244 Admiral Sir Stafford Fairbourne (18) . . . . . After Kneller by Bockman.
Lived in the reigns of William III. and Anne.
245 Admiral Sir John Gradin (8). . . . . After Kneller by Bockman.
Served in the reign of Queen Anne, and was dismissed for over-caution.
246 Admiral Beaumont (1). . . . . After Dahl by Bockman.
He perished on the Goodwin Sands in the great storm “such as of late o’er pale Britannia passed,” in 1703.
IR Christopher Wren was the original builder of this staircase, although Kent’s name has usually alone been associated with it. To the great architect, however, we certainly owe the “shell” of the building, its proportions, the black marble steps, the black and white chequered marble on the landings, and the fine balustrade of wrought iron. This ironwork was doubtless designed by Jean Tijou, whose name we have found in the contemporary accounts relating to this palace, and in whose style the design certainly is. As to the stair-treads, it is worthy of note that in an estimate of Wren’s for the completion of the King’s Great Staircase at Hampton Court, in 1699, he proposed that they should be made “of Irish stone such as are at Kensington, but longer and easier,” which, in fact, they are.