The preceding lists do not exhaust the well-known names connected with Fleet Street. In addition, to mention only a few, are those of Cowley, the poet; Drayton; many of the early printers, successors of Caxton; many booksellers of note; Milton, Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith, Samuel Richardson, Tompion the watchmaker, Alderman Waithman, William Hone, Douglas Jerrold, the many distinguished writers who have created the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Chronicle, the Daily News, the Standard, and the host of papers and journals whose offices are in the street. In the burial-ground of St. Andrew’s, Shoe Lane, lie the remains of Thomas Chatterton; in Fetter Lane Wesley and Whitefield preached; in this street was published Abbott’s Weekly Register; we may also enumerate Sedley the poet, Jacob Tonson, John Hoole, Crockford of gambling fame, Sir Symonds D’Ewes, antiquary, Henry Woodfall, Printer “without Temple Bar,” and Charles Knight. It may, indeed, be fairly stated that, during the whole of the eighteenth and a large part of the nineteenth century, Fleet Street was the haunt of all the literary men of the time, and that at the present moment it is the most important centre of journalism. On the east of Ludgate is the office of The Times; all the other London dailies, and a great number of provincial and colonial journals, have their offices in Fleet Street. But poets, novelists, dramatists, and scholars are no longer found in this street; they belong to West End Clubs and no longer congregate in taverns and coffee-houses.
IZAAK WALTON’S HOUSE IN FLEET STREET
Bell Yard, Temple Bar, one side of which is now occupied by the High Courts of Justice, is called by Pope in 1736 a “filthy old place.”
Shire Lane, now built over by the Courts, was known also as Rogers Lane; it was also called Sheer Lane; this lane, in spite of an evil name, possessed many associations. Here, at an inn called the Trumpet, Isaac Bickerstaffe was supposed to receive his friends, and was fabled to have his residence. In this lane was founded the Kit Kat Club, a society of gentlemen devoted to the Protestant interest; here lived Elias Ashmole, the antiquary; here Sir Charles Sedley, the dramatic poet, was born; and here in a spunging-house Theodore Hook made the acquaintance of Dr. Maginn.
On the south side of Fleet Street, Wynkyn de Worde, the printer, lived in Falcon Court; in Mitre Court was the Mitre, where Dr. Johnson and Boswell met to drink port. The Royal Society used to dine at the Mitre (1743-80). Sarah Malcolm, whose portrait was taken by Hogarth, was hanged opposite Mitre Court for the murder of Lydia Duncombe, Elizabeth Harrison, and Anne Price. Ram Alley, now Hare Court, opposite Fetter Lane, was one of the later places of sanctuary; that is to say, a place where bailiffs and writs were not admitted. It had a passage into the Temple and another into Serjeant’s Inn, and was, as might be expected, a place of evil reputation.
The date of the first building of St. Dunstan’s Church is not known, but it was before the thirteenth century. It narrowly escaped the Fire, and was extensively repaired in 1701. The church, which was taken down in 1829-30, was a later edifice; it occupied part of the present street, and had a row of shops along its south side. It was famous for its “Saints,” a couple of figures which struck the hours. They were purchased by the Marquis of Hertford and set up at St. Dunstan’s Villa, Regent’s Park. The statue of Queen Elizabeth, originally on the west front of Ludgate, was happily preserved, and still stands over the vestry of the new church.
ST. DUNSTAN IN THE WEST
This church stands on the north side of Fleet Street, between Fetter Lane and Chancery Lane, in the ward of Farringdon Without. It escaped the Great Fire, but very narrowly. It was extensively repaired in 1701, and towards the close of 1829 taken down; the new building, the work of John Shaw, was set back 30 feet from the former site, and consecrated in 1833. The earliest date of an incumbent is 1318.
The patronage of the church was in the hands of: The Abbot and Convent of Westminster as a Rectory, who gave it to Henry III. about 1272, when he founded the Domus Conversorum, then the Custos Domus Conversorum; Edward II. and his successors; the Abbot and Convent of Alnwick, October 29, 1386—a vicarage was ordained here in 1437, in the same patronage, and so continued up to 1540; Henry VIII.; William James, 1556; Lord Dudley, by grant of Edward VI.; Sir Richard Sackvill, Knt.; George Rivers; Simeon Trustees since 1834.