1761. Instead of following his father’s trade as a carpenter, he
took up painting and attracted the notice of Dr. Wolcot (Peter
Pindar), who brought him after a while to Exeter, and in 1780 to
London. Here Opie became known as the “Cornish wonder,” and,
indeed, the fact that he, a carpenter’s son in a remote Cornish
village, without any regular instruction or opportunity of
studying the work of great painters, should at the age of nineteen
have produced pictures which the most distinguished artists in the
country admired and envied, justified the name. Wolcot’s
introductions were the means of Opie securing many valuable
commissions, and his popularity became enormous. During the spring
of 1782, his lodgings in Orange Court, Castle Street, Leicester
Square, were thronged with rank and fashion, and after he had
moved to Great Queen Street in the following year, the street was
at times blocked with the carriages of his sitters. His
popularity, however, waned as suddenly as it had risen. This he
had expected, and had striven, and continued to strive, to perfect
himself in his art, and to supply the deficiencies in his
education. In 1791, he moved from Great Queen Street to No. 8,
Berners Street. In 1805 he was elected professor of painting to
the Royal Academy, and the lectures which were delivered only a
few weeks before his death form a contribution of permanent value
to the literature of art criticism. He died in April, 1807, and
was buried in St. Paul’s.
THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION CONTAINS:—
[411]Plan of premises before 1779 (photograph).
[411]Elevation of premises in 1779 (photograph).
[411]Exterior of the tavern in 1811 as designed by William Tyler
in 1785 (photograph).
[411]The façade, designed by F. P. Cockerell (1866) (photograph).
[411]Elevation of the north end of the Temple, as designed by
Thomas Sandby in 1775 (photograph).
[411]The disastrous fire at Freemasons’ Hall. The scene of the
conflagration of 1883, from a woodcut (photograph).
[411]The Temple, looking south (photograph).
The Temple, looking north (photograph).
The chair of the Grand Master (photograph).
[411]View of the New Masonic Hall, looking south, pen sketch
design by Sir J. Soane, (1828) (photograph).
Plan of the ground floor before the alterations of 1899 (measured
drawing).
[411]Plan of the principal floor before the alterations of 1899
(drawing).
[411]Grand staircase (photograph).
First floor corridor (photograph).
[411]Vestibule to Temple, showing mosaic paving (photograph).
Interior of Banqueting Hall—Connaught Rooms looking north
(photograph).
Three swords in museum (photograph).
XXXIX.—MARKMASONS’ HALL.
GROUND LANDLORDS.
The United Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of England.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND DATE OF STRUCTURE.
The origin of these premises, comprising the two easternmost of the four
houses built in 1743 on the site of Conway House, has already been
described.[412] In 1889 the houses, which had for many years been used
for the purposes of Bacon’s Hotel, were occupied by the Grand Lodge of
Mark Master Masons. The exterior and most of the interior has been
rebuilt or modernised, with the exception of the two rooms on the first
floor facing Great Queen Street, which appear to date from the
rebuilding in 1743. The Board Room, to the east, has a fine carved deal
mantelpiece and overmantel (Plate 29). The mantelpiece has a carved
head, representing Bacchus in the frieze and scrolls at the sides. The
overmantel takes the form of a picture with a carved frame and bold
broken pediment over; the tympanum is filled with a finely carved basket
containing flowers and fruit. The other feature of the room is a
decorative ceiling (Plate 30), having a large central medallion
representing children.
The Grand Secretary’s room has also a decorative plaster ceiling (Plate
31), with four oval medallions containing trees and flowers. The
chimneypiece is a modern replica in wood and plaster of the one already
mentioned.
CONDITION OF REPAIR.
The premises are in excellent repair.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
The residents in the two easternmost of the four houses built on
the site of Conway House in 1743 were as follows:—
Eastern house. Western house.
1745–47. John Williams. 1745–51. John Moreton.
1748–51. Lily Aynscombe. 1753–58. Is. Hawkins Browne.
1753–56. Henry Shiffner. 1759–68. Mrs. Mary Clarke.
1758–87. Joseph Pickering. 1768–72. Ch. Raymond.
1787–91. —— Leverton. 1772–93. Joseph Hill.
1791–94. Wm. Hutchins. 1793–99. J. Bower.
1795. —— Savage. 1799– —— Baines.
1795– —— Dickenson.
Henry Shiffner, on leaving the house in Great Queen Street,
removed to No. 59, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where he has left
permanent traces of his occupation.[413]
The “Leverton” whose name appears in connection with the first and
fourth (see p. 83) of the houses erected on the site of Conway
House for the years 1787–91 and 1791 respectively, was almost
certainly Thomas Leverton, the architect. The _Royal Academy
Catalogues_ give the addresses of T. Leverton as follows: 1773–78,
1780–83 (Great Queen Street), 1784–5, 1787 (Charlotte Street,
Bedford Square), 1794 (Great Queen Street), 1797 (Bedford Square).
The Catalogue for 1792 shows “Leverton” (without initial) at 60,
Great Queen Street. Unfortunately, his name does not appear in the
_Catalogues_ for the period 1787–91, and thus direct confirmation
of his identity with the occupier of the houses in question is not
possible. It may be added that there is no mention in the ratebook
of any “Leverton” at No. 60 in 1792, and Leverton’s residences in
Great Queen Street in the other years mentioned[414] would seem to
have been in lodgings, as no trace of them can be discovered.
Isaac Hawkins Browne, poet, was born in 1705 at Burton-on-Trent,
his father being vicar of the parish. Although called to the Bar
he did not take up his profession in earnest. He was twice M.P.
for the borough of Wenlock. His chief English works were a poem on
_Design and Beauty_, and an ode entitled _A Pipe of Tobacco_, but
his principal achievement was a Latin poem _De Animi
Immortalitate_. He died in 1760. Mrs. Piozzi relates that Dr.
Johnson said that Browne was “of all conversers ... the most
delightful with whom I ever was in company; his talk was at once
so elegant, so apparently artless, so pure, and so pleasing, it
seemed a perpetual stream of sentiment, enlivened by gaiety, and
sparkling with images.”[415] Johnson also used Browne as an
illustration of the proposition that a man’s powers were not to be
judged by his capacity for public speech: “Isaac Hawkins Browne,
one of the first wits of this country, got into Parliament and
never opened his mouth.”[416]
Browne’s son, also named Isaac Hawkins, must also have been a
resident at the house in Great Queen Street, for he was only eight
years old at the time of the removal of the family thither in
1753. He represented Bridgnorth in Parliament for twenty-eight
years, and though no orator, when he spoke “his established
reputation for superior knowledge and judgment secured to him that
attention which might have been wanting to him on other
accounts.”[417] He edited his father’s poems, and also wrote
_Essays, Religious and Moral_, and _Essays on Subjects of
Important Inquiry in Metaphysics, Morals and Religion_. He died in
1818.
IN THE COUNCIL’S COLLECTION ARE:—
[418]Ornamental plaster ceiling in Board Room on first floor
(photograph).
[418]Carved deal chimneypiece in Board Room (photograph).
[418]Ornamental plaster ceiling in Grand Secretary’s Room, first
floor (photograph).
XL.—GREAT QUEEN STREET CHAPEL (DEMOLISHED).
GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND DATE OF STRUCTURE.
Before its destruction in 1910 the Wesleyan Chapel in Great Queen Street
occupied the greater portion of the sites of three houses with their
gardens. These were Nos. 66 to 68, intervening between Conway House and
the stream which divided Aldwych Close from Purse Field.
The land on which these three houses were erected was roughly the shape
of a truncated right-angled triangle, the base of which was represented
by Great Queen Street, the perpendicular by the line of Middle Yard, and
the hypotenuse by the course of the stream. The land in question was
leased[419] by Newton to Peter Mills[420], of Christchurch, London,
bricklayer, and it would seem that at that date (15th September, 1639)
no houses had been erected thereon.[421] The building was therefore
carried out probably in 1640; at any rate No. 66 is known to have been
occupied in December, 1641. No information can be gleaned from the
ratebooks as to when the three houses were rebuilt, but at least one
(No. 67) seems to have been still standing at about 1817, when an
illustration of it was included in Parton’s _Hospital and Parish of St.
Giles-in-the-Fields_.
The first reference that has been found to the building of a chapel of
ease for the parish occurs in the Vestry Minutes under the year
1693:[422] “Ordered, to inquire of the gentry in Lincoln’s Inn Fields,
which of them will take pews in case a chappell should be erected in the
neighbourhood of Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and report to be made to the next
Vestry.” It was, however, left to private enterprise to provide such a
building.
In 1706 a Mr. Baguley took a house (apparently No. 67)[423], built a
chapel in the rear, and seems even to have officiated therein, although
not in Priest’s orders. Naturally enough, he soon got into trouble with
the Rector of St. Giles, who, as Baguley affirmed,[424] induced the
vendor of the house and land to break off his agreement with Baguley,
and sell to “one Burges, a coachmaker.” According, however, to the
ratebooks the house occupied by Burges was No. 68. Between 1720 and 1723
the assessment of No. 68 also dropped. Whether this implies an extension
of the chapel over a portion of the ground in the rear of that house is
uncertain, but it will be seen that when the chapel comes, as it were,
into the light of day, at the beginning of the 19th century, it covers
nearly the whole of the rear of _both_ houses.
The whole of its early history, however, is shrouded in obscurity, and
no reference to it or to the services held therein has been found
between 1728[425] and its acquisition by the Rev. Thomas Francklyn. Even
the date at which this occurred cannot be definitely stated. The chapel
seems to have been in his hands in February, 1758, for on the 17th of
that month he preached a sermon there, which he published in the same
year.[426] In 1759 his name appears in the parish ratebook in connection
with the chapel.[427] His residence at the _house_ (No. 67) does not
seem to have begun until 1761. On Francklyn’s death in 1784, his
executors appear to have carried on the work of the chapel. On 19th
July, 1798, Mrs. Francklyn’s executors sold to the Society formerly
carrying on the West Street Chapel, Seven Dials, their leasehold
interest in the two houses and the chapel for £3,507 10s.[428]
The chapel was at that time, says Blott,[429] a very homely structure;
it was dark, and, lying below the level of the street, could not easily
be kept clean, and the entrance to it was by a passage through a
dwelling house. The surrounding houses overlooking it were at times a
means of annoyance during service. Negotiations were therefore entered
into with the owners of No. 66, and on 14th March, 1815, a purchase was
effected of the whole of the back part of the premises, bounded by
Middle Yard on the one side and the old chapel on the other, and having
a length of 102½ feet and a breadth of 31 feet.[430] The new chapel was
opened on 25th September, 1817.[431] Alterations were carried out in
1840, when an improved frontage and new portico were constructed.[432]
The elevation to Great Queen Street (Plate 32) was of brick faced with
stucco, the lower part having a portico of four Greek Ionic columns the
full width of the building, executed in Talacre stone from North
Wales.[432] Above this, in the main wall of the chapel was a three light
window with Corinthian columns and pilasters supporting an entablature,
over which was a semi-circular pediment and tympanum. Crowning the whole
was a bold modillion cornice.
The interior (Plate 33) had a horseshoe gallery supported by Ionic
columns; above the back of the side galleries were other smaller
galleries. Facing the entrance was an apse ornamented with Corinthian
columns, pilasters and entablature carrying an elliptical arch. Covering
the whole area was a flat ornamental ceiling.
There is preserved by the West London Mission a measured drawing of the
elevation of the Chapel to Great Queen Street with the adjacent
buildings by R. Payne, Architect, June 21 (18)56, and an internal view
in perspective drawn with ink and coloured, probably executed by the
same hand and about the same date. Both these drawings agree with the
illustrations taken in 1906, and reproduced in Plates 32 and 33. The
premises were demolished in 1910, and new buildings erected. The room
over the portico was used at first as a day school room, but in 1860 the
school was removed to new premises in the rear.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.
_No. 66._
The first occupant of No. 66, of whom any record has been found,
was the Countess of Essex, who was there in December, 1641.[433]
This was Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir William Paulet, who, in
1631, became the second wife of Robert Devereux, third Earl of
Essex. The marriage turned out very unhappily, and eventually a
separation took place. Subsequently she married Thomas Higgons
(knighted after her death), who survived her. She died in
1656.[434]
The Subsidy Roll for 1646 contains the item: “The Lord Kensington
in the Countes of Essex house.” This was presumably Robert Rich,
son of Henry Rich, first Earl of Holland, the latter having been
created Baron Kensington in 1623. The former in 1673 succeeded his
cousin Charles, as fifth Earl of Warwick.
In 1665 and 1666 Magdalen Elliott is shown at the house, and in
1673 Lady Porter. The entries in the Hearth Tax Rolls, Jury
Presentment Rolls and sewer ratebook from this time until 1700
vary between “Lady Porter,” “Lady Diana Portland,” and “Lady Ann
Porter.” There can be no doubt that they all refer to the same
individual, viz., Lady Diana Porter. She was a daughter of George
Goring, Earl of Norwich, and married (1) Thomas Covert, of
Slaugham, Essex, and (2) George Porter,[435] eldest son of
Endymion Porter, royalist and patron of literature. George Porter
served as lieutenant-general in the western royal army, under the
command of his brother-in-law, Lord Goring. The latter described
him as “the best company, but the worst officer that ever served
the king.” Porter died in 1683.
The ratebook for 1703 contains the name “Ralph Lane” crossed out,
and “Wortley” substituted. This seems to point to Lane having
recently moved and “Wortley” taken his place. The “Ralph Lane” in
question is no doubt the person of the same name, who had in the
previous year purchased the house to the west of Conway House (see
p. 74). His residence at No. 66 could not have lasted more than
about two years. The “Wortley” of the 1703 ratebook is expanded in
the records of 1709 and 1715 to “Wortley Montague, Esq.” and
“Sidney Wortley _als_ Montague, Esq.” This was Sidney, second son
of Edward Montagu, first Earl of Sandwich, who married Anne,
daughter and heir of Sir Francis Wortley, Bt., and assumed the
surname of Wortley. His eldest son, Edward Wortley Montagu,
married Lady Mary Pierrepont, the famous Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu. Sidney Montagu died in 1727.
After Montagu’s residence the occupiers of No. 66 seem to have
been as follows:—
Before 1720 until after 1723. Martin Wright.
Before 1730. Elizabeth Perry.
1730–42. William Aspin.
1743–45. Dr. John Taylor.
1746. —— Davis.
1747. Lilley Smith.
1748. “Augusti” Arne.
1749–51. Col. Guy Dickens.
1753–61. Elizabeth Falconer.
1761–62. —— Davis.
1762–63. The Rev. Mr. Francklin.
1763–64. Miss Faulkner.
1764–83. —— Davis.
1783–87. —— Saunders.
1789–94. Ric. Sadler.
1795– J. Savage.
“Augusti” Arne is almost certainly Thomas Augustine Arne, the
celebrated composer. He was the son of Thomas Arne, an
upholsterer, and was born in 1710. On leaving school he was placed
in a lawyer’s office, but his love of music overcame all
obstacles, and eventually his father was induced to allow him to
cultivate his talent in this respect. His first work, a setting of
Addison’s _Rosamond_, was produced at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre
in 1733. This proving successful, it was quickly followed by the
_Opera of Operas_ and _Dido and Æneas_. In 1738 he established his
reputation by his music to _Comus_, and in 1740 he wrote the music
to Thomson and Mallet’s _Masque of Alfred_, containing _Rule
Britannia_. His later works included the songs _Where the bee
sucks_, _Under the greenwood tree_, _Blow, blow, thou winter
wind_, the oratorios _Abel_ and _Judith_, and the opera
_Artaxerxes_. In 1769 he set to music the ode by Garrick,
performed at the Shakespeare jubilee at Stratford on Avon. He died
in 1778.
No allusions have been found to his residence at No. 66, Great
Queen Street. He is stated to have been living “next door to the
Crown in Great Queen Street,” in 1744[436] but that must refer to
a different house. The sewer ratebook for 1734 shows a “Mr. Arne”
resident at No. 34, Great Queen Street, but there is no proof that
this was the musician. His residence at No. 215, King’s Road,
Chelsea, has already been mentioned.[437]
_No. 67._
Early records of the residents at No. 67 are wanting. The first
mention of the house occurs in the Hearth Tax Roll for 1665, which
gives “Lady Thimbleby” as the occupier. This was Elizabeth, one of
the six daughters of Sir Thomas Savage and Elizabeth, Countess
Rivers (see p. 67). She married Sir John Thimbleby of Irnham, in
Lincolnshire.[438] How long she had been at No. 67 in 1665 is
unknown, but it is permissible to suggest that she was there while
her mother was still living three doors away. It seems likely that
during Lady Thimbleby’s stay here, her sister, Henrietta Maria,
who had married Ralph Sheldon, of Beoley,[439] also came to live
close by, for the Jury Presentment Roll for 1683 shows “Ralph
Sheldon,” in occupation of No. 69. Another sister, Anne, who had
married Robert Brudenell, afterwards second Earl of Cardigan, was
also only a short distance away, on the south side of Lincoln’s
Inn Fields.[440]
Lady Thimbleby’s residence lasted until between 1700 and 1703, and
in the latter year the name of John Thimbleby appears in respect
of the house. He had left before 1709, when the house is shown as
empty. The occupiers after that date were as follows:—
1715. Mr. Vaune.
1720. Mr. Froude.[441]
Before 1723 until 1734. Mary Forrester.
1735–51. Adam Hallam.
1751–54. William Pritchard.
1755–61. Stephen Hunt.
1761–84. The Rev. Thomas Francklin.
1784–95. Mrs. Francklin.
1795–98. Francis Const.[442]
1798. —— Rowley.
Thomas Francklin, son of Richard Francklin, a bookseller of Covent
Garden, was born in 1721. He was educated at Westminster School
and Trinity College, Cambridge. For some time he found employment
as usher in his old school, and in 1750 he became Greek professor
at Cambridge, a position which he held until 1759, when he was
presented to the vicarage of Ware. At the same time he was
fulfilling other clerical duties in London. As early as 1749 he
seems to have held a chapel in Bloomsbury, for in June of that
year he performed the marriage ceremony for Garrick there.[443] By
1758 he had obtained the lectureship at St. Paul’s, Covent Garden,
and was installed in the Great Queen Street Chapel. He was
appointed King’s chaplain in 1767, and ten years later he vacated
the living at Ware for the rectory of Brasted, in Kent. Through
the influence of Dr. Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynolds, he was
appointed chaplain to the Royal Academy, and on the death of
Goldsmith in 1774 he obtained the professorship of ancient
history. His literary output was considerable. In 1757 he brought
out a periodical paper called _The Centinel_, which only lasted
two years. He wrote four plays, the most important of which was
_The Earl of Warwick_. His translations were numerous, those of
Sophocles’ tragedies being long considered the best in the English
language. After a laborious life he died in his house in Great
Queen Street[444] in March, 1784. His widow died in 1796.[445]
_No. 68._
In the case of No. 68 also, no records of the names of any
occupiers exist before the Hearth Tax Roll for 1665. In that
document the occupant’s name is given as “Sir Willm. Hartupp.”
This seems to have been Sir William Hartopp, of Rotherby, son of
Sir Thomas Hartopp, of Burton Lazars. Sir William married Agnes,
daughter of Sir Martin Lister.[446]
The Hearth Tax Roll for 1666 shows the house “Empty,” and that for
1672, “Empty—Mr. Bradshaw owner.” It seems probable that between
these dates occurred the joint occupancy of Lord Roos and Lady
Chaworth, if indeed that can be referred to this house at all. An
item in Lord Roos’s expenditure under date of 25th February,
1667–8, runs: “Paid Major Seales for Sir William Hartopp for one
quarter’s rent for the house in Queen Street, beginning the 18th
October, when his Lordship had the keyes, at 80_li_ per annum,
Lady Ch[aworth] is to pay the next quarter, 20_li_.”[447] That Sir
William Hartopp’s house in 1667 was the same as that in 1665 is
probable, but unfortunately cannot be considered certain.
Assuming, however, that such is the case, Lord Roos’s occupation
is seen to have commenced on 18th October, 1667.
John Manners, third son of the eighth Earl of Rutland, was born in
1638. On the death of his two elder brothers, he assumed,
apparently without right,[448] the title of Lord Roos.[449] His
first marriage, in 1658, to Lady Anne Pierrepoint, was unhappy,
and he was divorced from her by Act of Parliament in 1670. In 1677
he was made Lord Lieutenant of Leicestershire. He succeeded to the
earldom in 1679. At the coronation of James II. in 1685 he bore
the Queen’s sceptre, but he does not seem to have been in favour
and in 1687 was dismissed from his lord lieutenancy. He supported
William at the Revolution, and was soon after restored to his
office. In 1703 he was created Marquess of Granby and Duke of
Rutland. He died in 1711.
His sister Grace married Patricius Chaworth, third Viscount
Chaworth.[450] Apparently the expenses of the house in Great Queen
Street were shared equally between her and her brother, for
numerous items such as the following occur in the Accounts of Lord
Roos’s Expenditure contained in the Duke of Rutland’s MSS.:—[451]
“1670. April 21. For the repaires of the parish church and maimed
soldiers, etc., this Queene Street house is taxed 5s., whereof
Lady Chaworth paying ½, his lordship ½, comes to 2s. 6d.”
“To the beadle for watching the Queene Street house ending the
above said Christmasse [1671] 4s.; Lady Cha[worth] paying ½, his
lordship other ½, comes to 2s.”
“July 3, 1669. The hire of paper windowes last year, 1668, to save
the hangings in the dining roome and drawing roome, the ½ of cost,
Lady Cha[worth] payes the other half, 5s.”
Some indication of the reason that influenced Lady Chaworth in
setting up housekeeping with her brother may be afforded from a
letter dated 25th June, 1670, from Lord Chaworth to his wife, at
Lord Roos’s house in Great Queen Street, requesting her to return
to him, and offering to receive her with respect and
affection.[452]
In the Hearth Tax Roll for 1673, the house is shown as “Empty.”
Two years later “The Lady Morpeth” is shown in occupation. This
was Elizabeth, dowager lady Berkeley, wife of Edward Howard,
Viscount Morpeth, afterwards second Earl of Carlisle. It was in
this same year that her eldest son Charles, afterwards third earl,
was born. Later occupants of the house were:—