Biographical Notes.
No. 66.
The first occupant of No. 66, of whom any record has been found, was the Countess of Essex, who was there in December, 1641.[[433]] This was Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir William Paulet, who, in 1631, became the second wife of Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex. The marriage turned out very unhappily, and eventually a separation took place. Subsequently she married Thomas Higgons (knighted after her death), who survived her. She died in 1656.[[434]]
The Subsidy Roll for 1646 contains the item: “The Lord Kensington in the Countes of Essex house.” This was presumably Robert Rich, son of Henry Rich, first Earl of Holland, the latter having been created Baron Kensington in 1623. The former in 1673 succeeded his cousin Charles, as fifth Earl of Warwick.
In 1665 and 1666 Magdalen Elliott is shown at the house, and in 1673 Lady Porter. The entries in the Hearth Tax Rolls, Jury Presentment Rolls and sewer ratebook from this time until 1700 vary between “Lady Porter,” “Lady Diana Portland,” and “Lady Ann Porter.” There can be no doubt that they all refer to the same individual, viz., Lady Diana Porter. She was a daughter of George Goring, Earl of Norwich, and married (1) Thomas Covert, of Slaugham, Essex, and (2) George Porter,[[435]] eldest son of Endymion Porter, royalist and patron of literature. George Porter served as lieutenant-general in the western royal army, under the command of his brother-in-law, Lord Goring. The latter described him as “the best company, but the worst officer that ever served the king.” Porter died in 1683.
The ratebook for 1703 contains the name “Ralph Lane” crossed out, and “Wortley” substituted. This seems to point to Lane having recently moved and “Wortley” taken his place. The “Ralph Lane” in question is no doubt the person of the same name, who had in the previous year purchased the house to the west of Conway House (see p. 74). His residence at No. 66 could not have lasted more than about two years. The “Wortley” of the 1703 ratebook is expanded in the records of 1709 and 1715 to “Wortley Montague, Esq.” and “Sidney Wortley als Montague, Esq.” This was Sidney, second son of Edward Montagu, first Earl of Sandwich, who married Anne, daughter and heir of Sir Francis Wortley, Bt., and assumed the surname of Wortley. His eldest son, Edward Wortley Montagu, married Lady Mary Pierrepont, the famous Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Sidney Montagu died in 1727.
After Montagu’s residence the occupiers of No. 66 seem to have been as follows:—
| Before 1720 until after 1723. | Martin Wright. |
| Before 1730. | Elizabeth Perry. |
| 1730–42. | William Aspin. |
| 1743–45. | Dr. John Taylor. |
| 1746. | —— Davis. |
| 1747. | Lilley Smith. |
| 1748. | “Augusti” Arne. |
| 1749–51. | Col. Guy Dickens. |
| 1753–61. | Elizabeth Falconer. |
| 1761–62. | —— Davis. |
| 1762–63. | The Rev. Mr. Francklin. |
| 1763–64. | Miss Faulkner. |
| 1764–83. | —— Davis. |
| 1783–87. | —— Saunders. |
| 1789–94. | Ric. Sadler. |
| 1795– | J. Savage. |
“Augusti” Arne is almost certainly Thomas Augustine Arne, the celebrated composer. He was the son of Thomas Arne, an upholsterer, and was born in 1710. On leaving school he was placed in a lawyer’s office, but his love of music overcame all obstacles, and eventually his father was induced to allow him to cultivate his talent in this respect. His first work, a setting of Addison’s Rosamond, was produced at Lincoln’s Inn Fields Theatre in 1733. This proving successful, it was quickly followed by the Opera of Operas and Dido and Æneas. In 1738 he established his reputation by his music to Comus, and in 1740 he wrote the music to Thomson and Mallet’s Masque of Alfred, containing Rule Britannia. His later works included the songs Where the bee sucks, Under the greenwood tree, Blow, blow, thou winter wind, the oratorios Abel and Judith, and the opera Artaxerxes. In 1769 he set to music the ode by Garrick, performed at the Shakespeare jubilee at Stratford on Avon. He died in 1778.
No allusions have been found to his residence at No. 66, Great Queen Street. He is stated to have been living “next door to the Crown in Great Queen Street,” in 1744[[436]] but that must refer to a different house. The sewer ratebook for 1734 shows a “Mr. Arne” resident at No. 34, Great Queen Street, but there is no proof that this was the musician. His residence at No. 215, King’s Road, Chelsea, has already been mentioned.[[437]]