NORTH OF VICTORIA STREET.
The United Westminster Schools, constituted 1873, stand on the east side
of Palace Street. These comprise Emanuel Hospital, Greencoat School (St.
Margaret's), Palmer's (Blackcoat School), and Hill's Grammar School. The
building in Palace Street stands back from the road behind a space of
green grass. Over one doorway are medallions of Palmer and Hill, and
over the other the Royal arms, and the structure is devoid of any
architectural attractiveness. The beauty which belonged to the older
buildings has not been revived, but replaced by a hideous
utilitarianism. Watney's Brewery occupies the ground opposite to the
school. The schools of St. Andrew are in this street, and beyond is the
Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Edward. Stafford Place is
called after Viscount Stafford, on the site of whose garden wall it is
said to have been built. This wall formed the parish boundary, and a boy
was annually whipped upon it to impress the bounds upon his memory.
Tart Hall, built 1638, stood at the north end of James Street. It was
the residence of Viscount Stafford, to whom it had come from his mother
Alethea, daughter and heiress of the seventh Earl of Shrewsbury. Lord
Stafford was the fifth son of the Earl of Arundel and Surrey, and was
made first a Baron and then a Viscount by Charles I. He was condemned
for high treason on the manufactured evidence of Oates and Turberville,
in the reign of Charles II., and was beheaded on Tower Hill, December
29, 1680. After his execution the house was turned into a museum and
place of public entertainment. The gateway under which he passed to his
death was never again opened after that event, but it was left standing
until 1737. Among the notable residents in the street were Dr. White
Kennet, Bishop of Peterborough, an indefatigable collector of MSS., and
Glover, the poet.
The present street contains many pleasant, picturesque houses,
especially at the northern end. At the corner of Castle Lane is the
Westminster Chapel, the largest Independent place of worship in the
Metropolis excepting Spurgeon's Tabernacle. It seats 2,500, and has two
galleries, one above the other, running round the whole interior. It was
opened in 1865 to replace a smaller chapel which had previously stood on
the same site.
Emanuel Hospital was a charming old building which stood south of the
chapel on the same side of the street. It was founded in 1594 by Lady
Dacre "for the relief of aged people and the bringing up of children in
virtue and good and laudable arts, whereby they might the better live in
time to come by their honest labour." The low range of buildings running
round a quadrangle had tall chimneys, and the central house was
decorated by a cupola and clock. It was the sort of place that took the
sharpness off charity by covering it with a sheath of that dignity which
is always to be found in antiquity.
By Lady Dacre's will there were to be twenty almspeople, and each of
them was at liberty to bring up one child. It was, however, not until
the year 1728 that a school was first established, for before that the
funds had been insufficient.
In 1890 thirteen of the almshouses stood empty from failure of income,
and subsequently it was resolved to demolish the almshouses and offer
the present valuable site for building purposes. It is not the
intention of the trustees to erect new almshouses. The charity will in
future be entirely in money pensions known as Lady Dacre's pensions.
Caxton Street was originally called Chapel Street, but was renamed in
honour of the great printer, who lived for some years at a house in the
Almonry, now replaced by the Westminster Palace Hotel (see p. 34).
On the south side of the street is a curious little square brick
building with the figure of a Bluecoat boy over the porch, and the
inscription on a slab, "The Blue Coat School, built in the year 1709."
On the back is a large painting of a similar boy and the date of
foundation: "This School founded 1688." A small garden stretches out
behind. The building itself contains simply one hall or classroom, which
is decorated by an ornamental dental cornice, and has a curious inner
portico with fluted columns over the doorway. It is supposed to have
been built by the great Sir Christopher. The Master's house, covered
with Virginia creeper, stands on one side of the main building.
The school was first established in Duck Lane, and was instituted by
Thomas Jekyll, D.D., one of the chaplains of the Broadway Chapel. It is
said to have been the first school in the Metropolis supported by
voluntary contributions. It was at first for boys only, but in 1713
twenty girls were included in the scheme, but these were afterwards
dispersed and only the boys retained. Westminster was exceptionally rich
in these foundations of the charitable, both for the young and for the
old.
Further eastward, on the north side of Caxton Street, is the Medical
School in connection with Westminster Hospital. The Town Hall stands
close by. The foundation-stone was laid by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts.
In the muniment-room there are preserved 3,400 records, etc., of
exceptional interest. Here, also, are the St. Ermin's Mansions and
Hotel, which derive their name from St. Ermin's Hill, evidently a
corruption of Hermit's Hill, under which name the place is marked in
some old maps.
Christ Church is of considerable size. It is of the last century (1843),
and its stumpy tower, which is incomplete, gives it an odd appearance.
The church is on the site of the Broadway Chapel, founded by Darrell, a
Prebendary of the Abbey, who in 1631 left £400 for its erection. Various
subscriptions were added to this sum, including one of £100 from
Archbishop Laud. The churchyard had been consecrated in 1626. The chapel
was opened 1642, and saw many vicissitudes of fortune. During the Civil
War it was used as a stable for the soldiers' horses, and at other
times as a council-room and a prison. In the churchyard Sir William
Waller, the Parliamentary General, is buried.
York Street was named after Frederick, Duke of York, son of George II.,
who resided here temporarily. Previously it had been called Petty
France, from the number of French refugees and merchants who inhabited
it. Milton lived in No. 19, now destroyed. The house belonged to Jeremy
Bentham, and was afterwards occupied by Hazlitt, who caused a tablet
bearing the words "Sacred to Milton, Prince of Poets," to be placed on
the outside wall in memory of his famous predecessor.
Milton came here in 1651, when turned out of chambers in Scotland Yard
which had been allowed him as Latin Secretary to the Council. He still
retained the office. He had lost the sight of one eye, and two years
later was totally blind. He was obliged to have an assistant-secretary,
a post occupied for some time by Andrew Marvell. His daughter Deborah
was born here, and his wife died soon after. In Palmer's Passage,
Palmer's Almshouses were first established, and in Little Chapel Street,
Mr. Nicholas Butler's. Mr. Cornelius Vandon's (Van Dun) were in Petty
France. "Cornelius Vandon was born at Breda in Brabant, Yeoman of the
Guard and Usher to their Majesties Henry VIII., King Edward VI., Queen
Marie and Queen Elizabeth. He did give eight almshouses in Pettie France
next to the end of James Street for the use of eight poor Women of the
Parish. He did also give eight other Almshouses near St. Ermin's Hill by
Tuttle side for the use of eight poor widows of this Parish." These
eight women were intended to act as charity nurses, and to nurse any who
were sick in the parish.
In 1850 the almshouses and ground were sold, and the proceeds devoted to
Vandon's Charity Account. Part of the funds was used to purchase a plot
of ground in Lambeth, where new almshouses were erected, and after the
death of the recipients of the charity these were let to tenants, and
the proceeds devoted to supplying nurses for the poor.
The towering blocks of Queen Anne's Mansions, the highest flats in
London, rear themselves at the east end of York Street. These are partly
on the site of a house occupied for very many years by Jeremy Bentham
(see p. 32).
The Guards Barracks, known as the Wellington Barracks, face Birdcage
Walk. They were opened in March, 1834, and enlarged in 1859. The long
line of yellow-washed building differs little from the usually-accepted
barrack model.
At the east end of the barrack yard stands the chapel, with an
extraordinarily massive portico. It was built in 1839-40 on the model of
a Grecian temple. The building is well proportioned, but the interior
was not at first thought worthy of the exterior. Accordingly, in 1877
the chapel was closed, and a sum of money arising from the sale of the
Guards' Institute was devoted to the purpose of a complete internal
reconstruction. The work was put into the hands of Sir G. E. Street,
R.A., who carried it out in the Lombardian style, with an apse at the
eastern end, and over the apse a semi-dome.
Within, every spare foot of wall-space is utilized, and, besides being a
perfect storehouse of memorials of departed Guardsmen, the chapel is
full of rich but unobtrusive decoration. The sweep of the high pillars
and arches of light stone relieves the richness of the mural
ornamentation. The side-walls of the nave are covered by an arcade
enclosing panels of marble mosaic. The heads of the arches are filled in
by terra-cotta groups in high relief, representing Biblical subjects.
Between and below the panels are tablets to the memory of those who have
served in the Guards.
Between the windows are other tablets, of which the most interesting is
that inscribed: "Soldier, Sportsman, Author, George Whyte Melville's
memory is here recorded by his old friends and comrades, the Coldstream
Guards." The chancel screen and pulpit are of white Sicilian marble,
with handsome panels and a base of Belgian black. In the spandril of the
arch on the south side of the chancel is a marble medallion of the Duke
of Wellington, presented by his son, and in the corresponding position
on the north side one of the Duke of Marlborough, presented by the Earl
of Cadogan. The stalls are of stained oak. The altar is of oak, with
walnut panels and ebony shafts. The reredos is lined by beautiful glass
mosaics, and the semi-dome is mosaic work to match. This sounds a mere
catalogue, but it is quite impossible to give any idea of this
singularly richly-decorated chapel without descending to detail. The
tattered colours used at the Crimea and Waterloo hang from their staves
on the pillars. Anyone is admitted to parade service on Sunday mornings
by ticket, to be procured beforehand by writing to the chaplain.
Queen Anne's Gate was formerly Queen Square. At a corner stands a statue
of Queen Anne without date. Many of the houses show quaintly carved
porches with wooden brackets and pendants, and are obviously of the date
which the name implies. Jeremy Bentham lived in Queen Square Place, now
covered by part of Queen Anne's Mansions, for fifty years of his life,
and here he died in 1832. His skeleton, clothed as in life, is now
possessed by University College, London. His house was called The
Hermitage. His friend and disciple, James Mill, came to be his tenant in
1814, in what was then 1 Queen's Square, now 40 Queen Anne's Gate. Here
he completed his great History of India, published in 1818.
After Mill, Sir John Bowring, first editor of the _Westminster Review_,
established by Bentham, occupied the house now numbered 40. Peg
Woffington also lived in Queen Square, which was a fashionable place of
residence in the last century, a reputation it still retains. Both Great
and Little Queen Streets partake of the old-world look of the
seventeenth century, and show quaint keystones and carving of various
designs over the doorways.
The Broadway formerly included the part now occupied by Great Chapel
Street, and reached to Strutton Ground. In James I.'s reign a license
was granted for a haymarket to be held here, which license was renewed
from time to time. Dick Turpin, the highwayman, is said to have lived in
one of the small courts off the Broadway, and to have issued from thence
on his marauding expeditions. Perhaps this was Black Horse Yard, which
name still appears. There is on every side evidence of that mingling of
poverty and riches which has been in all ages so characteristic of
Westminster, a parish which contains at the same time splendid
Government buildings and squalid slums, one of the most magnificent
cathedrals in the world and some of the foulest courts.
In Newcourt's map of 1658 Tothill Street is completely built, while
there are very few streets to the south of the present Victoria Street.
Walcott says of this street that it "was inhabited by noblemen and the
flower of the gentry in Westminster." In Elizabeth's time the houses had
large gardens attached. Edmund Burke lived in Tothill Street, also
Thomas Southerne, the dramatist, who was a constant attendant at the
Abbey; and Thomas Betterton was born here about 1635. His father was an
under-cook in the service of Charles I. Betterton wrote a number of
plays, but is best remembered as an actor.
The Aquarium, 600 feet in length, stands on the site of a labyrinth of
small yards. To one of these the Cock public-house gave its name.
Tradition says that the Abbey workmen received their wages at the Cock
in the reign of Henry III. At the eastern corner, where Tothill and
Victoria Streets meet, is the Palace Hotel, a very large building, with
two Titanic male figures supporting the portico in an attitude of
eternal strain. This is on part of the site of the Almonry. This
Almonry is thus described by Stow: "Now corruptly the Ambry, for that
the alms of the Abbey were there distributed to the Poor. Therein was
printing first practised in England." Caxton is often spoken of,
incorrectly, as the inventor of printing. That credit belongs to
Gutenberg, a native of Mainz, but Caxton was the first who brought the
art to England and printed English books. He was born in the Weald of
Kent, and his father was a citizen of London. As a boy, Caxton was sent
to a house of English merchants at Bruges, and there he remained for
many years, rising steadily in reputation. There he came in contact with
a man named Colard Mansion, who had brought the art of printing to
Bruges. Caxton seems to have seen at once the vast importance of the
invention, and got Mansion to print two books in English, the first ever
set up in the language. These were: "A Recuyell of the Historyes of
Troie," printed 1474; and "The Game and Playe of the Chesse." Apparently
the experiment met with success. Caxton soon after left the house of
business, married, and became secretary to the Duchess of Burgundy, but
he was not long in her service, for he returned to England in 1476. He
brought over with him printing-presses and workmen, and settled in
Westminster. He placed his press, by permission of the Prior
(afterwards Abbot) Islip, in the Almonry just outside the gatehouse.
His house was called Reed (Red) Pale, and was situated on the north side
of the Almonry. A house traditionally called Caxton's was pointed out up
to fifty years ago. It is described as being of red brick. In the
library of Brasenose College, Oxford, there is a placard in Caxton's
largest type inviting people to "come to Westminster in the Almonystrye
at the Reed Pale."
Caxton died in 1491, and, with his wife, is buried in St. Margaret's
Church. He left one daughter.
A copy of "The Royal Book," or "Book for a King," compiled for Philip of
France in 1279, and translated and printed by Caxton at Westminster in
1487, was sold this year in England for £2,225. There are only five
copies in existence, one of which was sold in 1901 for £1,550. The other
three are in public libraries. Could Caxton have looked onward for 400
years, his astonishment and gratification at these prodigious prices
would doubtless have been extreme.
The Almonry, or "Eleemosynary," as Stow calls it, was in two parts, of
which the larger was again subdivided in two portions, parallel to the
two Tothill Streets. The distribution of the Royal maundy which takes
place in Westminster Abbey yearly, with much ceremony, is a reminder of
the ancient almsgiving. The address of the present Royal Almonry is 6,
Craigs Court.
Henry VII.'s almshouses were in the Little Almonry, and St. Ann's Chapel
(p. 23) was at the southern end. King Henry's mother, Margaret, erected
an almshouse near the chapel for poor women, which "was afterwards
turned into lodgings for the singing men of the College."
A great gatehouse formerly stood at the east end of Victoria Street,
close by Dean's Yard. It was built by Richard II., and was very massive,
resembling a square tower of stone, and it altogether lacked the
architectural decoration of the other gateways near King Street to be
spoken of presently. Well might it seem gloomy, for it fulfilled the
functions of a prison. On one side was the Bishop of London's prison for
"Clerks, convict," and in the other were confined prisoners from the
City or Liberties of Westminster. Many distinguished prisoners were
confined here. Sir Walter Raleigh passed the night before his execution
within the solid walls, and wrote his farewell to life:
"Even such is Time! that takes on trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have;
And pays us but with age and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days."
Perhaps the most illustrious victim of all those who have perished on
English scaffolds is Sir Walter Raleigh. He was brought out to die in
Old Palace Yard at eight in the morning of October 29, 1618. The day
chosen was Lord Mayor's Day, in the hope that the pageants of the day
would draw away the people from witnessing the death of this great man.
The story of his execution is well known. His last words have not been
allowed to perish. "Now," he said, as he mounted the scaffold, "I am
going to God." Then, touching the axe, he said: "This is a sharp
medicine, but it will cure all diseases." Lady Raleigh herself waited
near the scaffold in a coach. The head was placed in a leather bag,
wrapped about with Sir Walter's gown, and so she carried it away. She
preserved it in a case during the rest of her life, and her son Carew
kept it afterwards. It is believed to have been buried at last at West
Horsley, in Surrey. The body was buried in St. Margaret's, near the
altar.
Here also was imprisoned Colonel Lovelace, who wrote within the gloomy
walls the well-known lines:
"When, linnet-like, confinéd I
With shriller note shall sing
The mercye, sweetness, majesty,
And glories of my King;
When I shall voyce aloud how good
He is, how great should be,
Th' enlarged winds that curl the flood
Know no such liberty.
"Stone walls do not a prison make,
Nor iron bars a cage:
Minds, innocent and quiet, take
That for an hermitage.
If I have freedom in my love,
And in my soul am free,
Angels alone, that soare above,
Enjoy such liberty."
Here were confined, also, Goodman, Bishop of Gloucester; and Sir Jeffrey
Hudson, the little dwarf, who was first in the service of the Duchess of
Buckingham, and afterwards in that of Queen Henrietta Maria, and was
twice painted by Vandyck. Hudson died in the prison. Hampden, Sir John
Eliot, and Lilly, the astrologer, were imprisoned at various times, and
Titus Oates died in the gatehouse in his sixty-third year. Richard
Savage, the poet, adds another name to the list. In 1776 the Dean and
Chapter of Westminster ordered that the gatehouse should be pulled down,
but one wall, adjoining the house once inhabited by Edmund Burke, was
still standing in 1836.
Close by was Thieving Lane, through which thieves were taken to the
prison without passing by the sanctuary and claiming its immunity.
Within the High Gate was the Abbey Precinct, and with this we pass into
by far the most interesting part of Westminster--that part that may be
called the nucleus, round which cluster so many historical memories that
the mere task of recording them is very great.