New Bond Street

Bond-St., New, Oxford-street, turns off on the south side, opposite Vere-street, and reaches as far as Old Bond-street, at Clifford-street on the east, and Grafton-street on the west. New Bond-street was continued into Oxford-street over an open field, called Conduit-mead, about the year 1700.

Bond-Street (New), Oxford-Street,—at 307, near the middle of the S. side, No. 80 is here and Nos. 1 and 164, at Old Bond-street, near Piccadilly, about ½ a mile in length, including Old Bond-street.

Bond Street (New), the extension northward of Old Bond Street to Oxford Street, built circ. 1721, in which year it is rated for the first time in the books of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields.

What's not destroyed by Time's devouring hand?
Where's Troy, and where's the Maypole in the Strand?
Pease, cabbages and turnips once grew where
Now stands New Bond Street, and a newer Square;
Such piles of building now rise up and down,
London itself seems going out of town.
Bramston's Art of Politicks, Dodsley's Coll., 1751, vol. i. p. 266.

Eminent Inhabitants.—Swift spent his last three weeks in London at his cousin Lancelot's house "in New Bond Street, over against the Crown and Cushion." Here he came (August 31, 1727), after hurriedly quitting Pope's house at Twickenham, to brood over the news of Stella's sufferings.³ Johnson wrote from Lichfield, October 10, 1767, to "Benet Langton, Esq. at Mr. Bothwell's Perfumer, in New Bond Street."⁴ Mrs. and Miss Gunning at No. 147 in 1792. Lord Nelson at No. 141, in 1797, after the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, and the expedition against Teneriffe, where he lost his arm.

He had scarcely any intermission of pain, day or night, for three months after his return to England. Lady Nelson, at his earnest request, attended the dressing of his arm, till she had acquired sufficient resolution and skill to dress it herself. One night, during this state of suffering, after a day of constant pain, Nelson retired early to bed, in hope of enjoying some respite by means of laudanum. He was at that time lodging in Bond Street, and the family was soon disturbed by a mob knocking loudly and violently at the door. The news of Duncan's victory had been made public, and the house was not illuminated. But when the mob was told that Admiral Nelson lay there in bed, badly wounded, the foremost of them made answer, "You shall hear no more from us to-night."—Southey's Nelson, p. 130.

Lady Hamilton at 150 in 1813. Sir Thomas Picton at No. 146 in 1797–1800. He fell in the Battle of Waterloo. Lord Camelford, the celebrated bruiser and duellist (shot in a duel with Mr. Best, March 7, 1804, d. 10th), at No. 148, in 1803 and 1804.

Over the fireplace in the drawing-room of Lord Camelford's lodgings in Bond Street were ornaments strongly expressive of the pugnacity of the peer. A long thick bludgeon lay horizontally supported by two brass hooks. Above this was placed parallel one of lesser dimensions, until a pyramid of weapons gradually arose, tapering to a horsewhip.—Note by the Messrs. Smith in The Rejected Addresses.

At the time of the duel Lord Camelford and Best had a bet of £200 depending as to which was the better shot! The cause of the duel was a worthless but pretty woman of the name of Symons. "The Rooms" of Jackson, "professor of pugilism," Byron's "old friend and corporeal pastor and master."

All men unpractised in exchanging knocks
Must go to Jackson ere they dare to box.
Byron, Hints From Horace.

Cruikshank drew the rooms for Pierce Egan's Tom and Jerry. From that sufficient authority we learn that "His room is not common to the public eye.... No person can be admitted without an introduction." Further we learn that "In one corner of the room a picture is to be seen, framed and glazed, representing a person lying dead, killed by an assassin, who is escaping with a dagger in his hand. Underneath is the inscription, From the Rt. Hon. W. Windham, M.P., to Mr. Jackson. New Bond Street has now become celebrated for exhibition rooms of a very different class of art. On the west side is the magnificent Grosvenor Gallery, erected for Sir Coutts Lindsay, Bart., at a cost of about £120,000, and opened in May 1877, and almost directly opposite to it the Doré Gallery, where for several years there has been a continuous exhibition of the works of that popular and prolific artist, the late Gustave Doré, whilst in other parts are several other art galleries, and rooms let for temporary exhibitions.

Long's Hotel (No. 16) was rebuilt and enlarged in 1888.

I saw Byron for the last time in 1815. He dined or lunched with me at Long's in Bond Street. I never saw him so full of gaiety and good-humour, to which the presence of Mr. Mathews, the comedian, added not a little. Poor Terry was also present.—Sir Walter Scott (Moore's Life of Byron, p. 280).

Steven's Hotel was at No. 18; it is now a jeweller's.

During the first months of our acquaintance we [Byron and Moore] frequently dined together alone; and as we had no club in common to resort to—the Alfred being the only one to which he at that period belonged, and I being then a member of none but Watier's—our dinners used to be at the St. Alban's, or at his old haunt, Stevens's.—Moore, Life of Byron, p. 150.

Clarendon Hotel (No. 169), was in its day perhaps the best hotel in London, but differences as to the renewal of the lease led to its being closed a few years ago, and the site is now occupied by a row of handsome shops and a picture gallery.

Canning in his early days practised speaking at a Debating Society in Bond Street at the corner of Clifford Street.

Bond Street—including both Old Bond Street and New—has long stood as the representative of fashionable habits as well as the resort of the fashionable lounger. Bond Street loungers are mentioned in the Weekly Journal of June 1, 1717:—

Lord Daberly. But why don't you stand up? The boy rolls about like a porpus in a storm.

Dick Dowlas. That's the fashion, father; that's modern ease. A young fellow is nothing now, without the Bond Street roll, a toothpick between his teeth, and his knuckles cramm'd into his coat-pocket.—Then away you go, lounging lazily along!—Colman's Heir at Law, vol. iii. p. 2 (1797).

And now our Brothers Bond Street enter,
Dear Street, of London's charms the center,
Dear Street! where at a certain hour
Man's follies bud forth into flower!
Where the gay minor sighs for fashion;
Where majors live that minors cash on;
Where each who wills may suit his wish
Here choose a Guido—there his fish.
Lord Lytton, Siamese Twins, 1831, p. 160.

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³ Scott's Swift, vol. xvii. p. 143.
⁴ Croker's Boswell, p. 188.