Biographical notes.
The occupants of these two houses[[54]], up to the year 1800, so far as it has been possible to ascertain them, were as follows:—
| No. 3. | No. 4. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1667. | Richd. Sherbourne. | 1659 until after 1675. | Thomas Povey. |
| 1675. | Judge Twisden. | ||
| 1683. | Sir John Markham. | 1683. | “Jervas Perepont.” |
| Before 1708. | Thomas Broomwhoerwood. | 1708. | John Partington. |
| 1708–1732. | Phineas Cheek. | 1715. | Mrs. Ann Partington. |
| 1732–1735. | J. Winstanley. | 1723. | William Thomson. |
| 1735–1753. | Phineas Cheek. | From before 1730 until 1732. | Mrs. Anne Thomson. |
| 1755–1763. | Wm. Mackworth Praed. | ||
| 1763–1767. | Dr. Jas. Walker. | ||
| 1768–1772. | William Hamilton. | 1732–1736. | Elizabeth Partington. |
| 1773. | Wm. Everard. | 1736–1743. | [[55]]Henry Perrin. |
| 1774–1786. | The Rev. Chas. Everard. | 1744–1746. | Thomas Smith. |
| 1786–1792. | The Rev. Chas. Booth. | 1746–1748. | R. Symonds. |
| 1794–1800. | Robert Kekewitch. | 1749–1753. | Joseph Martin. |
| 1753–1755. | Thomas Western. | ||
| 1760–1794. | Charles Catton. | ||
| 1795–1797. | Messrs. Burton and Co. | ||
| 1798– | Thomas Burton. |
Sir Thomas Twisden, second son of Sir William Twisden, was born at East Peckham in 1602. In 1617 he was admitted to the Inner Temple, and called to the Bar in 1626. Although a staunch royalist, he prospered during the Commonwealth, and in 1653 was made serjeant at law. At the Restoration he was confirmed in this dignity, advanced to a puisne judgeship in the King’s Bench, and knighted. In 1664 he was created a baronet. He died in 1683.
Thomas Povey was the son of Justinian Povey, auditor of the exchequer and accountant general to Anne of Denmark. At the outbreak of the civil war he at first joined neither party, and published a treatise called The Moderator: expecting sudden Peace or certaine Ruine. In 1647, however, he entered the Long Parliament, and was subsequently appointed a member of the council for the colonies. At the Restoration he was taken into favour, and many lucrative appointments were bestowed on him. The dates of his birth and death are unknown. His residence in Gate Street, then known as Lincoln’s Inn Fields, seems to date from the latter part of 1658 or the very commencement of 1659. A letter from him is extant written from Lincoln’s Inn Fields, dated 9th February, 1658–9, while one dated 20th July, 1658 is written from “Graies Inn.”[[56]] Apparently he took the house on the occasion of his marriage, as in an undated letter, after mentioning certain family bereavements, he proceeds: “I was [thus] driven to meditat on a settlement of myself; and did therefore accept of such an oportunitie, as it pleased God about that time to offer mee, of adventuringe upon marriage, wch I have donn upon such grounds as you have all waies heretofore proposed to myself, my wife being a widdowe, about my own yeares, never having had a child; of a fortune capable of giving a reasonable assistance to mine, and of a humour privat and retired. Soe that I am now become a settled person in a house of my own in Lincolnes Inn Fields.”[[57]] His house was famous, and both Evelyn and Pepys have, in their diaries, left a description of it. The former thus records a visit paid by him on 1st July, 1664. “Went to see Mr. Povey’s elegant house in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where the perspective in his court, painted by Streeter, is indeed excellent, with the vases in imitation of porphyry, and fountains; the inlaying of his closet; above all, his pretty cellar and ranging of his wine-bottles.” Pepys had been there a few weeks before, and under date of 29–30th May, 1664, writes: “Thence with Mr. Povy home to dinner; where extraordinary cheer. And after dinner up and down to see his house. And in a word, methinks, for his perspective upon his wall in his garden, and the springs rising up with the perspective in the little closet; his room floored above with woods of several colours, like but above the best cabinetwork I ever saw; his grotto and vault, with his bottles of wine, and a well therein to keep them cool; his furniture of all sorts; his bath at the top of his house, good pictures, and his manner of eating and drinking; do surpass all that ever I did see of one man in all my life.”
Charles Catton, the elder, was born in Norwich in 1728. He was apprenticed to a London coach painter, and attained eminence, not only in this branch of the profession, but as a painter of landscapes, cattle and subject pictures. He was appointed the king’s coach painter, and was one of the foundation members of the Royal Academy. He died in Judd Place, in 1798.
For a number of years (1776–1781) his son, Charles Catton, the younger, is shown in the Royal Academy Catalogues as residing at his father’s house in Gate Street. He was born in London in 1756, and acquired a certain reputation as a scene-painter and topographical draughtsman. He died in the United States in 1819.