Chelsea, in the Olden & Present Times

by George Bryan

George, Earl of Shrewsbury, son of the preceding, was installed a Knight of the Garter, May 17, 1562. In 1568 the custody of the Queen of Scots was committed to his charge. In 1573, he presided as Lord High Steward at the trial of the Duke of Norfolk; and on the death of his Grace, which happened soon after, he was constituted Earl Marshal of England. He died 1590, and was buried at Sheffield, in the county of York. “An inquisition, taken at Derby, 3rd April, 33 Elizabeth, on the death of George, Earl of Shrewsbury; after reciting lands, &c., in many counties, adds Middlesex, one capital messuage, &c., in Chelsea. The value is lumped in many manors, into a gross sum of £800 a year.” The inscription on his monument, among other things, sets forth, “That, as he excelled in mind, so was he skilled in the affairs of war.” On the arrival of Mary, Queen of Scots, in England, she was again put under his care, and so continued till 1584. His behaviour to her was ever generous and honourable, sparing no cost for her entertainment. Words cannot fully express the care and concern he had for her, nor can envy itself say otherwise than he was a faithful and prudent person; in a word, his integrity in his high office was not to be suspected, although evil disposed persons secretly and vaguely gave out that he had used too much familiarity with his royal prisoner. Thus, noble by descent, he was more noble and illustrious in his actions; famous at home and abroad; loyal to his prince and true to his country; and he resigned his soul in “a good old age.” The Earl married to his second wife, Elizabeth, widow of Sir William St. Loo, Captain of the Guards to Queen Elizabeth, who survived him, and to whom he probably bequeathed his house at Chelsea, as it appears to have descended to her son William, first Earl of Devonshire. In “Lodge’s Illustrations of English History,” is a letter of this nobleman, dated from Chelsea, in 1585.

Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury. This lady, who was much celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments, and still more for her extraordinary fortune in the world, was daughter of John Hardwick, Esq., of the county of Derby. At the age of fourteen she was married to Robert Barley, Esq., who, in about two years, left her a very rich widow. The next husband was Sir William Cavendish, ancestor of the Duke of Devonshire. Her third was Sir William St. Loo. In this third widowhood she had not survived her charms of wit and beauty, by which she captivated the then greatest subject of the land, George, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom she brought to terms of considerable honour and advantage to herself and children; for he not only yielded to a very large jointure, but to a union of families, by marrying Mary, her youngest daughter, to Gilbert, his son and afterwards his heir, and giving the Lady Grace, his youngest daughter, to Henry, her eldest son. In 1590 she was a fourth time left, and continued a widow till her death. Her’s was a change of conditions that, perhaps, never fell to any one woman before or since: to be four times a creditable and happy wife, and to rise by every husband to greater wealth and higher honours; and, after all, to live seventeen years a widow in absolute power and plenty. She built three of the most elegant seats that were ever raised by one person in the same county—Chatsworth, Hardwick, and Oldcoates; all transmitted entire to the first Duke of Devonshire. The Countess died in 1607, aged 87. She bequeathed all her estates to her son William, Earl of Devonshire; and we find this nobleman to have been in possession of this mansion at Chelsea soon after her death.

William, Earl of Devonshire, received his education with the sons of the Earl of Shrewsbury, his father in-law; and, being distinguished for eminent abilities, was advanced to the dignity of Baron Cavendish, by James I. in the third year of his reign; at which time of his creation his Majesty stood under a cloth of state in the hall at Greenwich, accompanied by the princes and the greatest part of the nobility, both of England and Scotland. In 1618 he was created Earl of Devonshire. He died at Hardwick in 1625. The Earl married, to his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Boughton, Esq., of the county of Warwick, and widow of Sir Richard Wortley. This lady survived him, and continued to reside at Chelsea till her death, which happened in 1643, as appears by the parish book, in which are also entries of the burials of some of her domestics.

After the death of the Countess of Devonshire, this ancient house became the property of Sir Joseph Alston, who was created a baronet by Charles II. in 1682. Mrs. Mary Alston, the wife of this gentleman, died here in 1671, and her funeral sermon was preached by Dr. Littleton, who published it shortly after, in quarto. Sir Joseph was in possession of this house in 1664; it afterwards came into the possession of Mr. Tate, and was occupied as a stained paper manufactory.

In 1813 it was pulled down, and the materials sold by a builder, who had obtained possession; and now not a stone remains to show where it once stood.

The family of Tate were originally of Chelsea, and had at one time large property here, which they parted with by degrees. They attained property also in Leicestershire, through a marriage with the daughter of Lord Zouch.

Bishop of Winchester’s Palace.

The Bishop of Winchester’s Palace, which was pulled down some years since, adjoined the gardens of Alston House, on the east, and on the site of which is now Oakley Street, and a terrace of well-built houses, fronting the river. The houses erected in Oakley Street are throughout of a superior class, and as the road is of considerable width, with a good pavement, it now forms the most respectable and important direct thoroughfare from the King’s Road to the centre of Cheyne Walk. The contemplated embankment and Albert Bridge will be noticed at the conclusion of this work, so as to get correct information.

The ancient palace of the Bishops of Winchester, in Southwark, having been dilapidated and laid waste, an Act of Parliament was passed in the year 1663 empowering George Morley, Bishop of Winchester, to lease out the houses in Southwark, and for other purposes. In the ensuing year the Bishop, in pursuance of this Act of Parliament, purchased a new brick house at Chelsea, then lately built by James Duke of Hamilton, and adjoining to the Manor House, Cheyne Walk, on the east, and Alston House, on the west, for £4250, to be the future residence of the bishops of this see, and to be called Winchester House. By the Act it was held to be within the diocese of Winchester.

The Bishopric of Winchester is of good antiquity, and has never changed the see since its foundation. The Bishops are Chancellors of the see of Canterbury, and Prelates of the most noble Order of St. George, called the Garter, which office was vested in them by King Edward III. at the establishment of that noble Order, and has continued with them ever since. Anciently, they were reputed Earls of Southampton, and are so styled in the Statutes of the Garter, made by Henry VIII.