Chapter 3
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.