Colonel MᶜGregor.
Mr. Beresford Pate, the architect.
The Rev. H. S. Woolcombe, Oxford House.
The music in the Park is excellent, as may be seen by the list for Sunday evenings in June 1907.
| Green Park. (6 to 8 p.m.) | Hyde Park. (7.30 to 9.30 p.m.) | |
|---|---|---|
| June 9th 2nd Life Guards | 1st Life Guards. | |
| June 16th Irish Guards | Coldstream Guards. | |
| June 23rd Scots Guards | 2nd Life Guards. | |
| June 30th 1st Life Guards | Scots Guards. | |
Passing reference was made to Apsley House, which faces the band-stand, in an earlier chapter. It is one of many magnificent mansions fringing the Park, but is unique in its historic interest. I am fortunate in enjoying the friendship of an able historian of our own day, who was a constant visitor at Apsley House in the days of the late Duke of Wellington, and he sends me the following notes concerning the building and its associations:
“The house is built partly upon a site where an apple-woman kept a stall. Her name was Allen. King George II. one day recognised her husband as having been present at the battle of Dettingen, and granted him the site, whereupon he built a small house. Along that side of Piccadilly there were several roadside public-houses, particularly beyond Park Lane (Tyburn Lane), where the rough holiday makers pic-nicked, especially during the celebration of May Fair at the back. Allen’s son about 1780 sold the ground where the fruit stall stood (the stall is shown in a print dated 1766) to Lord Chancellor Apsley (Lord Bathurst), who had a house built by the brothers Adam for himself.
“From a fund voted by Parliament for Wellington, Apsley House was bought in 1828, but it is the private property of the Duke, and is not held as a national trust settled upon the title, as Strathfieldsaye is,—in virtue of his tenure of which, the Duke of Wellington annually presents the Sovereign with a flag on the anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. The house was re-fronted and much altered in 1828 by Sir Geoffrey Wyatville, the picture gallery on the first floor (and the rooms under) having been added for the purpose of housing the splendid collection of heirloom pictures, captured from Joseph Bonaparte on the field of Vittoria, and subsequently given by Ferdinand VII. to the great Duke.
“The view of the Park and the Row from the balconies of this picture gallery is very beautiful; probably it is the best view of the Park available at any point. The room under the gallery facing the Park at the south-west corner is still guarded by wooden shutters, and with good reason, for there are contained the priceless treasures given to the great Duke by governments and Sovereigns,—presentation swords and caskets encrusted with gems, the great silver-gilt table service given by the Portuguese nation, the famous Sèvres dinner service presented by the French, the services given by the Spanish and Prussian nations, the Waterloo shield, the insignia in brilliants of a score of Orders, including the Golden Fleece, which is almost invariably returned, but in this case, as a special honour, was granted permanently. Probably no room in London except the Jewel House in the Tower contains so rare a collection of priceless historic objects as this; and certainly no private gallery in London can boast of such a collection of historic pictures as the long gallery facing the Park, and the other rooms of the mansion.
“The great Duke slept in a very small humble-looking room on the ground-floor at the back, and overlooking the garden and the Park. In the garden, which has some pretty shady trees, he used to take exercise by working a garden watering-pump in the summer; and every morning regularly, until within a few weeks of his death, he would ride out, dressed in white or buff trousers strapped under the boots, a blue coat buttoned up to the chin, brass buttons and a white stock. He always left a little before nine, followed by a groom, and rode up Constitution Hill and round to the Horse Guards.