Smith was born in London on 1 May 1815 and married Emily Vassar, daughter of Jabez Vassar of Shipdham, near Thetford in Norfolk. The Vassars were Huguenots who came to England from France. A James Vassar, farmer, most probably brother of Jabez, was described as a dissenter from Tuddenham in Norfolk, not far from Shipdham. James Vassar's two sons went to America and their descendants prospered there. One of them founded Vassar College outside New York in 1865, the only college exclusively for women at that time. Another became famous as a preacher for the American Tract Society and another built a dam on the Cass River and a town founded there is called Vassar. That these men were related to Richard's mother seems certain as the present Sir John Vassar-Smith has information about the American branch in his family papers.
So when Richard Tew Smith married Emily he married into a family who were liberal in outlook and ambitious by nature. Richard's father was obviously happy to be connected with the Vassar family because he gave his son the name as a second Christian name.
Richard was the eldest child and a sister followed before the family moved to Birmingham where another daughter was born. By 1849, when a son Edward was born, the family had settled in Gloucester, where the 1851 census shows them living in Clarence Street. Richard, the father, was described as a General Carrier and they had one live-in servant. Emily sadly died in 1852 and was buried in the churchyard of Christchurch Spa Church, Gloucester. The 1861 census shows the family in Wotton Hill House, Cheltenham Road, Gloucester, with a governess and three house servants. The fathers business must have been flourishing. Richard entered Kings School Gloucester in 1856. We can assume that his school days were reasonably happy for, in 1912, when an Old Boys Society was founded, Richard agreed to become its Vice President.
Richard's father's business was in Market Street and Northgate Street, Gloucester, and was run under the name of Smith R T & Co., general carriers, railway and shipping agent, furniture removers and town car man - a far sighted businessman and Richard was to follow in his father's footsteps. He also set his son an example in civic duty. He was both a city councillor and magistrate, becoming Mayor of Gloucester in 1856. It is likely that Richard senior had connections in Gloucester before the family moved there.
Richard Tew Smith died in 1870. It was reported in the Gloucestershire Chronicle that the Mayor referred to the late Mr R T Smith before ordinary business at the Police Court, saying, "We meet under a deep sense of affliction in the loss by the death of a gentleman who occupied on this Bench a very important position". The family asked for the funeral to be conducted as quietly as possible, but the newspaper reported "the procession was met at the Cross by a detachment of Police, the Blue Coat School boys and their master, the Master of St Bartholomew's Hospital, the Mayor and city magistrates, charity trustees, directors of Gloucester Wagon Co,. the Gas Co. and many more". It notes that Mr R V Smith was unable to attend through illness. The city obviously felt the need to pay its respects, shops in the main streets were closed for part of the day, the bells of four or five city churches were tolled and flags at the docks were flown at half mast. He was buried with his wife at Christchurch Spa churchyard. The family attended St Mark's Church and the window there has a memorial to Richard Tew Smith.
We can now see that Richard Vassar Smith was brought up in a family where hard work, coupled with civic and charitable duties was the expected norm. Richard's father would not have been disappointed in his son, who not only took over the business but was both a city councilor and magistrate in Gloucester. Like his father he sat on a number of boards of both a business and a charitable nature.
On 30 August 1866 at St Luke's church Cheltenham Richard married Mary Holmes Partridge, daughter of John and Sarah Partridge of Great Malvern. John had been a grocer and tallow chandler at 127 High Street, Cheltenham and Mary was born in Cheltenham.
Mary and Richard began married life at Eastbank, Hereford, where a son Richard was born. Little is known about this son except that he later went to Cape Town and died there in 1899 in his twenties. The family moved to Lorraine House in Hereford where John was born on 10 December 1868. A daughter was also born but she only lived one month. By 1871, just after Richard's father had died, Richard and Emily were living at Wotton Hill House, the family home in Gloucester and Richard was running the family business. Edith was born in November of that year. By 1874 the family had moved to Great Malvern to live in a house called Ashfield where three more children were born, Beatrice on 16 August 1874, Margaret on 6 February 1877 and Charles on 5 June 1881. Perhaps Richard and Emily felt that Smith was a little ordinary for a gentleman who was doing so well, for in1883 he had royal licence granted to assume the name Vassar-Smith. He was now Mr Richard Vassar Vassar-Smith. Another daughter was born at Asfield, but again sadly she died; only surviving one day. The family was still at Ashfield when John entered the Gentleman's College in Cheltenham.
In business Richard was making good progress and had obviously gained a sound reputation. In 1886 he joined the Board of the Worcester City and County Bank and later, in 1889, when the Worcester City Bank merged with Lloyds Bank he became a director of Lloyds. Wotton Hill House was still in the family, Richard's sister who had married Henry Bruton was living there, but with a growing family Richard and Emily felt the need for a bigger house. In 1889 the local paper reported "Mr R V Smith has acquired the tenancy of Charlton Park and will enter occupation at Michaelmas, 29 September". Their youngest daughter Dorothy was born there.