Powis House originally stood where Powis Place, Great Ormond Street, now is. This was built by the second Marquis or Duke of Powis, even before he had sold his Lincoln's Inn Fields house to the Duke of Newcastle, for he was living here in 1708. The second Duke was, like his father, a Jacobite, and had suffered much for his loyalty to the cause, having endured imprisonment in the Tower, but he was eventually restored to his position and estates. The house was burnt down in 1714, when the Duc d'Aumont, French Ambassador, was tenant, and it was believed that the fire was the work of an incendiary. The French King, Louis XIV., caused it to be rebuilt at his own cost, though insurance could have been claimed. In 1777 this later building was taken down.
Lord Chancellor Thurlow lived in this street at No. 46, and it was from this house, now the Working Men's College, that the Great Seal was stolen and never recovered.
Dr. Mead, a well-known physician, had a house here, afterwards occupied by the Hospital for Sick Children.
The Working Men's College began at the instigation of a barrister in 1848, and was fathered by the Rev. F. D. Maurice, who was Principal until his death. It grew rapidly, and in 1856 became affiliated to London University. The adjacent house was bought, in 1870 additional buildings were erected, and four years later the institution received a charter of incorporation. Maurice was succeeded in the principalship by Thomas Hughes, and Hughes by Lord Avebury, then Sir John Lubbock.
The Hospital for Sick Children is a red-brick building designed by Sir C. Barry. Within, the wards are lined by glazed tiles, and the floors are of parquet. Each ward is named after some member of the Royal Family—Helena, Alice, etc. The children are received at any age, and the beds are well filled. Everything, it is needless to say, is in the beautifully bright and cleanly style which is associated with the modern hospital. The chapel is particularly beautiful; it is the gift of Mr. W. H. Barry, a brother of the architect, and the walls are adorned with frescoes above inlaid blocks of veined alabaster.
The Homœopathic Hospital, which is on the same side of the street nearer to the Square, is another large and noticeable building. This is the only hospital of the kind in London. The present building occupies the site of three old houses, one of which was the residence of Zachary Macaulay, father of the historian. There are in all seven wards, two for men, three for women, one for girls, and one for children. The children's ward is as pretty as any private nursery could be. The hospital is absolutely free, and the out-patient department exceptionally large.
In Great Ormond Street there are also one or two Benefit Societies, Manchester Unity Independent Order of Oddfellows for the North London District, and many sets of chambers. This district seems particularly favourable to the growth of charitable institutions.
Lamb's Conduit Street is called after one Lamb, who built a conduit here in 1577. This was a notable work in the days when the water-supply was a very serious problem. Thus, a very curious name is accounted for in a matter-of-fact way. In Queen Anne's time the fields around here formed a favourite promenade for the citizens when the day's work was done.
The parish of St. George, Bloomsbury, which lies westward of St. George the Martyr, is considerably larger than its neighbour. The derivation of this name is generally supposed to be a corruption of Blemund's Fee, from one William de Blemund, who was Lord of the Manor in Henry VI.'s reign. Stow and others have written the word "Loomsbury," or "Lomesbury," but this seems to be due to careless orthography, and not to indicate any ancient rendering.
The earliest holder of the manor of whom we have any record is the De Blemund mentioned above. There are intermediate links missing at a later date, but with the possession of the Southampton family in the very beginning of the seventeenth century the history becomes clear again. In 1668 the manor passed into the hands of the Bedfords by marriage with the heiress of the Southamptons. This family also held St. Giles's, which, it will be remembered, was originally also part of the Prebendary of St. Paul's.