CHAPTER I
The Bailiwick of St. James
Volumes XXIX and XXX of the Survey of London describe that part of the parish of St.
James which lies south of Piccadilly. (fn. a)
About half of this area now belongs to the royal
estates which are administered for the Sovereign
by the Crown Estate Office. At the time of the
Restoration, when important building development began, all (or nearly all) (fn. b) of it belonged to
the Crown, and it formed part of a much larger
estate called the Bailiwick or Manor of St. James.
The bailiwick was created by Henry VIII out
of lands in the parishes of St. Margaret, St. Martin in the Fields, St. Giles in the Fields, Fulham
and Chelsea which were surrendered to the King
between 1531 and 1536. These lands were
surrendered by the Provost and College of Eton
(1531), (ref. 1) the Prior and Convent of St. Peter's,
Westminster (1531, 1536), (ref. 2) the Abbot and Convent of Abingdon, the Mercers' Company and
the Master of the Hospital of Burton Saint Lazar
(1536). (ref. 3) The area under review comprised two
parts of the bailiwick—St. James's Field (or Pall
Mall Field, as it was later called), and part of the
Pulteney estate; their history is discussed on pages
23–8. The following account describes the history of the bailiwick as a whole. (fn. c)
Some of the land acquired by Henry VIII was
retained for his own and his successors' use, but
the greater part was granted in lease to various
tenants. (fn. d)
The individual leases still had some years to
run when in 1617 James I, wishing to settle certain of the royal estates on his son Charles,
granted the bailiwick with St. James's Palace (fn. e) for
ninety-nine years to trustees for the use of the
prince. The trustees were empowered to grant
reversionary leases for terms not exceeding thirtyone years or determinable on three lives. (ref. 5) In 1629
Charles I gave the bailiwick to Queen Henrietta
Maria as part of her jointure and it was conveyed
by his trustees to those of the Queen, who were
also empowered to grant leases. (ref. 6)
During the Commonwealth period most of the
lessees who held parts of the bailiwick under
Crown or sub-leases appear to have been allowed
to continue their tenancies. After the Restoration
the surviving members of the trust created for
Henrietta Maria in 1629 conveyed the bailiwick
to new trustees on her behalf, and some of the
sub-lessees were dispossessed (see page 26). (ref. 7)
Among Henrietta Maria's new trustees was
Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans (c. 1604–84),
whose connexion with the bailiwick, and particularly with the St. James's Square area, whilst
it was being laid out, forms the basic theme of
much of this volume. Henry Jermyn was the
third son of Sir Thomas Jermyn of Rushbrooke,
Suffolk; in 1626 he was elected member of
Parliament for Bodmin and in 1628 he became
vice-chamberlain to the Queen, to whose favour
he owed much of his subsequent success. In 1643
he was created Baron Jermyn of St. Edmundsbury, and in the following year he accompanied
the Queen to France. During his long residence
abroad he busied himself in royal affairs and was
much criticized for his display of wealth among
the poverty-stricken Royalists in exile in France,
where he 'kept an excellent Table for those who
courted him, and had a Coach of his own, and all
other accommodation incident to the most full
fortune'. (ref. 8) At the Restoration he was, at Henrietta Maria's desire, created (by letters patent
dated at Breda, 27 April 1660) Earl of St. Albans,
and his long service was rewarded with numerous
offices and grants of land. In 1660, 1667 and
1669 he was ambassador to France, and from
1671 to 1674 lord chamberlain of the household.
Evelyn describes a meeting with him a few months
before his death, when he was 'growne so blind,
that he could not see to the taking his meate: It is
incredible how easy a life this Gent: has lived, and
in what plenty even abroad, whilst his Majestie
was a sufferer . . . a prudent old Courtier, and
much inrich'd since his Majestie's returne.' (ref. 9) He
died unmarried on 2 January 1683/4, aged about
eighty. (ref. 10)
On 26 March 1661 Henrietta Maria and her
trustees granted a lease to Henry Guy, Thomas
Hawes, John Hervey or Harvey and John Coell
of that part of the bailiwick which is called the
Pulteney estate. Guy and Hawes were trustees
for Sir William Pulteney and Hervey and Coell
were trustees for the Earl of St. Albans. (ref. 11) The
effect of this lease was to vest the Pulteney estate,
as part of the bailiwick, in St. Albans until 1691,
with Sir William Pulteney as his under-tenant.
On the next and following days, 27 and 28 March
1661, the rest of the bailiwick was let to St.
Albans's trustees, Hervey and Coell, for two
separate terms due to expire in 1691 at the same
time as the lease of the Pulteney estate. (ref. 12)
The Earl's schemes for the development of the
bailiwick must have been severely handicapped by
the short term for which he held it, and in January
1662 he petitioned Charles II for an extension of
his term. (fn. f) He mentioned in his petition that he
had been 'for above Forty yeares in ye Actuall
Service of yor. Ma.tes. late Royall Father . . . of ye
Queene yor. Mother, & of yor. Ma.ty. yor Self'
and reminded the King of 'some Debts owing to
him . . . for moneyes Lent to yor. Maty. during
yor. Residence in forren parts'. He therefore
begged the King 'in deduction of ye said Debts'
for a reversionary interest in the bailiwick. (ref. 7)
This petition was partially successful. In April
1662 Henrietta Maria and her trustees surrendered the residue of her interest in Pall Mall Field
and certain other parts of the bailiwick to Charles
II. (ref. 13) In September of the same year the latter
ratified (but did not extend) the leases of the whole
bailiwick already granted to St. Albans, and
extended his term in a particular part of the bailiwick, Pall Mall Field, for twenty-nine years from
1691. For this extension St. Albans paid six
thousand pounds. (ref. 14) In 1665 Charles II granted
the freehold interest of part of Pall Mall Field (St.
James's Square and the area round it) to Abraham
Cowley and Baptist May on behalf of the Earl
(fig. 3). (ref. 15) Some other small parcels of the bailiwick were later granted to other members of
Charles II's court (see pages 378, 431), and in
1668 part of the Pulteney estate was taken for the
laying out of Green Park (see page 27).
After the death of Henrietta Maria in 1669 the
term of ninety-nine years in the bailiwick, which
James I had in 1617 vested in trustees for his son,
reverted to Charles II. In 1672 St. Albans's leasehold term in part of the bailiwick was extended
and in the same and the following year Charles II
vested the whole of the bailiwick in trustees on
behalf of his wife, Queen Catherine, and extended
her term to 1759. In 1674, however, the trustees,
on the instructions of the Queen, surrendered her
interest to Charles II, who in the same year
ratified and extended the leases granted to St.
Albans. (ref. 13) The ancient rent of the bailiwick was
reserved to the Queen during her lifetime.
At the time of his death in January 1683/4, the
Earl of St. Albans held part of Pall Mall Field as
freehold and part on lease, his term in the latter
being due to expire in 1740. In other parts of the
bailiwick his various leasehold interests were due
to expire in 1711, 1720, 1734, 1740 and 1748. (ref. 13)
(fn. g)
St. Albans left his property to his two nephews,
Thomas Jermyn (later Lord Jermyn) of Rushbrooke, Suffolk, and Henry Jermyn (later Lord
Dover) of Cheveley, Cambridgeshire, and to Martin Folkes of Gray's Inn, in trust, after the payment of certain debts and legacies, for Thomas
Jermyn. (ref. 17)
Both before and after St. Albans's death, petitions were addressed to the Crown for reversionary
leases of part of the bailiwick. In 1679 Charles,
Earl of Burford (the natural son of Charles II and
Nell Gwynne, and later Duke of St. Albans),
petitioned for such a lease, which he said the King
had promised him, (ref. 18) and James, Duke of Ormonde, made a similar request in 1694. (ref. 19) But
after the grant to St. Albans in 1674 the bailiwick
was never again leased as a single entity, perhaps
because of the confusion already caused by such a
multiplicity of leases. Instead it became the custom, as the sub-leases granted by St. Albans or his
assigns fell in, to allow tenants to renew their
leases direct from the Crown.
St. James's Field
(LATER PALL MALL CLOSE OR FIELD)
The history of St. James's Field (fn. h) before the formation of the Bailiwick of St. James by Henry
VIII is obscure. There is some evidence that the
lands in the field were divided among several
owners, including the Hospital of St. James and
the Abbey of Westminster, (ref. 20) and a survey of common land in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields,
made in 1549, states that since 1485 (which was
apparently the date of the previous survey) 'There
ys A ffeld Called Sent James feld by estimacon xl
Acres wiche was Comen And owght to be Comen
And in Clossed by Kyng henry the viijth. . . wiche
was Arrable And now ys Meadowe.' (ref. 21) The
exact date of the enclosure of the field by Henry
VIII is not known (it was obviously between
1536 and 1547), and later sources give its
measurements as 42, (ref. 22) 44 (ref. 23) or 45 acres. (ref. 24) In
1576 it was said to be newly enclosed by a ditch, (ref. 22)
and was bounded on the north by Piccadilly, and
on the east and west by the roads which later
became known as Haymarket and St. James's
Street, respectively. On the south it was bounded
by the old highway which led from Charing Cross
past St. James's Hospital to Hyde Park at some
distance to the south of the present Pall Mall.
From the time of its enclosure by Henry VIII
until the Restoration it became customary for the
field to be held jointly with the office of keeper of
St. James's House or Palace. William Moren or
Moraunt(e) was keeper of St. James's in 1531 (ref. 25)
and in 1537 the King granted to him the offices of
keeper of St. James's House, keeper of the wardrobe there, keeper of the gardens and orchards
there and of St. James's Field, bailiff of St. James's
Fair and bailiff of all messuages, lands and
tenements of the King lying in the parishes of St.
Margaret, St. Martin and St. Giles on the north
side of the way leading from Charing Cross to
Knightsbridge. Moraunte received a fee of 8d. a
day. (ref. 26) The last grant of these offices before the
Commonwealth was in 1625 to Henry, Lord
Danvers and his brother Sir John Danvers, (ref. 27) who
appointed Hugh Woodward as their deputy in
1637. (ref. 23)
During the Commonwealth Woodward purchased the field and began to develop it (see below).
At the Restoration he petitioned for reinstatement
to the office of under-keeper of St. James's
Palace, (ref. 28) but he died in July 1660 and in the
following month the offices formerly held by the
Danvers brothers were granted to Sir John Grenville, a gentleman of the King's bedchamber. In
addition to the ancient offices Grenville also received a new one—bailiff or collector of the rents
and profits of the houses and buildings recently
erected on St. James's Field. (ref. 29) In February
1662/3 the Earl of St. Albans offered to pay
Grenville, recently created Earl of Bath, (ref. 10) £500
for his interest in the field, instead of £3000
which Grenville had hoped for. (ref. 30) The amount
which Grenville eventually received is not
known. (fn. i)
References to St. James's Field during the
period covered by the above account are almost
exclusively to its use for mustering troops or for
royal sports. In 1551 'there was a mustre before
the Kinges Maiestie in St. James [field] beyonde
Charinge Crosse, the Kinges Maiestie sittinge on
horse-backe on a hill by St. James with his
maiesties Privie Counsell with him'. (ref. 35) In 1554,
on the day Sir Thomas Wyatt reached London
with the rebels, there was 'great mustering at
Saint James' field', (ref. 36) where 'earlye in the morninge, the Earle of Pembroke, Lieutenant of the
Queen's armie, with the horsemen and footmen of
the noblemen, gathered their armies together with
the Queen's ordinance, and pitched their field by
St. James beyond Charinge Cross'. An engagement took place between the two forces 'by the
wall of the parke at St. James, toward Charing
Crosse' but Wyatt escaped and was later captured
at Temple Bar. (ref. 37) In 1640 the Council ordered
the Lords Lieutenants of Middlesex 'to cause as
many of the trained horse of Middlesex as you can
assemble together to be tomorrow morning . . . in
St. James's-field, well-armed and provided for
such present employment' as might be necessary
'to repress the traitorous insolence of some base
people'. (ref. 38)
In more peaceful times the royal family and
court used the field for playing the games of pall
mall and tennis.
The Game of Pall Mall
Pall mall appears to have originated in Italy
and to have been introduced into France during
the sixteenth century; (ref. 39) its name, palle-maille in
French, (fn. j) derived from the Italian palla = ball
and maglio = mallet, in reference to the equipment used by the players. The balls and mallets
used in the game were made of wood. The
mallet, which resembled those now used for
croquet, had a slightly curved head with flattened
ends, each bound with an iron hoop, and a long
slender handle. There are in the British Museum
a ball and a pair of mallets, one marked with the
name 'Latoure'. They were presented in 1854 by
G. Vulliamy, and had been found in his father's
house at No. 68 Pall Mall, which had been
occupied by the Vulliamy family since the
1760's. (ref. 40)
A Frenchman, Joseph Lauthier, writing in
1722, mentions four variants of the game. (ref. 41) One
of these, à la Chicane, was played in open country,
and resembled golf; it was probably the version
played in Scotland (see below). In England
another variant seems to have been popular, and
was played in a smooth grass alley, called a pall
mall. Sir Robert Dallington, in his View of France
As it stoode in . . . 1598, stated that 'Among all the
exercises of France, I preferre none before the
Palle-maille, both because it is a Gentleman-like
sport, not violent, and yeelds good occasion and
opportunity of discourse, as they walke from the
one marke to the other. I marvell, among many
more Apish and foolish toyes, which wee have
brought out of France, that wee have not brought
this sport also into England.' (ref. 42) The game was,
however, well established in Scotland at this time,
where it had perhaps been introduced from France
by Mary, Queen of Scots. One of the points made
in the 'book of articles' accusing her of complicity
in her husband's murder was that, shortly afterwards (1567), she was at Seton with Bothwell,
playing 'one day richt oppinlie at the fieldis with
the pal mall and goif'. (ref. 43)
Mary's son, James, probably brought the game
to England. In the book which he wrote to
instruct his son Henry in princely behaviour, he
included pall mall amongst the sports which he
thought suitable for a young prince to play: 'the
exercises that I would have you to use (although
but moderatlie not making a craft of them) are
running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, dauncing,
and playing at the caitche or tennise, archery,
palle maillé, and such like other faire and pleasant
field games'. (ref. 44)
Pall mall continued to be a popular royal game
during the reigns of Charles I and Charles II.
Peter Mundy mentions among 'Matters off Note'
that he saw Charles I 'playing att Palle Malle by
St. James' in 1639, (ref. 45) and Charles II's play was
described in verse by Edmund Waller:
'Here a well-polisht Mall gives us the joy
To see our Prince his matchless force
imploy; . . .
No sooner has he toucht the flying ball,
But 'tis already more than half the mall,
And such a fury from his arm has got
As from a smoaking Culverin 'twere shot.' (ref. 46)
The mall mentioned by Mundy was on the
south side of St. James's Field, and is shown on
Faithorne and Newcourt's map (published 1658
but surveyed 1643–7, Plate 1). When this mall
was first laid down is not known. About 1629
John Bonnealle, a Frenchman, took a piece of land
in St. James's Field, 'under pretence of making a
Pall Mall'. (ref. 47) 'Under pretence' suggests that
Bonnealle failed to make one, but another source,
dated 1630, refers to 'St. James's field where the
pallmall is'. (ref. 48) It may be that the pall mall mentioned in 1630 was an old one and that Bonnealle
had been commissioned to make a new one. In
1635 Archibald Lumsden, who in the three
preceding years had spent £425 14s. 'in bowls,
malls and scopes' and in repairs to the mall, (ref. 49) was
granted the sole right to furnish 'all the Malls,
bowls, scoops and other necessaries for the game of
Pall Mall within his grounds in St. James Fields'. (ref. 50)
(Lumsden never received payment of Charles I's
debt; he was granted a patent for 'transporting
500 dozen pair of leather boots' in lieu thereof,
but even this was recalled by Parliament. (ref. 49) ) In
time, by association with the game, St. James's
Field became known as Pall Mall Field or Close,
and it was under this name that it was surveyed in
1650. There were then 140 elm trees 'standinge
in Pell Mell walke in a very decent and Regular
manner on both sides the Walke'. (ref. 23)
After the Restoration the mall in St. James's
Field was abandoned, and a new highway on the
line of the present Pall Mall street was laid over it
(see page 322). A new mall, to which Waller
referred in the lines quoted above, was made
within St. James's Park, on the south side of the
wall bordering the old highway from St. James's
Palace to Charing Cross. (ref. 51)
The Tennis Court
The tennis court in St. James's Field was built
between 1617 and 1619 by Gedeon Lozer. Lozer
built the court and a dwelling house on a piece of
ground in the south-west corner of the field which
measured 140 feet along St. James's Street and
80 feet along the old highway (B on fig. 58). (ref. 52)
The court itself measured 100 feet by 35 feet; it
was built of brick, covered and paved with tiles, and
on its east side was a lean-to or walk. (ref. 53) In 1631 a
reversionary lease of this property was granted to
Thomas Hooker, keeper of the tennis court. (ref. 54) By
1663 Hooker's lease had passed to Martha Barker,
who in that year sub-let part of the house and the
tennis court to Robert Havercampe, 'with the
Curtaines and nets thereunto belonging together
with the benefitt of the Rackets, balls, sockes and
shoes belonging to the game of Tennis there
exercised', and freedom to appoint 'the markers
for the use of such as should play in the said
Court'. (ref. 55) When Pall Mall street was laid out
along its present course the tennis court was left
standing and projecting across the western end of
the street; it was eventually pulled down about
1679 (see page 323).
Early Building Development in Pall
Mall Field
The layout of Pall Mall Field after the
Restoration in the form which it has today was
preceded by a ramshackle development along the
fringes of the field. Charles I seems to have been
concerned to keep it as private as possible, and in
1630 ordered all footbridges, passages and ways
into the field to be closed, except the door out of
the tennis court 'which is to be for the kings
private use & ye addmittance of whom his Matye
shall please'. (ref. 48) The King's intention was further
signified by an order to David Mallard or Mallock
in 1631(?) to demolish a house which he had
erected on the piece of land taken by John
Bonnealle to make a pall mall (ref. 47) (see page 24),
and by another order to Archibald Lumsden or
Lumsdale in 1638 to demolish a 'bridge of bricks
begun for passage of carts' into the field. (ref. 56)
Nevertheless a parliamentary survey made in 1650
shows that there were a few buildings standing in
Pall Mall Field, besides the tennis court and
adjoining house, and only one was new. They
included a mean wooden tenement with 'two
small Drinkinge roomes', five sheds, an arbour and
a barn, all on the south side of the field. Attached
to these buildings was a garden with pear, apple,
quince, cherry and other small fruit trees, and a
pigeon house. On the south-west corner of Pall
Mall Walk there was another garden 'well
planted with fruite trees rose bushes Vines and
hansome Knotts, with A sun diall', and on the
west side of the field was a new brick house, with
a garden surrounded by a high brick wall, 'plentifully planted wth various and rare plants, flowers
and rootes, Wall fruite, cherrie trees and Vine
trees, verry pleasant to the eye, and profitable for
use'. (ref. 23) This last, known later as the Physic Garden, had been planted by James Parkinson (1567–
1650), the famous herbalist, and apothecary to
James I. (ref. 57) It lay on the east side of St. James's
Street, (fn. k) to the north of and adjoining the tennis
court (A on fig. 58). (ref. 58)
In the 1650's there was a great increase of
building in the fields between the City and Westminster, and some attempt was made (apparently
without much success) to arrest the process in
Lincoln's Inn Fields and St. James's Fields. (ref. 60)
In 1651 Hugh Woodward, whom the Danvers
brothers had appointed as their deputy in the
office of keeper of St. James's Palace, (ref. 23) purchased
Pall Mall Field from the trustees for the sale of the
late King's lands, for the sum of £1842 15s. 10d. (ref. 61)
He had employed his brother-in-law, Martin
Scudamore, as agent for the purchase, (ref. 62) he himself 'being formerly a servant to the late King and
one that seemingly declared much affection for
him'. (ref. 63) Woodward did some building in Pall
Mall Field (ref. 62) and he also treated with several other
speculators and builders. Among these were John
Emlyn, Borrage Salter, Abbott Newhall (alias
Hunt), (ref. 62) Daniel Charlewood, (ref. 64) Ambrose Scudamore, (ref. 65) John Hughson, (ref. 66) John Betts, carpenter, (ref. 67)
John Brasbee, bricklayer, (ref. 63) Henry Wharton,
citizen and carpenter, (ref. 68) and James Supple, vintner. (ref. 69) Woodward sold part of the field to speculators (ref. 70) but at the Restoration he still held thirtythree acres which he conveyed to trustees to pay
his debts. He died shortly afterwards in July
1660. (ref. 62) Some of the tenants compounded for
their property with Henrietta Maria's trustees and
obtained new leases. (ref. 71) The claim made by Woodward's trustees for the thirty-three acres was, however, refused, and the only properties which they
are known to have retained were ten messuages
and Cock Yard, of which the Earl of St. Albans
granted them thirty-year leases in 1661. (ref. 62) The
property of John Hughson was also seized, he
'unfortunately happening to be engaged in the
generall revolution of these Kingdoms'. (ref. 64) In
1662 the number of houses and sheds 'of all sorts'
around the sides of Pall Mall Field was said to be
two hundred and fifty, (ref. 7) and they were valued at
£1400 per annum. (ref. 24)
The Pulteney Estate
The Bailiwick of St. James included lands
which were held for many years by members of
the Pulteney family as under-tenants. The part of
their estate within the area under review lay
to the west of St. James's Street (see fig. 81).
Other parts in Westminster (fn. l) lay in the northern
half of St. James's parish, in the parishes of St.
Margaret, St. Martin and St. George and included
what is now Green Park and the area between
Park Place and Piccadilly. The following is a
general account of the history of the Pulteney
estate; the detailed history of building development on that part which lay to the west of St.
James's Street is dealt with in the chapters on
individual streets.
Unfortunately it has not been possible to define
the exact extent of the Pulteney estate and the
disposition of all its parts in Westminster. It is,
however, certain that it was made up of two older
estates, one of which had belonged to the Hospital
of St. James and the other to the Convent of
Abingdon.
St. James's Hospital stood on the site now
occupied by St. James's Palace and was founded,
probably in the eleventh century, as a colony for
fourteen leprous maidens. From time to time it
had been endowed with gifts of lands. (ref. 73)
In 1531 the hospital, with 185½ acres of land in
Westminster, was surrendered to the King by the
Provost and College of Eton (ref. 74) in whose custody
the hospital had become vested. (ref. 75) The lands of
the hospital thus became the nucleus of the bailiwick to which it gave its name.
At the time of the surrender the demesne lands
of the hospital, which had been let as a single
farm since at least the middle of the fifteenth century, were in lease to Thomas Arnold. (ref. 76) He was
allowed to continue as tenant, but his rent was
reduced because fifty-five acres of his farm had
been taken by the King and imparked. (ref. 77) Another
twenty-eight acres were subtracted from the farm
between 1531 and 1552, nine acres having been
laid into roads and the rest into St. James's Park. (ref. 78)
The Crown continued to let the rest of the
demesne lands as a unit, which had commonly
become known as St. James's Farm, after the
expiration of Arnold's lease. (ref. 79) Some time before
1575 Thomas Poultney became the sub-tenant.
In that year he and other farmers in St. Martin's
parish supplied the Queen's Mews with hay, and
he was listed as one of the farmers who had enclosed Lammas land within the last three years. (ref. 80)
Poultney died in 1581 (ref. 81) and was succeeded by
another Thomas Poultney, who was presumably
his son. The second Thomas maintained the
policy of enclosure on St. James's Farm, going so
far as to threaten 'death to any that shall presume
to open' his lands. (fn. m) In 1590 he secured an assignment from Goma or Gomer van Osserwick
(Osterwicke), one of the Queen's musicians and
the Crown lessee, of a reversionary lease of St.
James's Farm for twenty-one years from 1608. (ref. 83)
In 1590 he also acquired an interest in the other
property which went to make up the Pulteney
estate. This comprised sixty acres of land in the
parish of St. Margaret, which had been surrendered by the Abbot and Convent of Abingdon to
Henry VIII in 1536, and taken into the bailiwick; it was then said to be worth £5 per annum. (ref. 3)
At this same rent it was let in 1538 to George
Sutton (ref. 84) <in 1566 to John Walgrave>and in 1590 to James Harden, who like
Osterwicke, the lessee of St. James's Farm, was
one of the Queen's musicians. Harden immediately assigned his interest, which was for
twenty-one years from 1595, to Thomas Poultney (ref. 83) At the time of his death in 1593, (ref. 85)
Poultney therefore held a leasehold interest in
160 acres of land—St. James's Farm (said to contain 100 acres) (ref. 86) and sixty acres comprising the
Abingdon-Sutton lands.
In 1610, before the terms assigned to Poultney
had expired, both properties were leased by the
Crown to John Eldred and William Whitmore
for sixty years. This transaction was part of a
much larger assignment of Crown estates to
Eldred, Whitmore and others of the City of London, whereby James I secured £67,000 for the
Exchequer. (ref. 87)
It is not certain who inherited Thomas Poultney's estate, but in 1651 Michael Pulteney was
said to be the tenant. (ref. 88) He or his predecessor
apparently obtained a sub-lease from Eldred and
Whitmore after the grant of the Crown lease to
them in 1610. The Pulteneys were Royalists
during the Civil War (a Captain Poultney was
captured at Worcester in 1646) (ref. 89) and their estate
was sequestered and sold in 1651 to Samuel
Stevens of Bray for £3758. (ref. 88)
Michael Pulteney, junior, of Bray, whose will
was proved in 1655, left his brother William as
his heir. (ref. 90) After the Restoration the latter, who
had been knighted in June 1660, (ref. 91) recovered his
estate, (ref. 92) and in addition obtained a reversionary
term of twenty-one years after the expiry of the
leases to Eldred and Whitmore. This new term,
which extended his interest to 1691, was granted
in 1661 by Queen Henrietta Maria, since the
Bailiwick of St. James was still part of her jointure. (ref. 93)
A few years later the Pulteney estate was considerably curtailed. Charles II's improvements to
St. James's Park included a scheme for its enlargement, and he desired Sir William to give up Sandpit Field and Six Acre Close, which together
contained some twenty-six acres, for this purpose. (ref. 94) In 1668 Pulteney surrendered his interest in the two fields to the King and both were
enclosed to form the new park. (ref. 72) Six Acre Close
did not remain for long in use as part of the park,
being granted in 1682 to the Earl of Arlington,
who caused Arlington and Bennet Streets to be
built on the site. (ref. 95) Green Park, as it is now
called, marks the former site of Sandpit Field. A
small strip of the field was not needed for the new
park, but it was not returned to Pulteney. It now
forms the western side of St. James's Place, and
part of the sites of Spencer House and Bridgwater
House.
In recompense for his loss Sir William received
a reversionary lease for thirty-four years from
1688/9—the first time that a Pulteney had had a
direct lease from the Crown—of nearly all the
remainder of his estate. (ref. 72) Excluded from this
reversionary grant were five pieces of land
adjoining Berkshire House and garden; they were
acquired by the Duchess of Cleveland and in 1690
the freehold was granted to her son, the Duke of
Grafton (see page 491).
In 1679 Sir William Pulteney attempted to
obtain the freehold of his estate, reminding the
King 'of the great Sufferings' of himself and his
father 'by reason of the late usurpacons', and of
£500 lent to Charles I by the latter, (ref. 96) but his
petition was unsuccessful. By his will, which was
proved in 1691, he devised all his leasehold estates,
except his house in St. James's Street, to Sir
Thomas Clarges and Henry Guy in trust to dispose of them to pay his debts and for the benefit of
his heirs. (ref. 97) In 1721 an Act of Parliament was
passed enabling the Crown to grant the freehold of
part of the estate to the trustees. (ref. 98) The grant was
passed in 1722, (ref. 99) and included all that remained of
the Pulteney estate on the west side of St. James's
Street, with the exception of the land on which
the Thatched House Tavern stood and a few
houses on the north side of Cleveland Row, which
continued to be held on lease from the Crown (see
pages 466, 487). The intermingling of Crown and
privately owned land was later found to be unsatisfactory, and in 1830 Sir Richard Sutton, who
had inherited the Pulteney estate, surrendered
all his freehold lands on the west side of St.
James's Street to the Crown in exchange for a
grant of other lands in Soho. (ref. 100)