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THE FASCINATION
OF LONDON
THE KENSINGTON DISTRICT
_IN THIS SERIES._
Cloth, price 1s. 6d. net; leather, price 2s. net, each.
THE STRAND DISTRICT.
By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
WESTMINSTER.
By Sir WALTER BESANT and G. E. MITTON.
HAMPSTEAD AND MARYLEBONE.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT.
CHELSEA.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT.
KENSINGTON.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT.
HOLBORN AND BLOOMSBURY.
By G. E. MITTON. Edited by Sir WALTER BESANT.
[Illustration: HOLLAND HOUSE.
_Herbert Railton_]
The Fascination of London
KENSINGTON
BY
G. E. MITTON
EDITED BY
SIR WALTER BESANT
LONDON
ADAM & CHARLES BLACK
1903
PREFATORY NOTE
A survey of London, a record of the greatest of all cities, that should
preserve her history, her historical and literary associations, her
mighty buildings, past and present, a book that should comprise all that
Londoners love, all that they ought to know of their heritage from the
past--this was the work on which Sir Walter Besant was engaged when he
died.
As he himself said of it: "This work fascinates me more than anything
else I've ever done. Nothing at all like it has ever been attempted
before. I've been walking about London for the last thirty years, and I
find something fresh in it every day."
Sir Walter's idea was that two of the volumes of his survey should
contain a regular and systematic perambulation of London by different
persons, so that the history of each parish should be complete in
itself. This was a very original feature in the great scheme, and one in
which he took the keenest interest. Enough has been done of this
section to warrant its issue in the form originally intended, but in the
meantime it is proposed to select some of the most interesting of the
districts and publish them as a series of booklets, attractive alike to
the local inhabitant and the student of London, because much of the
interest and the history of London lie in these street associations.
The difficulty of finding a general title for the series was very great,
for the title desired was one that would express concisely the undying
charm of London--that is to say, the continuity of her past history with
the present times. In streets and stones, in names and palaces, her
history is written for those who can read it, and the object of the
series is to bring forward these associations, and to make them plain.
The solution of the difficulty was found in the words of the man who
loved London and planned the great scheme. The work "fascinated" him,
and it was because of these associations that it did so. These links
between past and present in themselves largely constitute The
Fascination of London.
G. E. M.
KENSINGTON
When people speak of Kensington they generally mean a very small area
lying north and south of the High Street; to this some might add South
Kensington, the district bordering on the Cromwell and Brompton Roads,
and possibly a few would remember to mention West Kensington as a
far-away place, where there is an entrance to the Earl's Court
Exhibition. But Kensington as a borough is both more and less than the
above. It does not include all West Kensington, nor even the whole of
Kensington Gardens, but it stretches up to Kensal Green on the north,
taking in the cemetery, which is its extreme northerly limit.
If we draw a somewhat wavering line from the west side of the cemetery,
leaving outside the Roman Catholic cemetery, and continue from here to
Uxbridge Road Station, thence to Addison Road Station, and thence again
through West Brompton to Chelsea Station, we shall have traced roughly
the western boundary of the borough. It covers an immense area, and it
begins and ends in a cemetery, for at the south-western corner is the
West London, locally known as the Brompton, Cemetery. In shape the
borough is strikingly like a man's leg and foot in a top-boot. The
western line already traced is the back of the leg, the Brompton
Cemetery is the heel, the sole extends from here up Fulham Road and
Walton Street, and ends at Hooper's Court, west of Sloane Street. This,
it is true, makes a very much more pointed toe than is usual in a man's
boot, for the line turns back immediately down the Brompton Road. It
cuts across the back of Brompton Square and the Oratory, runs along
Imperial Institute Road, and up Queen's Gate to Kensington Gore. Thence
it goes westward to the Broad Walk, and follows it northward to the
Bayswater Road. Thus we leave outside Kensington those essentially
Kensington buildings the Imperial Institute and Albert Hall, and nearly
all of Kensington Gardens. But we shall not omit an account of these
places in our perambulation, which is guided by sense-limits rather than
by arbitrary lines.
The part left outside the borough, which is of Kensington, but not in
it, has belonged from time immemorial to Westminster (see same series,
_Westminster_, p. 2).
If we continue the boundary-line we find it after the Bayswater Road
very irregular, traversing Ossington Street, Chepstow Place, a bit of
Westbourne Grove, Ledbury Road, St. Luke's Road, and then curving round
on the south side of the canal for some distance before crossing it at
Ladbroke Grove, and continuing in the Harrow Road to the western end of
the cemetery from whence we started.
The borough is surrounded on the west, south, and east respectively by
Hammersmith, Chelsea, and Paddington, and the above boundaries, roughly
given as they are, will probably be detailed enough for the purpose.
The heart and core of Kensington is the district gathered around
Kensington Square; this is the most redolent of interesting memories,
from the days when the maids of honour lived in it to the present time,
and in itself has furnished material for many a book. Close by in Young
Street lived Thackeray, and the Square figures many times in his works.
Further northward the Palace and Gardens are closely associated with the
lives of our kings, from William III. onward. Northward above Notting
Hill is a very poor district, poor enough to rival many an East-End
parish. Associations cluster around Campden and Little Campden Houses,
and the still existing Holland House, where gathered many who were
notable for ability as well as high birth. To Campden House Queen Anne,
then Princess, brought her sickly little son as to a country house at
the "Gravel Pits," but the child never lived to inherit the throne. Not
far off lived Sir Isaac Newton, the greatest philosopher the world has
ever known, who also came to seek health in the fresh air of Kensington.
The southern part of the borough is comparatively new. Within the last
sixty years long lines of houses have sprung up, concealing beneath
unpromising exteriors, such as only London houses can show, comfort
enough and to spare. This is a favourite residential quarter, though we
now consider it in, not "conveniently near," town. Snipe were shot in
the marshes of Brompton, and nursery gardens spread themselves over the
area now devoted to the museums and institute. It is rather interesting
to read the summary of John Timbs, F.S.A., writing so late as 1867:
"Kensington, a mile and a half west of Hyde Park Corner, contains the
hamlets of Brompton, Earl's Court, the Gravel Pits, and part of Little
Chelsea, now West Brompton, but the Royal Palace and about twenty other
houses north of the road are in the parish of St. Margaret's,
Westminster." He adds that Brompton has long been frequented by invalids
on account of its genial air. Faulkner, the local historian of all
South-West London, speaks of the "delightful fruit-gardens of Brompton
and Earl's Court."
The origin of the name Kensington is obscure. In Domesday Book it is
called Chenesitum, and in other ancient records Kenesitune and
Kensintune, on which Lysons comments: "Cheneesi was a proper name. A
person of that name held the Manor of Huish in Somersetshire in the
reign of Edward the Confessor." This is apparently entirely without
foundation. Other writers have attempted to connect the name with
Kings-town, with equal ill-success. The true derivation seems to be from
the Saxon tribe of the Kensings or Kemsings, whose name also remains in
the little village of Kemsing in Kent.
HISTORY.
From Domesday Book we learn that the Manor of Kensington had belonged to
a certain Edward or Edwin, a thane, during the reign of Edward the
Confessor. It was granted by William I. to Geoffrey, Bishop of
Coutances, under whom it was held by Alberic or Aubrey de Ver or Vere.
The Bishop died in 1093, and Aubrey then held it directly from the
Crown.
Aubrey's son Godefrid or Geoffrey, being under obligations to the Abbot
of Abingdon, persuaded his father to grant a strip of Kensington to the
Abbot. This was done with the consent of the next heir. The strip thus
granted became a subordinate manor; it is described as containing "2
hides and a virgate" of land, or about 270 acres. This estate was cut
right out of the original manor, and formed a detached piece or island
lying within it.
The second Aubrey de Vere was made Great Chamberlain of England by King
Henry I. This office was made hereditary. The third Aubrey was created
Earl of Oxford by Queen Matilda, a purely honorary title, as he held no
possessions in Oxfordshire. The third Earl, Robert, was one of the
guardians of the Magna Charta. The fifth of the same name granted lands,
in 1284, to one Simon Downham, chaplain, and his heirs, at a rent of one
penny. This formed another manor in Kensington. This Robert and the
three succeeding Earls held high commands. The ninth Earl was one of the
favourites of Richard II., under whom he held many offices. He was made
Knight of the Garter, Marquis of Dublin (the first Marquis created in
England), and later on Duke of Ireland. His honours were forfeited at
Richard's fall. However, as he died without issue, this can have been no
great punishment. Eventually his uncle Aubrey was restored by Act of
Parliament to the earldom, and became the tenth Earl. Kensington had,
however, been settled on the widowed Duchess of Ireland, and at her
death in 1411 it went to the King. By a special gift in 1420 it was
restored to the twelfth Earl. In 1462 he was beheaded by King Edward
IV., and his eldest son with him. The thirteenth Earl was restored to
the family honours and estates under King Henry VII., but he was forced
to part with "Knotting Barnes or Knotting barnes, sometimes written
Notting or Nutting barns." This is said to have been more valuable than
the original manor itself. It formed the third subordinate manor in
Kensington. The thirteenth Earl was succeeded by his nephew, who died
young. The titles went to a collateral branch, and the Manor of
Kensington was settled on the two widowed Countesses, and later upon
three sisters, co-heiresses of the fourteenth Earl.
We have now to trace the histories of the secondary manors after their
severance from the main estate. The Abbot's manor still survives in the
name of St. Mary Abbots Church. About 1260 it was discovered that Aubrey
de Vere had not obtained the consent of the Archbishop of Canterbury or
the Bishop of London before granting the manor to the Abbot. Thereupon a
great dispute arose as to the Abbot's rights over the land in question,
and it was finally decided that the Abbot was to retain half the great
tithes, but that the vicarage was to be in the gift of the Bishop of
London. The Abbot's manor was leased to William Walwyn in the beginning
of the sixteenth century. It afterwards was held by the Grenvilles, who
had obtained the reversion. In 1564 the tithes and demesne lands were
separated from the manor and rectory, which were still held by the
Grenvilles. The tithes passed through the hands of many people in
succession, as did also the manor. In 1595 one Robert Horseman was the
lessee under the Crown. The Queen sold the estate to Walter (afterwards
Sir Walter) Cope, and a special agreement was made by which Robert
Horseman still retained his right to live in the manor house. This is
important, as it led to the foundation of Holland House by Cope, who had
no suitable residence as lord of the manor.
West Town, created out of lands known as the Groves, was granted by the
fifth Earl, as we have seen, to his chaplain Simon Downham. This grant
is described by Mr. Loftie thus: "It appears to have been that piece of
land which was intercepted between the Abbot's manor and the western
border of the parish, and would answer to Addison Road and the land on
either side of it." Robins, in his "History of Paddington," mentions an
inquisition taken in 1481, in which "The Groves, formerly only three
fields, had extended themselves out of Kensington into Brompton,
Chelsea, Tybourn, and Westbourne."
The manor passed later to William Essex. It was bought from him in 1570
by the Marquis of Winchester, Lord High Treasurer of England. He sold
it to William Dodington, who resold it to Christopher Barker, printer to
Queen Elizabeth, who was responsible for the "Breeches" Bible. It was
bought from him by Walter Cope for £1,300.
Knotting Barnes was sold by the thirteenth Earl, whose fortunes had been
impoverished by adhesion to the House of Lancaster. It was bought by Sir
Reginald Bray, who sold it to the Lady Margaret, Countess of Richmond,
mother of King Henry VII. This manor seems to have included lands lying
without the precincts of Kensington, for in an indenture entered into by
the Lady and the Abbot of Westminster in regard to the disposal of her
property we find mentioned "lands and tenements in Willesden, Padyngton,
Westburn, and Kensington, in the countie of Midd., which maners, lands,
and tenements the said Princes late purchased of Sir Reynolds Bray
knight." The Countess left the greater part of her property to the Abbey
at Westminster, and part to the two Universities at Oxford and
Cambridge. On the spoliation of the monasteries, King Henry VIII. became
possessed of the Westminster property; he took up the lease, granting
the lessee, Robert White, other lands in exchange, and added it to the
hunting-ground he purposed forming on the north and west of London. At
his death King Edward VI. inherited it, and leased it to Sir William
Paulet. In 1587 it was held by Lord Burghley. In 1599 it was sold to
Walter Cope.
Earl's Court or Kensington Manor we traced to the three sisters of the
last Earl. One of these died childless, the other two married
respectively John Nevill, Lord Latimer; and Sir Anthony Wingfield.
Family arrangements were made to prevent the division of the estate,
which passed to Lucy Nevill, Lord Latimer's third daughter. She married
Sir W. Cornwallis, and left one daughter, Anne, who married Archibald,
Earl of Argyll, who joined with her in selling the manor to Sir Walter
Cope in 1609. Sir Walter Cope had thus held at one time or another the
whole of Kensington. He now possessed Earl's Court, West Town, and
Abbot's Manor, having sold Notting Barns some time before. His daughter
and heiress married Sir Henry Rich, younger son of the first Earl of
Warwick. Further details are given in the account of Holland House (p.
76).
PERAMBULATION.--We will begin at the extreme easterly point of the
borough, the toe of the boot which the general outline resembles. We are
here in Knightsbridge. The derivation of this word has been much
disputed. Many old writers, including Faulkner, have identified it with
Kingsbridge--that is to say, the bridge over the Westbourne in the
King's high-road. The Westbourne formed the boundary of Chelsea, and
flowed across the road opposite Albert Gate. The real King's bridge,
however, was not here, but further eastward over the Tyburn, and as far
back as Henry I.'s reign it is referred to as Cnightebriga. Another
derivation for Knightsbridge is therefore necessary. The old topographer
Norden writes: "Kingsbridge, commonly called Stone bridge, near Hyde
Park Corner, where I wish no true man to walk too late without good
guard, as did Sir H. Knyvett, Kt., who valiantly defended himself, being
assaulted, and slew the master-thief with his own hands." This, of
course, has reference to the more westerly bridge mentioned above, but
it seems to have served as a suggestion to later topographers, who have
founded upon it the tradition that two knights on their way to Fulham to
be blessed by the Bishop of London quarrelled and fought at the
Westbourne Bridge, and killed each other, and hence gave rise to the
name. This story may be dismissed as entirely baseless; the real
explanation is much less romantic. The word is probably connected with
the Manor of Neyt, which was adjacent to Westminster, and as
pronunciation rather than orthography was relied upon in early days,
this seems much the most likely explanation. Lysons says: "Adjoining to
Knightsbridge were two other ancient manors called Neyt and Hyde." We
still have the Hyde in Hyde Park, and Neyt is thus identified with
Knightsbridge.
Until the middle of the nineteenth century Knightsbridge was an outlying
hamlet. People started from Hyde Park Corner in bands for mutual
protection at regular intervals, and a bell was rung to warn pedestrians
when the party was about to start. In 1778, when Lady Elliot, after the
death of her husband, Sir Gilbert, came to Knightsbridge for fresh air,
she found it as "quiet as Teviotdale." About forty years before this the
Bristol mail was robbed by a man on foot near Knightsbridge. The place
has also been the scene of many riots. In 1556, at the time of Wyatt's
insurrection, the rebel and his followers arrived at the hamlet at
nightfall, and stayed there all night before advancing on London. As
already explained, the Borough of Kensington does not include
Knightsbridge, but only touches it, and the part we are now in belongs
to Westminster.
The Albert Gate leading into the park was erected in 1844-46, and was,
of course, called after Prince Albert. The stags on the piers were
modelled after prints by Bartolozzi, and were first set up at the
Ranger's Lodge in the Green Park. Part of the foundations of the old
bridge outside were unearthed at the building of the gate, and, besides
this bridge, there was another within the park. The French Embassy,
recently enlarged, stands on the east side of the gate--the house
formerly belonged to Mr. Hudson, the "railway king"--and to the west are
several large buildings, a bank, Hyde Park Court, etc., succeeded by a
row of houses. Here originally stood a famous old tavern, the Fox and
Bull, said to have been founded in the time of Queen Elizabeth; if so,
it must have retained its popularity uncommonly long, for it was noted
for its gay company in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It
is referred to in the _Tatler_ (No. 259), and was visited by Sir Joshua
Reynolds and George Morland, the former of whom painted the sign, which
hung until 1807. It is said that the Elizabethan house had wonderfully
carved ceilings and immense fire-dogs, still in use in 1799. The inn was
later the receiving office of the Royal Humane Society, and to it was
brought the body of Shelley's wife after she had drowned herself in the
Serpentine.
In the open space opposite is an equestrian statue of Hugh Rose--Lord
Strathnairn--by Onslow Ford, R.A. Close by is a little triangular strip
of green, which goes by the dignified name of Knightsbridge Green. It
has a dismal reminiscence, having been a burial-pit for those who died
of the plague. The last maypole was on the green in 1800, and the
pound-house remained until 1835.
The entrance to Tattersall's overlooks the green. This famous horse-mart
was founded by Richard Tattersall, who had been stud-groom to the last
Duke of Kingston. He started a horse market in 1766 at Hyde Park Corner,
and his son carried it on after him. Rooms were fitted up at the market
for the use of the Jockey Club, which held its meetings there for many
years. Charles James Fox was one of the most regular patrons of
Tattersall's sales. The establishment was moved to its present position
in 1864.
The cavalry barracks on the north side of Knightsbridge boast of having
the largest amount of cubic feet of air per horse of any stables in
London.
An old inn called Half-way House stood some distance beyond the barracks
in the middle of the roadway until well on into the nineteenth century,
and proved a great impediment to traffic. On the south side of the road,
eastward of Rutland Gate, is Kent House, which recalls by its name the
fact that the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, once lived here.
Not far off is Princes Skating Club, one of the most popular and
expensive of its kind in London. Rutland Gate takes its name from a
mansion of the Dukes of Rutland, which stood on the same site. The
neighbourhood is a good residential one, and the houses bordering the
roads have the advantage of looking out over the Gardens. There is
nothing else requiring comment until we reach the Albert Hall, so,
leaving this part for a time, we return to the Brompton Road. This road
was known up to 1856 as the Fulham Road, though a long row of houses on
the north side had been called Brompton Row much earlier.
Brompton signifies Broom Town, carrying suggestions of a wide and heathy
common. Brompton Square, a very quiet little place, a cul-de-sac, which
has also the great recommendation that no "street music" is allowed
within it, can boast of having had some distinguished residents. At No.
22, George Colman, junior, the dramatist, a witty and genial talker,
whose society was much sought after, lived for the ten years previous to
his death in 1836. The same house was in 1860 taken by Shirley Brooks,
editor of _Punch_. The list of former residents also includes the names
of John Liston, comedian, No. 40, and Frederick Yates, the actor, No.
57.
The associations of all of this district have been preserved by Crofton
Croker in his "Walk from London to Fulham," but his work suffers from
being too minute; names which are now as dead as their owners are
recorded, and the most trivial points noted. Opposite Brompton Square
there was once a street called Michael's Grove, after its builder,
Michael Novosielski, architect of the Royal Italian Opera House. In
1835 Douglas Jerrold, critic and dramatist, lived here, and whilst here
was visited by Dickens. Ovington Square covers the ground where once
stood Brompton Grove, where several well-known people had houses; among
them was the editor (William Jerdan) of the _Literary Gazette_, who was
visited by many literary men, and who held those informal conversation
parties, so popular in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries,
which must have been very delightful. Tom Hood was among the guests on
many occasions. Before being Brompton Grove, this part of the district
had been known as Flounder's Field, but why, tradition does not say.
The next opening on the north side is an avenue of young lime-trees
leading to Holy Trinity Church, the parish church of Brompton. It was
opened in 1829, and the exterior is as devoid of beauty as the date
would lead one to suppose. There are about 1,800 seats, and 700 are
free. The burial-ground behind the church is about 4½ acres in
extent, and was consecrated at the same time as the church. Croker
mentions that it was once a flower-garden. Northward are Ennismore
Gardens, named after the secondary title of the Earl of Listowel, who
lives in Kingston House. The house recalls the notorious Duchess of
Kingston, who occupied it for some time. The Duchess, who began life as
Elizabeth Chudleigh, must have had strong personal attractions. She was
appointed maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales, and after
several love-affairs was married secretly to the Hon. Augustus John
Hervey, brother of the Earl of Bristol. She continued to be a maid of
honour after this event, which remained a profound secret. Her husband
was a lieutenant in the navy, and on his return from his long absences
the couple quarrelled violently. It was not, however, until sixteen
years later that Mrs. Hervey began a connection with the Duke of
Kingston, which ended in a form of marriage. It was then that she
assumed the title, and caused Kingston House to be built for her
residence; fifteen years later her real husband succeeded to the title
of Earl of Bristol, and she was brought up to answer to the charge of
bigamy, on which she was proved guilty, but with extenuating
circumstances, and she seems to have got off scot-free. She afterwards
went abroad, and died in Paris in 1788, aged sixty-eight, after a life
of gaiety and dissipation. From the very beginning her behaviour seems
to have been scandalous, and she richly merited the epithet always
prefixed to her name. Sir George Warren and Lord Stair subsequently
occupied the house, and later the Marquis Wellesley, elder brother of
the famous Duke of Wellington. Intermediately it was occupied by the
Listowel family, to whom the freehold belongs.
All Saints' Church in Ennismore Gardens was built by Vulliamy, and is in
rather a striking Lombardian style, refreshing after the meaningless
"Gothic" of so many parish churches.
The Oratory of St. Philip Neri, near Brompton Church, is surmounted by a
great dome, on the summit of which is a golden cross. It is the
successor of a temporary oratory opened in 1854, and the present church
was opened thirty years later by Cardinal Manning. The oratory is built
of white stone, and the entrance is under a great portico. The style
followed throughout is that of the Renaissance, and all the fittings and
furniture are costly and beautifully finished, so that the whole
interior has an appearance of richness and elegance. A nave of immense
height and 51 feet in width is supported by pillars of Devonshire
marble, and there are many well-furnished chapels in the side aisles.
The floor of the sanctuary is of inlaid wood, and the stalls are after a
Renaissance Viennese model, and are inlaid with ivory; both of these
fittings were the gift of Anne, Duchess of Argyll. The central picture
is by Father Philpin de Rivière, of the London Oratory, and it is
surmounted by onyx panels in gilt frames. The two angels on each side of
a cartouche are of Italian workmanship, and were given by the late Sir
Edgar Boehm. The oratory is famous for its music, and the crowds that
gather here are by no means entirely of the Roman Catholic persuasion.
Near the church-house is a statue of Cardinal Newman.
Not far westward the new buildings of the South Kensington Museum are
rapidly rising. The laying of their foundation-stone was one of the last
public acts of Queen Victoria. Until these buildings were begun there
was a picturesque old house standing within the enclosure marked out for
their site, and some people imagined this was Cromwell House, which gave
its name to so many streets in the neighbourhood; this was, however, a
mistake. Cromwell House was further westward, near where the present
Queen's Gate is, and the site is now covered by the gardens of the
Natural History Museum.
All that great space lying between Queen's Gate and Exhibition Road, and
bounded north and south by Kensington Gore and the Cromwell Road, has
seen many changes. At first it was Brompton Park, a splendid estate,
which for some time belonged to the Percevals, ancestors of the Earls of
Egmont. A large part of it was cut off in 1675 to form a nursery garden,
the first of its kind in England, which naturally attracted much
attention, and formed a good strolling-ground for the idlers who came
out from town. Evelyn mentions this garden in his diary at some length,
and evidently admired it very much. It was succeeded by the gardens of
the Horticultural Society, and the Imperial Institute now stands on the
site. The Great Exhibition of 1851 (see p. 66) was followed by another
in 1862, which was not nearly so successful, and this was held on the
ground now occupied by the Natural History Museum; it in turn was
followed by smaller exhibitions held in the Horticultural Society's
grounds.
In an old map we see Hale or Cromwell House standing, as above
indicated, about the western end of the Museum gardens. Lysons gives
little credence to the story of its having been the residence of the
great Protector. He says that during Cromwell's time, and for many years
afterwards, it was the residence of the Methwold family, and adds: "If
there were any grounds for the tradition, it may be that Henry Cromwell
occupied it before he went out to Ireland the second time." This seems a
likely solution, for it is improbable that a name should have impressed
itself so persistently upon a district without some connection, and as
Henry Cromwell was married in Kensington parish church, there is nothing
improbable in the fact of his having lived in the parish. Faulkner
follows Lysons, and adds a detailed description of the house. He says:
"Over the mantelpiece there is a recess formed by the curve of the
chimney, in which it is said that the Protector used to conceal
himself when he visited the house, but why his Highness chose this
place for concealment the tradition has not condescended to inform
us."
In Faulkner's time the Earl of Harrington, who had come into possession
of the park estate by his marriage with its heiress, owned Cromwell
House; his name is preserved in Harrington Road close by. When the Manor
of Earl's Court was sold to Sir Walter Cope in 1609, Hale House, as it
was then called, and the 30 acres belonging to it, had been especially
excepted. In the eighteenth century the place was turned into a
tea-garden, and was well patronized, but never attained the celebrity of
Vauxhall or Ranelagh, and later was eclipsed altogether by Florida
Gardens further westward (see p. 32). The house was taken down in 1853.
The Natural History Museum is a branch of the British Museum, and,
though commonly called the South Kensington Museum, has no claim at all
to that title. The architect was A. Waterhouse, and the building rather
suggests a child's erection from a box of many coloured bricks. The
material is yellow terra-cotta with gray bands, and the ground-plan is
simple enough, consisting of a central hall and long straight galleries
running from it east and west. The mineralogical, botanical,
zoological, and geological collections are to be found here in
conformity with a resolution passed by the trustees of the British
Museum in 1860, though the building was not finished until twenty years
later. The collections are most popular, especially that of birds and
their nests in their natural surroundings; and as the Museum is open
free, it is well patronized, especially on wet Sunday afternoons. The
South Kensington Museum, that part of it already standing on the east
side of Exhibition Road, is the outcome of the Great Exhibition, and
began with a collection at Marlborough House. The first erection was a
hideous temporary structure of iron, which speedily became known as the
"Brompton Boilers," and this was handed over to the Science and Art
Department. In 1868 this building was taken down, and some of the
materials were used for the branch museum at Bethnal Green.
The buildings have now spread and are spreading over so much ground that
it is a matter of difficulty to enumerate them all. The elaborate
terra-cotta building facing Exhibition Road is the Royal College of
Science, under the control of the Board of Education, for the Museum is
quite as much for purposes of technical education as for mere
sightseeing. Behind this lie the older parts of the Museum, galleries,
etc., which are so much hidden away that it is difficult to get a
glimpse of them at all. Across the road, behind the Natural History
Museum, are the Southern Galleries, containing various models of
machinery actually working; northward of this, more red brick and
scaffolding proclaim an extension, which will face the Imperial
Institute Road, and parts have even run across the roads in both
directions north and westward. The whole is known officially as the
Victoria and Albert Museum, but generally goes by the name of the South
Kensington Museum. The galleries and library are well worth a visit, and
official catalogues can be had at the entrance.
From an architectural point of view, the Imperial Institute is much more
satisfactory than either of the above. It is of gray stone, with a high
tower called the Queen's Tower, rising to a height of 280 feet; in this
is a peal of bells, ten in number, called after members of the royal
family, and presented by an Australian lady. The Institute was the
national memorial for Queen Victoria's Jubilee, and was designed to
embody the colonial or Imperial idea by the collection of the native
products of the various colonies, but it has not been nearly so
successful as its fine idea entitled it to be. It was also formed into a
club for Fellows on a payment of a small subscription, but was never
very warmly supported. It is now partly converted to other uses. The
London University occupies the main entrance, great hall, central block,
and east wings (except the basement). There are located here the Senate
and Council rooms, Vice-Chancellor's rooms, Board-rooms, convocation
halls and offices, besides the rooms of the Principal, Registrars, and
other University officers. At the Institute are also the physiological
theatre and laboratories for special advanced lectures and research. The
rest of the building is now the property of the Board of Trade, under
whom the real Imperial Institute occupies the west wing and certain
other parts of the building.
The Horticultural Gardens, which the Imperial Institute superseded, were
taken by the Society in 1861, in addition to its then existing gardens
at Chiswick. They were laid out in a very artificial and formal style,
and were mocked in a contemporary article in the _Quarterly Review_: "So
the brave old trees which skirted the paddock of Gore House were felled,
little ramps were raised, and little slopes sliced off with a fiddling
nicety of touch which would have delighted the imperial grandeur of the
summer palace, and the tiny declivities thus manufactured were tortured
into curvilinear patterns, where sea-sand, chopped coal, and powdered
bricks atoned for the absence of flower or shrub." Every vestige of this
has, of course, now vanished, and a new road has been driven past the
front of the Institute.
The Albert Hall was opened by Queen Victoria in 1871, and, like the
other buildings already mentioned, is closely associated with the
earlier half of her reign. The idea was due to Prince Albert, who wished
to have a large hall for musical and oratorical performances. It is in
the form of a gigantic ellipse covered by a dome, and the external walls
are decorated by a frieze. The effect is hardly commendable, and the
whole has been compared to a huge bandbox. However, it answers the
purpose for which it was designed, having good acoustic properties, and
its concerts, especially the cheap ones on Sunday afternoons, are always
well attended. The organ is worked by steam, and is one of the largest
in the world, having close on 9,000 pipes. The hall stands on the site
of Gore House, in its time a rendezvous for all the men and women of
intellect and brilliancy in England. It was occupied by Wilberforce from
1808 to 1821. He came to it after his illness at Clapham, which had made
him feel the necessity of moving nearer to London, that he might
discharge his Parliamentary duties more easily. His Bill for the
Abolition of Slavery had become law shortly before, and he was at the
time a popular idol. His house was thronged with visitors, among whom
were his associates, Clarkson, Zachary Macaulay, and Romilly. What
charmed him most in his new residence was the garden "full of lilacs,
laburnum, nightingales, and swallows." He writes:
"We are just one mile from the turnpike at Hyde Park Corner, having
about 3 acres of pleasure-ground around our house, or rather behind
it, and several old trees, walnut and mulberry, of thick foliage. I
can sit and read under their shade with as much admiration of the
beauties of nature as if I were 200 miles from the great city."
In 1836 the clever and popular Lady Blessington came to Gore House, and
remained there just so long as Wilberforce had done--namely, thirteen
years. The house is thus described in "The Gorgeous Lady Blessington"
(Mr. Molloy):
"Lying back from the road, from which it was separated by high walls
and great gates, it was approached by a courtyard that led to a
spacious vestibule. The rooms were large and lofty, the hall wide
and stately, but the chiefest attraction of all were the beautiful
gardens stretching out at the back, with their wide terraces,
flower-beds, extensive lawns, and fine old trees."
Kensington Gore was then considered to be in the country, and spoken of
as a mile from London. Count D'Orsay, who had married Lady Blessington's
stepdaughter, rather in compliance with her father's wishes than his own
inclination, spent much of his time with his mother-in-law, and at her
receptions all the literary talent of the age was gathered
together--Bulwer Lytton, Disraeli, and Landor were frequent visitors,
and Prince Louis Napoleon made his way to Gore House when he escaped
from prison. Lady Blessington died in 1849. The house was used as a
restaurant during the 1851 Exhibition, and afterwards bought with the
estate by the Commissioners.
The name "gore" generally means a wedge-shaped insertion, and, if we
take it as being between the Kensington Gardens and Brompton and
Cromwell Roads, might be applicable here, but the explanation is
far-fetched. Leigh Hunt reminds us that the same word "gore" was
previously used for mud or dirt, and as the Kensington Road at this part
was formerly notorious for its mud, this may be the meaning of the name,
but there can be no certainty. Lowther Lodge, a picturesque red-brick
house, stands back behind a high wall; it was designed by Norman Shaw,
R.A. In the row of houses eastward of it facing the road, No. 2 was once
the residence of Wilkes, who at that time had also a house in Grosvenor
Square and another in the Isle of Wight. Croker says that the actor
Charles Mathews was once, with his wife, Madame Vestris, in Gore Lodge,
Brompton. He was certainly a friend of the Blessingtons, and stayed
abroad with them in Naples for a year, and may have been attracted to
their neighbourhood at the Gore.
Behind the Albert Hall are various buildings, such as Alexandra House
for ladies studying art and music, also large mansions and
_maisonnettes_ recently built. The Royal College of Music, successor of
the old College, which stood west of the Albert Hall, is in Prince
Consort Road. It was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, and opened in
1894. The cost was defrayed by Mr. Samson Fox, and in the building is a
curious collection of old musical instruments known as the Donaldson
Museum and open free daily. In the same road a prettily designed church,
to be called Holy Trinity, Kensington Gore, is rapidly rising. In the
northern part of Exhibition Road is the Technical Institute of the City
and Guilds in a large red and white building, and just south of it the
Royal School of Art Needlework for Ladies, founded by Princess
Christian.
Queen's Gate is very wide; in the southern part stands St. Augustine's
Church, opened for service in 1871, though the chancel was not completed
until five years later. The architect was Mr. Butterfield, and the
church is of brick of different colours, with a bell gable at the west
end. In Cromwell Place, near the underground station, Sir John Everett
Millais lived in No. 7; the fact is recorded on a tablet. Harrington
Road was formerly Cromwell Lane, and there is extant a letter of Leigh
Hunt's dated from this address in 1830. Pelham Crescent, behind the
station, formerly looked out upon tea-gardens. Guizot, the notable
French Minister, came to live here after the fall of Louis Philippe. He
was in No. 21, and Charles Mathews, the actor, lived for a time in No.
25. The curves of the old Brompton Road suggest that it was a lane at
one time, curving to avoid the fields or different properties on either
side.
Onslow Square stands upon the site of a large lunatic asylum. In it is
St. Paul's Church, built in 1860, and well known for its evangelical
services. There is nothing remarkable in its architecture save that the
chancel is at the west end. The pulpit is of carved stone with inlaid
slabs of American onyx. Marochetti, an Italian sculptor, who is
responsible for many of the statues in London, including that of Prince
Albert on the Memorial, lived at No. 34 in the square in 1860. But its
proudest association is that Thackeray came to the house then No. 36,
from Young Street, in 1853. "The Newcomes" was at that time appearing in
parts, and continued to run until 1855, so that some of it was probably
written here. He published also while here "The Rose and the Ring," the
outcome of a visit to Rome with his daughters, and after "The Newcomes"
was completed he visited America for a second time on a tour of
lectures, subsequently embodied in a book, "The Four Georges." By his
move from Young Street he was nearer to his friends the Carlyles in
Chelsea, a fact doubtless much appreciated on both sides. He contested
Oxford in 1857, and in the following year began the publication of "The
Virginians," which was doubtless inspired by his American experiences.
In 1860 he was made editor of the _Cornhill_, from which his income came
to something like £4,000 a year, and on the strength of this accession
of fortune he began to build a house in Palace Green, to which he moved
when it was complete (p. 53).
It has been remarked that this is rather a dismal neighbourhood, with
the large hospitals for Cancer and Consumption facing each other across
the Fulham Road, and the Women's Hospital quite close at hand. It is
with the Consumption Hospital alone we have to do here, as the others
are in Chelsea. This hospital stands on part of the ground which
belonged to a famous botanical garden owned by William Curtis at the end
of the eighteenth century. The building is of red brick, faced with
white stone, and it is on a piece of ground about 3 acres in extent,
lined by small trees, under which are seats for the wan-faced patients.
The ground-plan of the building resembles the letter H, and the system
adopted inside is that of galleries used as day-rooms and filled with
chairs and couches. From these the bedrooms open off. The galleries
make a superior sort of ward, and are bright, with large windows, and
polished floors. There is a chapel attached to the hospital, which was
chiefly presented by the late Sir Henry Foulis, after whom one of the
galleries is named, and who is also recalled in the name of a
neighbouring terrace. The west wing of the hospital was added in 1852,
and towards it Jenny Lind, who was resident in Brompton, presented
£1,600, the proceeds of a concert for the cause. There is also an
extension building across the road. Here there is a compressed air-bath,
in which an enormous pressure of air can be put upon the patient, to the
relief of his lungs. This item, rendered expensive by its massive
structure and iron bolts and bars, cost £1,000, and is one of the only
two of the kind in existence, the other being in Paris. A Miss Read
bequeathed to the hospital the sum of £100,000, and in memory of her a
slab beneath a central window is inscribed: "In Memoriam Cordelia Read,
1879." It was due to her beneficence that the extension building was
added.
In Cranley Gardens, which takes its name from the secondary title of the
Earl of Onslow, is St. Peter's Church, founded in 1866. Cranley Gardens
run into Gloucester Road, which formerly bore the much less aristocratic
title of Hogmore Lane.
Just above the place where the Cromwell Road cuts Gloucester Road, about
the site of the National Provincial Branch Bank, once stood a rather
important house. It had been the Florida Tea-gardens, and having gained
a bad reputation was closed, and the place sold to Sophia, Duchess of
Gloucester, who built there a house on her own account, and called it
Orford Lodge, in honour of her own family, the Walpoles. She had married
privately William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, brother of George III. The
marriage, which took place in 1766, was not revealed to King George II.
until six years had passed, and when it was the Duke and Duchess fell
under the displeasure of His Majesty. They travelled abroad for some
time, but in 1780 were reinstated in royal favour. The Duke died in
1805, and the Duchess two years later. After her death her daughter,
Princess Sophia, sold the house to the great statesman George Canning,
who renamed it Gloucester Lodge, and lived in it until his death
eighteen years later. It was to this house he was brought after his duel
with Lord Castlereagh, when he was badly wounded in the thigh. Crabbe,
the poet, visited him at Gloucester Lodge, and records the fact in his
journal, commenting on the gardens, and remarking that the place was
much secluded. Canning also received here the unhappy Queen Caroline,
whose cause he had warmly espoused. The house was pulled down about the
middle of last century, but its memory is kept alive in Gloucester Road.
Thistle Grove Lane is one of those quaint survivals which enable us to
reconstruct the past topographically, in the same way as the silent
letters in a word, apparently meaningless, enable us to reconstruct the
philological past. It is no longer a lane, but a narrow passage, and
about midway down is crossed by a little street called Priory Grove.
Faulkner makes mention of Friars' Grove in this position, and the two
names are probably identical. Brompton Heath lay east of this lane, and
westward was Little Chelsea, a small hamlet in fields, situated by
itself, quite detached from London, separated from it by the dreary
heath, that no man might cross with impunity after dark.
The Boltons is an oval piece of ground with St. Mary's Church in the
middle. The church was opened in 1851, and the interior is surprisingly
small in comparison with the exterior. It was fully restored about
twenty years after it had been built. The land had been for many years
the property of the Bolton family, whose name impressed itself on the
place.
Returning to the Fulham Road, and continuing westward, we pass the site
of an old manor-house, afterwards used as an orphanage; near it was an
additional building of the St. George's Union, which is opposite. There
is a tradition that Boyle, the philosopher, once occupied this
additional house, and was here visited by Locke. The present Union
stands on the site of Shaftesbury House, built about 1635, and bought by
the third Earl of Shaftesbury in 1699. Addison, who was a great friend
of the Earl's, often stayed with him in Shaftesbury House.
Redcliffe Gardens was formerly called Walnut-Tree Walk, another rural
reminiscence. At the eastern corner was Burleigh House, and an entry in
the Kensington registers, May 15, 1674, tells of the birth of "John
Cecill, son and heir of John, Lord Burleigh," in the parish. There is no
direct evidence to show that Lord Burleigh was then living in this
house, but the probability is that he was. To the east of this house
again was a row of others, with large gardens at the back; one was
Lochee's well-known military academy, and another, Heckfield Lodge, was
taken by the brothers of the Priory attached to the Roman Catholic
church, Our Lady of Seven Dolours, which faces the street. The greater
part of this church was built in 1876, but a very fine rectangular porch
with figures of saints in the niches, and a narthex in the same style,
were added later. The square tower with corner pinnacles is a
conspicuous object in the Fulham Road.