Social Victorians/Places

Victorian Material History: Places

Places and Addresses in or near London

• The Reading Room at the British Library
• Bedford Park
• Buckingham Palace
• Haslemere
• Marlborough House
• London Clubs
• Rothschild Row

Bayswater

97 Westbourne Grove, in the Bayswater district, where Ada Waters and her brother George lived, at least in early 1897 (Howe 164).

Buckingham Palace

For the 28 June 1897 Garden Party that was the final London event of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the London Daily News began its report with a quick history of Buckingham Palace. As the site of the Garden Party, both the grounds and the palace itself were open to invited guests, and because they were open so rarely, they generated a lot of interest, as they had, apparently, in 1887, during the Queen's Golden Jubilee:

Although in every important particular, as it is known to us, Buckingham Palace is the creation of the Queen's reign, it has been a thing of shreds and patches. In contiguity to St. James's Palace, where the Court was then held, and enjoying, as it was said to do, "an airy and pleasing site," Buckingham House was purchased by George III. for Queen Charlotte. Its founder was Earl of Mulgrave under Charles II.; was Lord Chamberlain under James II., was created Marquis by William III., made Duke of Buckingham and appointed Lord Privy Seal by Queen Anne. Sated with this continuity of Royal favour, the Duke resigned office, and has left an account of the house and grounds in which he enjoyed a comparative retirement, described by him as delicious. In his time there were no other buildings extending beyond St. James's to the West, the North was open to Hampstead, and the view of the Thames was almost uninterrupted. After its acquisition by the Crown, the first intention was to repair and enlarge the existing buildings, but under George IV. their reconstruction was commenced, and that work continued under William IV. But the east front was not constructed until 1837, when thereby the quadrangle was created that serves so important a part in the arrivals and departures on Drawing Room days and State receptions. The noble and well-known ball-room, designed by Pennethorne, and decorated, as was also the grand staircase, by Gruner, was added in 1856. Probably there are few Royal palaces in Europe so little visited by travellers, and yet there are many features worthy of critical study which escape attention at the ordinary Court festivities but which excited lively interest yesterday when the Palace was thrown open to the invited guests, who had thus an opportunity of inspecting the picture galleries and salons wherein are choice examples of Rembrandt, Rubens, and Vandyck, as well as of Canaletti and Zaccharelli, and of Sir Benjamin West, P.R.A., who in his day prospered under the patronage of George III.

To the mass of visitors, however, the lovely garden was the all-sufficing attraction. Few there were in 1887 to whom the charm of these 2 spacious grounds was other than a revelation, so rarely in our day had they been thrown open to public use, and so little were their capabilities for such occasions even suspected. Albeit no longer commanding uninterrupted views of Hampstead and the river, the environment of Grosvenor-place and Buckingham Palace-road is so concealed by the foliage of stately trees that it seems only to contribute to the general air of happy seclusion.

Buckinghamshire

• Beaconsfield
• Hughenden Manor, Disraeli's manorial house
• High Wycombe
• Penn, Buckinghamshire
  • Rayners, home of Sir Philip Rose, Baronet: Sir Philip Rose, who was a close friend of Disraeli's and his legal advisor, "and Disraeli bought their local estates at the same time, Disraeli at Hughenden and Philip Rose at Rayners. On becoming Prime Minister in 1874, Disraeli offered Philip Rose a baronetcy and he later became High Sheriff of the County" (http://www.chilternsaonb.org/downloads%5CHolyTrinityChurchToBeaconHill.pdf). Victoria visited Rayners at some point.
• Along Church Road, Penn
  • <quote>Opposite the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel is Watercroft, built in about 1815. Sir George Grove, original author of the Dictionary of Music, was an earlier owner and it is said that Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan, a close friend, wrote ”The Lost Chord”, “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Tit Willow” from the former summerhouse.</quote> (http://www.chilternsaonb.org/downloads%5CHolyTrinityChurchToBeaconHill.pdf)
• Tring Park: home of Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild

Camden Town

6 Morning Crescent is a house whose top two floors Walter Sickert "rented ... when he moved back to London from France in 1906" (Cornwell 61).

Chancery

22 Chancery Lane, London, WC, the offices of Todd, Dennes and Lamb, solicitors, whom MacGregor Mathers used (Howe 199).

67 Chancery Lane, London, where Aleister Crowley and Allan Bennett lived Spring 1899 through October or November of that year (Howe 194ff).

Chelsea

Tite Street, Chelsea

Walter Sickert "was acquainted with the famous architect Edward W. Godwin, a theater enthusiast, costume designer, and good friend of Whistler's. Godwin lived with Ellen Terry during Sickert's early acting days and had built Whistler's house — the White House, on Tite Street in Chelsea. Godwin's widow, Beatrice, had just married Whistler on August 11, 1888" (Cornwell 163).

Oscar Wilde lived on Tite Street with Frank Miles, who commissioned a house from Edward Godwin; Miles was committed to a mental hospital in 1887, and the house was sold.

10 Glebe Place, Chelsea

Ellen Sickert wrote Blanche from here in 1893 (Cornwell 176).

26 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea Embankment, London SW

This was the address of Cecilia Macrae, though the following people also used it as their mailing address when they first joined the Golden Dawn:

• Florence Kennedy
• Grace Aurelia Murray
• as did Miss Louisa Ida Macrae (Gilbert 86 146-47)
• See also Aleister Crowley's Moonchild.

Cheyne Walk

Robert Hudson lived there, and then in 1892 J. A. Spender moved very near Hudson, and then Arthur Acland moved next to Spender (Spender 36).

Chiswick

Bedford Park, West Chiswick, West London

Fitzroy Square, London

The Fitzroy Settlement, 20 Fitzroy Street

20 Fitzroy Street, London, where Herbert Horne, A. H. Mackmurdo, Selwyn Image, T. Hope McLachlan, and Lionel Johnson had studios or lived. Herbert Horne and A. H. Mackmurdo shared a studio here and let Arnold Dolmetsch use it for concerts from the end of 1891 to the beginning of 1893 (Campbell 41). Margaret Campbell says,

20 Fitzroy Street [destroyed in the 1939-1945 war], known popularly as the Fitzroy Settlement, was an Adam building dating from the 1790s and had been purchased by Mackmurdo in 1889. The ground floor was fitted out as a workroom for The Century Guild; Selwyn Image, Herbert Horne and the painter T. Hope McLachlan had studios on the first floor; and Lionel Johnson lived in two rooms on the top floor, 97 steps from the street. (Campbell 44)

A. H. Mackmurdo had "enlivened" the "face" of 20 Fitzroy

by white paint on the woodwork of windows, door and fanlight, and a number and knocker in brass. ... An entrant was greeted by a circular warm Della Robia relief let into a wall of the white tinted vestibule. An imposing Italian painting in fine colouring in [the] original frame overspread the width of the projecting breast above the mantel in the drawing office. ... Two large rooms which could be thrown into one ... on the first floor. ... Dullness was absent, disposal of furniture was discriminating and airiness prevailed. (Campbell 44 quoting Henry Sirr letter to Miss E.M. Pugh, 6 May 1942).

Henry Sirr goes on to list the people who visited the Fitzroy Settlement:

Sturge Moore, looking with his flowing beard like one of the apostles, reciting verse to a zither; Yeats declaiming, Sickert, Crane, Augustus John, William Rothenstein, Jepson, Rhys and Wilde. (Campbell 44 quoting Henry Sirr letter to Miss E.M. Pugh, 6 May 1942; Campbell says it's Walter Crane.)

Katherine Bradley and Edith Cooper (Michael Field) also attended at least one concert, at Horne's invitation, although they did not seem to enjoy it. (Margaret Campbell found a description in their Works and Days [45 and 54, n. 5 and n. 6].)

No. 85, Charolotte Street, Fitzoy Square, W.

Anold Dolmetsch moved here at the beginning of 1901 (Campbell 137-38). He sent out notices on 16 January 1901 that he was moving, and he was giving concerts 10 days later (Campbell 137-38).

Fleet Street

Clifford's Inn, from 1893 on, associated with Arnold Dolmetsch and Florence Farr. The Artworkers' Guild moved here from Barnard's Inn (Holborn) (Campbell 78).

Florence Farr's first public performance in which she "recit[ed] to her own accompaniment on the psaltery was at the Hall of Clifford's Inn, Fleet Street, on 10 June 1902 (Campbell 144, n. 18). According to Margaret Campbell, also, "It was here at Charlotte Street in 1901 that the first modern psaltery was made for Florence Farr, who used it to accompany herself reciting Yeats' poems" (138).

Holborn

Barnard's Inn: After his lecture/concerts outgrew the room at 20 Fitzroy Street, in 1893 Arnold Dolmetsch moved them to Barnard's Inn, Holborn, "a fine panelled chamber with an open-timbered roof probably dating, in part, from the reign of King Henry VI" (Campbell 56).

Kensington

Brunswick Gardens, Kensington, home of Robert J. Parker, president of the Men and Women's Club, which met there for half of the club's 36 meetings (Bland 5).

West Kensington

64 Netherwood Road, home of Helen Fulham-Hughes (Gilbert 86 150).

116 Netherwood Road, site of the 21 April 1900 meeting of the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn (Howe 227).

Talgarth Road, West Kensington, London -- a subgroup in the Golden Dawn, including Annie Horniman and Frederick Gardner met here at least during September 1897 (Howe 197).

Notting Hill, London

Elgin Crescent, Notting Hill, London, was the home of Mr. and Francesca Arundale. Helena Blavatsky stayed there in 1884, from 29 June 1884 until early August.

Paddington, London

In the Sherlock Holmes stories, John Watson appears to have had his practice in the Paddington district: "It is impossible to say in which of Paddington's many streets Watson lived; he could have lived in Eastbourne Terrace, which runs alongside the west wall of Paddington Station, and connects Praed Street with Bishop's Bridge Road. ... It is far more likely that Watson lived across Praed Street, in Spring Street or London Street or even in Norfolk Square, which is separated from Praed Street only by a block of houses. He would thus be near enough to the Station to be known to the staff, which sufficiently removed from the traffic of Praed Street to enjoy a certain amount of quiet. His rent would have been (for a three-storeyed house in, say Spring Street) about £60 [$300] per annum; a four-storeyed house in nearby Norfolk Square would have been about £80 [$400]; both figures exclusive of rates" (Baring-Gould II 153-54, n. 2, quoting Michael Harrison; ellipsis mine, interpolations his).

St. John's Wood, London

19 Avenue Road, St. John’s Wood, where Annie Besant was living in 1891 when Helena Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society made it their headquarters. Henry Steel Olcott describes it:

It was in [July] 1890 that HPB and her staff settled in the "Headquarters," 19 Avenue Road, St. John’s Wood, London, and it was here that in the following year she died. It was a large house, standing in its own grounds, which formed a pleasant garden, with bits of lawn, shrubbery, and a few tall trees. Mounting the front steps, one entered a vestibule and short hall, from each side of which doors opened into rooms. The front one on the left was HPB’s working room, and her small bedchamber adjoined it. From this inner room a short passage led into a rather spacious chamber, which was built for and occupied by the Esoteric Section. To the right of the hall on entering was an artistically furnished dining room, which was also used for the reception of visitors. Back of this was a small room, then used as a general workroom. A door cut through the north wall of the dining room gave access to the new hall of the Blavatsky Lodge; while one cut in the south wall of HPB’s room led into the office of the General Secretary of the European Section [of the Theosophical Society]. The upper stories of the house were sleeping apartments. The meeting hall of the Blavatsky Lodge was of corrugated iron, the walls and ceiling sheathed with unpainted wood. Mr. R. Machell, the artist, had covered the two sloping halves of the ceiling with the symbolic representations of six great religions and of the zodiacal signs. At the south end was a low platform for the presiding officer and the lecturer of the evening. The hall had a seating capacity of about 200. On the opening night [July 3, 1890] the room was crammed, and many were unable to gain admission. The speakers were Mrs. Besant, Mr. Sinnett, a Mrs. Woolff (of America), and Mr. [Bertram] Keightley. HPB was present but said nothing, on account of the critical state of her health.

HPB’s workroom was crammed with furniture, and on the walls hung a large number of photographs of her personal friends and of members of the Esoteric Section. Her large writing desk faced a window through which she could see the front grassplot and trees, while the view of the street was shut out by a high brick wall. Avenue Road was a veritable beehive of workers, with no place for drones, HPB herself setting the example of tireless literary drudgery, while her strong auric influence enwrapped and stimulated all about her.

("23a. Henry S. Olcott, July 1890, London [Olcott 1931, 4:254–6]." Esoteric World Chapter 23. The Theosophical Society of America, Online Resources. http://www.theosophical.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=23&id=1725&Itemid=53).

The Strand

Hotel Cecil, frequented by Aleister Crowley circa 1900 (Howe 206).

Still Uncategorized

Dowland, Rosendale Road, West Dulwich. Arnold Dolmetsch lived here beginning in winter 1893. Dolmetsch called it it "Dowland."

Kent House, Lady Ashburton's Knightsbridge home in 1892 (and probably before and after)

18 Woburn Buildings, W. B. Yeats's address in 1896 (he was 31) (Moore 54 63-4). Possibly he was in by January (relying on Yeats's memory (Harper 80 76, n. 12); but for sure he was in by March (Harper 80 3-4). He was still living there in April 1902 (Wade 370).

Mark Mason's Lodge — Freemason Lodge in which MacGregor Mathers, among many other members of the Golden Dawn, was installed into the Golden Dawn, in his case as Imperator of the Isis Urania Temple in 1890 (Gilbert 86 12).

36 Blythe Road, "a turning immediately to the west of the present Olympia building in Hammersmith Road. They were above the offices of Mr. C. E. Wilkinson, a builder" (Howe 183). These were "headquarters of the Second [or Inner] Order" of the Golden Dawn beginning in September 1897 (Howe 126). These are the premises Aleister Crowley attempted to "capture."

361 Brixton Road, from which H. C. Morris wrote Frederick Gardner about Edward Berridge's "magical workings" against Annie Horniman (Howe 173). This is his address?

54 Broadhurst Gardens, where Walter and Ellen Sickert lived, at least from 1885-1887 (Cornwell 176).

396 Camden Road, the address where the printed label said to return Golden Dawn Rituals and MSS, until March 1897, when Wynn Westcott resigned from the Order (Howe 166). This was Westcott's address?

26 Charing Cross, London, John M. Watkins' book shop. or 21 Cecil Street (Norfleet)? Now it's in Russell Square?

9, Cowley Street, Westminster: Tom Ellis, "about two minutes' walk from Dean's Yard" (Spender 61).

13, Dean's Yard, Westminster: Robert A. Hudson

14, Dean's Yard, Westminster: Robert A. Hudson and his daughter Dorothy

Gloucester Crescent, where the Horoses moved after having been thown out of 99 Gower Street on 30 August 1901 (King 89 91).

99 Gower Street, London, where the Horoses lived when they "married" Vera Croysdale (King 89 87-8). The Horoses' landlady was Annie Lewis. Later used as "the offices of the Spectator (88)

11 Hatton Garden, E.C., London, offices of the Sanitary Wood Wool Co. The Inner Order of the Golden Dawn met there in May 1889 (Howe 8531).

74 Lancaster Gate, W., London, the "bachelor flat" where Bret Harte moved around the beginning of November 1895 after returning from his tour of Europe with Madame Van de Velde, who lived "a few doors" away (Gary Scharnhorst. Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West. The Oklahoma Western Biographies. Vol. 17. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma P, 2000. Page 206). Bret Harte was still living here 15 December 1898. (T. Edgar Pemberton, The Life of Bret Harte. London: C. Arthur Pearson: 1903. Page 280).

H. I. Montague Mansions, Portman Square, London, where Annie Horniman was living by 9 May 1897 (Horniman typescript).

62 Oakley Square, London, the "headquarters of the Second [or Inner] Order" of the Golden Dawn March 1896 until September 1897, when it moved to 36 Blythe Road (Howe 126). Florence Farr called a meeting of the Golden Dawn (or the Inner Order?) 5 May 1897.

15 Randolph Road, Maida Vale, W., home of Lady Hall, Mrs. Simpson's mother. Aleister Crowley used it as an address during the April 1900 Golden Dawn disorder (Howe 223).

48 Sussex Gardens, Hyde Park, London W., Edward Berridge's address in the Golden Dawn roll book (Gilbert 86 141).

26 Thavies Inn, London, offices of the Sanitary Wood Wool Co.. Wynn Westcott met his private Golden Dawn group there beginning in March 1898 (Howe 197).

15 Upper Hamilton Terrace, the London residence of Arthur Van de Velde, and where Bret Harte lived with the Van de Veldes (Axel Nissen, Bret Harte: Prince & Pauper. U P of Mississipi, 2000: 185). Met them on 18 February 1881 (Gary Scharnhorst. Bret Harte: Opening the American Literary West. The Oklahoma Western Biographies. Vol. 17. Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma P, 2000. Page 163).

29 Upper Hamilton Terrace, the London residence of Nicholas and Cornélie Trübner, and where Bret Harte lived with the Van de Veldes (Axel Nissen, Bret Harte: Prince & Pauper. U P of Mississipi, 2000: 175.

1 Queen's Mansion, Victoria Street, S.W., where Arthur Sullivan lived (known dates: 2 Feb. 1884, wrote Bret Harte [T. Edgar Pemberton, The Life of Bret Harte. London: C. Arthur Pearson: 1903. Page 278.]

Outside of Greater London

Lizard Point, Cornwall

The Lizard Hotel: "... The Lizard was frequented by artists, writers, Members of Parliament, and Lords and Ladies. Scans through guest books show the introverted scrawl of Henry James and the confident flourish of William Gladstone. Artist and critic George Moore knew The Lizard. [Walter] Sickert knew James but thought his writing was boring. Sickert was a crony of Moore's and tended to make fun of him. Artist Fred Hall stayed there, and Sickert couldn't stand him at all" (Cornwell 278). Did Annie Horniman know it? Annie Besant's and Charles Bradlaugh's names are penciled into the book; Patricia Cornwell believes Walter Sickert, Jack the Ripper, did it (Cornwell 282). Patricia Cornwell bought the guest book and donated it to the Tate (Cornwell 282).

Bradford, Yorkshire

• There was a Golden Dawn temple in Bradford.
• On 16 January 1889, a Jack the Ripper letter "refers to 'my trip to Bradford'" (Cornwell 296).

Scotland

Balmoral

Boleskine, on Loch Ness, Scotland, Aleister Crowley held his Abra-Melin operation "in the Highlands of Scotland" in October or November 1899 (Howe 205).

Ireland

Dublin

8 Cavendish Row, Dublin, where William Butler Yeats wrote from 3 April 1905 (Wade 368). He had George Moore's typewriter there?

France

Paris

1 Avenue Duquesne, Paris, the site of the Ahathoor Temple of the Golden Dawn when Annie Horniman consecrated it in 1894 (Howe 198).

Aux Gressets, par la Celle-Saint-Cloud, Seine-et-Oise, Paris, apparently MacGregor and Moina Mathers's new address on 8 December 1899 (Howe 199, n. 1).

87 Rue Mozart, Paris, where MacGregor and Moina Mathers lived in early 1900 (Howe 203).

28 Rue Saint Vincent, Buttes Montmartre, Paris, MacGregor and Moina Mathers's address on 3 July 1902 (Howe 244).

4 Rue de la Source, Passy-Auteuil, Paris, the address on MacGregor Mathers's stationery, on a latter dated 8 December 1899; the address is crossed out and replaced by Aux Gressets (Howe 199, n. 1).

Businesses and Concerns

Sanitary Wood Wool Company

• 11 Hatton Garden, E.C., London
• 26 Thavies Inn (from March 1898)

Owner

• Wynn Westcott "had a financial interest in" it (Howe 85 31)

What We Know

Sanitary Wood Wool Co. was "suppliers of surgical dressings"; Wynn Westcott "had a financial interest in" it (Howe 85 31).

In May 1889 the Inner Order of the Golden Dawn met there (31).

Westcott's private Golden Dawn group met at the Sanitary Wood Wool company offices, at 26 Thavies Inn, beginning in March 1898 (Howe 197).