down in January, 1883, and removed to Aldershot in August, 1884, where it now is. A new statue on a pedestal supported by four soldiers, by Sir J. E. Boehm, was afterwards erected on nearly the same spot, and was unveiled by the Prince of Wales, on December 21, 1888.
St. George’s Hospital, which stands close by, owes its existence to some dissension in the government of the Westminster Infirmary—and the seceders, in 1733, took Lanesborough House, on the site of the present hospital. The house being found too small, wings were added, and, even then, want of space compelled the governors to pull it down and erect a new one, which was finished in 1834—since when it has been much enlarged.
Knightsbridge is a very old hamlet—adjacent to Hyde Park Corner and thence running westward, bounded on the north by the Park. It is supposed to have taken its name from a bridge over the Westbourne, which ran across the road previous to its falling into the Thames at Chelsea. In Ellis’s Introduction to Norden’s Essex, p. XV., he says that Norden, describing in 1593 the bridges of most use in Middlesex, “enumerates ‘Kinges bridge, commonly called Stone bridge, nere Hyde parke corner, wher I wish noe true man to walke too late without good garde, unless he can make his partie good, as dyd Sir H. Knyvet, Knight, who valiantlye defended himselfe, ther being assaulted, and slew the master theefe with his owne hands.’ ”
This bridge was as near as possible where Albert Gate now stands—one of the mansions there being once occupied by George Hudson, the Railway King, who bought it for £15,000. From being a small draper at York, with his own savings and a legacy of £30,000, he amassed a large fortune by promoting Railway Companies. When the Railway mania collapsed he became very poor, but a few friends having subscribed £4800, they bought him an annuity with it, on which he lived until his death, in 1871.
The Barracks for the Household Cavalry are also in Knightsbridge, and not many years ago they were condemned as being unsanitary, and the present magnificent block built in their stead. From them to Kensington Gardens, there is nothing particular to note.
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Ancestor of the family of Mandeville, Earls of Essex.
[2] A hide was 100 or 120 acres—as much land as one plough could cultivate in a year.
[3] A Carucate was as much arable land as could be cultivated by one plough in a year, with sufficient meadow and pasture for the team.
[4] A plough is the same as a Carucate.
[5] These were not slaves, but persons used and employed in the most servile work, and belonging, both they and their children, and their effects, to the lord of the soil, like the rest of the cattle or stock upon it.
[6] A Virgate was from 8 to 16 acres of land.
[7] Bordars were peasants holding a little house, bigger than a cottage, together with some land of husbandry.
[8] An History of the Church of St. Peter, Westminster, by R. Widmore, 1751.
[9] John of Gaunt, brother of Edward III., and titular King of Castile.
[10] Strype’s edit, of Stow’s Survey, ed. 1720. Book VI. p. 80.
[11] Lord Burghley, High Steward of Westminster.
[12] Who had formerly been a kind of companion to his wife.
[13] England under the reigns of Edward VI. and Mary, by P. E. Tytler. Lond. 1839, vol i. p. 288.
[14] Illustrations of British History, etc., by E. Lodge. Lond. 1791, vol. ii. p. 205.
[15] The Duke of Anjou and his Court.
[16] Keeper, whose duty was to shoot trespassing dogs, and foxes.
[17] His lodge.
[18] Correspondence of Lord Scudamore, Ambassador at Paris in 1635, etc., privately printed.
[19] Vol. ii. p. 508.
[20] Mercurius Politicus. January 29-February 5, 1657.
[21] Mercurius Politicus. January 15-22, 1657, and The Publick Intelligencer, January 19-26, 1657.
[22] Mercurius Politicus. February 12-19, 1657.
[23] “Amusements Serious and Comical, Calculated for the Meridian of London.” Lond. 1700, p. 55.
[24] “Environs of London.” D. Lysons, 2nd ed. vol. ii. part i. p. 117.
[25] Amelia, by Hy. Fielding, ed. 1752. Book 5, ch. vi. p. 132.
[26] Brit. Mus. 515. 1. 2/215
[27] Richardson.
[28] The Duke of York, afterwards James II.
[29] Whenever “the tour” is mentioned, the “Ring” is meant which was the most fashionable part.
[30] Rox. ii. 379.—Lutt. ii. 147.
[31] 1st Series, 2nd edition, 1862, p. 71.
[32] The age of the Prince Regent.
[33] Technically we were then at war with America—a war which began June 18th, 1812, and was ended by the Peace of Ghent, December 24th, 1814.
[34] These mimic ships were drawn by artillery horses from the Thames side to the Serpentine.
[35] Morning Chronicle, June 30, 1838; p. 4, c. 3.
[36] The “Book of Fame,” by Geoffrey Chaucer; printed by Caxton, 1486 (?)
[37] Dais.
[38] Punch, June 29, 1850.
[39] This was no mandarin, but the shipper of a Chinese junk, then on exhibition, who had dressed himself gorgeously, and obtained admission somehow.
[40] 6s. iv. 172.
[41] The writer saw the messenger returning from the King at Kensington, and the execution.
[42] “Celebrities of London and Paris.” 3rd Series, 1865.
[43] The Bishop of Durham is a Prince Palatine, as well as a Bishop, and on entering his palatinate used to be, and may be now, girt with a sword.
[44] “A ramble thro’ Hyde Park; or, the Humours of the Camp.” London, 1722.
[45] Oil-cloth.
[46] Then called Buckingham House.
[47] Next in rank to gunners.
[48] Really, 841 cavalry and 7351 infantry.
[49] The barrels and locks of the muskets of that date were bright and burnished. Browning military gun-barrels were not introduced till 1808.
[50] The then Chief Commissioner of Police.
[51] This Mr. Walpole denied in a letter to The Times, July 26th.
[52] So called because it was there that the Reform League used to hold their meetings.
[53] 35 and 36 Vic. C. 15 (June 27, 1872); by which it is set forth in the first Schedule, “That no person shall deliver, or invite any person to deliver any public address in a park, except in accordance with the rules of the park.”
[54] A police inspector specially active in pursuit of Anarchists—knowing all their haunts, etc.
[55] Now Sir E. Lawson, Bart., editor of The Daily Telegraph.
[56] 1000l.
[57] Then Chief Commissioner of Police.
[58] Probably meaning Sunday, 24th March.
[59] Now the French Embassy, and the London and County Banking Company.
[60] In a plan of “Part of Conduit Mead”—about 1720—the little stream is called “Aye brook.”
[61] “Memoirs of the Embassy of the Marshal de Bassompierre to the Court of England in 1626,” p. 138. Translated. Lond. 1819.