The Rev. Philip Withers, D.D., July 1790. In 1779 he published proposals for a splendid edition of the Table of Cebes, with plates and notes, intended for the benefit of the Sons of the Clergy, but owing to some misunderstanding with Archbishop Cornwallis, the work never appeared; he lived in Sloane Square in 1789, and imprudently published several libellous pamphlets, for which he was convicted. He was committed to Newgate for twelve months, fined £50, and died there of a fever.
Dr. Sloane Ellesmere, rector, was buried here in 1766; and Lady Rous, aged 90, widow of Sir W. Rous, Alderman of London, in 1777.
Hannah Aston and Anne Aston, two sisters, died in 1806. These unfortunate young women were daughters of Mr. Aston, of Robinson’s Lane (now Flood Street), and had been with a party to Richmond. On their return the boat struck on a barge near Putney Bridge, by which accident they were both drowned, together with Mr. Isaac Van Butchell, son of the eccentric Dr. Van Butchell.
In this ground is the family vault of the Rev. Weeden Butler, whom we have noticed amongst the residents in Cheyne Walk.
Mr. John Fraser, nurseryman, who resided many years in the King’s Road, close to Sloane Square; he was ardently attached to botanical researches, and several times explored the wilds of North America; he died in 1811.
Mrs. Elizabeth Smith, of the King’s Road, died in 1828, in the 49th year of her age, after a short but severe illness.
There have been but few interments in this burial ground for many years. When the new St. Luke’s cemetery was completed, in 1812, this ground was closed, excepting to those who had relatives previously buried in it. The population of the parish, from the year just mentioned, rapidly increased, and the burials, about 1832, amounted in the year to upwards of 600, but many of these belonged to the adjoining parishes, and a large proportion were children.
The King’s Road:
ITS ORIGIN, EARLY CONDITION, AND PRESENT STATE.
As this road is the central great thoroughfare through Chelsea, some early particulars respecting it cannot be otherwise than interesting. It was originally only a footway through the fields, for the use of the farmers and gardeners to get access to their lands; but soon after the restoration of Charles II. it was found a convenient way for his Majesty to go to Hampton Court Palace, and thus it was, after some discussion between the Government and the parishioners of Chelsea, converted into a coach road. The following extracts from the petition of Sir Hans Sloane, Bart., Lord of the Manor, and other freeholders, will give a sufficient detail of its history and origin, and from which it appears that disputes had arisen concerning the right of way; and after the claims of the inhabitants had been considered by the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty’s Treasury, the matter was finally decided in their favour in the year 1719, the 5th of George I.:—
To the Rt. Hon. the Lords of His Majesty’s Treasury, &c. [153a]
“That before the restoration of King Charles the Second, and some time after, the fields of Chelsea were open fields; and that the bridge, called Bloody Bridge, [153b] was only a foot-bridge, with a plank or board; and the way leading thence to the lane facing Blackland House, [153c] was then only a foot-path of about five feet wide, and the lands on each side were plowed and sowed close up to the same; and that from the said lane to the town gate was only a baulk, or head land, of about ten or twelve feet broad, or thereabouts; and the lands on each side of the said head-lands were also ploughed up to the edges thereof; and that the said head-land was used by the owners and occupiers of the said lands for a way, egress and regress, to their lands, with ploughs and other utensils of husbandry, and to carry off their crops from their lands, time out of mind. That some time after the restoration, King Charles II. built Bloody Bridge, as it now stands; and, as we are informed, agreed with the then Lord of the Manor, and others concerned, for the said head-land, for his Majesty’s private road, allowing the freeholders their ancient way through the same. Whereupon the king made the road with gravel, and the landowners ditched out their lands on each side of the same; and the king took upon him the repair of the gate at the town end (which before was maintained by the parishioners), and as soon as the fields were sown, was hung up and shut, and, after harvest, was always open until seed time returned again, as many yet alive well remember. And ever since the landholders of the said parish have been in possession of a free way and passage to their lands through the said road, (some persons having no other way,) and were never denied it during the reigns of King Charles the Second, King James, King William, and Queen Anne, as we can make appear by sufficient evidence. Now, whereas, upon his present Majesty’s repairing the said road, the present Surveyor-General has given orders to shut the gates against the landholders of Chelsea, to their great detriment, and, as we conceive, to the debarring them of their right. We humbly beg your Lordships will take the matter into your consideration, hear our evidence, and grant us such relief as, in your great wisdom, you shall think fit. That the late Duchess Dowager of Beaufort (to whose stables and offices there is no other way), about five or six years ago, ordered her stewards and servants to cut down a turnpike, which Mr. Manly, the Surveyor-General, had set up between the walls at the corner, next Church Lane (Street); and they carried the posts away, being set up, as she said, upon her ground.”