The “Rising Sun” was for many years the residence of Major Eyre of the Volunteers. It is built of red brick, and on the coping is the date 16—. There was formerly much carved work about the rooms, but all has disappeared: a plain, old-fashioned staircase still exists. It has not been licensed above thirty years.
Trevor Terrace consists of but ten houses. At the last, Mr. Pocock, the architect, resides.
At the corner of South Place, which contains only three houses, is the celebrated floor-cloth manufactory belonging to Mr. Baber. It was the earliest one ever established, and first erected, in 1754, by Nathan Smith. The first block used for patterns was cut by him, and is still preserved in the factory. A woodcut of it is given in “Dodd’s British Manufactures,” where full particulars of the process of this manufacture are given. In 1794 the building was entirely destroyed by fire, but restored the ensuing year; the whole was rebuilt in 1824, and presents a remarkable appearance from its great height. At the north end is a clock, over which is placed a figure of Time cut in stone.
The adjoining house (No. 2) was formerly called the “Parsonage,” because inhabited by the Rev. J. Gamble, of Trinity Chapel. This gentleman was in 1796 appointed Chaplain of the Forces, and in 1799 Rector of Alphamstone and Bradwell-juxta-Mare, Essex. For many years also he was private chaplain to the Duke of York, who generally attended his ministry at the Chapel. Mr. Gamble was a Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge, a very able preacher, and a highly popular man. He died in this house July 27, 1811.
Of late years this unpretending house has gained a world-wide celebrity, having been the residence of Edward Sterling, the “Thunderer of the Times.”
Edward Sterling was born at Waterford on the 27th February, 1773. He entered Trinity College, Dublin, and qualifying himself for the bar, was duly called thereto; when the Irish Rebellion breaking out, in his twenty-fifth year, the barristers resolved to raise a corps of volunteers; and thus a complete change in Sterling’s career was commenced. He fought at Vinegar Hill, and doubtless fought well. He quitted the bar, joined the Cheshire Militia, whence he and his company afterwards volunteered into the line. In 1805 the regiment was disbanded, and he removed to Kaimes Castle, Bute, where he cultivated a farm. Afterwards he went into Wales, and was appointed Adjutant of the Glamorgan Militia; and in 1810 published a pamphlet on Military Reform. It was dedicated to the Duke of Kent, and went through a second edition the following year.
In 1812 he wrote a series of letters to the Times, under the signature of “Vetus,” which were afterwards collected and reprinted. In 1814 he was at Paris, and witnessed the entry of Napoleon after his return from Elba. He made the best of his way to London, which he never quitted as a residence again. He resided at various places in the suburbs, but ultimately settled at Knightsbridge, a more congenial home with its military air; and from this modest nook poured forth the able, torrent-like articles, which gained their unknown author the title of the “Thunderer.”
He died here in the year 1847; his wife, the excellent mother of John Sterling, died here also, on April 16th, 1843. [109]
This house was also a home to John Sterling when in London; and here Carlyle, Maurice, Mill, and other gifted men, visited him. It is now the residence of his brother, Colonel Sterling; and here also came, after his honourable campaign in the Crimea, the brave Sir Colin Campbell, who for his services in India was created Lord Clyde.
Kent House.—H.R.H. the Duke of Kent, about fifty years ago, rented a small house, to which he added till it attained its present size, and was named after him, Kent House. He resided here but a few years. After him, Lord George Seymour inhabited it; and in 1817 the Hon. George Villiers resided here. He was next brother and heir-presumptive to the second Earl of Clarendon, and held several official employments. He married the Hon. Theresa Parker, only daughter of John, first Lord Boringdon, and brother of the Earl of Morley, and died at Kent House, March 21st, 1827, leaving a numerous family, three of whom at least have attained a high reputation, viz., the present Earl of Clarendon, the Hon. C. P. Villiers, M.P. for Wolverhampton, and Lady Theresa Lewis, author of “The Friends and Contemporaries of Lord Chancellor Clarendon.”