Grosvenor Square

Grosvenor-Square,—at the S. end of Duke-st. from 277, Oxford-st. or the third on the R. in Grosvenor-st. from 123, New Bond-st. also at the N. end of South Audley-st. ¼ of a mile from Stanhope-st. Park-lane.

Grosvenor-Sq., Oxford-street, is on the south side of that great thoroughfare, between Duke-street and North Audley-street. The four sides of the square are of various styles of architecture, and some approach to grandeur. The area of this square contains about five acres, in the middle is a large pleasure-ground, laid out in walks and plantations, and in the centre is an equestrian statue of George I., on a lofty pedestal. It derives its name, as well as the adjacent street, from being built on the estate of Earl Grosvenor.

Grosvenor Square, one of the most aristocratic and fashionable places of residence in London. It stands on the Grosvenor estate, and was commenced about 1695; Pope speaks of it in 1716 in a letter to Martha Blount. It was so called after Sir Richard Grosvenor, the fourth baronet of the family, who died in 1732. The space included within the railings is 6 acres; it was laid out by the architect Kent. In the centre, on the now vacant pedestal, was a "doubly gilt" equestrian statue of George I. by Van Nort, erected in 1726 by Sir Richard Grosvenor. In March 1727 the statue was maliciously defaced and mutilated by some virulent partisan of the Pretender—as appeared from a coarse paper attached to the pedestal Sir Richard Grosvenor, offered £100 reward for the conviction of the offender,¹ but no discovery was ever made.

June 19, 1777.—H.E. the Neapolitan Ambassador was attacked in his carriage in Grosvenor Square by four footpads, one of whom presented a pistol to his coachman, two more one to each of the footmen, while the fourth robbed His Excellency of a gold watch and money.—Annual Register.

Eminent Inhabitants.—The Duchess of Kendal (d. 1743), mistress of George I., resided here. So did the witty Earl of Chesterfield, 1733–1750, who married her daughter.

September 8, 1741.—I am entirely at the service of you and the rest of my friends who mean the public good. I shall either fight or run away as you shall determine. If the Duke of Argyle sounds to battle I will follow my leader; if he stays in Oxfordshire, I'll stay in Grosvenor Square.—Lord Chesterfield to Bubb Dodington.

When Johnson wrote to Chesterfield,—"Seven years, my Lord, have now past since I waited in your outward rooms, or was relpulsed from your door,"—it was to this house that he alluded, for the letter is dated February 7, 1755. Bishop Warburton came here from Bedford Row in 1757. His first letter to Hurd from his new abode—in which he says: "We have been here near a week"—is dated "Grosvenor Square, the Park side, and the last door at the south end, February 7, 1757." Lord Chancellor Hardwicke came to live here in 1758, and died here March 6, 1764, in his seventy-fourth year. He was buried in the parish church of Wimpole. Lord Rockingham, the minister, till his death, 1782. Lord North, Prime Minister in the reign of George III. (d. 1792). Henry Thrale, the wealthy brewer and friend of Dr. Johnson; he died here in 1781. Hon. Mr. Damer (1796–1799) at No. 8. Countess of Pembroke at No. 44. This house had alterations made, 1797–1798, by Sir John Soane. The notorious John Wilkes died (1797) in No. 30. Sir George Beaumont at No. 29 in 1827. No. 39 was the Earl of Harrowby's, and here Thistlewood and his associates were to have murdered his Majesty's ministers. [See Cato Street]

I reside in Grosvenor Square. I am President of the Council On Wednesday (February 23, 1820), I was to have had a Cabinet dinner, and cards of invitation had been issued to the Lord Chancellor, Lords Liverpool, Westmoreland, Mulgrave, Bathurst, Melville and Castlereagh, the Duke of Wellington and Mr. Canning. On the Tuesday I was riding in the Park about 2 o'clock preparatory to attending a Council. I had no servant with me. A person addressed me near Grosvenor Gate, and said he had a letter addressed to Lord Castlereagh. The Cabinet dinner did not take place as intended on the Wednesday, but the preparations for it were carried on in my house, nor did I countermand them until 8 o'clock that evening, when I wrote a note to my head servant from Lord Liverpool's.—Lord Harrowby's Evidence.

In the drawing-room of No. 23 the Earl of Derby (d. 1834) was married in 1797, by special licence, to Miss Farren, the actress, who was then residing in Green Street. William Beckford was living at No. 22 at the end of the last century, and when Lord Nelson returned to England after the Battle of the Nile, the Hamiltons were living with Beckford, and Nelson was constantly in the house.¹ Grosvenor Square was the last square in London lighted with gas, the aristocratic inhabitants preferring for many years the dim and uncertain light of oil. The iron link-extinguishers, in use when people of fashion visited in sedan chairs, preceded by torch-bearers, maintain their place on the railings in front of some of the doors. No. 4 is the London residence of Earl Fitzwilliam; No. 6 of the Earl of Home; No. 12 of Lord Wynford; No. 19 of the Danish minister; No. 20 of the Italian ambassador; No. 27 of the Earl of Aberdeen; No. 28 of Earl Percy; No. 29 of Lord Londesborough; No. 44 of the Earl of Harrowby; No. 45 of the Earl of Dartmouth. Several of the houses have been rebuilt lately.

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¹ London Gazette, March 14–18, 1726.

¹ Pettigrew, vol. ii. p. 292.