fashion. In 1718 it was stated that “there are severall roomes, chambers
and other apartments ... which interfere or mix within each other very
inconvenient for separate familyes to inhabit therein severally and
apart from each other.” In that year, therefore, an arrangement[219] was
made whereby “the kitchen under a roome heretofore called ... Mr.
Stonor’s dressing-roome,[220] the larder backwardes next the garden
under part of a room ... called Mr. Stonor’s bedchamber ... which were
then both used and enjoyed with the house in possession of ... Henry
Browne ... were to be added to the inheritance of the house of the said
Thos. Stonor in exchange” for “the cellar under the foreparlour next
Queen Street, and the uppermost room or garrett over the said parlour,
the lesser cellar adjoyning to that last before mentioned cellar and the
room backwards next the garden up two pair of stairs over the back
parlour, and upper with drawing roome,” structurally part of Browne’s
house, but occupied as part of Stonor’s.
Other alterations took place in 1732–3, when the western half was
divided, and probably portions of the present party wall, to the east of
No. 56, date from this and the earlier period.
During the last century many further alterations and partial rebuildings
were carried out. Shortly before 1816, the extensive grounds in the rear
were utilised for buildings, for in a deed[221] of that year reference
is made to “all those stables, coach houses and workshops and premises
erected ... in New Yard ... and which before the erecting of the
said ... stables, coach houses, shops and other premises, was a garden
ground.”
Subsequently the external west wall was rebuilt, and the south-western
premises, extending over the entrance to the yard (see Plate 17) were
erected.
The eastern half of the original mansion seems to have been demolished
between 1840 and 1846, for J. Nash, in a sketch made in the former year,
gives the complete elevation, whereas Archer in 1846 (Plate 16) shows a
commonplace building on the site of the eastern half.
[Illustration:
Nos. 55–58, GREAT QUEEN STREET IN 1840.
]
Having regard to the many alterations which the premises have undergone,
it is not surprising that very little of the first building is left. Of
the original walls remaining, that to the street is the most important.
Several of the chimney breasts, and parts of the walls to which they are
attached, are also original work, but it is extremely doubtful if any of
the external walls at the rear is coeval with the erection of the house.
This will account for the fact that Evelyn’s “long gallery”[222] no
longer exists.
The notable feature of No. 55 internally is the staircase. Although the
treads and risers are modern, the deal balustrading between the ground
and first floors may date from the erection of the house in 1637, or
from its re-occupation by the Digby family after the Restoration,
_i.e._, before 1664 (see p. 52). The staircase extends from the ground
to the first floor. It is constructed of straight strings, moulded and
carved; the centre moulding has a band of laurel leaves and berries
alternating with oak leaves, acorns and oak apples, while the upper
member is enriched with acanthus. The three newels are square. The one
at the ground floor level rests on the 19th-century floor, and has a
simple capping of mouldings similar to those on the handrail. The newel
at the half landing is of similar design to that below and receives the
strings of both flights. The newel at the first floor level has a modern
capping, but carries the original pendant below, the enrichment taking
the form of the open flower of a waterlily. The balusters are turned as
ornamental pillars, their capitals being floriated together with the
vase-like swellings included in their bases. Two of the base members are
also carved. The handrail of the lower flight is notched and fitted to
the string of the upper, the mouldings continue along the string
downwards to the newel, and a triangular panel fills the spandril space
beneath instead of diminishing balusters.
The simple character of the elliptical archway at the end of the passage
leading from the street to the staircase may be noted.
On the second floor of No. 56, is a deal balustrade (Plate 21), which
doubtless formed part of the original staircase landing, but has now
been adapted to protect an opening in the floor. The detail is very
similar to that of the staircase formerly at No. 52, Lincoln’s Inn
Fields,[223] which was erected shortly after this date.
The panelling of the room at the end of the ground floor passage is
apparently contemporary with the erection of the house.
The present front room on the second floor was at first two separate
apartments. Near the end of the 17th or early in the 18th century, a
wide opening was formed in the partition, the original door and doorway,
and part of the surrounding wall being, however, left. Probably at the
same time, the little lobby and powder closet were formed. The latter
has a small opening in its southern wall.
The small staircase in front of the opening leading to the attics
appears to have been erected about 1732–3, as also the portion of the
staircases leading from the second to the first floors, and a short
length of balustrading (Plate 21) at the first floor level.
The front room on the ground floor was dismantled early in the 19th
century and nothing of interest is left.
CONDITION OF REPAIR.
The premises are in good repair.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
The indenture[224] relating to the sale of the freehold by Newton
on 26th October, 1639, to Sir Henry Compton, Sir Lewis Dive and
Thos. Brewer, refers to the house as “late in the tenure of the
Rt. Hon. Thomas, Lord Arundell, Baron of Warder, now deceased.”
Thomas Arundell, first Baron Arundell of Wardour, was born in
1560. He greatly distinguished himself in the wars against the
Turks in Hungary, and for his valour, was, in 1590, created Count
of the Holy Roman Empire. He was raised to the English peerage by
James I. in 1605, and died in 1639.
In the sale mentioned above, Compton, Dive and Brewer were acting
on behalf of the Marquess of Clanricarde, and the latter is
referred to as actually in occupation of the house in January,
1639–40.[225]
[Illustration:
_De Burgh._
]
Ulick De Burgh, Marquess of Clanricarde, Earl of St. Albans, was
born “in Clanricarde House, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn
Fields, London”[226] in 1604. The exact position of this house is
not known, but it must have been on the north side of the street,
as the south was not built on for many years afterwards. From his
father he inherited, together with the viscounty of Galway, vast
estates and an enormous influence in the south of Ireland. He sat
in the Short Parliament, and accompanied the King in his
expedition against the Scots in 1640. His occupation of the house
on the _south_ side was brief, for in September, 1641, he disposed
of the property to the Earl of Bristol.[227] In the summer of the
latter year[228] he had taken up his residence in Ireland. During
the troublous times that followed the outbreak of the Irish
rebellion in that year, Clanricarde played a prominent part.
Although many of his relatives joined the Irish Confederation, he
alone among the Irish Roman Catholic nobility remained loyal to
the king, kept Galway, of which he was governor, neutral, and made
“his houses and towns a refuge, nay even a hospital, for the
distressed English.”[229] When the Viceroy, Ormonde, quitted
Ireland in 1650, Clanricarde was appointed his deputy, but his
efforts against the parliamentary forces were rendered fruitless
by the distrust with which he was regarded by many of the Irish
royalists. In 1652 he received Charles’s permission to make the
best terms possible with the parliamentarians, and articles were
accordingly concluded, by virtue of which he was able in the same
year to withdraw from Ireland. Though expressly excepted by
statute from pardon for life and estate, he was enabled, by
permits renewed from time to time, to retire for the remainder of
his life to his seat at Summerhill, Kent, where he died in 1657.
Though he was the object of bitter denunciation by the native
Irish faction, he has earned the commendation of Hallam as being
“perhaps the most unsullied character in the annals of
Ireland.”[230]
John Digby, first Earl of Bristol, who followed Clanricarde in the
occupation of the house in Great Queen Street, was the son of Sir
George Digby, of Coleshill, Warwickshire, and was born in 1580. He
gained the favour of James I. and was knighted in 1607. Four years
later he was sent as ambassador to Madrid, and from that time
until 1624 was frequently employed on diplomatic missions of
first-rate importance. In 1618 he was raised to the peerage, and
in 1622 was created Earl of Bristol. In the following year, while
engaged at Madrid in connection with a project for the marriage of
the Infanta Maria and Prince Charles, he managed to offend
bitterly both the latter and Buckingham, who had come to Spain on
a surprise visit. In 1624 he came home and found himself in
disgrace. For the first few years of Charles’s reign, he continued
to be an object of the king’s resentment and spent several months
in the Tower. After 1628 he took no part in politics until the war
against the Scots in 1639. He was the leader of the Great Council
held at York in 1640. Though he came forward in the Long
Parliament as a reformer of the government, yet when it became
necessary to take up a definite side in the civil strife he threw
in his lot with the king. He was with him at Oxford for some time
after the battle of Edgehill, removing thence to Sherborne, and
subsequently, in 1644, to Exeter. On the capitulation of that city
to Fairfax in 1646, he was given a pass to go beyond the seas. He
died in Paris in 1653, and by his will[231] bequeathed to his
second son, John, his house in Queen Street. This house had formed
his residence at the most from September, 1641, to some time
before the battle of Edgehill in October, 1642. By the parliament
he was regarded with peculiar abhorrence, due partly, no doubt, to
the acts of his uncontrollable son, and in August, 1644, an
ordinance was passed providing _inter alia_ that “the house of
John, Earl of Bristol ... in Queen Street ... with the gardens,
stables, edifices and buildings thereunto belonging, with their
appurtenances, heretofore the mansion house of the said Earl of
Bristoll,” should be granted to Lady Brooke for her life, and
after her decease to her youngest son, Fulke Greville.
[Illustration:
_Digby._
]
There is, however, no evidence that Lady Brooke[232] ever lived
there, and the next record that has been found as to the
occupation of Bristol House is contained in a deed[233] of 1654,
by which Antony Wither purchased from the “Trustees for the Sale
of Estates forfeited for Treason, all that messuage or
tenement ... situate in the parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields ...
in a streete there called Queene Streete ... late in the tenure or
occupation of Thomas, Lord Fayrfax, and now or late in the
tenure ... of Sir William Paston, Knt., ... which said
premises ... are mentioned to have bin late parcell of the
possessions of John, Earle of Bristoll ... whose estate hath bin
and is thereby declared and adjudged to be justly forfeited by him
for his treason against the Parliament and people of England.”
Thomas Fairfax, third Baron Fairfax, was the son of Ferdinando,
second Lord Fairfax, and was born at Denton, in Yorkshire, on 17th
January, 1612. He served in the Low Countries under Sir Horace
Vere, whose daughter he afterwards married. He held a command
during the first Scotch war, and was knighted by the king in
January, 1640. On the outbreak of the Civil War he took up arms on
behalf of the Parliament and gained great distinction. In 1645,
consequent upon the compulsory retirement of officers who were
members of either house (his father among others), he was
appointed to the chief command of the parliamentary forces. He
arrived in London on 18th February, accompanied by his uncle, Sir
William Constable,[234] and two or three officers, and took up his
quarters at “the house in Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn, which had
been hired for the new general during his stay in London.”[235]
During his absence in the field his house in Queen Street was
occupied by his father, with whom he kept up a constant
correspondence.[236] In June, 1645, Fairfax amply vindicated the
Parliament’s choice by his annihilation of the royal army at
Naseby, and on 12th November, 1646, having brought the first
portion of the Civil War to a successful close, he returned to
London to receive the thanks of Parliament and of the City.
Accompanied by dense crowds, “he was conducted to his house in
Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn, amidst deafening cheers and the
ringing of bells; and was received at the door by his wife and his
father, the old lord, with his new bride.”[237] Two days later
both houses of Parliament paid a congratulatory visit to Fairfax
in his house in Queen Street. His father died in March, 1648. In
the second portion of the Civil War, which began later on in the
same year, Fairfax was at first principally occupied with the
siege of Colchester, and his execution of Lucas and Lisle on the
surrender of that town in July, 1648, though bitterly denounced,
seems not to have been without justification. In the events which
led up to the death of Charles in 1649 he seems to have been an
unwilling instrument of the army. In 1650 he resigned the
commandership-in-chief, to which he had again been elected, rather
than take part in the attack on Scotland, and during the whole of
the remaining period, until the death of Cromwell, he lived in
retirement at Nun Appleton, in Yorkshire. He took a leading part
in bringing about the Restoration, but after that was successfully
accomplished he again retired to Nun Appleton, where he spent the
rest of his days in religious exercises. He died on 16th October,
1665.
[Illustration:
_Fairfax._
]
As the house in Great Queen Street had been provided by Parliament
for use as his official residence, his occupation of it probably
ceased on his resignation in June, 1650.
Of Sir William Paston’s residence we have but little record. There
is, however, a letter from him, headed “Queen Street,” and
presumably written from this house, dated 30th January,
1650–51.[238] The deed mentioned above leaves it uncertain whether
he was, in June, 1654, still in occupation of the house.[239] He
had been high sheriff of Norfolk in 1636, was created a baronet in
June, 1642, and died in February, 1663. He was the father of the
first Earl of Yarmouth.
At the Restoration the house again came into the hands of the
Digby family. In a deed of 6th January, 1663–4,[240] it is
referred to as “now in the tenure of George, Earl of Bristol, or
his assignes,” and in the Hearth Tax Rolls for 1665 and 1666, the
Earl of Bristol is shown as in occupation of the house. This was
George, the second Earl, who was born at Madrid, in October, 1612.
When only twelve years old he appeared at the bar of the House of
Commons on behalf of his father, who had been committed to the
Tower, and his graceful person, gallant bearing, and eloquent
speech made a great impression. He enjoyed a distinguished career
at Oxford, and afterwards displayed some literary ability in the
_Letters between the Lord George Digby and Sir Kenelm Digby, Knt.,
concerning Religion_, written in 1638–9. He entered Parliament in
1640, where, although at first hostile to the Court, he afterwards
became one of its strongest adherents. He was responsible for the
proposal for the prosecution of the five members, and even
suggested that they should be followed into the City and taken by
force. In February, 1642, he was impeached of high treason and
fled to Holland, but soon returned. In September, 1643, he was
appointed one of the secretaries of state, and as one of the
king’s chief advisers did incalculable harm to the royal cause. In
October, 1645, he was made lieutenant-general of the royal forces
north of the Trent, and was defeated at Sherburn. The next few
years he spent chiefly in Ireland, whence, on its surrender to the
Parliament, he escaped to the Continent, gaining and losing favour
in France, joining Prince Charles at Bruges and accompanying him
to Spain. In 1657 he became a Roman Catholic. On the Restoration
he returned to England. Being debarred from office on account of
his religion, his energy found vent in an unreasoning hostility to
Clarendon, in which he went so far that he provoked the keenest
resentment on the part of the king, and had to remain in
concealment for nearly two years. He died at Beaufort House,
Chelsea,[241] in March, 1677, leaving behind him a reputation for
brilliant but misdirected ability.
His residence in Great Queen Street seems to have terminated
before 1671,[242] for under date of 26th May in that year, Evelyn
records: “The Earl of Bristol’s house in Queen Street was taken
for the Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, and furnished with
rich hangings of the King’s. It consisted of seven rooms on a
floor, with a long gallery, gardens, etc.... We then took our
places at the Board in the Council Chamber, a very large roome
furnished with atlasses, maps, charts, globes, etc.”[243] Evelyn
had only recently (see Diary for 28th February) been appointed on
the Council of Foreign Plantations,[244] and the above entry
refers to the first occasion on which he attended as a member, and
gives no clue as to the date on which the house had been taken for
the use of either of the Commissions.[245] On 12th February,
1671–2, Evelyn records the determination of the Council to meet in
future at Whitehall.[246]
The Hearth Tax Rolls for 1673 and 1675 show the Earl of Devonshire
as then in occupation of the house. He would, indeed, seem to have
acquired most of the interests in the premises by or before July,
1667,[247] and it is quite possible that his residence extended on
both sides of the short occupation by the Boards of Trade and
Plantations.
[Illustration:
_Cavendish._
]
William Cavendish, third Earl of Devonshire, was born in 1617. He
derived his education in part from his father’s old tutor, Thomas
Hobbes, the philosopher, in whose company he travelled abroad from
1634 to 1637. At the beginning of the Civil War he embraced the
royalist cause, and on being impeached by Parliament, refused to
submit, and left the country. In 1645 he returned to England, and
on payment of a large fine received a pardon for his former
delinquency. During the remainder of the Commonwealth period he
lived in retirement at Latimers, in Buckinghamshire, and even
after the Restoration he resided mainly in the country. He was one
of the original fellows of the Royal Society, and in 1669 was
appointed a commissioner of trade.[248] He died in 1684 at
Roehampton.
In June, 1674, the Earl of Devonshire had sold the remainder of
the original 99 years’ lease of the house to the Earl of
Sunderland,[249] who in the Jury Presentment Roll for 1683 is
shown in occupation of the house. He parted with his interests in
the property in April, 1684, and his occupation may therefore with
reasonable certainty be assigned to the period 1674–84.[250]
[Illustration:
_Spencer._
]
Robert Spencer, second Earl of Sunderland, the only son of Henry
Spencer, the first Earl, and “Sacharissa,” was born in 1640, and
succeeded to the earldom only three years later. In 1665 he
married Lady Anne Digby, younger daughter of the second Earl of
Bristol. In preparation for his future political career, he now
began paying court to the royal favourites, and in 1671 invited
Mdlle. de Keroualle (afterwards Duchess of Portsmouth) “to his
town house in Queen Street, and lost enormous sums to her at
basset.”[251] This can hardly have been Bristol House, for the
facts seem quite inconsistent with Sunderland’s residence there so
early as 1671. More probably it was his mother’s house at the
eastern end of Great Queen Street. From 1671 to 1678 he was
employed on several diplomatic errands abroad. In 1679 he became
secretary of state for the northern department, but in 1681
incurred the king’s displeasure, and consequently lost both his
secretaryship and his seat on the Privy Council. Afterwards he
regained his place by the influence of the Duchess of Portsmouth,
and on the accession of James II. in 1685 he speedily ingratiated
himself with the new king, who made him Lord President of the
Council. While assiduously cultivating James’s favour, he was also
receiving a substantial secret pension from Louis XIV. for the
promotion of French interests, and through his wife’s lover, Henry
Sidney, was furnishing William of Orange with particulars of the
most secret transactions of the English Court. By degrees his
position became more and more difficult and, although in 1687 he
had embraced the Roman Catholic faith, not all his duplicity could
prevent the growing dissatisfaction with which James regarded what
he considered as his lukewarm service, and in 1688 he was
dismissed and fled to Holland. Though excepted from the Act of
Indemnity, he was in 1691 permitted to return to England. He
declared himself again a Protestant, and his advice soon became
indispensable to William. His influence gradually grew until in
1697 all the hatred and jealousy with which he was regarded came
to a head, and he resigned in a panic. The rest of his life he
passed in seclusion at Althorp, and he died in 1702. “With the
possible exception of Northumberland in Edward VI.’s reign, it is
doubtful whether English history has to show a more crafty and
unprincipled intriguer.”[252]
In the course of 1684 all interests in the house in Great Queen
Street were acquired[253] by John, Lord Belasyse,[254] and the
premises were now divided into two, afterwards respectively Nos.
55–56, and Nos. 57–58. The later history of the latter will come
naturally under the head of the Freemasons’ Hall, a part of which
now occupies the site.
As regards Nos. 55–56, we learn that prior to 1689[255] this
portion of the original mansion had been occupied by the Duke of
Norfolk.
Henry Howard, seventh Duke of Norfolk, was born in January, 1655,
and succeeded to the title in January, 1684. He was noted for his
staunch Protestantism. He joined in the invitation to the Prince
of Orange, and on the latter’s landing brought over the eastern
counties to his interest. He died at Norfolk House, St. James’s
Square, in 1701. His residence at Nos. 55–56, Great Queen Street
must have fallen in the period 1684–1689.
Subsequently the house was occupied by Thomas Stonor, who had
married the Hon. Isabella Belasyse, to whom her father, Lord
Belasyse, had bequeathed this portion of the original house.
Stonor is shown in occupation in 1698, 1700 and 1703. In 1718 the
house was sold[256] to Sir Godfrey Kneller, then already in
occupation of the premises.
Sir Godfrey Kneller (originally Gottfried Kniller) was born at
Lübeck in 1646, son of a portrait painter. He was at first
intended for the military profession, but his love for painting
proved so strong that his father sent him to Amsterdam to study
under Ferdinand Bol. In 1672 he went to Italy, and soon acquired a
considerable reputation. Afterwards he visited Hamburg, and in
1675 came to England, where his work attracted the notice of the
Duke of Monmouth, by whose influence he was in 1678 introduced to
Charles II. He at once leaped into popularity, and after the death
of Sir Peter Lely in 1680 reigned supreme in the domain of
portrait painting. He acquired great wealth, and, though he lost
heavily in the South Sea Bubble, he left a large fortune. His
residence at Nos. 55–56, Great Queen Street seems to have
commenced about 1703,[257] and here he lived until his death in
1723. By his will[258] he left to his wife, amongst other
property, “all that my messuage or house, outhouses, stableyards
and garden thereunto belonging in Great Queen Street ... in which
I now dwell,” as well as the next door house (Nos. 57–58), which
he had also purchased. He also mentions the “six pictures of mine
and my wife’s relations painted by myself, and now in my great
dining room in my said dwelling house in Great Queen Street, and
also the three pictures put up for ornament over the doors in the
said room.”