The Kensington District | Page 5

at the Ranger's
Lodge in the Green Park. Part of the foundations of the old bridge
outside were unearthed at the building of the gate, and, besides this
bridge, there was another within the park. The French Embassy,
recently enlarged, stands on the east side of the gate--the house
formerly belonged to Mr. Hudson, the "railway king"--and to the west
are several large buildings, a bank, Hyde Park Court, etc., succeeded by
a row of houses. Here originally stood a famous old tavern, the Fox and
Bull, said to have been founded in the time of Queen Elizabeth; if so, it
must have retained its popularity uncommonly long, for it was noted
for its gay company in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It
is referred to in the Tatler (No. 259), and was visited by Sir Joshua
Reynolds and George Morland, the former of whom painted the sign,
which hung until 1807. It is said that the Elizabethan house had
wonderfully carved ceilings and immense fire-dogs, still in use in 1799.
The inn was later the receiving office of the Royal Humane Society,
and to it was brought the body of Shelley's wife after she had drowned
herself in the Serpentine.
In the open space opposite is an equestrian statue of Hugh Rose--Lord
Strathnairn--by Onslow Ford, R.A. Close by is a little triangular strip of
green, which goes by the dignified name of Knightsbridge Green. It has
a dismal reminiscence, having been a burial-pit for those who died of
the plague. The last maypole was on the green in 1800, and the
pound-house remained until 1835.
The entrance to Tattersall's overlooks the green. This famous
horse-mart was founded by Richard Tattersall, who had been
stud-groom to the last Duke of Kingston. He started a horse market in
1766 at Hyde Park Corner, and his son carried it on after him. Rooms
were fitted up at the market for the use of the Jockey Club, which held
its meetings there for many years. Charles James Fox was one of the
most regular patrons of Tattersall's sales. The establishment was moved
to its present position in 1864.
The cavalry barracks on the north side of Knightsbridge boast of having

the largest amount of cubic feet of air per horse of any stables in
London.
An old inn called Half-way House stood some distance beyond the
barracks in the middle of the roadway until well on into the nineteenth
century, and proved a great impediment to traffic. On the south side of
the road, eastward of Rutland Gate, is Kent House, which recalls by its
name the fact that the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria, once
lived here. Not far off is Princes Skating Club, one of the most popular
and expensive of its kind in London. Rutland Gate takes its name from
a mansion of the Dukes of Rutland, which stood on the same site. The
neighbourhood is a good residential one, and the houses bordering the
roads have the advantage of looking out over the Gardens. There is
nothing else requiring comment until we reach the Albert Hall, so,
leaving this part for a time, we return to the Brompton Road. This road
was known up to 1856 as the Fulham Road, though a long row of
houses on the north side had been called Brompton Row much earlier.
Brompton signifies Broom Town, carrying suggestions of a wide and
heathy common. Brompton Square, a very quiet little place, a
cul-de-sac, which has also the great recommendation that no "street
music" is allowed within it, can boast of having had some distinguished
residents. At No. 22, George Colman, junior, the dramatist, a witty and
genial talker, whose society was much sought after, lived for the ten
years previous to his death in 1836. The same house was in 1860 taken
by Shirley Brooks, editor of Punch. The list of former residents also
includes the names of John Liston, comedian, No. 40, and Frederick
Yates, the actor, No. 57.
The associations of all of this district have been preserved by Crofton
Croker in his "Walk from London to Fulham," but his work suffers
from being too minute; names which are now as dead as their owners
are recorded, and the most trivial points noted. Opposite Brompton
Square there was once a street called Michael's Grove, after its builder,
Michael Novosielski, architect of the Royal Italian Opera House. In
1835 Douglas Jerrold, critic and dramatist, lived here, and whilst here
was visited by Dickens. Ovington Square covers the ground where once

stood Brompton Grove, where several well-known people had houses;
among them was the editor (William Jerdan) of the Literary Gazette,
who was visited by many literary men, and who held those informal
conversation parties, so popular in the eighteenth and early nineteenth