Fulham Road were Sir Bartholomew Shower, a well-known lawyer, in 1693;
the Bishop of Gloucester (Edward Fowler), 1709; the Bishop of Chester
(Sir William Dawes), who afterwards became Archbishop of York; and Sir
Edward Ward, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, in 1697. It is odd to read of
a highway murder occurring near Little Chelsea in 1765. The barbarity of
the time demanded that the murderers should be executed on the spot
where their crime was committed, so that the two men implicated were
hanged, the one at the end of Redcliffe Gardens, and the other near
Stamford Bridge, Chelsea Station. These men were Chelsea pensioners, and
must have been active for their years to make such an attempt. The
gibbet stood at the end of the present Redcliffe Gardens for very many
years.
Ifield Road was once Honey Lane. To the west are the entrance gates of
the cemetery, which is about 800 yards in extreme length by 300 in the
broadest part. The graves are thickly clustered together at the southern
end, with hardly two inches between the stones, which are of every
variety. The cemetery was opened for burial in June, 1840. Sir Roderick
Murchison, the geologist, is among those who lie here. In the centre of
the southern part of the cemetery is a chapel; two colonnades and a
central building stand over the catacombs, which are not now used. At
the northern end is a Dissenters' chapel. Having thus come to the
extreme limits of the district, we turn to the neighbourhood of Earl's
Court.
Earl's Court can show good cause why it should hold both its names, for
here the lords of the manor, the Earls of Oxford, held their courts. The
earlier maps of Kensington are all of the nineteenth century. Before
that time the old topographers doubtless thought there was nothing out
of which to make a map, for except by the sides of the high-road, and in
the detached villages of Brompton, Earl's Court, and Little Chelsea,
there were only fields. Faulkner's 1820 map is very slight and sketchy.
He says: "In speaking of this part, proceeding down Earl's Court Lane
[Road], we arrive at the village of Earl's Court." The 1837 Survey shows
a considerable increase in the number of houses, though Earl's Court is
still a village, connected with Kensington by a lane. Daw's map of 1846
for some reason shows fewer houses, but his 1858 map gives a decided
increase.
Near where the underground station now is stood the old court-house of
Earl's Court. From 1789 to 1875 another building superseded it, but the
older house was standing until 1878. There was a medicinal spring at
Earl's Court in the beginning of the nineteenth century. Beside these
two facts, there is very little that is interesting to note. John
Hunter, the celebrated anatomist, founder of the Hunterian Museum, lived
here in a house he had built for himself. He had a passion for animals,
particularly strange beasts, and gathered an odd collection round him,
somewhat to the dismay of his neighbours.
The popular Earl's Court Exhibition is partly in Kensington and partly
in Fulham; it is the largest exhibition open in London, and is
patronized as much because it is one of the few places to which the
Londoner can go to sit out of doors and hear a band after dinner, as for
its more varied entertainments.
One of the comparatively old houses of the neighbourhood of Earl's
Court, that has only recently been demolished, was Coleherne Court, at
the corner of Redcliffe Gardens and the Brompton Road. It is now
replaced by residential flats. This was possibly the same house as that
mentioned by Bowack (1705): "The Hon. Col. Grey has a fine seat at
Earl's Court; it is but lately built, after the modern manner, and
standing upon a plain, where nothing can intercept the sight, looks very
stately at a distance. The gardens are very good." The house was later
occupied by the widow of General Ponsonby, who fell in the Battle of
Waterloo. Its companion, Hereford House, further eastward, was used as
the headquarters of a cycling club before its demolition.
The rest of the district eastward to Gloucester Road has no old
association. St. Jude's Church, in Courtfield Gardens, was built in
1870. The reredos is of red-stained alabaster, coloured marble, and
mosaics by Salviati. St. Stephen's, in Gloucester Road, is a smaller
church, founded in 1866. Beyond it Gloucester Road runs into Victoria
Road, once Love Lane. General Gordon was at No. 8, Victoria Grove, in
1881. Returning again to Earl's Court Road, we see St. Stephen's,
another of the numerous modern churches in which the district abounds;
it was built partly at the expense of the Rev. D. Claxton, and was
opened in 1858. In Warwick Gardens, westward, is St. Mathias, which
rivals St. Cuthbert's, in Philbeach Gardens, in the ritualism of its
services. Both churches are very highly decorated. In St. Cuthbert's the
interior is of great height, and the walls ornamentally worked in stone;
there is a handsome oak screen, and a very fine statue of the Virgin and
Child by Sir Edgar Boehm in the Lady Chapel; in both churches the seats
are all free.
Edwardes Square, with its houses on the north side bordering Kensington
Road, is peculiarly attractive, with a large garden in the centre, and
an old-world air about its houses, which are mostly small. Leigh Hunt
says that it was (traditionally) built by a Frenchman at the time of the
threatened French invasion, and that so confident was this good patriot
of the issue of the war that he built the square, with its large garden
and small houses, to suit the promenading tastes and poorly-furnished
pockets of Napoleon's officers. The name was taken from the family name
of Lord Kensington.
Mrs. Inchbald stayed as a boarder at No. 4 in the square when she was
sixty-five. She seems to have chosen the life for the sake of company
rather than by reason of lack of means, for she was not badly off,
having been always extraordinarily well paid for her work. She is
described as having been above the middle height, of a freckled
complexion, and with sandy hair, but nevertheless good-looking. Leigh
Hunt himself was at No. 32 for some years before 1853, when he removed
to Hammersmith. He mentions, on hearsay, that Coleridge once stayed in
the square, but this was probably only on the occasion of a visit to
friends. In recent times Walter Pater was a resident here.
Leaving aside for a time Holland House, standing in beautiful grounds,
which line the northern side of the road, and turning eastward, we find
the Roman Catholic Pro-Cathedral, almost hidden behind houses. It is of
dark-red brick, and was designed by Mr. Goldie, but the effect of the
north porch is lost, owing to the buildings which hem it in; this defect
will doubtless be remedied in time as leases expire. The interior of the
cathedral is of great height, and the light stone arches are supported
by pillars of polished Aberdeen granite.
After Abingdon Road comes Allen Street, in which there is the Kensington
Independent Chapel, a great square building with an imposing portico,
built in 1854, "for the worshippers in the Hornton Street Chapel." The
houses at the northern end of Allen Street are called Phillimore
Terrace, and here Sir David Wilkie came in the autumn of 1824, having
for the previous thirteen years lived in Lower Phillimore Place. His
life in Kensington was quiet and regular. He says: "I dine at two
o'clock, paint two hours in the forenoon and two hours in the afternoon,
and take a short walk in the Park or through the fields twice a day."
His mother and sister lived with him, and though he was a bachelor, his
domestic affections were very strong. The time in Phillimore Terrace was
far from bright; it was while he lived here that his mother died, also
two of his brothers and his sister's _fiancé_; and many other troubles,
including money worries, came upon him. He eventually moved, though not
far, only to Vicarage Gardens (then Place), near Church Street.
In Kensington Road, beyond Allen Street, was an ancient inn, the Adam
and Eve, in which it is said that Sheridan used to stop for a drink on
the way to and from Holland House, and where he ran up a bill which he
coolly left to be settled by his friend Lord Holland. The inn is now
replaced by a modern public-house of the same name. Between this and
Wright's Lane the aspect of the place has been entirely changed in the
last few years by the erection of huge red-brick flats. On the other
side of Wright's Lane the enlarged premises of Messrs. Ponting have
covered up the site of Scarsdale House, which only disappeared to make
way for them. Scarsdale House is supposed to have been built by one of
the Earls of Scarsdale (first creation), the second of whom married Lady
Frances Rich, eldest daughter of the Earl of Warwick and Holland, but
there is not much evidence to support this conjecture. At the same time,
the house was evidently much older than the date of the second Scarsdale
creation--namely, 1761. The difficulty is surmounted by Mr. Loftie, who
says: "John Curzon, who founded it, and called it after the home of his
ancestors in Derbyshire, had bought the land for the purpose of building
on it."
At the end of this lane is the Home for Crippled Boys, established in
Woolsthorpe House. The house was evidently named after the home of Sir
Isaac Newton at Woolsthorpe, near Grantham. But apparently he never
lived in it. His only connection with this part is that here stood "a
batch of good old family houses, one of which belonged to Sir Isaac
Newton." It is possible that the name was given by an enthusiastic
admirer, moved thereto by the fact that Newton had lived in Bullingham
House, Church Street, not so far distant.
In the 1837 map of the district Woolsthorpe is marked "Carmaerthen
House." The front and the entrance are old, and in one of the rooms
there is decorative moulding on the ceiling and a carved mantelpiece,
but the schoolrooms and workshops built out at the back are all modern.
The home had a very small beginning, being founded in 1866 by Dr. Bibby,
who rented one room, and took in three crippled boys.
In Marloes Road, further south, are the workhouse and infirmary.
Returning to the High Street, the Free Library and the Town Hall attract
attention. The latter is nearly on the site of the old free schools,
which were built by Sir John Vanbrugh with all the solidity
characteristic of his style; and Leigh Hunt opined, if suffered to
remain, they would probably outlast the whole of Kensington. However, no
such misfortune occurred, and the only relics of them remaining are the
figures of the charity children of Queen Anne's period, which now stand
above the doorway of the new schools at the back of the Town Hall.
William Cobbett, "essayist, politician, agriculturist," lived in a house
on the site of some of the great shops on the south side of the High
Street, opposite the Town Hall. His grounds bordered on those of
Scarsdale House, and he established in them a seed garden in which to
carry out his practical experiments in agriculture. His pugnacity and
sharp tongue led him into many a quarrel, and he was never a favourite
with those who were his neighbours. He advocated Queen Caroline's cause
with warmth, and was the real author of her famous letter to the King.
But he will always be remembered best by his _Weekly Register_, a potent
political weapon.
The parish church of St. Mary Abbots, with its high spire, forms a very
striking object on the north side of the road. There is a stone porch
over the entrance to the churchyard, and a picturesque cloistered
passage leading round the south side. Within the cloister is a tablet
commemorating the fact that it was partly built by Rev. E. C. Glyn and
his wife in memory of his mother, who died in 1892. A little further on,
immediately facing the south door, is another tablet, stating that the
porch at the entrance to the cloister was erected by the widow of James
Liddle Fairless in memory of her husband, who died in 1891. Within the
church the walls are thickly covered with memorial tablets, and on the
north and south walls are rows of them set in coloured marble. The
reredos is a representation of the four evangelists in mosaic work in
four panels, enclosed in a Gothic canopy of marble. On the north side of
the chancel is a fresco painting enclosed in marble, presented by the
Archbishop of York on leaving the parish. On the south side there is
also a small fresco painting, but the greater part of the wall is
occupied by the sedilia. The transept on the south side of the nave
contains numerous memorial tablets and two brasses: nearly all of these
belong to the eighteenth century. The monument of the Rich family is
against the west wall in this transept, and is a conspicuous object. A
large marble slab against the wall bears the name of Edward Rich, last
Earl of Warwick and Holland (died 1759), his wife Mary, who survived him
ten years, and their only child Charlotte, who died unmarried. Above are
the names of the Rich family, and below is the statue of the young Earl
of Warwick and Holland, the stepson of Addison, who died in 1721, aged
twenty-four. He is in Roman dress, life-size, and is represented seated
with his right elbow resting on an urn.
On the further side of the south door we have a curious old white marble
monument to the memory of Mr. Colin Campbell (died 1708). This was in
the old church, and was placed in its present position by a descendant
of the Campbell family. The font, a handsome marble basin, stands in the
north aisle. Near it is a marble bust of Dr. Rennell, a former vicar of
Kensington, by Chantrey. In the north chapel there is a large marble
tablet to the memory of William Murray, third son of the Earl of
Dunmore. The pulpit is of dark carved oak, and stood in the old church.
The west porch is very handsomely ornamented with stonework. In the
churchyard are buried several persons of note, including Mrs. Inchbald,
the authoress; and a son of George Canning, whose monument is by
Chantrey.
Among other entries in the registers may be noticed the marriage of
Henry Cromwell, already mentioned. There are many records of the Hicks
(Campden) family, also of the Winchilsea and Nottingham, Lawrence,
Cecil, Boyle, Howard of Effingham, Brydges, Dukes of Chandos,
Molesworth, and Godolphin families. The plate belonging to the church is
very valuable. The oldest piece is a cup dating from 1599, and a silver
tankard is of the year 1619. A full description of the plate was given
by Mr. Cripps in the parish magazine in 1879.
The church owes its additional name of Abbots to the fact of its having
belonged to the Abbot and convent of Abingdon, as set forth in the
history of the parish. Bowack says: "It does not appear that this church
was ever dedicated to any saint, nor can we find, after a very strict
search, by whom it was founded, though we have traced its vicars up to
the year 1260."
It has already been explained that Aubrey de Vere made a present to the
Abbot of the slice of land on which the church stands, and that this
formed a secondary manor in Kensington. This transfer had been made with
the consent of Pope Alexander, but without the consent of the Bishop of
London or the Archbishop. In consequence of this omission the title of
the Abbey to the land was disputed, and it was at length settled that
the patronage of the vicarage should be vested in the Bishop. This was
in 1260. At the time of the dissolution of the monasteries the Abbot's
portion became vested in the Crown, from which it passed to various
persons; and when Sir Walter Cope bought the manor a special arrangement
had to be made with Robert Horseman, who was then in possession.
So much for the history. The actual fabric has been subject to much
change, and has been rebuilt many times. It is known that a church was
standing on this site in 1102, but how old it was then is only matter
for conjecture; in 1370 it was wholly or partly rebuilt. And this church
was pulled down about 1694, with the exception of the tower, and again
rebuilt; but in seven years the new building began to crack, and in 1704
the roof was taken off, and the north and south walls once more rebuilt.
After this Bowack describes it as "of brick and handsomely finished; but
what it was formerly may be guessed by the old tower now standing, which
has some appearance of antiquity, and looks like the architecture of the
twelfth or thirteenth centuries." In his encomium he probably spoke more
in accordance with convention than with real approbation, for this
church has been described by many other independent persons as an
unsightly building, with no architectural beauty whatever; and as far as
may be gathered from the prints still extant this is the true judgment.
In 1811 it showed signs of decay, and underwent thorough restoration;
and in 1869 it was entirely demolished, and the present church built
from the designs of Sir Gilbert Scott. The spire, added a few years
later, is only exceeded by two in England--namely, those of Salisbury
and Norwich Cathedrals.
There are many parish charities, which it would be out of place to
enumerate here, and among them are several bequests for the cleansing
and repair of tombs.
The fine shops on the south side of the street inherit a more ancient
title than might be supposed. Bowack, writing in 1705, speaks of the
"abundance of shopkeepers and all sorts of artificers" along the
high-road, "which makes it appear rather like a part of London than a
country village."
Leaving aside for the time Church Street and all the interesting
district on the north, we turn to Kensington Square, which was begun
about the end of James II.'s reign, and from the very first was a
notably fashionable place, and more especially so after the Court was
established at Kensington Palace. In Queen Anne's reign, "for beauty of
buildings and worthy inhabitants," it "exceeds several noted squares in
London." The eminent inhabitants have indeed been so numerous that it is
difficult to prevent any account of them from degenerating into a mere
catalogue. "In the time of George II. the demand for lodgings was so
great that an Ambassador, a Bishop, and a physician were known to occupy
apartments in the same house" (Faulkner).
The two houses, Nos. 10 and 11, in the eastern corner on the south side
are the two oldest that look on to the square. They were reserved for
the maids of honour when the Court was at Kensington, and the wainscoted
rooms and little powdering closets speak volumes as to their bygone
days; these two were originally one house, as the exterior shows. Next
door is the women's department of King's College. J. R. Green, the
historian, lived at No. 14 until his death, and in No. 18 John S. Mill
was living in 1839. Three Bishops at least are known to have been
domiciled in the square: Bishop Mawson of Ely, who died here in 1770;
Bishop Herring of Bangor, a very notable prelate, who was afterwards
Archbishop of Canterbury; and in the south-western corner Bishop Hough
of Oxford, Lichfield, and Worcester had a fine old house until 1732. The
Convent of the Assumption now covers the same ground in Nos. 20 to 24.
The original object of the convent was prayer for the conversion of
England to the Roman Catholic faith, but the sisters now devote
themselves to the work of teaching; they have a pleasant garden, more
than an acre in extent, stretching out at the back of the house. In the
chapel there is a fresco painting by Westlake.
No. 26 is the Kensington Foundation Grammar School. Talleyrand lived in
Nos. 36 and 37, formerly one house. He succeeded Bishop Herring in the
occupancy, after a lapse of fifty years, and the man who had abandoned
the vocation of the Church to follow diplomacy was thus sheltered by the
same roof that had sheltered a Churchman by vocation, if ever there were
one. Many foreign ambassadors patronized the square at various times.
The Duchess of Mazarin, already mentioned in the volume on Chelsea, was
here in 1692, and six years later moved to her Chelsea home, where she
died; but her day was over many years before she came here. Joseph
Addison lodged in the square for a time, four or five years before his
marriage with the Countess of Warwick. At No. 41 Sir Edward Burne-Jones
lived for three years, subsequently removing to West Kensington, but the
association which has most glorified the square is its proximity to
Young Street, so long the home of Thackeray. He came to No. 16, then 13,
in 1846, aged only thirty-five, but with the romance of his life behind
him. A tablet marks the window in which he used to work. Six years
previously his wife, whom he had tenderly loved, had developed
melancholia, and, soon becoming a confirmed invalid, had had to be
placed permanently under medical care. Their married life had been very
short, only four or five years, but Thackeray had three little daughters
to remind him of it. He had passed through many vicissitudes, from the
comparatively opulent days of youth and the University to the time when
he had lost all his patrimony and been forced to support himself
precariously by pen and pencil. Yearly he had become better known, and
by the time he came to Young Street he was sufficiently removed from
money troubles to be without that worst form of worry, anxiety for the
future. He had contributed to the _Times_, _Frazer's Magazine_, and
_Punch_. It is rather odd to read that at the time when _Punch_ was
started one of Thackeray's friends was rather sorry that he should
become a contributor, fearing that it would lower his status in the
literary world! It was in _Punch_, nevertheless, that his first real
triumph was won. The "Snob Papers" attracted universal attention, and
were still running when he moved to Young Street. Here he began more
serious work, and scarcely a year later "Vanity Fair" was brought out in
numbers, according to the fashion made popular by Dickens. It did not
prove an instantaneous success, but by the time it had run its course
its author's position was assured. In spite of the sorrow that
overshadowed his domestic life--and he had by this time for many years
given up any hope of communicating with his wife--the time he spent in
this house cannot have been unhappy. He had congenial work, many
friends, among whom were numbered his fellow contributor Leech, also G.
F. Watts, Herman Merivale, the Theodore Martins, Monckton Milnes,
Kinglake, and others. He had also his daughters, and he was a loving and
sympathetic father, realizing that children need brightness in their
lives as well as mere care, and taking his little family about whenever
he could to parties and shows; and he had a growing reputation in the
literary world. "Pendennis" was published in 1848, and before it had
finished running Thackeray suffered from a severe illness, that left its
mark on all his succeeding life.
It was after this that Miss Brontë came to dine with him in Young
Street. She had admired "Vanity Fair" immensely, and was ready to offer
hero-worship; but the sensitive, dull little governess did not reveal in
society the fire that had made her books live, and we are told that
Thackeray, although her host, found the dinner so dull that he slipped
away to his club before she left. He had now a good income from his
books, and added to it by lecturing. "Esmond" appeared in 1852, and the
references to my Lady Castlewood's house in Kensington Square and the
Greyhound tavern (the name of the inn opposite to Thackeray's own house)
will be remembered by everyone. The novelist visited America shortly
after, and then went with his children to Switzerland, and it was in
Switzerland that the idea for "The Newcomes" came to him. Young Street
can only claim a part of that book, for in 1853 he moved to Onslow
Square, and the last number of "The Newcomes" did not appear until 1855.
However, this was not his last connection with this part of Kensington,
for in 1861 he built himself a house in Palace Green, but he only
occupied it for two years, when his death occurred at the early age of
fifty-two.