The 1861 Census shows that they were at the house with three infant sons and ten servants. They later moved to Puckpool House on the Isle of Wight and rented Merley House to tenants. The most notable tenant was William Charles Wentworth, the famous Australian explorer, author, barrister and landowner, who died there 1872. In 1875 Adye advertised the house for sale. It was described in the following terms:  The house was sold in about 1878 and was bought by the Wienholt family  The Wienholt family who bought the house in 1878 consisted of a large number of siblings. It was the residence of two unmarried sisters, Mary and Ellen, with other family members coming to stay. They were all the children of John Birkett Wienholt (1773–1852), who had seven sons and three daughters. Four of the sons—Edward, Arnold, Daniel and Arthur—went to Australia and became wealthy pastoralists. Mary and Ellen seem to have made major renovations to Merley House, as a notice appeared in the newspapers in 1886, saying, "Deans Court has been taken for a year by the Misses Wienholt of Merley House whilst the latter residence is undergoing repair." Mary died in 1896, and in about 1903 Ellen moved to Poole. The house was sold to Ivor Bertie Guest. Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne (1835–1914) lived in Canford House (now Canford School), which was his family’s ancestral home. He bought Merley House primarily as a rental property, with tenants often from the aristocracy. Between 1904 and 1907 Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton and his family were the residents of the house. They were followed by Baron George James Playfair, who remained there until about 1913. Theophilus Basil Percy Levett and his wife Lady Margaret Levett, daughter of Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 8th Earl of Shaftesbury, were the next residents. In 1914 Lord Wimborne died, and Lady Cornelia Wiborne took over his estates, including Merley House. It continued to be rented out for the next eight years, and then in 1922, when Canford House was sold to become a school, Lady Wimborne moved into Merley House. Lady Cornelia Wimborne was born Lady Cornelia Henrietta Maria Spencer-Churchill in 1847. Her father was John Winston Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough.