Old and New London, A Narrative of its History, its People and its Places. Illustrated with Numerous Engravings from the Most Authentic Sources. vol 4
Thornbury, Walter
1872-78
Bloomsbury Square and its Neighbourhood.
Bloomsbury Square and its Neighbourhood.
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owes its origin to Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, the son of Shakespeare's patron and friend, and also the father of Lady Rachel Russell, wife of Lord William Russell, whose tragic death we have recorded as the disgrace of . | |
Under date of , Evelyn has the following note in his Diary, touching the building of this square:-- It was at called Southampton Square; and Macaulay places it among the head-quarters of the fashion of the metropolis, in the reign of Charles II. he tells us, on the authority of the
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Southampton House (afterwards called Bedford House), the residence of the above-mentioned earl, stood on the northern side of the square, and a portion of the ground which it occupied is now covered by some of the outbuildings on the east side of the . The mansion was not only the scene of the childhood and early life, but also, during many of the years of her widowhood, the home of that illustrious and noble woman, [extra_illustrations.4.536.1] , many of whose are dated from within its walls. | |
Northouck, the topographer, writing of , in , after the house had changed its name, observes :--
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of the wings of the house, we are told, formed a magnificent gallery, in which were copies, by Sir James Thornhill, of the cartoons of Raphael, as large as the originals; indeed, the mansion was very rich, for that date, in works of art, both sculptures and paintings. When the house was pulled down, about , its contents were sold, and Sir James Thornhill's cartoons were disposed of for a little under ! They would fetch a much higher price in the present day, when high art is better appreciated. | |
The Wriothesleys, Earls of Southampton, were heads of a family who long enjoyed considerable influence in State affairs, and held many important public offices. As far back as the reign of Edward IV. we find John Wriothsley (as the name was then spelt) occupying the post of and as having letters patent for the office of Garter King-at-Arms in the year of Richard III. His sons likewise held offices in the College of Arms, and his grandson, Thomas Wriothesley, who was esteemed was elevated to the peerage as Baron Wriothesley, in , and soon afterwards, on the death of the great Lord Audley, constituted Lord Chancellor of England. years later his lordship was advanced to the Earldom of Southampton. His son Henry, earl, was a friend of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, and involved himself in trouble by promoting the contemplated marriage of that nobleman with Mary, Queen of Scots, His successor, Henry, earl, is not only known to history as the friend of Shakespeare in his early days, when he needed friends, but also as the companion in | |
p.537 | arms of the Earl of Essex, and a participator in the treason by which that unfortunate nobleman forfeited his life in the reign of Elizabeth. Lord Southampton was also tried, condemned, and attainted; but his life was spared. Upon the accession of James I. he was released from prison, restored in blood by Act of Parliament, and created by a new patent, in the year , Earl of Southampton, His son, Thomas, who succeeded as earl, was a staunch supporter of Charles I., and was the Lord Treasurer mentioned by Evelyn in his note quoted above. His lordship died at Southampton House, in , when his honours became extinct. The mansion remained in the possession of his daughter, Lady Rachel Russell, through whose marriage it passed into the possession of the Duke of Bedford, and afterwards, as we have said, came to be called Bedford House. [extra_illustrations.4.537.1] |
Lady William Russell, as every reader of English history knows, was a woman distinguished for her ardent and tender affection, Her firm and noble conduct in attending her husband's trial, for the purpose of taking notes and giving him assistance, have been themes of the highest interest and admiration alike to the historian and the artist. The bitterness of their parting is described in the most pathetic language, and a lasting grief is shown in her subsequent correspondence. Lord William Russell, as we have stated in the previous volume, was executed in , and his widow lived here in retirement till her death, in the reign of George I., at the age of . | |
Lord Russell's father was the Duke of Bedford. His Grace came of a good old Dorsetshire family, member of whom is said to have gained a favourable introduction to Court through of those unexpected incidents which may be attributed solely to good fortune. Sir Bernard Burke, in his relates how that towards the end of the reign of Henry VII., He was finally elevated to the peerage in -, as Baron Russell of Cheneys, Buckinghamshire; and on the dissolution of the monasteries, in the following year, he obtained a grant of the site of the abbey of Tavistock, and of extensive possessions belonging to it. After the accession of Edward VI., [extra_illustrations.4.537.2] had a grant of the monastery of Woburn, in Bedfordshire, and was created Earl of Bedford. [extra_illustrations.4.537.3] , was a person of great eminence during the reign of Elizabeth, and of his: sons likewise greatly distinguished themselves; he was succeeded in the earldom by his grandson Edward, son of Francis, Lord Russell. | |
Lucy, Countess of Bedford, to whom Ben Jonson addresses several of his best epigrams, sister and co-heir of the Lord Warrington, and wife of Edward, the earl, was distinguished alike by the variety of her attainments, and her liberal patronage of men of genius. Amongst those upon whom this lady specially bestowed her munificence were Ben Jonson, Drayton, Daniel, and Donne; and they have all paid poetical homage to her merits and her bounty. says Granger, She died in . Ben Jonson thus addresses her :--
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[extra_illustrations.4.538.1] , to whom we now pass, was, in , created Marquis of Tavistock and Duke of Bedford. He married Anne, daughter and sole heiress of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, | |
p.538 | by his too celebrated Countess, Frances Howard, the divorced wife of Essex. the father of this nobleman, says Pen nant, It is said that the lady was ignorant of her mother's dishonour, till informed of it by a pamphlet, which she accidentally found; and it is added, that she was so struck with this detection of her parent's guilt, that she fell down in a fit, and was found senseless with the book open before her. The duke had by this admirable woman sons and daughters, and the eldest surviving son was the celebrated patriot, Lord William Russell, of whom we have already spoken. |
John, the Duke of Bedford, to whom we now pass on, was for some time Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and subsequently our ambassador to the Court of France, in which character he signed, at Fontainebleau, the preliminaries of peace with France and Spain. His Grace is mentioned by Lady Hervey, in her as a He nevertheless had the misfortune of being very unpopular in his day, but he hardly deserved all the invectives with which Junius has In he gave at Bedford House a masqued ball, said to have been of the most magnificent that ever had been given; the King, the Duke of Cumberland, and many of the nobility, being present in masquerade. | |
About this time, it is said that the Duchess of Bedford sent out cards to her guests, inviting them to and sarcastic persons remarked, that it was expected that syllabubs would soon be milked in , around the statue of his Majesty. In the same style, we are told that Lady Clermont was not more remarkable for her conversational parties than for her gatherings. In , when living in , she issued invitations to dear friends
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Having said thus much concerning Bedford House, and the families of its successive owners, we now proceed to speak of the other parts of . In , we read, among the forts ordered by the Parliament to be raised around London, of probably in the present square. | |
Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his quotes of the advertisements from the , No. , which we take the liberty of copying here:--
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In this square lived Richard Baxter, the Nonconformist divine, at the time of his persecution by Judge Jefferies; and here his wife died in . | |
Dr. Mead, in tells an amusing story about Dr. Radcliffe, the celebrated physician, whom we have already had occasion to mention, and who was living in this square when he gave to the poor non-juring clergy. he says,
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Our readers will have already gathered from Macaulay's remark quoted above, that in Queen Anne's reign this neighbourhood could dispute for the palm of fashion with and , and not without good reason; for at this time not only did the Russells live in , but also Lord Paget, Lord Carleton, and the Earl of Northampton. Lord Mansfield's house was at the north-east corner. Lord Ellenborough, when Chief Justice, lived at the corner house of and , before he removed to ; and Lord Chief Justice Trevor occupied a house on the west side of the square. | |
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At his house here, in , died Philip, Earl of Chesterfield, the same who figures as a member of the Court of Charles II. and James II., in the of Count Grammont. In June of the above year, too, Sir Richard Steele was living in this square, as shown by the date of a letter, republished in in Smith's Having already burdened himself--as we have said--with a small house near , for which he was unable to pay, Sir Richard, in , could not content himself without taking a much larger, finer, and grander house in ; and here again he got into still greater difficulties than before. It is recorded that, on giving a grand entertainment in his new mansion, he engaged half-a-dozen queerlooking individuals to wait at table on his noble and distinguished guests, to whom he coolly confessed that
writes the kindly prodigal, in the , generously complimenting Addison for his assistance-
writes Thackeray, tenderly; The same incident is said to have occurred a century later to another man of letters, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. | |
Pope, who was at this period at the height of his fame, thus alludes to this once fashionable quarter of the town :-- Here, in the early part of the last century, lived Dr. Akenside and Sir Hans Sloane, already mentioned as the founder of the . The house of the latter was on the south side of the square, and here Dr. Franklin came to see Sloane's
says Franklin,
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In the Gordon Riots of , the neighbourhood of Bloomsbury gained a sad notoriety as of the chief points of attack by the infuriated mob, which, in its zeal for the Protestant faith, very nearly laid London in ruins, being guilty, as Sir N. W. Wraxall remarks, of grosser and more senseless outrages than even the fiends of Paris in the great Revolution. In the following account he writes with all the vividness of an eye-witness of these fearful scenes :--
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Lord and Lady Mansfield, we are told, narrowly escaped falling into the hands of the lawless and infuriated mob, and only just succeeded in beating a retreat by a back door. His lordship's valuable library was destroyed; indeed, writes Mr. D'Israeli, in his
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Whilst all these riots were proceeding, we are told, George III. was at the Queen's Palace; | |
nevertheless, the author of states, without reserve or qualification, that Yet it is difficult to see that the King had any claim to spirited conduct except negatively; at all events, Dr. Johnson wrote at the time to Mrs. Thrale thus:-- Readers of will not have forgotten Charles Dickens' description of the Gordon Riots. | |
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[extra_illustrations.4.541.1] was of Pope's executors, and Lady Lepel Hervey in her makes allusions to his --meaning, elaborate and artificial; for we may be sure that he did not forget the words of Pope to himself-
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writes Cradock,
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p.542 | It has been thought strange that Lord Mansfield's will should be written only by himself on half a sheet of paper, and that the contents there enumerated, in neglect of all the forms of legal practice, should have proved valid for the disposal of half a million of property. |
Of other residents of in more recent times, may be mentioned Charles Knight, who, in , lived at No. , when helping to lay the foundation of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; and Isaac D'Israeli, the author of the who at that time occupied the house No. , which, strange to say, appears to have lately reverted to Jewish associations, as its present occupant is a Mr. Tabernacle. D'Israeli lived here for many years before he settled down as a country gentleman in Buckinghamshire; and here his gifted son was born in . says that son, With regard to the younger D'Israeli--the future Premier of England--it may be stated that as a child he used to toddle and run about the enclosure of the square with his nursemaid; and at a fit age was sent to a small school, at , and afterwards at Walthamstow, at a seminary kept by a clergyman of Unitarian opinions, where he used to keep his schoolfellows awake at night by telling them ghoststories. In the register of the Portuguese Synagogue for , the name of Benjamin D'Israeli occurs in the January of that year, as having been initiated into the Jewish Church when only days old. When about years of age he exchanged Judaism for Christianity, being baptised at the Church of St. Andrew's, . He next spent a year or as a clerk in a solicitor's office in the City, in the neighbourhood of and the present Street; and then, before he was , had astonished the world by editing a journal of Radical sentiments, and publishing the novel of Mr. Disraeli, in the course of of his speeches at Taunton, made an uncomplimentary reference to Daniel O'Connell, then in the zenith of his fame. The agitator, a few days after, returned his invective with interest, and declared, alluding to Disraeli's Hebrew origin, that The reply to this outrage was a challenge, not to the speaker, who was known uniformly to decline duelling, but to his son. No, duel, however, took place; but the correspondence was published in the newspapers. A published letter, written to O'Connell by Disraeli, concluded with the magniloquent boast, This prophecy was fulfilled, in , by the return of Disraeli for Maidstone. Of his subsequent Parliamentary career we have already spoken. | |
At his house in this square, in , died, at an advanced age, Edmund Lodge, Clarenceux King of Arms, the author of the which bears his name. This eminent biographer became a cornet in the King's Own regiment of Dragoons, in ; but having a pure taste for antiquities and literature, he left the army, and obtained the situation of Blue Mantle Pursuivantat-Arms. He was subsequently promoted to the offices of Lancaster Herald, Norroy, and Clarenceux, and was created a Knight of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order. Among his other literary productions may be mentioned,
and many other works of the greatest merit, learning, and research. | |
The house at the north-west corner of the square farms the head-quarters of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, which was instituted A royal charter of incorporation was granted in , in which, in addition to the above, the objects of the society were declared to include the providing a fund for the relief of distressed members and associates, and of their widows and orphans. The society has an excellent library and museum, and a laboratory. The museum claims to be very extensive, comprising rare specimens of the animal,. vegetable, and mineral kingdoms, and substances and products used in medicine and pharmacy. It contains also groups and series of authenticated specimens, valuable for identifying, comparing, and tracing the origin and natural history of products. The museum includes the valuable collections of Cinchona barks made by eminent foreign naturalists, and formerly belonging to the late Dr. Jonathan Pereira. | |
In the above house, down to about , was for many years carried on the work of the Royal. | |
p.543 | Literary Fund. The object of this society, which is now located in , , is to administer assistance to authors of genius and learning, who may be reduced to distress by unavoidable calamities, or deprived by enfeebled faculties or declining life of the power of literary exertion. This assistance is extended at the death of an author to his widow and children. In the application of this liberality the utmost caution is used, both as to the reality of the distress and the merits of the individual. No writer can come within the views of the society who has not published a work of intelligence and public value, or been an important contributor to periodical literature; and every author, without exception, is excluded whose writings are offensive to morals or religion, and whose personal character is not proved by satisfactory testimony tot be beyond suspicion. The business of the society is transacted by a committee; the most anxious consideration is given to the feelings of individuals; all names, and all circumstances which might lead to names, are carefully suppressed, and every precaution taken to avoid distressing publicity. The bounty of this institution is bestowed without regard to national or political distinctions. Here the Council of the Fund showed a small collection of curiosities and treasures, among which were the daggers employed by Colonel Blood and his accomplice Parrot in their attempts to seize upon the crown and the other regalia in the Tower, in the reign of Charles II. |
This square has not been known merely by the names of Southampton and Bloomsbury, but its different sides have been separately named: for instance, at time the east side was called Seymour Row; the west was known as Allington, or Arlington, Row; and the south side was called Vernon Street. The latter name is still retained in Vernon Place, at the south-east corner of the square. On account of its remoteness from houses, the site now covered by this square, like the fields at the back of old Montagu House, was in former times-particularly in the reign of William III.- often chosen by the and of the period as a place for the settlement of with pistols and swords. Here the financial adventurer named [extra_illustrations.4.543.1] , subsequently so famous as the Mississippi schemer, having picked up a quarrel with his antagonist, killed the in a duel. | |
The centre of the square is laid out in grass plats, planted with plane-trees and shrubs. On the north side of the enclosure, facing , is a fine bronze statue of Charles James Fox, by Sir Richard Westmacott, set up in . This statue, which rests upon a granite pedestal, is considered to be of Westmacott's best productions. Dignity and repose appear to have been the leading objects of the artist's ideas. writes the French author of a in , There is nothing offensive, however, in the figure of Charles James Fox, represented as he is in a consular robe, for there was a certain degree of Roman eloquence in the Parliamentary speeches of that great leader. He is represented as seated, with his right arm extended, and supporting Magna Charta. His name forms the only inscription on the pedestal, but that name alone is sufficient to enshrine his memory. The countenance is said to present a striking resemblance to the original. The attitude is dignified, and the statue, as a whole, reflects great credit on the genius of Westmacott. | |
At the south-west corner of the square was Bloomsbury Market, built by of the Russell family for the accommodation of that part of the town. Although the market has long been discontinued, it is still kept in remembrance by of the streets on the site being called . | |
, which connects this square with , witnessed the birth of Colley Cibber, in . At the south-west corner of this street, with its principal entrance in , is the Chief Post and Telegraph Office of the Western Central District. At a short distance eastward is , a broad and wellbuilt thoroughfare extending from to . It was formerly known as , and is described in the published in , as a At No. , on the west side, are the offices of the National Benevolent Institution. This institution was founded by the late Peter Herve, and established in , with the view of affording relief, by annual pensions, to distressed and aged gentry, merchants, tutors, and governesses, and persons who have been engaged in professional pursuits, or in the higher departments of trade. The unfortunate Dr. Dodd was at time a resident in this row. | |
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Connecting with the northeast corner of is . At his residence here, in , died Mr. Thomas Cadell, the eminent publisher of . He was the publisher of the edition, and of many consecutive editions, of Gibbon's At No. , in , are the offices of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy. This institution was established in , and incorporated by Royal Charter in , for the purpose of The pensions and donations are granted by the Court of Assistants, after investigation of the merits of each case; and it may be interesting to learn that the number benefited by this institution in the course of a year amounts to upwards of . The Festival of the Sons of the Clergy, which has been already mentioned in our account of , commenced in , and was virtually the basis of the above-mentioned corporation. The proceeds of these festivals are placed at the disposal of the corporation for the apprenticing of the sons and daughters of necessitous clergymen in situations of credit and respectability, and other analogous purposes which the committee may approve. The stewards of the festival contribute a sum of not less than guineas towards the expenses of the festival, and are subsequently elected governors of the corporation. | |
Hart Street--a fine and broad thoroughfare running from into the southwest corner of Bloomsbury Square--is destined to form, along with Vernon Place, , and other streets through the parish of Clerkenwell, a continuous line of route through Northern London to and Hackney. was probably so named-like , Covent Garden--from an inn bearing the sign of the which may have stood there. On the north side of this street stands the [extra_illustrations.4.544.1] . To use the words of the
The statue of the king is said to have been the gift of a loyal brewer, Mr. William Hucks, sometime M.P. for Abingdon and Wallingford. On the statue being placed in its exalted situation a wag wrote the following epigram on it: | |
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Horace Walpole, who speaks of this steeple as treats us with the following version of the same epigram :
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The steeple as applied to a building on the Grecian or Roman plan is always absurd, and even Sir C. Wren could not always rescue it from deserved and contemptuous criticism; but Hawkesmoor appears to have been the only architect who ventured to place this part of the structure at the side instead of making it rise out of the building. | |
The front of the church, facing , has a grand portico, elevated on a flight of steps, which support Corinthian columns. The church is singular from its standing north and south; hence, contrary to the established custom, the altar stands at the north end; so that, in this case at least, the is not rigidly carried out. The fabric is of too recent erection to contain many monuments or objects of interest; there is, however, in it a tablet to the memory of the great Lord Mansfield. | |
At his residence in , in , died [extra_illustrations.4.545.1] , librarian of the MSS. in the , and the learned editor of part of the and for many years joint editor of the . He was the son of Dr. James Nares, | |
p.545 | many years organist and composer to George II. and George III. He was a busy and voluminous writer, an acute critic, and a Fellow of the Royal and other learned societies. |
At No. , in this street, are the offices of Miss Stride's Home in , which was instituted for the training and supporting of destitute girls, for the reformation of fallen women, and for the purpose of aiding women on their discharge from prison. | |
Footnotes: [extra_illustrations.4.536.1] Lady Rachel Russell [extra_illustrations.4.537.1] Duke of Bedford, 1880 [] See Vol. III., p. 45. [extra_illustrations.4.537.2] Lord Russell [extra_illustrations.4.537.3] Francis, the second earl [extra_illustrations.4.538.1] William, the fifth earl [] See p. 202, ante. [] See p. 31 ante. [extra_illustrations.4.541.1] Lord Mansfield [] See Vol. III., p. 533. [extra_illustrations.4.543.1] Law [] See Vol. I, p. 262. [extra_illustrations.4.544.1] Church of St. George [extra_illustrations.4.545.1] Archdeacon Robert Nares |
