The Morris Dancers at Chelsea on May Day or early in May would pay us a
visit, generally consisting of from nine to twelve, all men or lads.
They had the appearance of countrymen, dressed some in smock frocks,
others in shirt-sleeves, breeches and gaiters, and all decked out in
coloured ribbons tied round their hats, arms, and knees of their
breeches, with long streamers, and others carrying short sticks with
ribbons twisted round, and bows on top, or garlands of flowers tied on
small hoops. They generally stopped outside the taverns in the roadway
and danced to a drum and pan pipes, tambourine and triangle. They would
form themselves into three rows, according to their number, about three
feet apart each way, and would dance a sort of jig, and change places by
passing in and out and turning round to face one another, striking their
sticks and twisting their garlands to the time of the music, and then
stamp their feet and give a sort of whoop or shout, and finish with a
chant in honour of the month of May, and make a collection among the
crowd.
The "Endeavour," a wooden paddle boat, was the first to run three times a
week from Dyer's Hall Wharf, London Bridge, to Hampton Court; leaving
London Bridge at nine and passing Chelsea at about a quarter past ten.
The passengers had to be put on board in the wherries at a charge of
threepence each. A signal was made from the Yorkshire Grey stairs for
them to lay to to take them on board, as there was no pier at Chelsea at
that time. The boat, always once or twice during the summer, would come
to grief under Battersea Bridge by knocking its paddle-box off, and get
a-ground once or twice before it got to Hampton Court. I have several
times seen her a-ground just before you get to Kew Bridge, and lay there
for two or three hours with no way of getting ashore but by being carried
on men's backs through the mud. The fare was three shillings and
sixpence, and five shillings. They always advertised "Weather and Tide
permitting." If everything was favourable they would arrive about half
past twelve and leave again at four. The passengers were not very
numerous. The boat ran for about two years, and then one called the
"Locomotive" started, a very much superior boat, and much quicker; and a
start was made for a ider of a very primitive character at the Yorkshire
Grey stairs--merely two old coal barges with gangways from the shore, and
one from a landing stage. A company was then formed called the Chelsea
Steamboat Company, with four small wooden boats, and a pier was built.
The Wellesley Street tragedy (now called Upper Manor Street), occurred on
the left hand side about four or five doors from the top. The house was
kept by an old lady who let the best part to lodgers, and on one Sunday
evening about nine she had taken her supper beer from the potman at the
Wellesley Arms, who came round in those days at meal times with a tray
made for the purpose of carrying beer to be sold at the customers' doors;
and about eleven o'clock the people who occupied the upper part of the
house came home and opened the door, but did not find any light as they
expected, as it was usual for the old lady to leave a candle burning on
the ledge of the staircase window. They went to a neighbour to get a
light and returned and found the old lady at the foot of the stairs. She
appeared to have been stunned and then strangled. The jug with the beer
was standing on the stairs, the place had not been robbed, and nothing
had been disturbed. The people in the house had been recently married,
and it had been their practice to go away the whole of the Sunday and
spend it with their friends. There were several arrests, but there
appeared to be no clue, and the matter was never cleared up; the only
theory was that it was a contemplated robbery, someone knocking her down
and then strangling her, but got scared and took to flight without taking
any thing.