Southampton Street

Southampton street, in the Strand.

Southampton-Street, Strand,—at 387, near the middle of the N. side, extending to Covent-Garden.

Southampton Street, Strand to Covent Garden Market, was so called in compliment to Lady Rachel Russell, daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, and wife of William, Lord Russell, the patriot. Eminent Inhabitants.—Mrs. Oldfield, the actress; Arthur Maynwaring, in his will (dated 1712), describes her as residing in "New Southampton Street, in the parish of St. Paul's, Covent Garden." David Garrick in No. 27, from his marriage in 1749 until 1772, during the most brilliant part of his career, intermediately between King Street and the Adelphi. The house still bears the same number and will be easily recognised. It is on the west side near the top; is of red brick, and has four front windows in each of the upper storeys. Thomas Linley, the composer, and father of Mrs. Sheridan and Mrs. Tickell, died, 1795, at No. 11 (pulled down in 1890). Dick Estcourt, the actor, died (1713) at his lodgings on the west side. Dr. Lempriere, of Classical Dictionary celebrity, died at a house in this street in 1824. No. 31, Godfrey and Cooke's (established 1680), the oldest chemist and druggist's shop in London, is now occupied by a publisher, lasted till about 1860, when the firm discontinued this house and retained the business in Conduit Street. There was a bar at the south end of the street which was taken away about thirty years ago.

Southampton Street

The 'great street' from the Piazza to the Strand, mentioned in the proposals for building over the site of Bedford House (see page 37) was laid out between December 1706 and May 1710 under the Bedford building leases tabulated on pages 312–315. Five houses at the north end of the east side (Nos. 15–17 and 19–20 on fig. 32) were built and paid for by the second Duke, who then let them for short terms. Some of the new houses were occupied as early as 1707 and by 1709 the street was completely filled up.² The original appearance of the street may be judged from the only two surviving houses, Nos. 26 and 27, although the fronts of both have been altered. The width of the houses varied considerably, the largest being at the north end near the Piazza.

Most of Southampton Street was built to a width of 50 feet, but at the southern end, below Nos. 5 and 37, the width was reduced to only 40 feet. Where the break occurred the Duke of Bedford put up a gate across the street to keep out the heavy vehicles which would otherwise have passed along Southampton Street to and from the market.³ The gate-keeper was appointed and paid by the Duke.⁴ Until 1861 the gatekeeper's lodge was a small 'wooden structure' in the middle of the street,⁵ where it can be seen in one of Tallis's views of the Strand of c. 1838–40. The gate was removed in September 1872.⁶

The narrow southern end of the street had been widened in 1830, partly by the sixth Duke of Bedford but mainly by the Commissioners of Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, acting under the statute of May 1826 for improving Charing Cross and the West Strand area.⁷

By that time some of the original houses were already rebuilt and in 1900 only two remained. Of those nineteenth-century buildings which also no longer survive two are of some interest. No. 14, on the corner of Tavistock Street, was rebuilt in 1855–7 by the architect Charles Gray,⁸ some of whose work can be seen elsewhere in Covent Garden at No. 22 Henrietta Street and in Burleigh Street. In this building, called Tavistock Chambers, Gray used coloured bricks to demonstrate that the cost of even elaborate brickwork was not greater than that of imitative cement.⁹ At Nos. 28–29 a Gothick shop front, inserted in 1873 for Messrs. Cox and Sons, the ecclesiastical suppliers, enlivened an otherwise dull building of 1832: it was demolished in 1893 for the widening of Maiden Lane¹⁰ (Plate 58b).

The Dukes of Bedford appear to have been particularly concerned to prevent any deterioration in the appearance and social character of Southampton Street. When in 1739 the proprietor of the Bedford Head tavern erected a small portico to his house projecting 5 feet above the footway and supported by two pillars, the residents complained to the fourth Duke that it 'not only interrupts the View of the Neighbouring Inhabitants, but is also an Offence & Eye sore to the whole Street'. At the same time they took the opportunity to remind him that 'this street in particular, by the Vigilant & prudent care of his Grace's Ancestors, has been constantly kept free from the passage of heavy and burdensome Carriages which are permitted upon sufferance only, & that upon extraordinary occasions.'³ An example of the latter occurred in 1764 when the street was opened to all traffic for three weeks while Half Moon Street (now part of Bedford Street) was being repaved.¹¹

From c. 1708 there was a tavern at the south corner with Tavistock Street called the Bedford Head¹² (No. 14 on fig. 32). In 1745 it was used for masonic lodge meetings¹³ and in November 1749 'The Grand Clubb for promoting the Arts of Drawing painting etc' met there 'to settle the preliminaries for the Establishment of an Accademy in London' but nothing materilaized from the meeting.¹⁴

The Dukes' policy for the street seems to have been successful during the eighteenth century. Unlike some neighbouring streets there appear to have been few shops; only one of the six inhabitants listed in Mortimer's Universal Director for 1763 being described as a shopkeeper—Gervase Leverland, a prosperous woollen draper who lived at No. 26.² The residents may be described as respectable rather than fashionable.

During the nineteenth century the private residents and other tradesmen gradually gave way to the offices of newspapers and magazines and the headquarters of various societies. The first and most famous of the newspaper offices was that of William Cobbett's daily paper The Porcupine, which was printed at No. 3. The first edition appeared on 30 October 1800 and within five weeks orders for it rose to 1,500.¹⁵ The paper pursued an independent and often unpopular line and when in October 1801 it opposed the preliminaries of the Peace of Amiens the printing office was attacked by the mob.¹⁶ In the following month Cobbett sold the paper to John Gifford although he continued to be the ratepayer for No. 3 until 1803.¹⁷

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² R.B.

³ E BER, Misc. Estate Papers, petition of the inhabitants of Southampton Street, 1739.

⁴ Ibid., Misc. Estate Papers, 'chusing a Barr keeper', 1759.

⁵ B.O.L., Annual Report, 1861, p. 111.

⁶ Ibid., Annual Report, 1872, vol. 2, p. 13.

⁷ E BER, Southampton Street, lease of 1 July 1830 to W. Herbert; Sixth Report of the Commissioners of His Majesty's Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, 1829, p. 148; Eighth Report, 1831, p. 51; B.O.L., Muniment Register, vol. III, bundle 20, nos. 6–8; 7 Geo. IV, c. 77, public.

⁸ B.O.L., Proposal Book S, no. 104; The Builder, 4 July 1857, p. 374.

⁹ The Companion to the Almanac for 1857, p. 244.

¹⁰ E/BER, Southampton Street, leases of 26 June and 20 Aug. 1832 to J. Elger; The Builder, 12 April 1873, p. 296; B.O.L., Annual Report, 1893, p. 100.

¹¹ E/BER, Misc. Estate Papers, letter from G. Box, 20 Sept. 1764.

¹² Ibid., Southampton Street, lease of 14 May 1708 to W. Holmes.

¹³ Bryant Lillywhite, London Coffee Houses, 1963, p. 671.

¹⁴ Walpole Society, vol. 30, 1955 (George Vertue Note Book VI), p. 150; Sidney Hutchinson, The History of the Royal Academy 1768–1968, 1968, p. 31.

¹⁵ G.D.H. Cole, Life of William Cobbett, 1927, p. 73; The Progress of a Plough Boy to a Seat in Parliament as exemplified in the History of the Life of William Cobbett member for Oldham, ed. William Reitzel, 1933, p. 98; R.B.

¹⁶ The Progress, ut supra, p. 100; H.M.C., Morrison MSS., 1884, p. 487a.

¹⁷ Cole, op. cit., p. 74; R.B.