In 1787 he instituted the Chelsea Sunday Schools, with the sanction of the Rev. W. B. Cadogan. His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent had a great regard for Mr. Butler, and appointed him one of his domestic chaplains. Hardly one charitable Society in London existed, to which his popular oratory did not essentially contribute credit and profit. He died in a good old age, and his remains were placed in the family vault at Chelsea. The Rev. Weeden Butler, his eldest son, occupied the same house for many years afterwards, as also the son of the latter, Thomas Butler, Esq., who was much esteemed by a numerous circle of friends while he resided in Cheyne Walk. The whole of this family were remarkable for their classical attainments and love of literature. The Rev. T. Helmore, Precentor, St. Mark’s College, has since resided in Mr. Butler’s house.
A very fine portrait of Dr. Dodd, painted by Gainsborough, and a large quarto volume of the doctor’s unedited poems, in MS., bound, including a tragedy, called “The Syracusans,” and a comedy, called “Sir Roger de Coverly,” were left by Mr. Butler, to his legatees. The portrait is the only likeness extant The Rev. Philip Dodd, and the Rev. Weeden Butler (eldest son of Mr. Butler), possessed all the Doctor’s unprinted sermons.
James Neild, Esq., who resided at No. 4, Cheyne Walk, was born in 1744, at Knutsford, in Cheshire, in the neighbourhood of which his family had some good estates. He came to London, and was placed with Mr. Hemming, the King’s goldsmith, but after a short time, he removed to a jeweller’s. In 1770 he settled in St. James’s Street, and continued there till the year 1792, when finding his health declining, and having recently lost his wife, he retired from business to Chelsea, with an ample fortune.
The attention of Mr. Neild, very early in life, was drawn to the distressed state of persons imprisoned for debt; the endeavour to alleviate which soon became his favorite pursuit, and one which he followed with intense application.
In 1773, having previously visited most of the prisons in England, and many on the continent, he was, together with his benevolent friends, Dr. John C. Lettson, and the Rev. Weeden Butler, chiefly instrumental in instituting the Society for the Relief and Discharge of Persons imprisoned for small debts. In 1812 he published “The State of the Prisons,” in a quarto volume, a work teeming with valuable information. Mr. Neild died in 1814, and was buried in Battersea Church. He married a daughter of John Camden, Esq., of that parish.
John Camden Neild, Esq., was a magistrate for the county, and the son of the preceding. He resided in his late father’s house in Cheyne Walk, and bequeathed half a million of money to Queen Victoria. He died in 1852.
John Goss, Esq., the present organist of St. Paul’s Cathedral, lived at No. 3, Cheyne Walk. He was appointed Organist of St. Luke’s New Church, when that sacred edifice was completed. His proficiency, even at that early period of his musical life, excited general admiration, and large portions of the congregation frequently waited in the Church, at the close of Divine Service, to listen to his concluding performances.
There are several highly respectable families, who have for many years resided in Cheyne Walk, of whom it would have been only an act of justice to notice, but the strict rules of propriety prevent my discharging an otherwise pleasing duty, which, in some instances especially, is much to be regretted, as they take a deep interest in the promotion of whatever tends to enhance the welfare of the parish.
DOGGETT’S COAT AND BADGE.
Mr. Thomas Doggett, a native of Ireland, was an actor, and made his first appearance in Dublin; but his efforts not meeting with sufficient encouragement he removed to London, where he performed with great reputation, and by his talents, industry, and economy, acquired a competent fortune, and quitted the stage some years before he died. He was also a patentee and manager of the theatre with Wilks, Booth, and Cibber; the latter of whom gives Doggett the following character:—“He was the most original and the strictest observer of nature of all his cotemporaries. He borrowed from none of them; his manner was his own, he was a pattern to others, whose greatest merit was that they had sometimes tolerably imitated him. In dressing a character to the greatest exactness, he was remarkably skilful; the least article of whatsoever habit he wore seemed in some measure to speak the different humour he presented, a necessary care in a comedian, in which many have been too remiss or ignorant. His greatest success was in characters of lower life, which he improved from the delight he took in his observations of that kind in the real world. In songs, and particular dances too of humour, he had no competitor. Congreve was a great admirer of him, and found his account in the characters he expressly wrote for him. In those of Fondlewife in his Old Bachelor, and Ben in Love for Love, no author and actor could be more obliged to their mutual masterly performances. He was very acceptable to several persons of high rank and taste, though he seldom cared to be the comedian, but among his more intimate acquaintances.