Dover Street

Dover street, (so called after my Lord Dover, the owner of the Ground) a str. of very good Buildings, mostly Inhabited by Gentry, betn the Fields near NW and Portugal str. against the end of Arlington, str. L. 220 Yds.

Dover-street, the best of all for large Buildings, and hath the most finished and inhabited Houses for Gentry, especially the West Side.

Dover street, Piccadilly.

Dover-Street, Piccadilly,—at 68, op. Arlington-st. St. James's, about ⅛ of a mile on the R. from the Haymarket, leading to Grafton-street and 156, New Bond-st.

DOVER-ST., Piccadilly, is on the right hand side going towards Hyde-park, between Albermarle-street and Berkeley-street. It leads by way of Grafton-street into New Bond-street, and by Hay-hill into Berkeley-square.

Dover Street, Piccadilly, begun 1686, and "so called after my Lord Dover, the owner of the ground,"¹ i.e. Henry Jermyn, Earl of Dover, nephew and heir of Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Alban.

To be sold by auction on Wednesday the 1st of February, 1726-1727, the large Dwelling House of the Right Hon. the Countess of Dover deceased in Dover Street, St. James's; consisting of seven rooms on a floor, with closets, a large and beautiful stair-case finely painted by Mr. Laguerre, with 3 coach-houses and stables for 10 horses, and all manner of conveniences for a great family.—The Daily Journal, January 6, 1727.

Eminent Inhabitants.—Henry Jermyn, Earl of Dover (d. 1708), on the east side. John Evelyn, about nine doors up on the east side,² where he died February 27, 1706.

I was thinking now of returning into the country for altogether, but, upon other considerations, suspend that resolution as yet, and am now removing my family to a more convenient house here in Dover Street, where I have the remainder of a lease.—Evelyn to Thoresby, Dover Street, July 19, 1699.

Marquis of Wharton (d. 1715).

These are the most conspicuous palaces that lie between London and Westminster, not but that in the several streets there are abundance that deserve that name. That of the late Duke of Wharton, in Dover Street, is a most sumptuous building, finely finished and furnished. That of the Lord Dover, in the same, is very noble.—J. Macky, A Journey through England, 8vo, 1722, vol. i. p. 199.

Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, the Lord Treasurer; here Wanley lived with him as his librarian. Dr. Arbuthnot, from 1714 to 1721;¹ Edward, the second Earl of Oxford, also lived here; and, after March 1729, Pope asked and obtained permission, of which he frequently availed himself, to reside in Edward, Earl of Oxford's house.²

Martin's [Martinus Scriblerus's] office is now the second door on the left hand [west side] in Dover Street, where he will be glad to see Dr. Parnell, Mr. Pope, and his old friends, to whom he can still afford half a pint of claret.—Dr. Arbuthnot to Pope, September 7, 1714.

On March 31, 1730, Gay writes to Swift, "When Lord Bolingbroke is in town he lodges at Mr. Chetwynd's in Dover Street." Sir William Windham, the statesman; and here his first wife died in 1731. Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff, at No. 22. Miss Reynolds, Sir Joshua Reynolds's sister, and here as early as 1775 Johnson used to visit her and dine with her, and patch up many little family differences.³ Here she had her "conversations" which "Mrs. Ord, and Mrs. Horneck, and Mrs. Bunbury, and other illustrious names" attended.⁴ Mrs. Thrale sometimes went too, but she had evidently little liking for "Renny," as she always calls her. Here Johnson in August 1783 underwent the last of ten sittings for "near three hours, with the patience of mortal born to bear; at last she declared it quite finished, and seems to think it fine. I told her it was Johnson's grimly ghost. It is to be engraved, and I think in glided, etc., will be a good inscription."⁶ Mrs. Piozzi had the bad feeling to publish this letter in the lifetime of Miss Reynolds. In 1785 the Literary Club met at "Le Teliers in Dover Street." Archdeacon Coxe, the historian, was born here in 1747. Here in 1843 died Peter, seventh Lord King, who wrote the Life of Locke; John Nash, the architect, lived at No. 29; here he designed the present Regent Street and the Regent's Park—striking monuments of his genius for picturesque architecture. Samuel Whitbread, M.P., was resident at No. 35 when he took away his own life, July 6, 1815. No. 30 is "Ashburnham House," and was the residence of the Russian ambassador for several years. Prince Lieven was the first who lived here, and Prince Pozzo di Borgo the last. The gateway and lodge were designed by R. Adam in 1773. The house is now the residence of the Earl of Ashburnham. No. 37, with the stone front, is Ely House, since 1772 the London residence of the Bishops of Ely, given to the see in lieu of Ely Place: Sir Robert Taylor was the architect. No. 34 is the residence of the Marquis of Abergavenny; No. 29 Lord Truro's; No. 33 Earl of Mexborough. The street is noted for its first-class family and private hotels, of which it contains Hatchett's and several others.

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¹ Hatton, 1708, p. 25.
² Rate-books of St. Martin's.

¹ Rate books of St. Martin's.
² Elwin's Pope, vol. viii. p. 309, etc.
³ Johnson to Mrs. Thrale, November 2, 1779.
⁴ Mrs. Thrale's Letters, vol. ii. p. 161.
⁵ Johnson here quotes from Mallet's ballad of "Margaret's Ghost," Hill's Boswell, 1887, vol. iv. p. 229, note.