Gordon Balderston, ‘William Thomas, steward of the “Marybone” estate’, The Georgian Group Journal, Vol. xIV, 2004, pp. 287–307

text © the authors 2004 WILLIAM THOMAS, STEWARD OF THE ‘MARYBONE’ ESTATE

GORDON BALDERSTON

illiam Thomas was in charge of allocating William’s account at Child’s bank.  William had an Wbuilding leases on the Harleys’ untouched credit balance of £, at Hoare’s from estate from  . He was also a man of letters who March  and he withdrew £ from Drummond’ s moved in the literary and artistic circles favoured by in September  to close his account there.  Edward, Lord Harley. Indeed, he sits between James William and Timothy Thomas were both Gibbs and Michael Dahl in Gawen Hamilton’s A employed by the Harley family, a connection conversation of virtuosis , a group portrait raffled in presumably due to the Harleys’ seat at Brampton April  (detail, Fig. ). Michael Rysbrack had Bryan in Herefordshire:  for the Harleys and their modelled his portrait by  (untraced). And Gibbs titles, see note . William had been employed by would appoint him an executor of his will in  , an Robert Harley, Edward’s father, since the  s.  He acknowledgement of their long acquaintance. So describes himself as ‘a (really) domestick clerk’ in a well-regarded in his own day, William Thomas letter dated  March  to Edward Harley, who deserves to be better-known today. This article will was then at Christ Church, Oxford.  William’s augment and amplify the little-known life in The duties were varied and included ‘landing horses from dictionary of Welsh biography and give a brief account Turkey’, for which Robert Harley paid him on of his brother Timothy, chaplain to Lord Harley.   October  . His letters to members of the William was the son of Thomas Thomas of Harley family  – reveal that William was Llandovery, Carmarthenshire.  He gives his age as interested in and well-informed about the activities eighty eight in a hand-written dedication dated  of Parliament.  (Robert Harley dominated the November  in The works of Geoffrey Chaucer : so Country Tories  – , being, in effect, prime he was born between  November  and  minister  – . Edward served as M.P. for New November  (depending on whether ‘An. æt.  ’ Radnor  – and Cambridgeshire  – .)  means eighty-eight years old or in his eighty-eighth Timothy Thomas (early  s–  ) was a friend year).  He died on  November  and was of Edward Harley’s and served as his chaplain. Little buried in the parish church of St. Marylebone is known of his early life, other than that he (destroyed): a memorial on the north wall of the nave matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, on  July also recorded his death ‘aged  years’.  His will,  . He accompanied Lord Harley on a pilgrimage dated  April  , names his wife as Mary; his to Canterbury in August  and on a two-month sisters as Ann and Margaret, the latter married to trip through England and Scotland in  . By Rowland Morgan of Salop; his deceased brother as  November  he was vicar at Presteigne Timothy; and Charles Pryor of Lincoln’s Inn as his (Llanandras), a parish in the gift of Lord Harley, six- cousin.  Other kinsmen were David and G. Thomas, and-a-half miles south-west of Brampton Bryan;  and whose names appear as payees in a ledger of he was officially presented to the rectory of Presteigne

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Fig. . A conversation of Virtuosis … , by Gawen Hamilton, raffled on  April  , detail. William Thomas in profile, Michael Dahl seated and standing. National Portrait Gallery, London .

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE on  February  . His will is dated  September William Thomas shared his brother’s  . He died on  April  and an obituary was bibliophily, and had a particular interest in Welsh published in The Gentleman’s Magazine . literature. He must have known Humfrey Wanley Not surprisingly, William and Timothy got to ( – ), librarian to both Robert and Edward know Edward Harley’s friends and correspondents.  Harley, better than the few references in Wanley’s They were also on intimate terms with the letters and diary now suggest.  William sponsored beneficiaries of his patronage, as will be discussed Moses Williams’s Register of printed books composed below. There are numerous references to the Thomas in the Welsh language which was published in brothers in letters sent to Edward Harley by Dr. London on  February  (possibly old style for William Stratford, Harley’s former tutor and one of  ): amongst the few other subscribers were eight canons of Christ Church, who had been chaplain Robert and Edward Harley.  As Thomas Hearne to Robert Harley prior to  . William Thomas ( – ) of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, recounts, stayed with Dr. Stratford in  , and he made two William was also involved in promoting Williams’s payments to him from his account at Child’s bank Proposals for printing by subscription a collection of shortly before Stratford’s death on  May  . writings in the Welsh tongue, to the beginning of the Timothy became friends with Alexander Pope, sixteenth century , which are dated  July  : who had been corresponding with Lord Harley r m since February  . In a letter dated  January M . W Thomas hath certainly a great hand in Moses Williams’s Design of publishing Welch Pieces, & is  , Pope writes to Harley: now [  October  ] dabbling in Oxford ab t it, pretending to mighty Skill in that and other Matters, & Your Letter gave me a real pleasure in the news of the indeed, sets up for a Dictator, & would fain seem good health of all at Downhall [Harley’s house in mighty cunning, but I find that he is much laugh’d at Essex] … For my own part I declare, I likd my by such as know him throughly. He appears, however, Lodging so well (both the Apartment above, & the to be a Friend to the Writer of these Matters, who is closet below) that I am utterly against Gibbs, & all his willing to think well of him.  Adherents for Demolition. The rooms when I look up to the Cieling, appear very lofty; & surely they are It was perhaps in this connection that Humfrey large enough, when both Lady Margaret has room to Wanley had introduced William to his friend and run about all the morning, in her chamber, & Mr Thomas to sport with Bridgman, in his [Charles patron Arthur Charlett, Master of University Bridgeman, landscape gardener]. I fear he will grow College, Oxford, in March or April  . fat, now, for want of Exercise, unless he betakes The most colourful descriptions of William himself to hard study and painful preaching; the latter Thomas are by Thomas Hearne,  on whom William wherof at least I advise him against, as to no purpose; did not make a good first impression: and the former he stands in no need of. But, whether  he studies or plays, I am much his Servant. Mr. William Thomas, who belongs to the [ st] Earl of Oxford, is now [  November  ] in Town, & lodges In letters received by Harley in April  Pope again at D r. Stratford’s of Christ-Church. He never had any makes reference to Timothy: ‘I hope you’l bring Mr Academical Education. Nor do I know what Post he is Thomas when you come this way’, and ‘If you bring in. Some say he is my Lord’s Gentleman. Others say none but Mr Thomas, I dare show you many of my he was once a sort of a Porter. He pretends to Papers’.  This ‘Mr. Thomas’ must be Timothy, Learning, and to be particularly nice in the British Language.  given that he collaborated with Sneyd Davies on a Latin translation of Pope’s Essay on Man (published Nor can they have spent much time bonding when, in English in  ).  on  March  , Hearne appeared before the Vice

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Chancellor’s court in Oxford to face a libel charge London properties.  The allocation of building ‘with my stipulator, M r. W m Thomas’, i.e. surety: he leases was left to William’s discretion:  was fined £ . Five months later, Timothy was his And We do hereby Authorize & Impower the s. d stipulator.  It was not until  October  that William Thomas to Treat & Agree with such person Hearne could bring himself to like William Thomas: & persons as he shall think convenient for Building Leases of such part & parts of our Ground at Mr. William Thomas was with me for some time to- Marybone afores. d as is now or shall be hereafter day, and, notwithstanding w t is said above [Hearne’s marked out for that purpose....  disparaging comments], I believe him to be an honest Gent. He hath good natural Parts, is very good He was still serving as ‘Steward for the Mary Bone natur’d, hath a good Insight into Books, & is learned Estate’ in  , after Lord Harley’s death; and, beyond his Education, he having been bred as a according to Francis Sheppard, he continued to do t servant in the Earl of Oxford’s Family. So that w I writ so until  . Curiously, very few transactions before is to be look’d upon as y e Effect of some between them appear in William’s account at Child’s People’s Discourse, not as the Result of my own  Judgm t. bank. The Marybone estate (the parish was called St. William collaborated with Timothy on the Marylebone)  had come to Lord Harley through his completion of two-volume editions of the life and marriage on  August  to the Lady Henrietta works of Geoffrey Chaucer which were published by Cavendishe Holles, a well-connected heiress. Bernard Lintot in  . He left his own copy According to William Thomas’s own history of the (probably inherited from Timothy)  to the trustees estate dated February  , planning began circa  : of the British Museum, together with a copy which Lord Harley had given him to annotate ‘not long In  or thereabouts, there was a Project set on foot  for building a Square and several Streets in Marybone- before his Death’: both copies were received by the Fields, which were set out and Staked; but no further trustees on  December  (the day after William’s progress was made towards putting it in execution till death), as an inscription in the latter records.  or  , when the Square was enclosed with a Annotations and insertions in these four volumes Parapet Brickwall, & Wooden Palisadoes & Iron (presumably for an intended revised edition) make it Gates, the charge of which amounted to £ … Mr. Auditor Harley [Edward Harley’s father] treated with clear that the Thomas brothers inter alios took over Several persons of Quality & others for Building- from John Urry the task of getting the work Ground there ….  published after the latter’s death in  . Timothy wrote The preface and Glossary . William wrote The However, the Harleys had to wait until  February life of Geoffrey Chaucer , ‘Digested into this order,  for royal assent to a private act of parliament from various Collections of M. r Dart, &c; by my Br. which settled her father’s contested will: she was William Thomas’, as Timothy noted in Lord granted the estates left to her by her father John Harley’s copy. Holles (  – ), st Duke of Newcastle of second After the publication of Chaucer in  William creation, and estates which had belonged to her Thomas had far less time to pursue his literary maternal grandfather Henry Cavendishe (  – ), interests, as his business correspondence for these nd Duke of Newcastle of first creation.  This is years confirms.  The reason is simple. On  why the building leases were all granted in their joint February  Lord Harley and the Lady Henrietta names: for example, James Gibbs’s  leases on appointed him ‘Steward of our Manor or reputed houses in Henrietta Street refer to ‘the s d Earl by & Manor of Marybone’ and receiver of rents from their with the Consent of the s d Countess’.  A deed

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Fig. . John Prince, A design of y e buildings already begun to be built, in y e parish of S. t Mary La Bonne ,  . The British Library, London .

empowering Lord Harley, &c, to lett building leases plot in Vere Street which Roger Anderson took on a of ground in Marybone followed on  June  ,  -year term from  March  . However, it is and development began.  evident from John Prince’s A design of y e buildings The first steward for the Marybone estate was already begun to be built, in y e parish of S. t Mary La Francis Seale whom the Harleys had appointed to Bonne. …  (Fig. ) that the layout and names of negotiate building leases on  April  , together streets envisaged in  were subsequently revised.  with John Prince, surveyor of the estate.  The first For example, Vere Street became Marybone Lane, recorded lease, dated  June  , was granted to and Wimpole and Welbeck Streets would continue the rd Earl of Carnarvon (the future Duke of across Wigmore Street to Henrietta Street, as shown Chandos) for a plot in , but it was on Richard Horwood’s map of  (Fig. ). (The cancelled after the crash of the South Sea Company house numbers used throughout this article are in September  . The next recorded (and first those shown on Horwood’s map: see appendix for legally sanctioned) lease, dated  June  , was for a some later renumbering.)

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Fig. . Richard Horwood, Plan of the cities of London and Westminster, the borough of Southwark, and parts adjoining shewing every house , sheet B  (detail), published  June  . The British Library (Maps,  .e. ), London .

Building leases were preceded by articles of standard in most leases and makes it impossible to agreement in which grantees were given two years to be sure when a building was actually completed. complete the brick structure and roof of their No original head lease has been found by the houses. This is clear from William Thomas’s own present writer, so it is particularly unfortunate that ledger of transcribed ‘model’ agreements and leases. the lease owned by Sir John Summerson for Isaac Only after the roof had been tiled was a lease Mansfield’s house in Henrietta Street (later granted: numbered ) is now untraced. Summerson did publish a few of its covenants, however – ‘iron The said Earl & Countess their Heirs or Assigns shall & will when & so Soon as the s. d Intended Masses or palisades before the whole south front … at a Tenem. ts shall be Tyled in Grant unto the s. d A.B his distance of five feet from the same’; oaken posts eight Ext.ors Adm.ors or Ass. s One or more Ind.re or feet from the palisades and ten feet one from the Ind.res of Lease with all the s. d Earl’s Com.on or other; footway to be paved with Purbeck stone, Usual Covenants for Building of Houses in the Parish remainder to be paved with pebbles, flint and of Mary Le bone al.s Marybone....  ragstone; and use of common sewer.  However, the phrase ‘now built or in Building’ was Although the original building leases for the

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Fig. . A large plan of the Duke of Portland’s estate as let to different tennants to build upon, surveyed by J. White.  ,  &  , detail. The numbers are not house numbers. The British Library, London .

Marybone estate are all missing, the terms, dates and parties of which no other record now exists.  The rents agreed in them between  and  are leased parcels of land and the names of the original preserved in another ledger used by William leaseholders are shown on a much later survey Thomas.  And his Memorial for registering a entitled A large plan of the Duke of Porland’s estate as building lease dictated the form of wording used to to [sic] let to different tennants to build upon transcribe abstracts (not the full texts) of original surveyed by J. White.  ,  &  (Fig. ).  leases onto parchment memorials which were then William Thomas conducted his business from a transcribed into the ledgers now held by The newly-built house in Henrietta Street, which he was Middlesex Deeds Registry at London Metropolitan occupying by  May  . The exact location Archives.  Information in some of the registers cannot be ascertained with certainty, but, in all indicates that there were earlier agreements between probability, his office was a house on the north-

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE western corner with Wimpole Street (  Wimpole performed to the Satisfaction of the s d. M. r G. who is Street on Horwood’s map, Fig. ). This was the first to determine all disputes that may arise …’. house in Henrietta Street for which a lease exists, Measuring  by  feet, the house had a windowed and the stipulated completion date was  June  basement with three floors above. Grey stock bricks [see appendix for this and all subsequently-cited were to be used for the front and back walls with red Henrietta Street leases]. The lease itself is dated  ones around the window-jambs (in keeping with the March  and the  -year term ran from  June Marylebone/Oxford Chapel), while ‘The Outside of  . The lessee was Henry Elkins, a bricklayer, who ye West Flank Wall [was] to be wrought fair with the built (and leased) many houses on the Marybone best Coloured plaice Bricks’. It was perhaps in estate: he also built the Marylebone (or Oxford) connection with work of this nature that William had Chapel.  As noted above, the Harleys granted paid Gibbs £ on  August   – and, several indentures of lease only when the brickwork and years later, William would subscribe to the roof had been completed, and other work on publication of Gibbs’s A Book of Architecture …. finishing the exterior, such as railings and paving, There is no other evidence that this four-storey was undertaken during the subsequent two years house was built as specified in the detailed contract, allowed for completion, all at the head lessee’s and The Middlesex Deeds Registry does not hold a expense. However, implicit in this latter completion copy of the lease (although terms under twenty-two date must also be the finishing of those interior years did not have to be registered). It is probable elements which make a building habitable, namely that the original contract was cancelled or amended windows, flooring and plastering. No other house in (precedents exist  ) and that a decision was taken to Henrietta Street is known to have been ready for build an eastern end-of-terrace house first, i.e.  habitation by May  . And on  May  , when Wimpole Street (the house assumed above to have rate collectors first included Henrietta Street on their been William Thomas’s office). Construction of a rounds, William Thomas was the first person listed terrace on the north side of Henrietta Street began in ‘Heneratia Street’ immediately after the collector thereafter, starting at the western corner with had finished in Wimpole Street (James Gibbs was Welbeck Street (Fig. ): the deadline for its the second).  The relatively small size of the house completion was  June  . For the record, the and of the plot itself further strengthen the only houses in Henrietta Street with  -feet façades supposition that William Thomas’s estate office was stipulated in their leases were Charles Bridgeman’s this corner house. at No. , James Gibbs’s at No.  and William Uncertainty arises from the existence of a Hulton’s at No.  (fronting Cavendish Square). contract dated  June  in which William Thomas Throughout the  s William’s own home was commissioned the above-mentioned Henry Elkins to in Durham Yard, just south of The Strand (between build a western end-of-terrace house with a  -feet today’s Charing Cross station and The Savoy). He façade on Henrietta Street ‘according to a Design of bought or took over this house from Thomas the s d. House made by James Gibbs Esq r. ’.  The Shippey in  and he paid rates on it until  contract, dated  June  , stipulated completion of (latterly ‘  houses’, probably in a row).  That he ‘All the Brickwork of One House in Henrietta Street continued to live there is clear from leases dated  in Marybone & Vaults before the Front thereof and  May  which refer to ‘William Thomas of under the s d. Street’ by September ‘next ensuing’ the Strand’,  i.e. after  May when he is first (presumably  ) and a cost of  shillings per recorded in Henrietta Street. His banks were thousand bricks, adding that ‘all the work to be nearby.  However, he began paying rates on a house

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Fig. . Henrietta Street in  , westwards from No. , by then renamed Henrietta Place. Reproduced by permission of English Heritage. NMR .

in Cavendish Square on  October  , paying on In the early  s William Thomas replaced his that day and still on  August  . Unfortunately, three houses in Durham Yard with three houses in a the loss of St. Marylebone rate books for  makes row on the south side of Henrietta Street at its it impossible to establish exactly when he stopped western corner with Marybone Lane (as it is called in paying rates on the Cavendish Square house, but it leases): the countryside to the west was still was certainly before  May  , when he is first undeveloped. The leases for Nos.  – Henrietta known to have paid rates for living in ‘Heneratia Street, dated ,  and  August  respectively, Street’:  Henrietta Street is not listed in rate books describe the houses as ‘lately built and finished upon before this date. (The same dates apply to James the whole front’ [see appendix]: the intricate details Gibbs’s occupation of a house in Cavendish Square are hard to follow. No.  conformed to the size of the from  and his move to Henrietta Street in  : average plot on the north side of Henrietta Street, neither house was adjacent to William Thomas’s and but it did not have a coach house and stables to the neither of them is recorded as a head lessee in rear (as was usual on the north side between Cavendish Square up to  . ) Wimpole and Welbeck Streets). Instead, the house

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE had rights to a horse pound, stable and coach yard in Dover Street on  March  , together with his on the western side of Marybone Lane, and access brother Timothy.  Charles Bridgeman was ‘sporting via a lane running behind Nos.  and  . These with’ his brother at Down Hall in January  ; had latter houses were more elaborate. No.  , the corner received money from him in  and  ; and house, was flanked by three coach houses fronting had agreed a building lease with him on  Henrietta Street (one ‘under the west part’ and two December  for  Henrietta Street. Vertue had ‘under the East part of a large Room’), and rights to a invited him to the annual feast of the Club of St. walled garden opposite. Its stable yard, further down Luke in  . And Michael Rysbrack, who lived Marybone Lane, was enveloped by No.  , which, in and worked in Vere Street, had modelled his portrait its turn, had two coach houses fronting Henrietta in clay by  (untraced).  Street under the west side of the house. Gawen Hamilton did not portray William By the mid-  s William Thomas had proved Thomas as a background figure, and today he himself as a bibliophile and as an effective agent for deserves to be better known. His talents lay in the Harleys. Now in his fifties, he was successful and serving others and in enabling them to fulfil their well-established. And he continued to play an active ambitions, as his dedication to the Harleys, the role in the administration of the parish, as treasurer Marybone estate and the life and works of Chaucer of the vestry funds  – and as chairman of the attest. For this he was well-regarded by his Turnpike Trust from  : he had been appointed contemporaries. While neither he nor his brother one of fifty-two trustees responsible for maintaining was gifted with creative skills to match those of his the road between St. Giles’s pound and Kilburne acquaintances whose works embody their lives for bridge in the local Turnpike Act of  , as had James posterity, William Thomas should be remembered Gibbs.  for having presided over the development of the It should come as no surprise that William Marybone estate and for being, in Dr. Stratford’s Thomas was painted by Gawen Hamilton in a group words, ‘the very best servant that ever I knew or portrait, raffled on  April  , which George heard of to any great man’.  Vertue described as ‘the peice of a Conversation of Virtuosis that usually meet at the Kings Armes. New bond Street a noted tavern’ (detail, Fig. ).  Fortunately, Vertue also sketched the composition ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS and annotated it with the names of those portrayed.  David Alexander, York, expert on George Vertue; In addition to ‘M. r W. m Thomas’ and himself, Vertue Judith Curthoys, Archivist, Christ Church, Oxford; identified Bernard Baron, Charles Bridgeman, Pamela Hunter, Archivist, Hoare’s Bank, London; Michael Dahl, James Gibbs, Joseph Goupy, Gawen Frank Kelsall, The Architectural History Practice, Hamilton, Hans Hysing, William Kent, Matthew London; Jacob Simon, Chief Curator, National Robinson, Michael Rysbrack and John Wootton. Portrait Gallery, London; Elizabeth Tebbutt, William had long-standing connections with formerly Department of Manuscripts and Special several of these virtuosi , particularly those Collections, Hallward Library, University of patronised by Lord Harley and the Lady Henrietta.  Nottingham; Philip Winterbottom, Royal Bank of James Gibbs had designed a house for him in Scotland Group Archives, London. Henrietta Street in  , and would appoint him an I am particularly grateful to Richard Bowden, executor of his will in  . John Wootton had Archivist, The Howard de Walden Estate, London, accompanied him on a visit to Lord Harley’s house for helpful comments and several references.

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

APPENDIX covenants. The leases were usually entered in the registers a few days after the ‘to be registered’ date, HENRIETTA STREET : BUILDING and are not given here. The existence of some LEASES IN ORDER OF THEIR DATES Articles of agreement for granting a building lease of ground is recorded in A register of sundry acts of Henrietta Street was developed between  and parliament, grants, deeds, papers … relating to the  on land previously known as Millhill Field.  manor of Marybone postdating  [cited below as Construction of houses began shortly after the WCA, M: Acc  /]:  the dates of these Marylebone (or Oxford) Chapel opened in  . agreements, when known, are given below. All old- Corner houses were built first, usually followed by style dates have been changed to new style. adjacent houses: Bridgeman’s at No.  is an Identifying ‘the Author’s House in Henrietta- exception. William Thomas’s own account of the Street Marybone ” which Gibbs was occupying by development of Henrietta Street appears in A  March  remains problematic.  memorial touching the nature & condition of the The house numbers used throughout this article estate of Marybone which he wrote in  [cited are those which appear on Richard Horwood’s map below as HDW /]: of  (Fig. ). However, Peter Potter’s Plan of the As the Market-house encouraged Building on the East parish of St. Marylebone of  – makes is clear end of the Estate, so did the Chapell at the West end; that certain houses and streets were renumbered together with the expedition with which Messrs. between the  s and  (when Potter began Timbrell & Phillips proceeded to make good their  Building Contract, assisted by the Artificers employ’d working on his map). In Henrietta Street, No.  by them in Building the Chapell, whom they obliged would change to  Cavendish Square; No.  would to take part of their Ground. The Building on that side become No.  a; and  Wimpole Street would was likewise promoted by W.T.’s taking a piece of become No.  (although it appears on a block plan Ground at the extremity of Henrietta Street towards of circa  as No.   ). There is no  Henrietta Marybone Lane, on the South side of it, which his Officious Zeal pushed him on to improve at a far Street on either map. – Henrietta Street were greater expence than in prudence he ought to have demolished January–April  , by which time the engaged in, which lay Dead for many years and still street had been renamed Henrietta Place.  turns to very little Account. However this induced Mr. The following abbreviations are used: BL for Gibbs & others to build on the other side of that British Library; HDW for archives of Howard de Street, which soon compleated the West part of it.  Walden Estate, London; MDR for Middlesex Deeds In fact, the terrace on the north side of Henrietta Registry at London Metropolitan Archives; WCA for Street between Wimpole and Welbeck Streets was Westminster City Archives at City of Westminster finished by  June  (Fig. ); at least, that is the Archives Centre. date of completion stipulated in the leases for Nos. No.  (and  Cavendish Street), south-west corner –, – and  (the other three having earlier with and fronting Cavendish Street, Richard completion dates). Colclough, victualler:  years from  September Lessees agreeing  -year terms paid one  , lease dated  February  , completion by  peppercorn as rent for the first two years. In the case September  .  by  feet (Cavendish Street of terms under  years, lessees paid annual rent façade by length of plot). £  annual rent. To be from the start of the term in quarterly instalments. registered  February  [MDR  // ; BL, The commencement dates for rents are not given Add. MS  , fo.  ]. below, except when they differ from the usual

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

The tripartite lease was granted to Colclough by North-west corner with Wimpole Street (  Lord Harley and the Lady Henrietta with the Wimpole Street ), fronting Henrietta Street and agreement of Benjamin Timbrell and Thomas Wimpole Street, Henry Elkins, bricklayer:  years Phillips (to whom Colclough was letting the plot to from  June  , lease dated  March  , the south). Horwood’s map (Fig. ) shows that the completion by  June  , ‘one Double Brick plot had been divided by the  s. By  No.  Messuage or Tenement now built or in Building’.  had been renumbered as  a. by  feet (Henrietta Street façade by length of plot). £ p.a. . To be registered  April  [MDR ‘One House in Henrietta Street in Marybone …  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. Articles of The s. d House to contain  Feet in Front from agreement,  June  [WCA, M: Acc  /, no. Middle to Middle of the party walls and  feet in  ]. depth’, commissioned by William Thomas from The first house in Henrietta Street to be leased Henry Elkins, bricklayer, contract dated  June  , [BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. Renumbered as  completion by  September  .  by  feet, four Wimpole Street  s–  . floors. [BL, Add. MS  , fo.  – ; Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  – ; Friedman, op. cit. (at note No.  (and  Vere Street), south-west corner with  ),  ,  and  ; see also main text above]. Vere Street, fronting Henrietta Street and Vere Not known to have been built. John Summerson Street, Henry Elkins:  years from  March  , assumed that this was the contract for William lease dated  May  , completion by  March Thomas’s house at No.  [see below].  , ‘a brick Messuage or Messuages now built or in building on the fronts of the premisses’. Trapezoidal No.  , south-east corner with Chapel Street, ‘lett or plot,  by  by  by  feet (north, east, south, agreed to be lett’ to Benjamin Timbrell and Thomas west). £  s p.a. . To be registered  July  [MDR Phillips, carpenters, according to a lease dated   // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. Articles of February  for adjacent plot to south [MDR agreement,  March  [WCA, M: Acc  /, no.  // ] (lease for No.  not found). However, BL,  ]. Add. MS  , fo.  , names the lessee as Thomas The house looked onto the portico of the Horsley (under Chapel Street) and gives the Marylebone (or Oxford) Chapel, designed by James following details:  years from  September  , Gibbs and constructed  – . lease dated  March  [sic ],  by  ft.  in., £s annual rent due  September  . Articles of No.  , north-east corner with Welbeck Street, agreement,  August  [WCA, M: Acc  /, no. fronting Henrietta Street and Welbeck Street,  ]. William Wilton, plasterer:  years from  June Although A schedule of the counterparts of the  , lease dated  December  , completion by  leases of His Grace the Duke of Portland’s estate in June  .  by  ft. (Henrietta Street façade by the parish of Marybone – A. D.  , fo.  [London, length of plot). £ p.a. . To be registered  January Howard de Walden Estate Archive, HDW //]  [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ; repeats the details of Horsley’s lease (under Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  – ]. Henrietta Street), Thomas Horsley may have been a No. , Charles Bridgeman, landscape gardener:  subsequent owner rather than the head lessee. The years from  September  , lease dated  completion and registration dates remain unknown. December  , completion by  September  . This was the last house to be built in Chapel Street.  by  ft.. £ p.a. . To be registered  July 

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

[MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ; completion by  June  .  by  feet. £ p.a. . Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  – and  ]. To be registered  October  [MDR  // ; The lease refers to a plot to the west ‘Lett or to BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ; Summerson, op. cit. (at be lett unto James Gibbs Esq’ and similarly to Elkins note  ),  ,  – and  ; Friedman, op. cit. (at note to the east (No.  was, in fact, granted to Mansfield).  ),  and  , fig.  – ; Balderston  , op. For payments to Bridgeman from William Thomas cit. (at note  ),  – ]. Articles of agreement, in  and  , see note  .  October  [WCA, M: Acc  /, no.  , refers to leases]. No.  , William Thornton:  years from  The parlour is now in gallery  of the Victoria December  , lease dated  January  , and Albert Museum, London (W. – ) completion by  December  .  by  ft., plus [http://images.vam.ac.uk , ‘parlour from  Henrietta  ft. lateral wall on Welbeck Street. £  s p.a. . To Street’ by Tessa Murdoch]. The chimneypiece and be registered  April  [MDR  // ; BL, overmantel conform to a design included in Gibbs’s Add. MS  , fo.  ; Summerson, op. cit. (at note A Book of Architecture … ,  , xxi and pl.  .  ),  ]. Two articles of agreement,  August  and  November  [WCA, M: Acc  /, nos. No. , Walter Lee, mason:  years from  June  and  ].  , lease dated  October  , completion by  The lease mentions Wilton at No.  . June  .  ft.  in. by  ft.. £  s p.a. . To be registered  October  [MDR  // ; BL, No. , James Gibbs:  years from  September Add. MS  , fo.  ; Summerson, op. cit. (at note  , lease dated  August  , completion by   ),  ]. June  .  by  feet. £  s p.a. . To be registered  October  [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS No. , Isaac Mansfield, plasterer:  years from   , fo.  ; Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  , June  , lease dated  October  , completion by  – and  ; Friedman, op. cit. (at note  ),  and  June  .  by  ft.. £ p.a. . To be registered  , fig.  – ; Balderston  , op. cit. (at note  October  [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS  ),  – ]. Articles of agreement,  October   , fo.  ; Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  and [WCA, M: Acc  /, no.  , refers to leases].  ]. Bridgeman’s lease dated  December  for According to Bridgeman’s lease dated  No.  [see above] refers to a plot to the west ‘Lett or December  [see No.  above], this plot to the to be lett unto James Gibbs Esq’. east of No.  was originally ‘Lett or to be lett’ to Henry Elkins. Sir John Summerson owned the No.  , James Gibbs:  years from  September original lease (now untraced). Isaac Mansfield senior  , lease dated  September  , completion by  and junior both subscribed to James Gibbs’s A Book June  .  by  feet. £  s p.a. . To be registered of Architecture … ,  , xxvii.  October  [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ; Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  ,  No. , James Gundy:  years from  March  , and  ; Friedman, op. cit. (at note  ),  and  , lease dated  February  , completion by  fig.  – ; Balderston  , op. cit. (at note  ), March  .  by  ft.. £  s p.a. . To be registered  – ]. Articles of agreement,  October  [WCA,  March  [MDR  // , as I. Gundy; BL, M: Acc  /, no.  , refers to leases]. Add. MS  , fo.  , as James Gundy]. Gundy’s plot is marked incorrectly as ‘Hutton’ No.  , James Gibbs, architect:  years from  (cf. No.  below) on White’s map (Fig. ). September  , lease dated  September  ,

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

No. , north-east corner with and fronting Cavendish The plot is referred to in Gundy’s  lease Square, William Hulton of Chester:  years from  [No.  above] as ‘Ground lett or agreed to be lett March  , lease dated  June  , ‘lately built and unto Thomas Milner Esquire and now in the finished’.  by  ft. (Cavendish Square façade by possession of the said James Gundy’ and in Wilton’s length of plot). £ p.a. . To be registered  July   lease [No.  above] as let to Thomas Milner. [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. No.  , William Thomas:  years from  March Address renamed  Cavendish Square  s–  .  , lease dated  August  , ‘one brick Messuage No.  , Thomas Phillips, carpenter:  years from  or Tenem t. lately built and finished upon the whole March  , lease dated  December  , front’. Plot measuring  by  by  ft. (north, east, completion by  March  .  by  sloping to south); its western sides circumscribed the  by   ft.. Unusually, peppercorn as first two years’ ft. walls (east, south) of No.  , and the  by  by  rent, then  s p.a. . To be registered  February  ft. perimeter (north, east, south) of Thomas’s stable [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS fo.  ]. yard, leaving two sections fronting south-west onto Built on ground let to William Thomas by the Marybone Lane of  ft. and  ft. wide; two coach Harleys [HDW /, fo.  v.]. houses, each  ft.  in. wide by  ft. deep and  ft. high, were built on Henrietta Street under the west No.  , Benjamin Timbrell, carpenter:  years from side of the house, whose façade can thus be  March  , lease dated  December  , calculated as  ft. wide. £ p.a. . To be registered  completion by  March  .  by  sloping to  August  ; entered  September  [MDR ft.. Unusually, peppercorn as first two years’ rent,  // ; HDW /, fo.  v. and  ; BL, Add. MS then s p.a. . To be registered  February   , fo.  ]. [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. The lease allowed Thomas to build over the Built on ground let to William Thomas by the stable yard belonging to No.  [see below]. Harleys [HDW /, fo.  v.]. Timbrell’s trade is Thomas’s lease for No.  gives the length of the given in MDR  // . stable’s northern side as  ft., not as the  ft. given No. , James Gibbs’s home from  :  years from in this lease. The lease was later amended to run   March  , lease dated  April  , completion years from  March  [HDW T / (terms of by  March  .  by  ft.. £ p.a. . To be contract); HDW P A/  and P / – (ground registered  May  [MDR  // ; BL, Add. plans); HDW /]. MS  , fo.  ; Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ), No.  , south-west corner of Henrietta Street with  ; Friedman, op. cit. (at note  ),  ; Balderston Marylebone Lane, William Thomas:  years from  , op. cit. (at note  ), ].  March  , lease dated  August  , also ‘lately No. , William Wilton:  years from  March  , built and finished’. Plot measuring  by  by  by lease dated  April  , completion by  March  ft. (north, east, south, north-west), with a separate,  .  by  ft.. £ p.a. . To be registered  May already-built stable and yard to the south [see No.   [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. above]. The house had ‘one large Vault under the said building opening into Marybone [Lane] and No. , William Wilton:  years from  March  , Extending in length from West ffifty ffeet or lease dated  June  , completion by  March thereab ts . and in breadth ffifteen ffeet or thereab ts .’  .  by  ft..  s p.a. . To be registered  July and three coach houses, each  ft.  in. wide by  ft.  (entered  August  ) [MDR  // ; BL, deep and  ft. high, fronting onto Henrietta Street, Add. MS  , fo.  ].

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE one ‘under the west part’ and two ‘under the East irregularly-shaped border with William Langford’s part of a large Room’. £ p.a. . To be registered  plot to north;  ft. border with William Thomas’s August  ; entered  September  [MDR garden to west. s p.a. . To be registered  August  // ; HDW /, fo.  v. and  ; BL, Add. MS  [MDR  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ;  , fo.  ; Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ), Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  ].  – ]. Newell’s ground is mentioned in Thomas’s  The lease included rights to a walled garden,  lease for No.  above. by  by  by  ft. (north, east, south, north-west), Nos.  – , south-east corner with Cavendish on the opposite side of Henrietta Street to the west Street, lease for two plots and ten messuages granted of Newell’s plot at  Welbeck Street [see below], i.e. to William Long by the trustees of the nd Earl and on the north-west corner with Marybone Lane. The Countess of Oxford [Lord and Lady Harley]:  lease was later amended to run  years from  years from  March  , lease dated  July  , March  [HDW T A/  ; HDW P A/  ; HDW completion by  June  . Plot fronting Henrietta /]. Street (Nos.  – ),  by  ft.; adjacent plot to John Summerson believed this to be the house east fronting Cavendish Square (No.  ),  by  which William Thomas commissioned from Henry ft.. £ p.a. . To be registered  July  [MDR Elkins in  [see above and main text]. However,  // ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. there is no known evidence that No.  ever had a  - feet façade on Henrietta Street. No.  , William Thomas:  years from  March  , lease dated  August  , also ‘lately built and NOTES finished’.  by  by  ft. (N, E, W); the plot’s  John E. Lloyd and Robert T. Jenkins (eds.), The southern extent was  ft. in toto , i.e. it ran  ft. dictionary of Welsh biography down to  , Oxford,  ,  , entry by William L. Davies; ibid. , eastwards (from Marybone Lane ?), then, after ‘a  – , for Timothy. ts break of six ffeet of Assize [ sic ] or thereab . running  His father is named in the matriculation record for North’, it continued eastwards for another  ft., Timothy Thomas, his brother, at the University of abutting Brig.-Gen. William Stuart’s ground to the Oxford in  [Joseph Foster, Alumni Oxonienses. south (shown incorrectly on White’s map, Fig. ). £ The members of the university of Oxford,  –  s p.a. . To be registered  August  ; entered  …, Oxford and London,  (facsimile, Nendeln,  ), IV,  ]. I am grateful to Simon Bailey, September  [MDR  // ; HDW /, fo.  v. Oxford University Archives, for double-checking and  ; BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. this in the original register. The lease allowed Thomas rights, inter alia , to a  London, The British Library (hereafter BL), shelf- horse pound, stable and coach house built on the mark  .L. . Peter L. Heyworth (ed.), Letters of west side of Marybone Lane. The lease was later Humfrey Wanley ... , Oxford,  ,  , note , states that he was born in  . amended to run  years from  March  [HDW  Thomas Smith, A topographical and historical T/ ; HDW P A/  and P / – ; HDW /]. account of the parish of St. Mary-le-bone ,  ,  . I am grateful to Richard Bowden for this reference. North-west corner with and fronting Welbeck Street  London, Family Records Centre (hereafter FRC) ( Welbeck Street ), Abbott Newell, yeoman:  PROB  , microfilm  , quire  , fo.  A–  B years from  June  , lease dated  May  , v.. Smith, op. cit. (at note ),  , records the deaths messuage ‘now built’.  ft.  in. (Welbeck Street and ages of Thomas’s wife and sisters. For a façade) by  ft. (length of plot on Henrietta Street); marriage settlement drawn up between W. T.

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

(William Thomas?) and E. B., daughter of J. B., see Thomas Hearne, he died on  May [ Remarks and BL, Add. MS  , fo.  v.–  v.. collections of Thomas Hearne , VIII, ed. by Oxford  G. Thomas, June  (£ ) [CH/  / , fo.  ]. Historical Society,  ,  ,  May  , assuming David Thomas, August  (£ ), December  that editors have correctly understood letters (£ ) [CH/  / , fo.  – ]. Payments to quoted]). Edward Harley (  – ), his son, was Timothy, July  (£ ), May  (£  s d) entitled Lord Harley from  and would inherit [CH/  / , fo.  ; CH/  / , fo.  ]. Seven his father’s titles in  : he had married the Lady payments to Ann, June  –December  Henrietta Cavendishe Holles on  August  in [CH/  / , fo.  ; CH/  / , fo.  ; CH/  / , the drawing room at Wimpole. He will be referred fo.  ]. Other entries for William Thomas appear to throughout this article as Edward Harley or as in ledgers at Child’s bank held by The Royal Bank Lord Harley. For a little-known biography of Harley of Scotland Group Archives, London (hereafter family, see Lloyd and Jenkins, op. cit. (at note ), RBSGA), CH/  / , fo.  and  ; CH/  / ,  – . For Harley family tree, see Clyve Jones, fo.  . Entries span September  –March  ‘The Harley family and the Harley papers’, British (credits and debits each run chronologically but, Library Journal , XV, , autumn  ,  . For albeit on facing pages, cover different accounting creation of earldom after de Vere line became periods). extinct in  , see G. E. C[okayne], The complete  London, Hoare’s Bank, archives,  , fo.  ; peerage , rev. ed. by H. A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. RBSGA, DR/  / , fo.  . His account at White and Lord Howard de Walden, London,  , Hoare’s was opened in  and his account ledgers X,  – (Robert on ibid. ,  – ; Edward on span  December  – March  : only the last ibid. ,  – ). ledger names payers and payees [London, Hoare’s  Historical Manuscripts Commission. Fourteenth Bank, archives, / &  ( );  / ( ); report, appendix, part II. Report on the manuscripts  / ( – );  / ( );  / ( );  / of His Grace the Duke of Portland, preserved at ( );  / ( July  – March  )]. His Welbeck Abbey. Vol. III , London,  ,  , letter account at Drummond’s spans July  –September dated  November  sent to William Thomas.  [RBSGA, DR/  / , fo.  ( ); HMC reports will be cited hereafter in abbreviated DR/  / , fo.  ( ); DR/  / , fo.  ( ); form following usage in DR/  / , fo.  ( )]. In a Child’s ledger www.hmc.gov.uk/pubs/rep&cal.htm , i.e. HMC.  th [RBSGA, CH/  / , fo.  , under credits report, appendix II, Portland III for volume cited spanning September  –March  , there is a here. payment from ‘Hoare’, either Henry (  – ) or  HMC.  th report, appendix IV, Portland IV , Benjamin (  – ), partners at Hoare’s from London,  ,  . Edward Harley matriculated at  and  respectively. Christ Church on  October  ; awarded M.A.  The national gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland , on  January  [Foster, op. cit. (at note ),  , II,  ; Littlebury’s Directory and gazetteer of  ]. Herefordshire , nd ed.,  – ;  Charles M. Prior, Early records of the thoroughbred www.genuki.org.uk/big (search on England, horse , London  ,  . Edward Harley wrote to Herefordshire, Town and parishes). See also maps him on  November  about landing other of Herefordshire by Robert Morden (  ), horses [ ibid. ,  ]. Simpson (  ) and Taylor (  ). I am grateful to  HMC.  th report, appendix IV, Portland IV , Jane Cox, Hereford Library, for these references. In  – ,  and  – , letters to Edward Harley  the Brampton family had settled on land which dated  and  ; ibid., Portland V , Norwich, had belonged to the Mortimers, hence the Harley  ,  , letter to Thomas Harley dated  ; ibid., title Earl Mortimer. Robert Harley was buried at Portland V ,  – , letters to Robert Harley dated Brampton Bryan. March  .  Robert Harley (  – ) was created Baron  Eveline Cruickshanks, Stuart Handley and D. W. Harley of Wigmore and st Earl of Oxford of second Hayton, The history of Parliament. The House of creation and Earl Mortimer on  May  by Commons  – , Cambridge,  ,  – Queen Anne. He died on  May  (according to (Edward) and  – (Robert); Romney

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Sedgwick, ibid.,  – , London,  ,  – London,  , see index to this volume of letters (Edward), entry by E. Cruickshanks. from Dr. Stratford to Edward Harley. There are  Foster, op. cit. (at note ),  , gives his age as references to William from  July  and to eighteen upon matriculation on  July  , but a Timothy from  November  [ibid. ,  and  transcription of his memorial tablet at Presteigne respectively]. states that he died aged  on  April  after  Hearne VI , ed. by Oxford Historical Society,  , twenty-five years as rector [BL, shelf-mark  .m. ,  –,  November  . bound into volume one of William Thomas’s  Payments to Dr. Stratford from William Thomas on working copy of The works of Geoffrey Chaucer ].  April  and  March  [RBSGA, For other biographical details, see Lloyd and CH/  / , fo.  ]. Jenkins, op. cit. (at note ),  – , entry by  Pope’s correspondence with Edward Harley spans William L. Davies; Remarks and collections of  February  to  December  , eighteen Thomas Hearne , I–XI,  – (hereafter Hearne months before Harley’s death [George W. Sherburn I–XI ); Wanley/Heyworth, op. cit. (at note ),  (ed.), The correspondence of Alexander Pope , and note ,  October  letter to Edward Oxford,  , II,  ; IV,  ; V,  – ]. Under the Harley. guise of Scriblerus, Pope had been writing to  Respectively BL, Add. MS  , fols. – , Robert Harley since  March  [ibid. , I,  ]: Monday,  –Wednesday,  August  Pope first wrote to him in person on  October  (Canterbury), and BL, Add. MS  , fols.  – , [ibid. , II,  ].  April–  June  [latter reprinted in HMC.  th  Ibid. , II,  . In  Lord Harley had given report, appendix IV, Portland VI , London,  , Matthew Prior £, to purchase an estate in  – ]. See also James Lees-Milne, Earls of Essex, on which Prior commissioned Gibbs to creation. Five great patrons of eighteenth-century rebuild Down Hall. The estate reverted to Harley art ,  ,  – . upon Prior’s death in  . Work on the house and  A transcribed church record dated  November grounds continued until  [Terry Friedman,  refers to Timothy Thomas both as vicar and as James Gibbs , New Haven and London,  , rector at Presteigne – although the insertion of  – and index on  ]. For Charles rector in the text immediately after vicar could be a Bridgeman, see note  below. later amendment [BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ].  Pope/Sherburn, op. cit. (at note  ), III,  and  , Presumably the elderly incumbent, Samuel Sanford, received on  and  April  . was unable to fulfil his duties as rector. For  Lloyd and Jenkins, op. cit. (at note ),  . For the Presteigne, see references cited at note  above and text in English, see John Butt (gen. ed.), The Samuel Lewis, A topographical dictionary of Wales Twickenham edition of the poems of Alexander Pope. …, th ed.,  . Volume III i. An essay on man , ed. by Maynard  Arthur T. Bannister, Diocese of Hereford. Mack, London and New Haven,  . Institutions, etc. (A. D.  – ), Cantilupe  Cyril E. and Ruth C. Wright (eds.), The diary of Society, Hereford,  ,  : held until his death, by Humfrey Wanley  – , London,  , lxxv and which time the vicarage and rectory are both noted index on  ; Wanley/Heyworth, op. cit. (at note ), in ibid. ,  . The living at Presteigne had been  ,  April  to Arthur Charlett; Hearne VII , declined by Dr. William Stratford of Christ Church, ed. by Oxford Historical Society,  ,  ,  Oxford [ Hearne IX , ed. by Herbert E. Salter,  , October  . For Humfrey Wanley (  – ), see  ,  December  ]. ‘Vertue Note Books. Index to volumes I–V’, Walpole  FRC, PROB  , microfilm  , quire  , fo.  Society ,  ,  , and ibid.. VI , Walpole Society , v.–  .  ,  ; Lees-Milne, op. cit. (at note  ),  – ;  The Gentleman’s Magazine , XXI, May  ,  . Wright and Wright, op. cit. , vii–lxxiv and  – .  HMC.  th report, appendix IV, Portland IV ; ibid.,  Moses Williams, Cofrestr o’r holl lyfrau printiedig Portland V ; ibid., Portland VI , see index gan mwyaf a gyfansoddwyd yn y iaith gymräeg , (confusingly, this index to Portland III –VI London,  or  [BL, shelf-mark  .L.  ). renumbers them as volumes –). Another of the few subscribers was Alban Thomas,  HMC.  th report, appendix IV, Portland VII , keeper of The Royal Society’s library, Crane Court,

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Fleet Street. For Moses Williams (  – ), see Harleian MS  [A catalogue of the Harleian Lloyd and Jenkins, op. cit. (at note ),  . manuscripts, in The British Museum , III, London,  BL, shelf-mark,  .L.  .  ,  ]. Glossary by Timothy Thomas noted on  Hearne VII ,  ,  . title page.  ‘Mr Will Thomas is extremely thankful for the many  Urry’s death on  March  annotated by & great Favors you was pleased to shew him at Timothy Thomas on title page of Harley’s edition Oxford: and will for ever be ready to shew his [BL, shelf-mark  .L. –]. Gratitude for the same’ [Wanley/Heyworth, op. cit.  William Thomas’s surviving business correspondence (at note ),  ,  April  letter to Arthur  – is in Manuscripts and Special Collections, Charlett]. Hallward Library, University of Nottingham  Hearne V , ed. by David W. Rannie,  ; Hearne [http://mss.library.nottingham.ac.uk:  /dynaweb/ VI–VIII , ed. by Oxford Historical Society,  , family/london ], e.g. Pl C /, /,  /,  /; Pl E  /, Pl  and  ; Hearne X–XI , ed. by Herbert E. F /. For Harley archives, see Richard J. Olney, ‘The Salter,  and  . See also HMC.  th report, Portland papers’, Archives , XIX,  , October  , appendix IV, Portland V ,  , letter dated   –; Jones, op. cit. (at note ); Julia Foster and December  from Hearne to Lord Harley saying Janet Sheppard, British archives ... , th ed., that William Thomas had delivered his letter and Basingstoke,  , nos.  ,  ,  ,  and  , five guineas. For Hearne, historical antiquary, see and www.hmc.gov.uk/nra/nra .htm . Dictionary of national biography , IX,  – , and  ‘We do hereby Constitute and Appoint William Oxford dictionary of national biography ,  . Thomas of the pish of St. Martins in the Fields in  Hearne VI ,  ,  . the County of Middx Esqr. (During our Will and  Hearne VI ,  . Cf. Wanley/Heyworth, op. cit. (at Pleasure) Steward of our Manor or reputed Manor note ),  , letter dated  April  . of Marybone in the said County, and also Receiver  Hearne VI ,  ,  August  . of all our Rents now due or ~ to become due unto  Hearne VII ,  . Us from our Estate in Marybone afores.d and in the  The works of Geoffrey Chaucer, compared with the pish of S.t James Clerkenwell, and also in and about former editions, and many valuable mss. …; by John Dover Street in the s.d pish of S.t Martins in the Urry, Student of Christ-Church, Oxon. Deceased: Fields in the County afores.d ...’ [BL, Add. MS together with a glossary, by a Student of the same  , fo. , appointment dated  February  college.… , London,  . For its genesis, see (old style for  )]. Catalogue of additions to the manuscripts in the  Idem . British Museum in the years  – ,   Respectively The account of Robert Harley Esq:r (reprinted  , Oxford),  – , nos.  – ; and James West Esq:r the two surviving trustees … , Sarah A. Kelen, ‘Cultural capital: selling Chaucer’s BL, Add. MS  , fo.  v, and Francis H. W. Works , building Christ Church, Oxford’, The Sheppard, Local government in St. Marylebone Chaucer Review … , XXXVI, ,  ,  – .  – . A study of the vestry and the Turnpike  BL, shelf-mark  .M. , two volumes copiously Trust ,  ,  (for other references to William annotated by William and Timothy Thomas. They Thomas, see index). Lord Harley died on  June comprise the life and complete works of Chaucer  in his house in Dover Street. and are bound differently from Lord Harley’s set (in  Edward Harley received £ s from William which vol. II is The Canterbury tales only – is a Thomas on  March  [RBSGA, CH/  / , fo. third volume missing?). Vol. I contains original  ], and further payments on  August  ,  subscription agreement dated  August  February  and  March  [ibid. , CH/  / , between Lintot and William Brome, John Urry’s fo.  ]. However, Harley paid William Thomas executor, as well as Proposals dated  June  £ on  January  and £ on  February (being the prologues to The Canterbury tales ).  [idem ].  BL, shelf-mark  .L. –, vol. I ( Life , preface and  A lease dated  March  refers to ‘the parish of glossary ); vol. II ( Canterbury tales only). The preface St. Mary le bone alias Marybone’ [MDR  // annotated ‘(by Timothy Thomas, then Student of (for MDR, see note  below); BL, Add. MS  , Christchurch, Oxon.)’: his manuscript draft is BL, fo.  ]. ‘Some indeed out of a wrong notion of the

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

addition being French have written it St. Mary La Topographical Society, no.  ],  – ; Sheppard, Bonne. But the ordinary way of writing it is St. op. cit. (at note  ),  ; Ann Saunders, Regent’s Mary Le Bone, corruptly for Le Borne, from its Park. A study of the development of the area from situation. This is confirmed by several records,  to the present day , London,  ,  – ; where it is written Maryborne as well as Marybone.’ Friedman, op. cit. (at note  ),  – ,  – [Hearne XI ,  , letter dated  March  , and  ; Richard Bowden, ‘Building, books, debts quoting from William Thomas’s letter of  March and drink: new light on Lord Harley and his  ]. Marylebone estate’, Westminster History Review ,  William Thomas, A memorial touching the nature III,  , pp.  –; Richard Bowden, ‘Oxford Street & condition of the estate of Marybone … ,  , fo.  two hundred years ago: the Portland estate block [London, Howard de Walden Estate, archives, plans c.  – ’, London Topographical Record , HDW /] (memorial cited hereafter as HDW /). XXVIII,  ,  – . For Marybone-estate ledgers, The title page states that William prepared the some in William Thomas’s own hand, see BL, Add. history of the estate for John Verney, one of the MSS.  – . Harleys’ trustees, and that he presented it to Verney  BL, Add MS  , fo. . on  February  (old style for  ). I am grateful  BL, Add MS  , fo. ,  years from  March to Richard Bowden for showing me the manuscript  ; cancelled (date not recorded), idem , fo.  v.; which he will publish in London Topographical HDW /, op. cit. (at note  ), fo. . New Record ,  . agreements were made in  . James Brydges  London, House of Lords Record Office, Original ( – ) had been created Viscount Wilton and Act,  Geo. I, no.  [Journals of the House of Lords , rd Earl of Carnarvon on  October  , and XXI,  ; cf. would be created Marquis of Carnarvon and st http://mss.library.nottingham.ac.uk:  /dynaweb/ Duke of Chandos on  April  . family/london , Pl F // ]. The other parties were  BL, Add MS  , fo. : disputed, and revised  ) Thomas Holles, st Duke of Newcastle of third July  . creation, and Henry Pelham, his brother; ) the  BL, Maps, K.Top.  .; Friedman, op. cit. (at note Vanes.  ), fig.  on p.  . Morden and Lea’s Plan of the  London Metropolitan Archives, The Middlesex City of London in  reproduces Prince’s design Deeds Registry,  , vol. , lease nos.  – of  . For St. Mary la Bonne, see note  above. (hereafter MDR  // etc.)  BL, Add. MS  , fo.  : fo.  – (articles of  BL, Add. MS  , fo.  , entry dated  June  agreement); fo.  v–  v (building articles to an in Marybone-estate ledger; HDW /, op. cit. (at under-tenant). note  ), fo. . This deed is called Indentures of  Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  . lease and release impowering Lord Harley to grant  Marybone: a register of modern building leases; building leases of ground in Marybone and dated begun  , & continued to  [sic ] contains – June  in A register of sundry acts of details abstracted from leases dated  June  – parliament, grants, deeds, papers … relating to the February  [BL, Add. MS  , fo. – , with manor of Marybone , a list postdating  of  index on fo. – v.]. WCA, M: Acc  /, op. cit. (at documents relating to the Marybone estate note  ), records many of these indentures as well as  – [London, City of Westminster Archives other leases, articles of agreement etc.. Centre, Westminster City Archives (hereafter  BL, Add. MS  , fo.  – v. WCA), M: Acc  / (Howard de Walden [formerly  E.g. MDR  // and MDR  // , Nos.  Portland] Estate Archives), nos.  – ] (register and  Henrietta Street (Charles Bridgeman and cited hereafter as WCA, M: Acc  /). William Wilton) respectively.  For the development of the estate, see HMC.  th  BL, Crace collection, maps, portfolio XIV, no.  report, appendix IV, Portland V ,  ,  – and [John G. Crace, A catalogue of maps, plans, and  ; WCA, M: Acc  /, op. cit. (at note  ); John views of London, Westminster & Southwark, Summerson, ‘Henrietta Place, Marylebone, and its collected and arranged by Frederick Crace , London, associations with James Gibbs’, London  , p.  ]. The plan is  cm. square. The Crace Topographical Record , XXI,  [London collection map appears to be a contemporary

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

tracing of the original, now incomplete and without entry for William Thomas [ ibid. , vol. F  a title, in Howard de Walden Estate Archive, (microfilm  ), poor rate, assessed  April and  London (on loan to WCA). I am grateful to Richard October  , p.  ] and Thomas Graims is again Bowden for showing me the original. For John named in the Overseers of the Poor rate book for White, see Saunders, op. cit. (at note  ), passim ; the year  (old style, i.e.  March  – Bowden  , op. cit. (at note  ),  – . March  ) [ ibid. , vol. F  (microfilm  ), p.  MDR  // , a lease dated  May  .  ]. However, because the parish’s practice at this  The first lease granted to Elkins on the Marybone date was to use one rate book to record the two half- estate was for a house in Chapell Court to the south yearly payments due on Lady Day and Michaelmas, and east of the Marylebone (or Oxford) Chapel:  it is impossible to tell whether Grimes took over years from  September  , lease dated  from Thomas before April  or before October February  , £  s rent due from  September  . For Durham Yard in the Strand ward of St.  [BL, Add. MS  , fo.  ]. Friedman, op. cit. Martin’s-in-the-Fields parish, see Ralph Hyde, The (at note  ),  – , records Elkins as bricklayer A–Z of Georgian London [London Topographical for the Chapel, for which see note  below. Society, no.  ],  , pl.  , Bb.  WCA, St. Marylebone, parish records, poor rate  MDR  // , a lease dated  May  ; MDR book dated  May  . The last two names in  // , a lease dated  May  . Wimpole Street are Mrs. Elkins and Thomas  Hoare’s has always been at  Fleet Street. Likewise Gladwin, followed in Henrietta Street by William Child’s at  Fleet Street, the boundary of the City Thomas, James Gibbs, Lady Cotesworth, Walter and Westminster. Drummond’s was started by Chitwind, ? Fry Esq., Roger Milart and Mr. Gillman Andrew Drummond  – on the east side of (in this order). what was then called Charing Cross, i.e. east side of  BL, Add. MS  , fols.  – . Whitehall towards corner with Northumberland  RBSGA, CH/  / , fol.  , preceded on same line Avenue, virtually opposite the present-day by ‘Gregory  ’. For Gibbs and William Thomas, Drummond’s at  Charing Cross. I am grateful to see also Friedman, op. cit. (at note  ),  ,  ,  and Philip Winterbottom for this information.  .  WCA, St. Marylebone, poor rate book dated   Gibbs was seeking subscriptions in a proposal October  , p.  , and ibid. , church rate book dated  March  [Manchester, Chetham’s dated  August  , p.  . Many houses in Library, Halliwell-Phillipps collection, no.  ; Cavendish Square are marked as ‘empty’ in  . transcribed by Friedman, op. cit. (at note  ),  WCA, St. Marylebone, poor rate book dated  May  – , and note  on p.  ]. For A book of  ; see note  above for rate-payers. architecture , published in  , see Eileen Harris  BL, Add. MS  , fols. – (see note  above); and Nicholas Savage, British architectural books Friedman, op. cit. (at note  ),  ; Gordon and writers  – , Cambridge,  ,  , nos. Balderston, ‘Rysbrack’s busts of James Gibbs and  – ; ibid. , pp.  – , for Gibbs. Alexander Pope from Henrietta Street’, Georgian  BL, Add, MS  , fo.  . Group Journal , XI,  , – . Although Thomas   June  is the date of completion stipulated for and Gibbs are not recorded as head lessees in all-but-three houses in this terrace, including the Cavendish Square up to  February  , it is western corner with Welbeck Street (William possible that they bought houses from head lessees. Wilton at No.  ): only the leases for  Wimpole  Sheppard, op. cit. (at note  ),  and  . In  he Street (Elkins),  Henrietta Street (Bridgeman) and was appointed Surveyor of the Highways [ idem ]. I No.  (Thornton) had earlier completion dates [see am grateful to Richard Bowden for this reference. appendix]. HDW /, op. cit. (at note  ), fo.  – v., refers to  WCA, St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, parish records, the ‘Turnpike Act  – ’ and to the stretch of rate books, vol.  (microfilm  ), poor rate, road. assessed  May and  December  , p.  , i.e.  London, National Portrait Gallery, inv. no.  for half year from Lady Day (  March) and quarter [‘Vertue note books. III’, Walpole Society , XXII, from Michaelmas (  September). In  Thomas  ,  – ; John Kerslake, Early Georgian Grimes’s name appears in the margin beside the portraits ,  ,  – , pl.  ; Gordon

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV   WILLIAM THOMAS , STEWARD OF THE ‘ MARYBONE ’ ESTATE

Balderston, ‘The genesis of Edward Salter aetatis dated  August  ). Idem for the Court House ’, Georgian Group Journal , X,  , note  ; ( – ) and the Market House (  – ). The David Saywell & Jacob Simon, Complete illustrated foundation for the Chapel was laid on  August catalogue. National Portrait Gallery, London ,  ,  and it opened for divine service on  March  ]. For Goupy, who bought the painting, see Jacob  ; the foundation for the Market House was laid Simon, ‘New light on Joseph Goupy (  – )’, in  , but it opened on  December  [HDW Apollo , CXXXIX,  , February  ,  – . /, op. cit. (at note  ), fo.  and  respectively].  BL, Add. MS  , fol.  v. (page originally  HDW /, op. cit. (at note  ), fo.  . numbered  by Vertue).  WCA, M: Acc  /, op. cit. (at note  ).  For the Harleys as patrons, see Lees-Milne, op. cit.  Balderston  , op. cit. (at note  ), – . (at note  ),  – ; Gordon Balderston, ‘ Young  Peter Potter, Plan of the parish of Saint Mary le Lady Margaret Harley by Michael Rysbrack’, Bone … , ed. by Richard Bowden, Westminster City Sculpture Journal , VII,  ,  – . Libraries/The St. Marylebone Society,  ,  BL, Add. MS  , fols.  – . facsimile of  edition. I am grateful to Richard  FRC, PROB  , microfilm  , quire  , fol.  , Bowden for telling me about the renumbering. dated  May  and proved  August  .  WCA, accession no.  / [Howard de Walden  Wanley/Wright, op. cit. (at note  ),  : for other (formerly Portland) Estate plans, on permanent references to William and Timothy Thomas, see loan], block plan N. The houses comprising index on  . Henrietta Street are shown on block plans A–D and  Pope/Sherburn, op. cit. (at note  ), II,  . M–O which are variously dated circa  (A, C,  Thomas paid Bridgeman  guineas on  M), circa  (B, D, N) and circa  (O). December  [RBSGA, CH/  / , fo.  ]; £  Summerson, op. cit. (at note  ),  . on  March  ; £ and £ on  and  May  respectively [CH/  / , fo.  , latter three debits]. For Bridgeman, Master Gardener to the King from  October  until his death on  July  , see Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die bildenden BIOGRAPHY Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker , XIV, publ. by K.G. Gordon Balderston works as a specialist in European Saur, Munich and Leipzig,  ,  – , entry by sculpture in London’s commercial art world. Cornelia Jöchner; The dictionary of art , ed. by Jane Turner,  , IV,  – , entry by David Rodgers; ibid. , www.groveart.com . Incidentally, rate books show that Michael Rysbrack’s neighbour in Vere Street from the mid-  s was ‘Mrs Bridgman’, not necessarily a relative: she or a homonym is described in a list of subscribers to Gibbs’s A book of architecture … ,  , xxvi, as ‘Mrs. Bridgeman of Hanover Square’.  BL, Add. MS  B, fol.  v; Balderston  , op. cit. (at note  ),  and note  .  Vertue III, op. cit. (at note  ),  . For Rysbrack in Vere Street, see Balderston  , op. cit. (at note  ), note  on p.  .  HMC.  th report, appendix IV, Portland VII ,  , letter dated  July  from Dr. William Stratford to Edward, Lord Harley.  Mill-Hill Field is shown on Henry Pratt’s A survey of Marybone and Barrow Hills in the county of Mid’sex of  [HDW /].  Friedman, op. cit. (at note  ),  – (contract

THE GEORGIAN GROUP JOURNAL VOLUME XIV  