George Bryan

“ The vast improvements which are everywhere conspicuous throughout the length of the King’s Road, as regards that portion of it which is within the boundaries of Chelsea, are far more numerous than in any other road in the metropolis. At the eastern and western extremities of the parish, there are Railway Stations, then there are the steamboats, besides these there are the omnibuses traversing the road every quarter of an hour. What a contrast does the King’s Road now present when compared with what it was at the commencement of this century! ”

“ My love of mankind made me very benevolent to Mr. Salter; for such is the name of this eminent barber and antiquary. Men are usually, but unjustly, distinguished rather by their fortunes than their talents, otherwise their patronage would make a great figure in that class of men which I distinguish under the title of Odd Fellows; but it is the misfortune of persons of great genius to have their faculties dissipated by attention to too many things at once. ”

“ There’s a charm in the sound which nobody shuns,
Of ‘Smoking hot, piping hot, Chelsea buns!’
This bunhouse had become so famous, not only throughout London, but for several miles round it, that not to visit Chelsea on Good Friday, and purchase some of the “rare buns,” was considered as unaccountable amongst a certain class—such as the servants of the nobility and gentry, shopmen, mechanics, and apprentices—as it would have been for them to acknowledge that they had never heard of Greenwich Fair. ”

“ Neild, dated Chelsea, January 1, 1808.
“When I look back to the distant period of our lives, and observe, that, of the first Committee of the Society, you, Rev. Sir, and myself, remain the only survivors, I cannot but feel the most powerful, and, at the same time, the most humble gratitude to the Great Disposer of all human events, for having suffered me to live and witness the happy result of our early and well-meant endeavours. * * * * With growing and well-merited esteem, Sir, I witnessed your successful exertions in behalf of the Society, at its earliest institution. ”

“ The following tribute to the memory of the Duke of York was written by Dr. Veitch, at that time physician to the Chelsea Dispensary:—“The knowledge which his late Royal Highness possessed of human nature, and what was becoming the character of British soldiers, induced him to impress on their minds a system of discipline at once correct and conveying lofty feelings; so that men thus trained were at all times ready to prefer death to subjugation. We may here say, with truth, that to the love of his country and the army he has prematurely fallen a victim. ”

“ The panels of the great staircase, being wainscotted, were painted by Haidt, a celebrated German artist; there were also in the house several admirable portraits. The house was sold by the society in 1770. There has not been any other settlement for the Moravians since that period. Their church is episcopal and has been acknowledged as such by Parliament. They live, in their settlements, like members of one large family; the most perfect harmony prevails amongst them, and they seem to have but one wish at heart, the propagation of the Gospel and the general good of mankind. ”

“ How altered is now the appearance of the workhouse! The pretty garden, where once I plucked a flower, has long since disappeared, and on its site are erected extensive buildings, to afford necessary accommodation for the vast increase of inmates. Since the period to which I first alluded many additions have been made to the original workhouse, and consequently it was altogether devoid of uniformity; but as it has been within the last few years almost rebuilt, under the direction of G. Handford, Esq., architect and surveyor, of the King’s Road, the defect mentioned is no longer apparent. ”

“ After the death of Catharine Parr, the manor was bestowed on the Duke of Northumberland by Edward VI. On the accession of Mary, the duke was impeached, attainted of high treason, and beheaded in 1553.
Jane, Duchess of Northumberland, was a most singular instance of the vicissitudes of fortune, having been the wife of one of the greatest men of that age, she lived to see her husband lose his head on a scaffold; to see one son share his father’s fate, another die in a prison, and the rest of her children live only by permission. ”

“ At length Henry VIII. granted manumission to two of his slaves and their families, for which he assigned this just reason: “God at first created all men equally free by nature, but many had been reduced to slavery by the laws of men. We believe it, therefore, to be a pious act, and meritorious in the sight of God, to set certain of our slaves at liberty from their bondage.” The granting of leases, which afterwards followed, almost completely emancipated the “villain-slave,” so that at the time of Elizabeth, scarcely any person existed to whom the former laws applied. ”

“ The unbroken line of this wall makes a solid base for the whole building, which gets lighter and lighter as it ascends to the top, where numerous feathery pinnacles impart softness and richness to the extremity that meets the sky. ”

“ His excessive application to public affairs is supposed to have hastened his death. “He was a man,” says Hume, “as much hated by one party as respected by the other. At London, he was considered as the victim of national liberty, who had abridged his life by incessant labours for the interest of his country. At Oxford, he was believed to have been struck with an uncommon disease, and to have been consumed with vermin, as a mark of Divine vengeance for his multiplied crimes and treasons. ”

“ The Church is built of Bath stone, in the Gothic style of the 14th century, and is approached by a sweep carriage way and flagged footpath. The west front has an arcade, extending the whole breadth of the frontage. From the centre of this arcade rises a lofty tower, the upper part panelled and crowned with an open battlement. It is strengthened at the four corners by octagonal buttresses, which are finished by open-worked pinnacles, of a form which gives the exterior of the edifice a very picturesque appearance, and when seen at a distance is very attractive. ”

“ Thomas Carlyle, Esq., who is so well-known in literary and other distinguished circles, and who is certainly one of the most profound writers of the present age, has resided in Cheyne Row for a great many years. The University of Edinburgh, last year, conferred on him the highest honour it could bestow. His habits of life at Chelsea are naturally secluded, but he is nevertheless greatly respected by those who have an opportunity of acquiring a knowledge of his social worth. ”

“ Charles Lahee, who has been Vestry Clerk for many years, has a private dwelling-house at the Vestry Hall. The offices are on the ground floor, and the large hall is at the rear of the building. The spacious room above the offices, and which fronts the road, is where the vestrymen weekly assemble, adjoining it are committee rooms, &c. The whole interior is well-arranged and admirably adapted for the requirements of the parish, which has now become one of the most populous and important in the metropolis. ”

“ Animated as your hearts must be in gratitude to the Queen, in addition to every other noble sentiment that has guided you, from the moment of the first offer of your services, it would not only be superfluous, but presumptuous in me, to add anything more upon the occasion than the expression of every fervent wish for your success in the event of the enemy carrying his threats into execution; confident that no power, however strenuously exerted, will ever wrest these Colours from you while there is yet left a man in your corps to defend them. ”

“ Lysons was told that it was usual for the nobility and others who dined at her house to leave money under their plates to pay for their entertainment. She appears to have been in arrears for the parish rates during the whole time of her residence at Chelsea.
Mrs. Mary Astell resided here the greater part of her life, which was spent in writing for the advancement of learning, religion, and virtue. “The good Christian,” she would say, “only hath reason to be cheerful in this world.” ”

“ Chelsea, notwithstanding the happiness he enjoyed at Streatham, seems after all to have been his favourite place of abode, as he removed back again to his former residence in Church Street, and at last, by the most gradual and gentle decay, died there in 1768.
Mr. Martyn’s benevolence was that of a Christian, diffusive and unconfined; he was considered as the father of the poor in the parish, and gave constant attention to the sick, both in and out of the workhouse. ”

“ Chelsea Hospital is generally considered to be a fine specimen of Sir Christopher Wren’s professional abilities. It possesses a superior air of grandeur, more spacious arrangement of the principal parts, greater attention to the central points, for grace and effect, and a higher degree of chastity maintained in the whole structure than any public design entered into by Sir Christopher Wren, or his immediate successors.
At the grand entrance, from the King’s Road, are four detached stone piers, with breaks, with an entablature, on which are military trophies. ”

“ The celebrated Dean Swift came to Chelsea in the year 1711, and took up his residence facing Dr. Atterbury’s house in Church Street.
Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick, in Dublin, an illustrious poet, and political and satirical writer, was born in Dublin in 1667, and died in 1745. Of a life so various and so full of business as Swift’s, we know not what part we could select consistent with the limits of this work that would not excite rather than gratify curiosity. ”

“ The chapel at the north side of the burial ground occupies the site of the old stables of Beaufort House. It is a plain building, displaying no architectural adornments, and it is now upwards of fifty years since Divine service was performed in it by the brethren. For a long time it has been occupied as a schoolroom for the boys belonging to Park Chapel National and Sunday Schools, and most of the annual meetings of the numerous societies, which are supported by the congregation of Park Chapel, are at present held in it. ”

“ Thomas Pearson commenced the proceedings with prayer, after which the Bishop of London addressed the assemblage, and said they were met to lay the foundation stone of a most excellent institution, destined to bestow great blessings on a large portion of the community—a house for the reception of persons afflicted with a most painful disease, demanding the greatest sympathy from all friends of humanity. ”

“ George Morley, chaplain to Charles I., was a great scholar and an eminent divine. After the death of the king he retired to the Hague, where he attended on Charles II. At the Restoration he was made Dean of Christ Church, and in the same year Bishop of Worcester, whence he was translated to Winchester. His constant practice was to rise at five o’clock in the morning, to go to bed at eleven, and to eat but once a day. By these rules he preserved his health with very little interruption through the course of a long life. ”

“ The sailing matches attracted numbers from London, and excited great interest amongst the inhabitants. As aged men, however, are said to see nothing now equal to “the days when they were young,”—and lest it should be thought I was magnifying the scene, making the sailing matches of former days something like, for excitement and enthusiasm, the present renowned Oxford and Cambridge Boat Races—I will endeavour to avoid the possibility of being charged with giving an exaggerated description of them. ”

“ The height from the ground to the top of the pinnacle is 142 feet, and the view from the tower on which these pinnacles rise, affords a very fine view of the parish and its surrounding scenery. From the tower, the body of the building is seen to extend, embraced and supported by its flying buttresses, which stretch their airy fronts from between the Clerestery windows to the outer wall of the side aisles, when they are continued solidly down to the ground. ”

“ Thus, noble by descent, he was more noble and illustrious in his actions; famous at home and abroad; loyal to his prince and true to his country; and he resigned his soul in “a good old age.” The Earl married to his second wife, Elizabeth, widow of Sir William St. Loo, Captain of the Guards to Queen Elizabeth, who survived him, and to whom he probably bequeathed his house at Chelsea, as it appears to have descended to her son William, first Earl of Devonshire. In “Lodge’s Illustrations of English History,” is a letter of this nobleman, dated from Chelsea, in 1585. ”

“ Park Walk, in a very old map of Chelsea, is called Lovers’ Walk, and it appears to have been planted with trees, but from some unknown cause—surely all the loving lads and lasses had not left the parish—it degenerated into Twopenny Walk. After dark, from its retirement and seclusion, it was dangerous for persons passing that way. It has been now for many years a good thoroughfare from the King’s Road to West Brompton, having Park Chapel in a central position, and houses on both sides of the road. ”

“ James Plummer, one of the Duke of Buckingham’s principal creditors, was the person in whose name this house was aliened in 1674, in trust, for George, Earl of Bristol, who is said to have died at Chelsea, and to have been buried in the church, but there is no memorial of him, or entry of his interment in the Parish Register.
George Digby, Earl of Bristol, was born in 1612, and was educated at Oxford; he soon became distinguished by his remarkable advancement in all kinds of elegant literature. In the beginning of the Long Parliament he was disaffected to the Court ”

“ The Dowager Viscountess Cremorne, born in Philadelphia in 1740, died at her house in Stanhope Street in 1825, in the 86th year of her age. Her ladyship resided at Chelsea a great portion of the year, and kept a large establishment. She was one of the most kind-hearted residents in the parish. For years it was her custom to entertain annually the children of the parochial and other schools, and she patronized the tradesmen of Chelsea as far as it was practicable, giving special orders to that effect to her household. ”

“ The screen is flanked on each side by a magnificent composition of niche work, ranging above two small doorways leading to the vestry, the arches of which are obtuse, and the architraves entirely formed of mouldings. Above the point of the arch of each door case is an hexagonal canopy, highly enriched, and supporting the pedestal of a large and similarly formed niche above it, crowned with a like canopy, which rises above the rest of the screen, and occupies a portion of the wall on each side of the window. ”