CHAPTER XXV
St. James's Street, West Side, Past Buildings
No. 63 St. James's Street: the Bagnio
and Fenton's Hotel
The freehold of the site of No. 63 St. James's
Street (J on fig. 81) belonged to the Crown until
1697. (ref. 1) In 1686/7 the lease of the ground and
buildings had been assigned to Thomas Robson. (ref. 2)
He in turn bequeathed it, together with his other
properties, to his wife Mary, (ref. 3) charged, however,
with a debt of about £4500 owed to Sir Edwin
Stede of Stede Hall, Kent. The latter's executor,
Thomas Freke, then became entitled to the
premises in St. James's Street for the remaining
forty-six years of the Crown lease and in March
1697 he petitioned the Crown for an extension of
his interest. The house was then said to be
ruinous. (ref. 4)
In his report on this petition the Surveyor
General described the house as an old single
tenement, 18 feet deep and consisting of two
rooms with chambers over them. The whole
site, including both house and garden, had a
frontage of 51 feet towards St. James's Street and
a depth of 236 feet. He concluded that 'the
Buildings now standing on this peece of ground
are very meen and not answerable to ye other
houses now built in ye same street'. (ref. 4)
In April 1697 Thomas Freke obtained a grant
from the Crown of the freehold of the whole
property. (ref. 1) The usual procedure would have been
to grant him only a building lease, but in this
instance the property was granted in perpetuity,
possibly because by this time the Crown had
already disposed of the freehold of all its property
on the west side of St. James's Street from Piccadilly to St. James's Place. Freke paid a fine of
£100 and the property was charged with an
annual rent of 6s. 8d. for ever. (ref. 1)
The existing old tenement was then demolished and three new houses fronting St. James's
Street were built, probably by Joseph Rossington,
the speculative builder. (ref. 5) Immediately behind the
three new houses, on what had once been Robson's
garden, a substantial building was also erected;
it and the northernmost of the three houses facing
the street were used as a bagnio or Turkish bath (ref. 6)
from 1700 to at least 1748. (ref. 7)
In the early eighteenth century there was
another bagnio on the opposite (i.e. east) side of
St. James's Street on the site of No. 19. The date
of its establishment is uncertain, but from 1702
to 1716 the house was occupied by Peter Persoad. (ref. 8)
In his New View of London, published in 1708,
Hatton mentions that 'Pierautl's [sic] Bagnio is
situate in St. James's Str. where are Conveniences
for Sweating, Bathing, etc. It was set up about
the Year 1699, the charge of going in is 5s. If
lie all Night 10s. each. Here is also a Cold Bath,
for which they take 2s. 6d. each Person.' (ref. 9) In
the 1720's the ratebooks give Peter Delescot
(Delisco) as the occupant of the bagnio on the
east side of the street. A marriage settlement
dated 5 January 1733/4 shows that the bagnio
was still in existence then and that Benique
Delescot, widow, married Thomas Norris,
gentleman. (ref. 10) The later history of the establishment is not known.
In 1710 the German traveller, Von Uffenbach,
visited one of these establishments, which was
kept by 'an old Frenchman'. (ref. 11) The ratebooks
describe the keeper of the bagnio on the west side
of the street as 'Omilley' (in 1700), 'Bertr.
Aumaithay' (in 1706), and 'Peter De Omelai'
(in 1707). In his description of the bagnio which
he visited Von Uffenbach says that it was 'much
smaller than the Royal Bagnio [in Newgate
Street] . . . but much cleaner, the walls being
covered with porcelain tiles. Above the hot baths
they have also a large cold one, that is constantly
flowing in and out. It is of graduated depth so
that one can be covered as far as one wishes. In
the middle hangs a rope, by means of which one
can pull oneself along and roll about in any direction wished.' (ref. 11)
A deed of 1724 which describes the bagnio on
the west side of the street states that some of the
rooms were hung with tapestries or else 'wainscotted round', the hot rooms were lined with
Dutch tiles, and the floors and seats were made of
marble. (ref. 12)
In 1733 the then keeper of the bagnio at No.
63 St. James's Street increased the size of his
establishment by taking over the adjoining house,
that is, the middle one of the three houses built
by Rossington. (ref. 8) In 1748 William Stevens was
keeper of the bagnio and his widow remained in
occupation until 1757; (ref. 7) but it has been impossible
to discover from the trade directories the calling
of the various people who occupied the premises
between 1757 and 1800, when Francis Fenton
took over the three old houses as an hotel. (ref. 8)
Fenton's Hotel evidently prospered, for in 1823
he purchased the freehold of the property. (ref. 13) In
1824 the old houses were demolished and a large
building was erected on their site; it is shown in
Tallis's view (pocket, drawing C), and was completed by 1825. (ref. 8) The name of the architect is
unknown. The building contractor was Henry
Peto, whose bill amounted to £20,944. (ref. 13)
The front of Fenton's Hotel was six bays wide
and had three storeys below the main cornice and
an attic storey and a garret above. The lowest
storey formed a rusticated base with semi-circular
arched openings for windows and doors, the third
from the north being the main entrance and the
most southerly (which was wider than the rest
and therefore elliptical) a passage entrance.
Narrowly spaced and unfluted Corinthian pilasters, presumably with pedestals (though these
would have been obscured by a continuous iron
balcony railing), rose from this base through the
second and third storeys, the windows of which
were set in plain square-headed openings. There
were basket balconies to those of the third storey.
The windows in the attic storey were also squareheaded, and were separated by plain attic pilasters.
The garret was lit by square-topped dormers
behind a parapet.
In 1828 Fenton was declared bankrupt and
his new hotel was assigned to trustees for his
creditors, the most considerable being probably
Henry Peto. The property passed to the latter's
representatives and in 1854 was assigned by them
to his nephew and former business associate,
Thomas Grissell, (ref. 13) one of whose descendants,
Lieutenant-Colonel T. D. Grissell, is the present
owner.
Fenton remained as tenant of the new building,
which continued to be used as an hotel until
1886. (ref. 14) It was a place of fashion and there are
frequent contemporary references to it. (ref. 15) Nevertheless a foreign visitor wrote in 1858 that 'though
Fenton's was a fashionable [hotel], our rooms were
small and dark, furnished like a common lodginghouse. . . . I had to write my letters on my knees
or on the window-sill, or on the top of a box, as
there was no table. The dirt and darkness of
these rooms was most repulsive.' (ref. 16)
F. H. Fenton, presumably the son of Francis,
was in charge from 1835 to 1865; he was
succeeded by Mrs. Ann Fenton, who remained
until 1881. From 1845 to 1886 No. 12 Park
Place, which immediately adjoined the back
premises of No. 63 St. James's Street, formed
part of Fenton's Hotel. (ref. 17) In 1886–7 the hotel
was demolished to make way for the present
building (see page 472).
Blue Ball Yard
A deed dated 1700 mentions a new-intended
stable yard which was to be approximately in the
position of the present Blue Ball Yard, (ref. 18) but the
first entry in the ratebooks for a stable yard in
this position does not occur until 1719 and the
name Blue Ball Yard does not appear until 1754. (ref. 8)
Access to the yard is through two covered ways
separated from each other by a wall which marked
the boundary between Thomas Freke's ground
(see above) on the north and Charles Godolphin's
on the south (see below). About 1700 rebuilding
was taking place on both these sites and it seems
likely that the yard was formed jointly by Freke
and Godolphin at this period.
The existing buildings on the south and west
sides of the yard (Plate 266c) are described on page
473.
Sir John Duncombe's Estate
In 1672 there were four houses on the site of
the present Nos. 64–68 (consec.) St. James's
Street, with gardens extending westwards as far as
the wall of Cleveland House garden (J on fig. 81).
From north to south they were occupied by
Edmund Waller, Charles Pickar, Sir John
Duncomb(e) and Jane Beard. (ref. 19) Blue Ball Yard
and St. James's Place did not then exist. In that
year Sir John Duncombe, Chancellor of the
Exchequer, successfully petitioned the Crown for
the grant of the freehold of all four houses. (ref. 20)
Edmund Waller, the poet, lived in the northernmost house from 1657–8 to 1687, the year
of his death, (ref. 21) having taken a lease from Duncombe in 1672 and purchased the freehold from
him in 1681. (ref. 22) The house was burnt down
in 1696, when occupied by Lady Luttrell, (ref. 8)
'the lady herself narrowly escaping, and 'tis said
she lost in plate, jewells, etc. to the value of
10,000l'. (ref. 23) Two years later, in 1698, the poet's
son, another Edmund Waller, sold the site to
Charles Godolphin who occupied No. 16 St.
James's Place. (ref. 24) In 1702–3 Godolphin erected
three houses (fn. a) on the front part of the site, two
facing St. James's Street and one in their rear, (ref. 25)
and the southern half of Blue Ball Yard was
probably laid out behind them at about this time.
In 1703 Charles Godolphin vested the two
houses facing St. James's Street in trustees to receive the rents for such charitable uses as his wife
Elizabeth might direct. The rents were used to
help persons in reduced circumstances until 1852
when, by an order of the Court of Chancery, the
charity was vested in trustees for the establishment of the Godolphin School, Hammersmith. (ref. 26)
The site of this property is now covered by No. 64
(which was for many years occupied by the Cocoa
Tree Club, see below), No. 65 St. James's Street
and the southern half of Blue Ball Yard.
The sites of the houses occupied by Charles
Pickar, Sir John Duncombe and Jane Beard were
acquired by the Devisscher family towards the
end of the seventeenth century (see page 511)
and are now covered by Nos. 66, 67, 67a, and
68 St. James's Street and Nos. 1–10 and 32, 33,
39–46 (consec.) St. James's Place.
No. 64 St. James's Street: Weltje's and the Cocoa Tree Club
The first known reference to the Cocoa Tree
chocolate house is in 1698. During its long
career it occupied three different houses in Pall
Mall and then moved to No. 64 St. James's
Street. At some unknown date it ceased to be a
place of public resort and became first a proprietary and then (probably) a members' club. When
it ceased to exist in 1932 it was, apart from
White's, the only West End club whose ancestry
could be traced back to the chocolate houses of
the late seventeenth century.
In 1698 there is a reference among the manuscripts of Earl Cowper to 'the Cocoa Tree in the
Pell Mell'. (ref. 27) The house which it then occupied
stood on part of the site later occupied by Cumberland House and now by the Royal Automobile
Club, (ref. 28) and the ratebooks indicate that the proprietor was Sol De Lafoy, who occupied the
house from 1692 (perhaps the date of the first
establishment of the Cocoa Tree) until 1700–1.
De Lafoy was succeeded by Isaac Narsaw
(Narso), who occupied the house until 1716 and
is mentioned in connexion with the Cocoa Tree
chocolate house in a recital in a lease of 1733. (ref. 28)
The ratebooks show that the house in question
was subsequently occupied from 1717 to 1722 by
Matthew Field, from 1723 to 1729 by Martha
Field, from 1729 to 1744 by John Cartier(e), and
from 1744 to 1756 by Charles Soleirol. Several
of the latter's recognizances as the licensed
victualler of the Cocoa Tree chocolate house
have survived from 1747 to 1752. (ref. 29)
The Cocoa Tree is mentioned as a popular
resort in the first number of The Spectator—'my face is likewise very well known at the
Grecian, the Cocoa-tree, and in the theatres, both
of Drury-lane and the Haymarket'. It appears to
have been frequently patronized by Swift (ref. 30) and
by 1722 it was evidently regarded as a favoured
Tory rendezvous, (ref. 31) a reputation which it continued to enjoy for about the next half-century.
At the time of the rebellion of 1745 its habitues
were clearly suspected of Jacobite sympathies, for
in a letter written shortly after the battle of
Culloden Horace Walpole relates that 'the Duke
[of Cumberland] has given Brigadier Mordaunt
the Pretender's coach, on condition he rode up to
London in it. "That I will, Sir," said he, "and
drive till it stops of its own accord at the Cocoa
Tree." ' (ref. 32)
The ratebooks show that in 1757 Charles
Soleirol moved from the south side of Pall Mall
to a house on the north side, the site of which is
now occupied by No. 46 (the Army and Navy
Club annexe). In these new premises he remained the proprietor until 1764, when he was
succeeded by Thomas Griffiths, (ref. 8) who continued
as proprietor until at least 1787. (ref. 33)
As the recognized Tory meeting-place in the
St. James's neighbourhood the Cocoa Tree's
period of greatest political importance was probably during the early years of the reign of George
III. It was probably also at about this time that
the establishment ceased to cater for all comers and
followed the example of White's in becoming a
proprietary club. In his Journal for 1762 Edward
Gibbon relates how he 'dined at the Cocoa-tree
with Holt. . . . We went thence to the play . . .,
and when it was over, returned to the Cocoa-tree.
That respectable body, of which I have the honor
to be a member, affords every evening a sight
truly English. Twenty or thirty, perhaps, of the
first men in the Kingdom, in point of fashion and
fortune, supping at little tables covered with a
napkin, in the middle of a Coffee-room, upon a
bit of cold meat, or a Sandwich, and drinking a
glass of punch. At present, we are full of Privy
Counsellors and Lords of the Bedchamber; who,
having jumped into the Ministry, make a very
singular medley of their old principles and language, with their modern ones.' (ref. 34) The Whigs'
dislike of the club's influence at this time is
illustrated in a letter written by Earl Temple,
who after criticizing the responsibility of the
Cocoa Tree set in obtaining the inclusion of the
King's mother in the Regency Act of 1765, continues 'it is well they have not given us a King, if
they have not; for many think Lord Bute is
King'. (ref. 35) Within a few years, however, the club
appears to have become a favourite resort for high
gambling rather than for political influence,
Horace Walpole relating in 1780 that 'Within
this week there has been a cast at hazard at the
Cocoa Tree, the difference of which amounted
to an hundred and fourscore thousand pounds.' (ref. 36)
The Griffiths family continued to keep a wine
shop at No. 46 Pall Mall until the second half
of the nineteenth century. Amongst the licensed
victuallers' recognizances for 1793 there is, however, one which gives Thomas Hitchcock and
William Newton as the proprietors of the Cocoa
Tree in Pall Mall, (ref. 37) and the ratebooks show that
No. 64 Pall Mall (on the north side, then at or
near the corner of St. James's Street) was occupied
from 1790 to 1794 by Thomas Hitchcock, in
1795–6 by Hitchcock and Newton, and in
1797–8 by Newton, The Cocoa Tree must
therefore have moved from No. 46 to No. 64
Pall Mall between 1787 (when Griffiths is known
to have been the proprietor) and 1793. It did not,
however, remain there long, for in 1799 William
Newton removed to No. 64 St. James's Street,
where the club remained for the rest of its
existence. (ref. 8)
No. 64 St. James's Street had previously been
occupied from 1774 to 1784 by Lewis Weltje
(Weltie, Weltze, Welche), and from 1785 to
1787 by Christopher Weltze. (ref. 8) Lewis Weltje
subsequently became clerk of the Prince of Wales's
kitchen and general factotum in the early days of
the Brighton pavilion. In 1781 a club 'consisting of young men who belong to Government'
had been lately formed at Weltje's. This club
soon became noted for gambling and extravagant
entertainment, and in a letter of 11 February
1782 to the Earl of Carlisle, James Hare commented that 'A young Club at Weltje's begins to
alarm us [i.e. Brooks's], as they increase in numbers, live well, and are difficult in their choice of
members; it is almost entirely a Ministerial Club
as Brookes's is a Minority.' (ref. 38) From 1787 to 1795
the house was kept by James Daubigney, in
1795–6 by John Baxter, and in 1797–8 by Baxter
and Bell, who in 1799 were succeeded by William
Newton. (ref. 8) It may therefore be inferred that in the
latter year the' Club at Weltje's' amalgamated with
the Cocoa Tree, both clubs having the same
political loyalties.
After the eighteenth century, however, political
views do not seem to have been of much importance at the Cocoa Tree, for the Prince of Wales,
Sheridan (ref. 39) and Byron (ref. 40) were all habitués, and
in the early nineteenth century the club seems
to have been chiefly noted for heavy drinking.
William Newton remained proprietor until 1810,
when he was succeeded by R. Holland, who remained until 1817. From 1818 to 1831 the
proprietor was John Raggett, and from 1832 to
1835 John Parton Raggett, (ref. 8) who were presumably relations of George Raggett, the proprietor
of White's.
The later history of the club is very obscure.
Whitaker's Almanack for 1872 gives the date of
its establishment as 1853, which may perhaps be
the date of its reconstitution as a members' club.
Later editions of Whitaker's Almanack give the
date of establishment as 1746, which has sometimes been given as the approximate date of its
conversion from a chocolate house to a proprietary
club. (ref. 41) In the twentieth century the greater part
of the ground floor of the house was occupied by
a gunsmith's shop (ref. 42) and in 1926 the club's premises were severely damaged by fire. (ref. 43) The club
closed its doors in 1932. (ref. 44)
Tallis's street view of c. 1839 (pocket, drawing C)
shows that the house had three main storeys and a
garret, with a continuous iron balcony railing at
first-floor level and a bandcourse at the level of
second-floor sills. The bottom storey was irregular,
having a modest square-headed front entrance
door between a wide square-headed passage entrance on the north, leading to Blue Ball Yard,
and a three-light sash window on the south.
Three round-headed windows, the central one
emphasized by being placed in a shallow roundheaded recess, gave light to the second storey. This
central motif was repeated on a smaller scale in
the third storey, where it was flanked on either
side by a single square-headed window. The
result was to over-emphasize the centre, and give
a slight touch of pretentiousness to an otherwise
modest front. Tallis shows an inscription—Universal Literary Cabinet—immediately below
the second-floor bandcourse. The house was refronted at the end of the nineteenth century (ref. 45) and
was completely rebuilt shortly after the club's
demise. (ref. 43) A feature of the club was the large
ornamental golden tree in one of the principal
rooms. (ref. 46)
No. 67A St. James's Street: Wirgman's
The house at the southern corner of St. James's
Place and St. James's Street was occupied from
1761 to 1822 by successive members of the
Wirgman family. (ref. 8) They were jewellers and
goldsmiths, but were also known in the eighteenth
century as 'toymen'.
In April 1778 James Boswell accompanied
Dr. Johnson in a hackney coach to Wirgman's
to buy a pair of silver shoe buckles. They had
some difficulty in finding the shop, for, as Johnson
complained, ' "To direct one only to a corner shop
is toying with one." . . . This choosing of silver
buckles was a negociation: "Sir, (said he,) I will
not have the ridiculous large ones now in fashion;
and I will give no more than a guinea for a pair."
Such were the principles of the business; and, after
some examination he was fitted.' (ref. 47)
In 1826 Arthur's Club was temporarily accommodated here during the rebuilding of their clubhouse at Nos. 69–70 St. James's Street.
No. 69 St. James's Street: White's chocolate house: Miles's Club
Occupied part of the site now occupied by the Carlton
Club
White's was established as a chocolate house in
St. James's Street in 1693; the first reference to
a club there is in 1736, and White's therefore
possesses a longer continuous history than any
other West End club, its nearest rivals being
Brooks's and Boodle's, both of which were established in 1764. Since the demise of the Cocoa
Tree Club in 1932 it has also been the only surviving West End club which originated as a
chocolate house.
In 1693 the ratebooks show Francis White as
the occupant of a house on the east side of St.
James's Street, on or very near the site of the
present Boodle's club-house. He remained in
this house until 1696. The ratebooks of 1697
are missing, but in 1698 they show that he removed to the west side of the street to a house
later numbered 69, whose site was occupied after
1826 by the northern part of Arthur's club-house
(now the Carlton Club). This ground was (and
still is) Crown land and had been leased to the
Earl of St. Albans's trustees. (ref. 48) In 1701–2 the
ratebooks show John Arthur, who was Francis
White's servant, (ref. 49) as the occupant of the adjoining
house on the north side, now numbered 68. The
freehold of the site of this house had been granted
by the Crown in 1672 to Sir John Duncombe,
subject to the existing lease (see page 460).
In his will, dated 14 June 1708 and proved on
27 February 1710/11, Francis White described
himself as of St. James's, Westminster, gentleman,
weak and infirm. To his aunt Nicoletta Tomati
at Genoa he left £15, to his brother-in-law
Tomaso Casanova, also at Genoa, £25, and to his
sister Angela Maria Casanova, £100. To his
four children, Bartholomew, Elizabeth, Frances
and Francis he left £600 each, and a further £200
each if their mother should remarry. To his
wife Elizabeth he left his plate, jewels and residuary estate, and appointed her sole executrix. (ref. 49)
The will suggests that Francis White was a
prosperous man—in 1702, when he was described
as 'the Chocolatt Man in St. James Street', he had
been able to afford to pay a fine in order to avoid
serving as a parish overseer of the poor. (ref. 50) It also
suggests that he was of Italian extraction. (fn. b)
Shortly after Francis White's death the sublease of the house was assigned to his widow
Elizabeth, (ref. 48) who remained the occupant until
1729. (ref. 8) At some date before 1724 she remarried,
for in that year her second husband, Major
George Skene (Skreen), who had a house at
Chelsea, died intestate and letters of administration were granted to his widow, described in The
Daily Post as 'Mrs. White that keeps White's
Chocolate House, St. James's Street'. (ref. 52) The
ratebooks refer to her successively as 'Widow
White', 'Mrs. White' and 'Madam White', and
Swift, Steele, Gay, Pope and others all referred
to her establishment. Tickets for balls at the
King's Theatre in the Haymarket were sold at
the chocolate house in St. James's Street, (ref. 53) and
'Masquerade Habits' could be hired or bought at
Widow White's 'House in Little Wild Street,
and at the Opera Coffee-house next Door but one
to the Opera-House'. (ref. 53)
Figure 77:
White's chocolate house, St. James's Street, plan of
1752. Re-drawn from a plan in the Crown Estate Office
Elizabeth White's connexion with the chocolate
house ended in 1729, (ref. 8) which was probably the
date of her death. In that year Bartholomew
White of St. James's Street (presumably one of
her sons) was granted a victualler's licence. (ref. 54)
Elizabeth White died intestate and letters of administration were granted to her daughter Frances.
In September 1730 the latter's brother, Francis
White, petitioned the Crown for a new lease,
describing the house as 'an olde decayd Messuage'
which had 'been erected many yeares and by
reason thereof is grown so weak and out of
Repair that without rebuilding, it will scarce
stand out the term in being'. The house had a
frontage to St. James's Street of 30 feet 6 inches
and it and its yard or garden had a depth of 84 feet.
A new lease expiring in 1780 was shortly afterwards granted to Francis White. (ref. 48)
After Elizabeth White's death John Arthur
appears to have taken over the business. The
ratebooks for 1730, 1731 and 1733 give him as
the occupant of No. 69, as well as of the adjoining
house to the north, No. 68, which he had occupied since 1701–2; in 1731 he also appears as
the occupant of the adjoining house to the south
(No. 70), (ref. 8) hitherto a bookshop 'known by the
Sign of the Bible' and for many years occupied by
John Graves. (ref. 55) The ratebook for 1732 mentions his son Robert Arthur for the first time; it
also gives Barth[olomew] and Francis White as
joint occupants with Robert Arthur of No. 69.
In 1752 Robert Arthur was said to be Francis
White's sub-tenant at No. 69 (ref. 56) and it is probable
that the White family had no active concern in
the business between 1732 and 1756. In 1731
'John Arthur. Cho[colate]' was the licensee. (ref. 57)
On 28 April 1733 the three houses were burnt
down. The fire began early in the morning 'in
White's Chocolate House in a gaming room called
Hell', (ref. 58) and burned so fast that 'Young Mr.
Arthur's Wife leap'd out of Window a pair of
Stairs upon a Feather-Bed without much Hurt'. (ref. 59)
The King and the Prince of Wales 'were present
on Foot for above an Hour . . . and encouraged
the Fireman and People at the Engines to work'. (ref. 60)
Another account says that 'Mr. Arthur had insured his Goods to the Value of 400l. since last
Lady Day' but that he had lost over £200 in plate
and £100 in cash, (ref. 61) and Sir Andrew Fountaine's
'fine Collection of Paintings' was also destroyed. (ref. 59)
On 3 May 1733 Arthur advertised in The Daily
Post that he had 'removed to Gaunt's Coffee
House, next St. James's Coffee House in St.
James's Street, where he humbly begs they [his
customers] will favour him with their company
as usual'. (ref. 62) The calamity of the fire and the
establishment's temporary removal to the south
end of the west side of St. James's Street were
commemorated by Hogarth in the final version
of the engraving of Plate IV of the 'Rake's
Progress', where a flash of lightning is seen descending upon a house marked 'White'. (fn. c)
The ratebooks for 1735 show that the houses
destroyed by the fire had been rebuilt, and that
Robert Arthur was the occupant of No. 69, a
plan of which, made in 1752, is reproduced on
fig. 77; the adjoining houses on either side were
no longer occupied by members of either the
Arthur or White families.
Until the fire of 1733 White's appears to have
been primarily a popular gaming resort patronized
by very mixed company. (ref. 64) The first set of cluþ
rules is dated 30 October 1736 and is entitled
'Rules of the Old Club at White's'. In his
History of White's Algernon Bourke says that
this club 'was no new institution in 1736, but had
met at the Chocolate House for many years before
that date'. (ref. 65) No club is, however, mentioned
amongst any of the copious contemporary references to White's before 1736, and it seems more
probable that it was of relatively recent origin.
The club consisted of eighty-two members, and
owing to its exclusiveness another club entitled
the 'Young Club at White's' was formed in 1743.
The rules of the two clubs were almost identical,
and the Young Club 'soon became a place of
probation, in which men waited for admission to
the charmed circle of the old society'. (ref. 66)
An anonymous pamphlet entitled The Polite
Gamester: or, The Humours of Whist and published in 1753, refers to the club at White's as
'a select Company above Stairs, where no Person
of what Rank soever is admitted, without being
first proposed by one of the Club'. It is clear that
at that date the chocolate house still formed part
of the business. (ref. 67) But the accommodation available was probably inadequate, for in 1754 and
1755 Robert Arthur is shown in the ratebooks
as the occupant of No. 68, the adjoining house
to the north, as well as of No. 69. In the latter
year he purchased from Sir Whistler Webster of
Battle Abbey, Sussex, the freehold capital messuage on the east side of St. James's Street which
is now numbered 37–38. The ratebooks for
1756 show him as the occupant of this house,
which has remained the club's home ever since.
The later history of White's is described on
pages 450–8.
After Robert Arthur's migration to the other
side of the street, the ratebooks for 1756–61 give
the occupant of No. 69 as 'White', 'Mr. White'
or 'Mrs, White'; from 1762 to 1773 they give
'Fr[ancis] White', for 1774 John White, and
from 1775 to 1784 Sarah White. It is not known
for what purpose the house was used between
1756 and 1784. (fn. d) Francis White was possibly
the son of the original founder of the chocolate house, and Sarah White was his wife; (ref. 69) in
1778 she was described as of Twickenham,
widow. (ref. 70)
In 1785 Sarah White assigned her lease, which
was due to expire in 1824, to William Ogden of
St. James's Street. (ref. 69) In the same year Richard
Miles 'became possessed of the house. Miles had
been Nicholas Kenney's partner in the management of the short-lived Savoir Vivre Club, for
which the building now occupied by Boodle's
had been erected (see page 441). After the
demise of the Savoir Vivre in 1782 Miles was
apparently 'left in the lurch', and he therefore
took No. 69 St. James's Street, which he described
as 'of considerable magnitude, originally called
White's Chocolate House', and after spending
two thousand pounds on improvements he established there 'a club of the first importance . . .,
which flourished for thirty years' [sic] under his
management. (ref. 71) The ratebooks for 1785 give
Miles and Evans as the occupants; nothing is
known of Evans, who does not appear in the
ratebooks after 1788.
Richard Miles remained the occupant until
1810. (ref. 8) William Wilberforce was a member of
the club, (ref. 72) which was apparently noted for its
high play. In about 1807 the members of the
Union Club, which was then at No. 21 St.
James's Square, (ref. 73) began to indulge in heavy gambling and many of Miles's members migrated
thither. Miles found that he was losing seven or
eight thousand pounds a year, and he therefore
dissolved his club at the end of 1809. In 1834
he was living in retirement at Harwell, Berkshire,
and in a piteous appeal which he wrote in that
year he stated that he was still owed over eleven
thousand pounds, and that he had two daughters
unprovided for. (ref. 71)
No. 69 St. James's Street was subsequently
occupied by Arthur's, by whom the present
building (which also occupies the site of No. 70)
was erected in 1826–7 (see page 474). Arthur's
came to an end in 1940 and the building is now
occupied by the Carlton Club.
Sir William Pulteney's House
The site of Sir William Pulteney's house,
which had a frontage of about one hundred feet
to St. James's Street, lay between a house on the
corner of Stable Yard (now Little St. James's
Street) on the north and Sir Henry Henne's
house, on the corner of St. James's Street and
Cleveland Row, on the south. (ref. 74) A survey of c.
1667 shows that the house was a conglomeration
of buildings, the chief of which was separated by
a passage on its south side from several low buildings, 'redie to falle'. (ref. 75) In 1670 the site was
divided into two; the low buildings on the south
were probably demolished and a new house erected
in their place. (ref. 8)
The part of the house on the north side of the
passage consisted of a hall, kitchen, parlour,
dining-room, 'Ladies Clossett', six chambers and
three garrets; (ref. 75) it continued to be occupied by Sir
William Pulteney until his death in 1691, and
then by his widow, Dame Grace Pulteney. (ref. 76)
It continued as part of the leasehold estate held
by the Pulteney family under the Crown. After
Dame Grace's death the house was let and became known as the Thatched House Tavern
(see below). The site on which the new house
had been built in 1670 also remained vested in the
Pulteney trustees but it was part of the estate
which was granted to the trustees in fee in 1722
and reverted to the Crown by exchange in 1830
(see page 28).
The site of the part of Pulteney's house which
he retained for his own use is now occupied by
part of the site of the former Conservative clubhouse (No. 74 St. James's Street, see page 478);
the site of the other part on the south is now
occupied by the northern half of Nos. 85–86 St.
James's Street (see page 484).
The Thatched House Tavern
Until 1842 occupied part of the site subsequently occupied by the Conservative Club (No. 74 St. James's Street):
from 1842 to 1861 the tavern was at No. 85 St. James's
Street
In June 1704 or 1705 William Pulteney,
esquire, son of Sir William, leased his 'Great
Messuage' on the west side of St. James's Street,
and its garden ground, to Arthur Goffe, vintner,
for sixty years at an annual rent of £200; Goffe
also convenanted to pay Pulteney another £10
per annum 'or Two Dozen Bottles of Burgundy
wine'. Goffe intended to convert part of the
'Great Messuage' into a tavern and to build
several new houses in the garden. He mortgaged
the property and spent some three thousand
pounds on improvement. In February 1707/8
he concluded articles of agreement with William
Ludbey of St. Paul's, Covent Garden, carpenter,
whereby he covenanted to grant the latter a
building lease of the garden ground, which extended some 160 feet west of the house, but he
omitted to mention the mortgage. In May 1708
Goffe became a bankrupt and Daniel Russell of
Skinners' Hall, gentleman, obtained possession of
the premises. (ref. 77) Subsequently Russell granted
leases to Ludbey who, by about 1709, had erected
a row of small houses on the south side of a stable
yard (fn. e) behind the Thatched House Tavern. (ref. 79)
Between 1709 and 1712 several Chancery
suits were in progress between the various parties,
and also the Countess Dowager of Bridgwater,
who occupied Cleveland House and considered
that it would be 'much incommoded' by Ludbey's
building operations. In July 1712 Goffe was said
to have died intestate. (ref. 77)
The Thatched House Tavern appears to have
been established in 1704 or 1705, (fn. f) either in
Pulteney's 'Great Messuage', or in a new house
built on its site. In December 1711 Swift refers
to it in The Journal to Stella: 'I entertained our
Society at the Thatched House Tavern to-day
at dinner; but brother Bathurst sent for wine, the
house affording none.' (ref. 81)
In or about 1720 the ground-floor frontage to
St. James's Street was divided into six small shops,
access to the tavern being through a passageway. (ref. 82)
The main body of the house may also have been
rebuilt or altered at this date. Tallis's view of St.
James's Street (pocket, drawing C) shows that the
tavern may then have consisted of four houses each
four storeys high and two windows wide, fronting
the street and set back from the building line.
Except for a cornice at third-floor level and iron
basket balconies to the second-floor windows, they
were devoid of ornament in the three upper
storeys. The original form of the bottom storey is
unknown, since it was obscured in Tallis's time
by single-storey shops of varying frontages (the
largest being a hatter's at the north end) built
out over the forecourt. The shop windows
were divided into small panes. An entry,
immediately to the north of the middle of the
row, led to the tavern and to Thatched House
Court.
From 1716 (or perhaps earlier) until 1731,
Thomas Buck or Bourke was the proprietor;
the tavern was then empty for several years, but
from 1736 Morgan Davies, and then his widow,
were the occupants. (ref. 8) In 1744 John Townsend
was the licensee (ref. 83) and in 1755 John Atwood. (ref. 84)
The latter was succeeded in 1765 by Benjamin
Frere, who in 1770 was succeeded by James
Willis, by whose family the tavern was managed
for the rest of its existence. (ref. 8)
On 18 August 1768 James Willis, described
as of the parish of 'Wingleham' in Surrey, had
married Elizabeth Tebb, niece of William
Almack, senior, club proprietor and founder of
Almack's Assembly Rooms in King Street. (ref. 85)
In 1768 the Thatched House Tavern had been
sub-let by Mary Skynner of Walthamstow,
widow, (fn. g) to James Chauvel of St. James's Place,
esquire, and Robert Mackreth of Cork Street,
esquire, for a term of thirty years. They had
agreed with William Waller of Lincoln's Inn,
esquire (who was probably acting on behalf of
Dorothy Bathurst of Horsmonden, Kent, spinster), to share the rents of the Thatched House
Tavern, (ref. 87) and they evidently sub-let the house to
James Willis, who at the time of his death in 1794
held it for an unexpired term of four years. In
his will James Willis described himself as a
tavern keeper and vintner; his wife and two eldest
sons, James and William, assisted him in the
business, James as a waiter. (ref. 88) Elizabeth and her
son James Willis, junior, managed the two businesses at the Thatched House Tavern and the
Assembly Rooms in King Street until 1797; in
the following year Elizabeth was succeeded by her
second son William. (ref. 8) The two brothers continued in partnership until the death of William
Willis in 1839. (ref. 89)
In 1810 the Crown lease of the tavern, the
six shops in front of it, and of the houses on the
south side of Thatched House Court, was renewed to Major-General (later Field-Marshal)
Thomas Grosvenor, nephew of the first Earl
Grosvenor, (ref. 90) and other members of that family,
for forty-five years commencing in 1822. (ref. 91)
(fn. h) The
Willis family remained the managing proprietors
of the tavern, but in 1842 they moved the business
to the adjoining house (No. 85) on the south side
(previously occupied by Saunders's chocolate house
and latterly by the Albion Club) to make way for
the Conservative club-house, the southern part of
which was shortly afterwards erected on the old
site (see page 478). James Willis, junior, retired
in 1842 and died on 2 January 1847 at his house
in Somers Place, Hyde Park Square. (ref. 92) After his
retirement the business was carried on jointly by
his son Frederick, and by William Willis's son
Charles until 1861; (ref. 93) the building was demolished in the following year to make way for the
present building, now occupied by the Union
Club. (ref. 94)
The Thatched House Tavern was much used
as a meeting-place for clubs and societies (Plate
52a). The Literary Club met there, (ref. 95) as did the
Society of Dilettanti, whose pictures were kept
there from 1811 until 1861. (ref. 96) The Noblemen
and Gentlemen's Catch Club also met there in
'a very spacious room'from 1767 to 1814. (ref. 97) The
inaugural meetings of the Architects' Club
(1791), (ref. 98) the Yacht Club (1815, later the Royal
Yacht Squadron), (ref. 99) the United Service Club
(1815) (ref. 100) and the Carlton Club (1832) (ref. 101) were
all held at the Thatched House Tavern. The
first trustees of Albany, Piccadilly, were chosen
at a meeting at the tavern held in 1803. (ref. 102)
No. 85 St. James's Street: Saunders's chocolate house
Occupied the northern part of Nos. 85–86 St. James's
Street (now the Union Club)
The house which had been built in 1670 on
the southern part of the site of Sir William
Pulteney's house was occupied for many years by
Henry Guy, politician, (ref. 103) one of the trustees of the
Pulteney estate.
In 1758 it was let to Richard Saunders, (ref. 104) who
from that date until 1764 held a victualler's
licence for his chocolate house in St. James's
Street. (ref. 105)
In 1765 Saunders was succeeded by Richard
John Atwood (ref. 8)
(fn. i) and Edward Gibbon, writing in
1772, mentioned 'Atwood's, a new Club into
which I have been chose'. (ref. 107) In 1774 Atwood
took over the house on the south side (later No.
86). He was succeeded in both houses by Bartholomew Atwood from 1775 to 1779 and then
by Joseph Parsloe, vintner, from 1780 to 1785. (ref. 8)
In the latter year both buildings, described as
'a subscription house', were burnt down, and
'entirely consumed before any water could be got
to extinguish the flames'. The Thatched House
Tavern which stood on the north side of the house
was also damaged. (ref. 108) Parsloe obtained a new
lease of the site of Henry Guy's house shortly
after the fire and covenanted to build a house of
the first rate on the site. (ref. 109) The new building
(later No. 85 St. James's Street) was completed
in 1786. (ref. 8)
Tallis's view of St. James's Street (pocket, drawing C) shows that it was a slightly inept version of
the central portion of Boodle's Club. It had a raised
ground floor with a central square-headed window
(once perhaps a door) framed within a pilastered
porch-motif and flanked by round-headed windows, that on the south having apparently been
converted into a door. A somewhat meaner version of the Boodle's Venetian window gave light
to the second storey, which occupied the space of
two normal storeys and was surmounted by a
third storey, rising above the neighbouring parapets. This had a wide central square-headed
window, framed within a slightly projecting
feature, and flanked by narrower square-headed
windows, one on each side. The whole appears
to have been crowned by a balustraded parapet.
No. 86 was apparently rebuilt at the same time,
but was given up by Parsloe in 1786. (ref. 8) He remained proprietor of the subscription club at No.
85, which continued to be licensed under the
name of Saunders's' coffee house, (ref. 110) until 1810. (ref. 8)
Both the Literary Club and the Society of Dilettanti held their meetings at Parsloe's, the latter
keeping their pictures there from 1801 to 1810. (ref. 111)
In 1811 John Giles became the occupant of
the premises, which he renamed the Albion Club. (ref. 8)
In 1842 this club appears to have come to an end
and its premises were occupied by the Thatched
House Tavern from 1842 to 1861. (ref. 17) The house
was demolished in 1862 to make way for the
present building (see page 484). (ref. 94)
Sir Henry Henne's House
This house and garden stood at the corner of
St. James's Street and Cleveland Row. (ref. 74) Its site
is now covered by the southern half of Nos. 85–86 and by Nos. 87–88 St. James's Street.
In 1663 Sir William Pulteney granted his
leasehold interest in Sir Henry Henne's house and
garden to (Sir) Goddard Nelthorpe. (ref. 112) The house,
which was separated from St. James's Street by a
courtyard, consisted of an old timber building with
a brick addition. The garden lay on the south
side of the house and fronted on Cleveland Row. (ref. 75)
In 1670 Sir Goddard Nelthorpe, described as
of St. James's, Clerkenwell, employed Thomas
Perkesur, bricklayer, and Edward Karby, carpenter, both of St. Martin's in the Fields, to add
an extra storey on the brick building and to build
another house, probably on the site of the old
timber building. (ref. 113) These two houses survived
until the latter half of the eighteenth century;
Nos. 86 and 87 St. James's Street (since demolished) were built on their site.
In 1673 Sir Goddard Nelthorpe granted a sublease of the garden of Sir Henry Henne's house to
Richard Frith, citizen and bricklayer and tiler of
London, who convenanted to build two houses. (ref. 114)
Frith built one house in St. James's Street and one
in Cleveland Row, (ref. 115) and some timber buildings
were also erected later on the corner of St.
James's Street and Cleveland Row. (ref. 116) It is not
possible to follow the changes subsequently made
to these houses, but it is certain that the St.
James's Hotel and coffee house, and the later St.
James's Royal Hotel (all since demolished) stood
on the site let to Frith.
No. 86 St. James's Street: Williams's coffee house
Occupied the southern part of Nos. 85–86 St. James's
Street (now the Union Club)
At some time between 1707 and 1715 a
coffee house was established on this site by Roger
Williams, coffeeman. (ref. 117) In 1719 Williams covenanted with the Crown lessee, Henry Nelthorpe, to rebuild the house at a cost of £800. (ref. 118)
Williams built a 'substantial' house and in 1736
obtained a new lease direct from the Crown. (ref. 119)
He occupied the coffee house until 1747. Two
years later it was taken over by James Rowles, (ref. 8)
coffeeman and vintner. (ref. 116) It may be that the
use of the premises as a wine shop or public
house, as it is shown to be in the ratebooks of the
early part of the nineteenth century, dates from
Rowles's occupancy of the premises. He re'mained in occupation until 1768, and for most of
this period he also occupied the adjoining coffee
house on the south (No. 87). From 1770 to
1772 No. 86 was occupied by Talbot Condon, (ref. 8)
the proprietor of the Smyrna coffee house in
Pall Mall. At Michaelmas 1772 and in 1773
James Goostree was the occupant. In 1774
Richard John Atwood, the tenant of the adjoining coffee house on the north (No. 85), took
over No. 86 which continued as an adjunct of
No. 85 until 1785. (ref. 8)
No. 86 was apparently destroyed by the fire
which consumed No. 85 in that year and was
rebuilt in 1786. Tallis's view (pocket, drawing C)
shows that the new building had a modest front of
three storeys and a garret. The bottom storey had
a four-light window divided into small panes and
occupying, with the door at the south end, the
whole width of the frontage; and the second and
third storeys had each two square-headed windows,
those in the third storey having basket balconies.
The whole was surmounted by a plain parapet,
behind which were the two dormer windows of
the garret.
In 1817 No. 86 ceased to be a public house and
for a year served as the temporary home of the
Union Club. (ref. 8) From 1820 until shortly before its
demolition in 1862 the house was occupied by
Gary's, the map-sellers. (ref. 17) It and No. 85 were
demolished in 1862. The history of the present
building on the site is described on page 484.
No. 87 St. James's Street: the St. James's coffee house
The St. James's coffee house appears to have
been established by John Elliott in 1705 at a house
on the site of the later No. 87. In that year he
succeeded Arthur Goffe, (ref. 8) the vintner who
founded the Thatched House Tavern. The coffee
house is first mentioned by name in 1710. (ref. 120)
It was a Whig resort, (ref. 31) but Swift often went
there. On 9 September 1710 he records that with
Lord Radnor 'we talked treason heartily against
the Whigs, their baseness and ingratitude', but a
month later he added, 'I am not at all fond of St.
James's Coffeehouse, as I used to be.' In November he 'christened our coffeeman Elliott's child;
where the rogue had a most noble supper, and
Steele and I sat among some scurvy company over
a bowl of punch'. (ref. 121) In No. 403 of The Spectator
Addison describes a visit: 'That I might begin as
near the fountain head as possible I first of all
called in at St. James's, where I found the whole
outwardroom in a Buzz of Politics. The Speculations were but very indifferent towards the Door,
but grew finer as you advanced to the upper end of
the room, and were so very much improved by a
knot of Theorists who sate in the inner Room,
within the steam of the Coffee Pot, that I there
heard the whole Spanish Monarchy disposed of;
and all the line of Bourbons provided for in less
than a Quarter of an Hour.' (ref. 122)
John Elliott continued proprietor until 1722,
when he was succeeded by his widow, Thomasin;
the house remained in her possession until 1746. (ref. 123)
In 1747 James Rowles, coffeeman and vintner,
succeeded Thomasin Elliott. He apparently continued the coffee house at No. 87 and in 1749 he
also became the tenant of the adjoining coffee
house on the north (No. 86), which he probably
turned into a tavern.
In 1765 the Crown lessee, Dame Elizabeth
Nelthorpe, agreed to let to Rowles the St. James's
coffee house, the house adjoining it on the south,
two small timber buildings on the corner of the
street and a 'great' messuage in Cleveland Row. (ref. 124)
The increase in the rateable value in 1765 suggests
that Rowles rebuilt the St. James's coffee house,
which he vacated the following year. He continued as tenant of No. 86 until 1768. (ref. 8)
Tallis's view (pocket, drawing C) shows that
No. 87 was a modest building of three storeys and
a garret in height and three windows in width,
finished at the top with a meagre cornice and a
parapet. Window and door openings were all plain
and square-headed, and there was a continuous
iron balcony-front at first-floor level.
From 1767 to 1776 the coffee house was continued by Thomas Stapylton (ref. 8)
(fn. j) and there is a
reference in the latter year to heavy gambling at
'Stapleton's'. (ref. 126) The house was still in use as a
coffee house in 1795 when James Carr was the
occupant. (ref. 127) Carr was succeeded in 1802 by William Graham. Thereafter the house was described
in turn as a public house, an hotel and a clubhouse. (ref. 17) In 1850 The Builder suggested that
Graham's Club and the houses to the south should
be demolished in order to create a piazza in front of
St. James's Palace. (ref. 128) No. 87 was ultimately demolished to make way for the present building,
which was erected in 1904–5 (see page 485).
No. 88 St. James's Street: Gaunt's coffee house and the St. James's Hotel
The house on the site of No. 88 St. James's
Street, like its neighbours on the north, was a
coffee house from an early date. In 1733 it was
known as Gaunt's coffee house, and after the fire
at White's chocolate house in that year it was temporarily occupied by Mr. Arthur, the proprietor
of White's. (ref. 62) Gaunt's name does not appear in
the ratebooks but William Rutter, who occupied
the house up to 1732, first appears in 1716. (ref. 8) The
coffee house may therefore have been established
here at least by 1716.
In 1784 Stephen Phillimore became the tenant
of the coffee house and also of a house in Cleveland
Row with which it communicated in the rear.
Between the fronts of these two houses stood the
buildings at the corner of Cleveland Row and St.
James's Street, which consisted of a large house
facing Cleveland Row (taken over by Phillimore
in 1789) and a small shop facing St. James's Street
(No. 89). A plan of all these premises made in
1795 describes the two houses in Cleveland Row
as an hotel and the house in St. James's Street as a
coffee house. (ref. 127)
In 1801 Phillimore was succeeded as proprietor
of the hotel and coffee house by Samuel Miller,
proprietor of the hotel in Jermyn Street which
bore his name. The business changed hands
quickly after Phillimore's departure, (ref. 8) and in a
lease of 1811 was referred to as the 'St. James's
Hotel and Coffee House'. (ref. 129) It was presumably
here in 'a miserable little den' that the officers of
the Guards used to congregate. In consequence of
the 'Unseemly broils and quarrels' which often
took place there, and which were 'caused mainly
by the admission of (or rather the impossibility of
excluding) Irish bullies and persons of fashionable
exterior but not of good birth or breeding', the
Guards formed their own club in 1812, (ref. 130) with
rooms in St. James's Street next door to Crockford's.
In 1813 a fire demolished the St. James's Hotel
and coffee house and the music shop on the corner. (ref. 131) By 1815 a new hotel, incorporating a
music shop on the ground floor at the south-east
corner (known as No. 89 St. James's Street), had
been built; the hotel was let to Edward Barr
Dudding, vintner. (ref. 132)
Tallis's view (pocket, drawing C) shows that
No. 88 had four main storeys and an attic, and was
four windows wide above the lowest storey. This
was rusticated and irregularly pierced by a segmental-headed window, a round-headed main entrance
door, and a square-headed passage entrance, in that
order from north to south. A continuous iron balcony-front divided the bottom storey from the
next, which had round-headed windows with
label mouldings continued as impost mouldings on
the intervening piers. The window openings of
the remaining three storeys were plain and square
headed, the attic storey being divided from those
below by the main cornice. Tallis shows an
inscription, C. G. ENGLISH, between the second and
third floors, followed by ST. JAMES'S ROYAL HOTEL
between the first and second.
In 1840 the proprietor, C. G. English, assigned
his lease to the Conservative Club, which occupied
the hotel until the completion of its permanent
club-house in 1845. (ref. 133) The building was subsequently demolished to make way for the present
Nos. 87–88, erected in 1904–5 (see page 485).