Henry George Davis

“ Frail.—Pooh, here’s a clutter!—Why should it reflect upon you?—I don’t doubt but you have thought yourself happy in a hackney coach before now. If I had gone to Knightsbridge, or to Chelsea, or to Spring Garden, or Barn Elms, with a man alone—something might have been said. ”

“ But as early as the reign of Henry I. some lands at Knightsbridge belonging to the Abbey had been aliened from it—one Godwin, a hermit at Kilburn, having given his hermitage there to three nuns; Abbot Herbert not only confirmed the grant, but augmented it with lands at Cnightebriga, [11] and a rent of thirty shillings. The charter states the land to be granted with the consent of the whole “chapter and council,” to the holy virgins of St. John the Baptist, at Kilburn, for the repose of the soul of King Edward, founder of the Abbey, “and for the souls of all their brethren and benefactors.” ”

“ He died at his house in Chancery Lane, May 20th, 1717, and was buried in the Rolls Chapel.
Trevor’s character, on the whole, is but a poor one; a selfish ambition appears to have made him consider the end, and not the means, the chief object of his care.
His circumstances, doubtless, compelled him to practise a rigid economy, which, as he advanced in years and position, grew into meanness. But it would be unjust not to mention the redeeming points in his career. ”

“ And brooding rests, till all their promise ends.
Belgravia was and still is within the manor of Ebury, and in ancient times within the parish of St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. It now belongs to St. George’s, Hanover Square, but subdivided; about half pertaining each to St. Paul’s, Knightsbridge, and St. Peter’s, Pimlico. The early history of this manor has been already noticed; now for its modern.
King George III., on taking up his residence at Buckingham House, wished to purchase the fields lying immediately contiguous, in order to prevent buildings being erected so as to overlook his garden. ”

“ Forty years since, there was neither draper’s nor butcher’s shop between Hyde Park Corner and Sloane Street, and only one in the whole locality where a newspaper could be had, or writing paper purchased. There was no conveyance to London but by a kind of stagecoach; the roads were dimly lighted by oil, [30] and the modern paving only to be seen along Knightsbridge Terrace. ”

“ Margaret’s accounts that the law was applied to the parish for its neglect in this respect, and in 1724 a petition was presented to the House of Commons, praying for an Act to remedy the evil. Twelve years later, when the Court had resided at Kensington for nearly fifty years, we find Lord Hervey writing to his mother that, “the road between this place (Kensington) and London is grown so infamously bad, that we live here in the same solitude as we should do if cast on a rock in the middle of the ocean, and all the Londoners tell us there is between them and us a great impassable gulf of mud. ”

“ In the Confessor’s charter the mention of “the wood at Kyngesbyrig” gives, I consider, an index to what the state of the place was then. It doubtless formed a portion of the great forest which Fitzstephen describes as belting the metropolis. It owned no lord, and the few inhabitants enjoyed free chase and other rights in it. In 1218 it was disafforested by order of Henry III., whom we afterwards find owned lands here; and in the reign of his son, Edward I., Knightsbridge, according to Lysons, is mentioned as a manor of the Abbey. ”

“ All now is altered—highwaymen, patrols, and mails are all gone—and the road is the best entrance into the capital. An Act, passed June 19th, 1829, placed the Great Western Road, from Knightsbridge to Brentford Bridge, under the charge of the Commissioners of Metropolitan Roads.
It was a long time before our hamlet became part and parcel of the metropolis. A letter in my possession, written by an intelligent mechanic, fresh from Gloucester, and dated August, 1783, describes it as “quite out of London, for which,” says he, “I like it the better.” ”

“ The old herbalists frequented these fields, where, they tell, the p. 223“wild clary” grew plentifully; and along the river’s bank the “bitter cresses” in great perfection. And Swift, walking to London from his Chelsea residence in 1711, mentions the hay-making in the fields; “it smells so sweet,” he says, “as we walk through the flowery meads;” but he spoils the idea by telling us that “the hay-making nymphs are perfect drabs.” The market gardens in the Five Fields, though not very numerous, were very valuable, being devoted chiefly to the culture of the asparagus and the rarer vegetables. ”

“ Mercer Lodge, a small brick residence, was inhabited by Frank Marryat, son of the novelist, and himself an author of one or two books of travel. Mr. Henry Mayhew now resides here.
Immediately adjoining is a row of five houses, called emphatically Kensington Gore. All are faced with white stucco, are very small, and appear as if intended for the lodge of some great mansion never erected. Two of them, which seem to contain but one room, have, however, second storeys at the back, and good gardens, which, with the Park in front, render them very pleasant residences. ”

“ Opposite to the Bun House stood Stromboli House and gardens, a minor place of recreation, at its height about 1788; on the site of St. Barnabas’ College stood the Orange tavern and tea-gardens. Here was a private theatre, at which the local genii of the sock and buskin performed to their admiring neighbours; and at the junction of Grosvenor Row and Ebury Street stood an old inn, a relic of the Republicans in the neighbourhood, and which bore one of the peculiar and enthusiastic appellations of that period—God encompasseth us. ”

“ The air of Knightsbridge has always been considered pure and salubrious. Swift brought Harrison to the place for the benefit of pure air; and fifty years since it still maintained the character, for Lady Hester Stanhope sent a faithful footman here for the same relief. Constitution Hill and Montpelier Square derived their names from this fact. The main street of Knightsbridge, from Hyde Park Corner to Kensington, stands on a peculiar but well-defined terrace of the London clay, which separates the gravels of Hyde Park from those more southward, [269] and is rather more than thirty feet deep. ”

“ A deep Researcher of the latent causes of Nature’s Phenomena; her vital Principle, he held in obedience, while he enriched the science of Electricity with his experiments. Pleased in the pursuit of Knowledge, and happy in the practice of Virtue; He was a Philosopher with a benevolent heart, the Father of the Knightsbridge Charity School ”

“ In a sanitary point of view all is not fair, even in Belgravia; behind its imposing mansions many a foul spot is hypocritically hidden; and although much has been done by the medical officer, there yet remains plenty of work on hand for him: too many spots yet requiring thorough transformation, and a vigilant watch to be kept, that selfishness be not permitted to triumph over public good. [270]
The local government of part of Knightsbridge and Belgravia was formerly undertaken by a Board of Trustees chosen by authority of p. 271an Act of Parliament passed in 1829. ”

“ The Government having decided on erecting at the “Gore” museums and galleries for our National Collections, it is only reasonable to believe that such will result in a thorough revolution in the locality. Such has already taken place at the Gore and Brompton, and it behoves those who have the local management in their hands to render the neighbourhood a fit one for such establishments. The improvement of its approaches should, above all things, p. 273be considered; and in the main street of our hamlet there is yet, unluckily, too much room for improvement. ”

“ It would almost appear that our Chapel had some reputation for its irregularities in this solemnity, if we are to trust some of the pointed allusions in the literature of a bygone currency. Shadwell, in his play of “The Sullen Lovers,” published in 1668, makes Lovell say:—
“Let’s rally no longer: there is a person at Knightsbridge, that yokes all stray people together; we’ll to him, he’ll despatch us presently, and send us away as lovingly as any two fools that ever yet were condemned to marriage.” ”

“ The small plot of ground railed in, is said, by a very general tradition, to have been the spot where the victims of the plague from the Lazar House and elsewhere in the hamlet were buried. I have strong reasons for placing faith in this tradition; and in 1808, some human remains found where now stands William Street were buried here, it being considered the proper spot for such. King’s Row, built in 1785, has not a cellar to a single house for this reason. At its end is a detached brick building, the school-house of All Saints district. ”

“ Three doors beyond is an ancient inn, now known as the “Rose and Crown,” but formerly the “Oliver Cromwell,” and which has been licensed above three hundred years. It is the oldest house in Knightsbridge, was formerly its largest inn, and not improbably the house which sheltered Wyatt, while his unfortunate Kentish followers rested on the adjacent green. A tradition told by all old inhabitants of the locality that Cromwell’s body-guard was once quartered here, is still very prevalent, and an inscription to that effect was till lately painted in front of the house ”

“ Lady Blessington came to Gore House in 1836; and the brilliant circle which thronged around her in Seamore Place was increased with the greater capabilities of the new residence. Haydon, writing February 27th, 1835, says, “Everybody goes to Lady Blessington’s. She has the first news of everything, and everybody seems delighted to tell her. She is the centre of more talent and gaiety than any woman of fashion in London.” To Gore House came novelists and dramatists, artists and actors, statesmen and refugees. ”

“ And any butcher offending by killing within these places should be imprisoned one year: a piece of legislative wisdom our own times should imitate.
When the Kentish insurrection under Wyatt broke out against the marriage of Mary and Philip of Spain, Wyatt having vainly endeavoured to enter London by the bridge, was compelled to march to Kingston, in order to cross the Thames; arriving at Knightsbridge, he there rested his men “untyll daye,” they “being very weary with travel of that night and the daye before.” ”

“ Margaret, Westminster, is the mother church of this locality. Although the Decree of 1222, before referred to, limited the western boundary of that parish to the Tyburn stream, it declared that beyond that stream lay the town of Knightsbridge, which belonged to it. In what parish the manor of Eia was situated is not stated, but it is most likely that the higher portion of it was a forest, and the lower, it is certain, was partly a marsh, and consequently altogether unnoticed by the assessors; for the growth of parishes was very gradual, and their proper boundaries for ages undefined. ”

“ William Street was built about 1830. At No. 11 resided for many years Lady Morgan, whose works occupy too distinguished a place in our literature to need mention here. Mrs. Gascoigne, in her poem, “Belgravia,” after sketching the portrait of Mr. Higgins, as before given, describes Lady Morgan as follows:
“Nor his the only pen Belgravia’s bounds
Can boast, whose glory far and wide resounds!
Endowed with manly powers, a woman’s quill
Can treat and master every theme at will;
And in her wisdom’s energetic scope,
Put down a Wiseman, and unchair a Pope.” ”

“ The truth is that the evils are, with scarcely an exception, old. That which is new is the intelligence which discerns, and the humanity which remedies them.”—Macaulay.
Having with the previous chapter brought my account of Knightsbridge to a close, I cannot more appropriately conclude than by a few remarks on subjects coming within the scope of the heading of this chapter. ”

“ No hamlet around the “great wen,” as Cobbett called the metropolis, was without one. Taylor, the water-poet, says—
“In London, and within a mile, I ween,
There are of jails or prisons full eighteen,
And sixty whipping-posts, and stocks, and cages!” [161a]
At No. 10 resided for many years John Read, a man of great benevolence of character, of scientific celebrity, and of high repute in the locality. He was born in 1726, and being brought up as a mathematical instrument-maker, settled in Knightsbridge about 1754. ”

“ The right of voting for representatives is not the only privilege the inhabitants of the hamlet enjoy. Those who are in the All Saints District are qualified for all the numerous hospitals and charities in the parish of St. Margaret’s, which are among the best and most liberal in the metropolis. ”

“ Liston,—My mother has told me of one or two half-laughing conversations she has had with you, on the subject of your delighting the public with a few performances. Jest sometimes leads to earnest, and, on the principle of never throwing away a good chance, I venture to send you this to say, that should such a joyful occurrence be within the verge of possibility at any time, you may consider yourself King of Covent Garden; act when you please, what you please, and as long as you please ”