'Old' Sir George Booth, 1st Baronet built the first mansion on the site in the early 17th-century. However, the house remained uncompleted by the time of his death and was only completed after the Civil War in the later 17th century by his grandson,
'Young' George Booth, 1st Baron Delamer. He inherited family debts and spent a considerable amount of energy investing in the future of Dunham Massey Hall; he planted trees to sell for timber and worked to recoup unpaid debts.
George Booth, 2nd Earl of Warrington died in 1758 and, in a move remarkable for the eighteenth century, ensured that his only child, a daughter,
Lady Mary Booth (1704–72), would inherit and control the estate. Their son,
George Harry Grey, 5th Earl of Stamford and Warrington, inherited both Dunham Massey and Enville Hall, along with other properties. In the 1780s, he commissioned a remodelling of the Great Gallery and the south front of the house by architect
John Hope. He died in 1819 and his son, also
George Harry Grey, but the 6th Earl of Stamford and Warrington inherited the estate and began to introduce modernisations to the house. The 7th Earl died in 1883 and his cousin, the
Reverend Harry Grey inherited the title of 8th Earl of Stamford, but never lived at Dunham. At the time of his inheritance, he was living in South Africa, having left England due to alcohol and gambling addictions. His third wife,
Martha Grey, Countess of Stamford, a
Khoekhoe woman, was the daughter of a freed, formerly enslaved, woman. She and the 8th Earl married in 1880. They had two children already, John and Frances, and their third, Mary, was born after they married. Despite their marriage being recognised by South African law at the time, it was not recognised under English law. This meant that, at the 8th Earl's death in 1890, his son, John, could not inherit and the title passed to
William Grey, 9th Earl of Stamford, who was the nephew of the 7th Earl. He inherited the title, but no assets, until the death of the 7th Countess, Catherine Cox, in 1905. From 1 March 2014 until 11 November 2016, the main ward at Stamford Military Hospital (known as "Baghdad"), along with the operating theatre, nurses' station and the recreation room were recreated to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the start of World War I, along with actors playing the role of characters who worked, lived and recovered at the hospital. == Collections ==