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!A Bloomsbury and Holborn WalkMichael Strachan

Copyright © heritagewalks.london 2019 75 West Street, Harrow on the Hill, London HA1 3EL info@walkingthepast.co.uk First published in the UK in 2012 Text and images copyright © Michael Strachan Michael Strachan has asserted his rights to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, by photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. (The cover illustration shows Sir John Soane’s Museum).

A Bloomsbury and HolbornWalkMichael Strachan

INTRODUCTION This walk begins at Chancery Lane - part of the ‘legal’ area of London. From the Lincoln’s Inn it takes you through Holborn and Bloomsbury - long known for their literary and artistic asso-ciations - and ends at the newly-refurbished Kings Cross area. Kingsway marks the western boundary of ‘legal London’; Fleet Street borders it to the east, and in the Aldwych area, the Strand runs along the southern border; at its end are the Royal Courts of Justice, which deal with libels, divorces and all civil cases. All around this area lie the Inns of Court, home of Lon-don’s legal profession: Middle Temple and Inner Temple are on the Embankment, and Gray’s Inn and Lincoln’s Inn to the north of the High Court. Lincoln’s Inn Fields were laid out by ambitious city planners in the 17th century. Here you’ll find one of London’s gems, Sir John Soane’s Museum, a self-endowed monument to one of London’s most important collectors, who died in 1837. The ghost of Charles Dickens (1812–70) haunts the streets of Holborn. Bleeding Heart Yard, setting for much of the domestic action in Little Dorrit, is only a step or two away from the bustle of Hatton Garden, the centre of London’s diamond trade. The Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty Street, is where he lived from 1837–39. Coram’s Fields lies just beyond Great Ormond Street Hospital where sea captain Thomas Coram started a hospital and school 1Foundling MuseumDickens MuseumStaple Inn 1886

for abandoned children, and encouraged artists, such as Hogar-th, to donate works to raise funds. The collection can now be seen at the Foundling Museum. lt’s also where Handel’s Messi-ah was given an early performance. The British Library is on Euston Road and houses 150 million books and periodicals. The new internal re-design makes the interior light-filled and graceful. Bloomsbury famously gave its name to a literary coterie that included Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell and Lytton Strachey, who lived here in the early part of the 20th century. Publishing houses and bookshops still flourish around the area’s streets and squares. The walk ends at King’s Cross station, an area transformed by the 2007 opening of the Eurostar terminal at King’s Cross’s sister station St Pancras, which is now the city’s most glamorous ter-minus. To hear this Introduction please click this icon To find out more about ‘What3Words’ please click this information icon 2If you would like to donate an amount which will help us cover our costs and continue to work on new publications please scan or tap the QR link below:

Planning Your Walk 1. If possible, walk with a friend. 2. Tel l som eone w here yo u are g oi ng. 3. Tak e care wh en walki ng at nigh t. 4. Wear sensible clothes and footwear. 5. Always take a bottle of water to avoid de-hydration. 6. Don't try to do too much in one visit. 7. Check the opening times of all Museums and Galleries online. 8. Tak e you r came ra or came ra ph on e w ith b atter ies f ul ly charged. 9. If you are printing out this do staple these!pages!together!. 10. Don’t forget to download your free Quiz and Plaque scoresheets by using the URL links on the next page… Start at Chancery Lane Underground station. (Central line) End at Kings Cross Underground station. (Piccadilly, Victoria & Jubilee lines) Use the Transport for London (TFL) planner to plan your journey. 37.5 km 4.7 miles 2-3 hrs

To make your walk more interesting… …we have created an on-line, interactive map which you can find by clicking the link below, or by scanning the green QR code opposite. This will only work if you are reading this guide on a smart device like an iPad: Plot-a-Route map We have also added some fun challenges - the first is a picture quiz. So you need to look out for interesting ob-jects such as ‘street furniture’, statues and architectural features shown in the I-Spy Challenge scoresheet. Click the link below, or scan the pink QR code opposite, to access a download for this scoresheet. It can then be printed or saved: I-Spy Challenge The second challenge is to ‘bag’ all the plaques along this walk. These are listed on a ‘Pastwalkers’ scoresheet along with their ‘what3words’ loca-tions. (Click the information icon op-posite for more about how ‘What3Words’ works). The plaque scores are based on age and quality rather than the importance of the person or event commemorated. Download by clicking on the link below, or by scanning the blue QR code opposite: Plaque Challenge 4Tick them off when you find them

From Chancery Lane to Kings Cross At Chancery Lane Station take Exit 4… As you reach the top of this station exit, ahead of you and to the right, is a row of old timber-framed build-ings, detour briefly to view this unique feature… This is Staple Inn – a part-Tudor building on the south side of High Holborn street in the City of London. It is used as the London venue for meetings of the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries, and is the last surviving Inn of Chancery. Return to the station exit and behind it you will see the entrance to Staple Inn Buildings… 5Staple Inn 1886

Walk through both sets of ornamental iron gates bearing right into Southampton Buildings… On your right you will see a quite modern, unassuming building. This is the London Silver Vaults containing ‘the largest retail selection of fine antique and contemporary silver in the world’. The Vaults opened in 1885 as ‘The Chancery Lane Safe Deposit’, a secure home for London’s silver and jewellery dealers. The present building opened in 1953 and now has over 25 specialist shops; ‘each one a treasure trove of beautifully crafted antique and modern silver, and jew-ellery, dating from the early 1600s to the present day’. It’s the place where ‘international royalty, film stars and dis-cerning shoppers seek out the world’s finest silver’. At the end of this short road turn left into Chancery Lane… Across the road, on a brick wall of the Lincoln’s Inn building, is the first plaque… This is dedicated to John Thurloe and was erected here by the Cromwell As-sociation. Thurloe ‘was an English politician who served as secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell and held the position of Postmaster General between 1655 and 1660. 6John Thurloe

He was from Great Milton in Oxfordshire and trained in law at Lincoln's Inn. After the Restoration, he was arrested for high treason in 1660 but was not tried. He was re-leased on the condition that he would support the new government. He then retired from public life but served as an unofficial authority on foreign affairs. Continue a little way down Chancery Lane and cross over into Breems Buildings… St Dunstans churchyard open space is on the left… This tiny burial ground is associated with the church of the same name, which still exists on Fleet Street. It’s just within the boundaries of the old parish, being right up against the northern border of the parish. The church was first mentioned in c.1185 as plain St Dunstan’s, but was later known as St Dunstan in the West to distinguish it from St Dunstan in the East. In 1625 the church acquired this plot of land for more burials – sus-pected to be plague deaths, but that’s still unproven. Walk along this street to the junction with Fetter Lane… Look for the statue of John Wilkes FRS here. He was an English radical journalist and politician. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of his voters – rather than the House of Commons – to decide who would represent them. 7

However, in 1768, the angry protests of his many supporters were ended in the Massacre of St George's Fields. In 1771, he helped in forcing the government to concede the right of printers to publish verbatim accounts of parliamentary debates. In 1776, he introduced the first bill for parlia-mentary reform in the British Parliament. During the American War of Independence, he was a supporter of the American rebels. Turn right here, walking past the entrance to Rolls Buildings to cross Fetter Lane into West Harding Street and then into Pemberton Row… There is a plaque at number 5 Pemberton Row where the Potter family of flute makers lived. They were an im-portant London firm of flute-makers from about 1745 until 1848. Until the early 1830s, flutes were mostly made of box-wood but more expensive examples, were also made of ivory. After 1832 the Boehm system of interlinking met-al keys gradually became more popular with musicians, but it required stronger materials than ivory, which was too brittle. In 1785, Richard Potter patented his remake of the English "German flute".! His ‘Patent Flute’ sold very well, and influenced the design of English flutes. 8John WilkesPotter’s new German flute

In the corner of Pemberton Row is the entrance to Gough Square… Enter Gough Square and Samuel Johnson’s house and plaque is immediately on your right… Samuel Johnson was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, lit-erary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexico-grapher. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography calls him "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history". At number 12 Gough Square… There is a unique Radio History plaque celebrating the 50th anniversary of the founding of commercial radio in the UK. No visit to this square would be complete without paying homage to one of London’s most famous cats - Hodge by name. Hodge the cat (c.1769) was immortalised in a characteristically whimsical passage in James Boswell's 1791 book Life of Johnson. Note that Hodge sits on a copy of his master’s most famous literary work and has a bowl of oysters as a reward for his feline exertions. Walk down the cobbled Square to pay your respects to ‘Hodge’… 9

‘Who, by his master when caressed, Warmly his gratitude expressed, And never failed his thanks to purr, Whene'er he stroked his sable fur.’ Leave the square via Johnson’s Court, which you will find just to the left of Dr Johnson’s house… …where you will find another plaque marking the site of Doctor Johnson’s house. At the end of Johnson’s Court you’ll reach Fleet Street through a short passage… There is a unique plaque here set into the pavement marking the great achievement of Dr. Johnson’s life - his magnificent dictionary of the English language. Turn right along Fleet Street and cross over Fetter Lane… This part of the walk is covered in more detail in an-other walk through the City of London – you can find it at simplebooklet.com. Turn right into Chancery Lane and walk back up to Chichester Rents on your left… At the end of Chichester Rents turn left into Star Yard… A short walk will bring you to Carey Street… 10

Look out for a wee relic of Victorian street convenience - an old iron ‘pissoir’- (the French name given to a light-weight structure used as a public urinal on the streets, first introduced in Paris in the 1830s). This Grade II listed structure was manufactured in McDowall Steven and Co Ironworks in Glasgow in 1851. The company made iron-work bandstands, street furniture and red post boxes and would probably be surprised today with this listing! A little further on your left is an attractive, traditional shop selling legal court dress items such as gowns and wigs - Ede and Ravenscroft. Their website states that ‘British legal dress has a long and rich history of traditions and symbolism. It was developed from the lay dress of the medieval period. In order to preserve the continuity and dignity of justice, judges and barristers adopted suitable costumes to convey the unchanging status and impartial-ity of justice in society.’ At the end of Carey Street turn right and walk past the entrance to New Square… Turn right into Serle Street… As you turn this corner notice the unusual building on which there is a plaque commemorating St Thomas More… More studied at Oxford from 1492 under Thomas Lin-acre and William Grocyn, but had to leave the university after only two years — at his father's insistence — to begin 11

legal training in London at New Inn, one of the Inns of Chancery. In 1496, More became a student at Lin-coln's Inn, one of the Inns of Court, where he remained until 1502, when he was called to the Bar. The memorial is here because Thomas More's cham-bers were added onto the back of nearby New Square buildings. At the junction with Lincolns Inn Fields take the entrance to the park and make your way, first to the left and then right into the central area… Turn left here (not straight ahead) past the Terrace Restaurant to the exit onto Lincoln’s Inn Fields… Almost directly across the road is an LCC grey plaque commemorating Spencer Percival… After a late entry into politics, his rise to power was rapid; he was appointed as Solicitor General and then Attorney General for England and Wales in the Addington ministry, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons in the second Portland min-istry. He went on to become Prime Min-ister of a weak government in 1809. 12Sir Thomas MoreSpencer Percival

During his term in office, he faced an inquiry into the Walcheren expedition, the mental illness of King George III, economic depression, and Luddite riots. He overcame all these crises, success-fully pursuing the Peninsular War in the face of opposition defeatism and win-ning the support of the Prince Regent. By early 1812 his position was stronger, but, in the lobby of the House of Com-mons, he had the unique misfortune to be assassinated by John Bellingham, a merchant with a grievance against Perceval’s government. Bellingham was hanged just one week later. For more about John Bellingham and the assassination click the video link above… 13John Bellingham

A little further on at number 65 is a blue plaque on the house where William Marsden lived… William Marsden was an English sur-geon who founded the Royal Free Hos-pital (in 1828) and the Royal Marsden Hospital (in 1851). He was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, the youngest of eight children. Apprenticed to a wholesale druggist in Sheffield he later moved to train as a doctor in London where he set up a small dis-pensary at 16 Greville Street, Hatton Garden, Holborn in 1828. After discovering the difficulties the poor had in obtain-ing medical treatment, Marsden sought to establish a free hospital in London for which "poverty and sickness are the only passports”, which was named the London General Institution for the Gratuitous Cure of Malignant Diseases. This was later constituted as the Royal Free Hospital, and moved to the Gray's Inn Road in the 1840s and then to South Hampstead, its present site. Turn right along Lincoln’s Inn Fields to the Sir John Soane Museum… One of the greatest English architects, Sir John Soane specialised in the Neo-Classical style and built this house and museum. The son of a bricklayer, he rose to 14William Marsden

the top of his profession, eventually becoming a professor of architecture at the Royal Academy and an official ar-chitect to the Office of Works. He re-ceived a knighthood in 1831. The mu-seum has been kept as it was at the time of his death in 1837, and displays his vast collection of antiquities, fur-niture, sculptures, architectural models and paintings. Return to the junction with Gate Street and take the alley to the right of The Ship Tavern… ‘Established in 1549, at the height of the English Re-formation, when Catholicism became illegal, it was used to shelter Catholic priests and hold secret Catholic ser-vices… Richard Penderell, who aided Charles I's escape, visited it, as did … the Chevalier d'Eon (a woman who lived as a man) and John Smeaton (the builder of the Eddystone Lighthouse). It was consecrated as Masonic lodge 234 in 1786 by the Grand Master, the Earl of An-trim, and rebuilt in 1923.’ Follow the alley to come out onto High Holborn and bear left to cross over High Holborn to the junction with Southampton Row… On the corner building here opposite the underground station is the next blue place commemorating Thomas Earnshaw. Following John Arnold's earlier work, Earn-shaw ‘simplified the process of marine chronometer 15Sir John Soane

production, making them available to the general public. He is also known for his improvements to the transit clock at the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London and his invention of a chronometer es-capement and a form of bimetallic com-pensation balance’. Turn right up Southampton Row and just past Fisher Street is a further blue plaque remembering W R Lethaby… Lethaby was an English architect and architectural histor-ian whose ideas were highly influential on the late Arts and Crafts and early Modern movements in architecture, and in the fields of conservation and art education. Walk up to Fisher Street and follow to the junction with Procter Street… Cross over Procter Street into Red Lion Square… On the side of number 12 is the next blue plaque… It marks where John Harrison lived and died. An English carpenter and clock-maker, he invented and built the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the problem of calculating longitude while at sea. 16Thomas EarnshawW R Lethaby

His story has been celebrated in film and music as it represented one of the most important technological achievements of the period and saved many lives. In 1707, a fleet of British naval vessels under the command of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shov-ell had sailed headlong into the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall. Several ships sank and thousands of men drowned. Harrison’s endeavours were part of a huge effort to ensure that such a tragedy would never happen again. Continue a little further on and at number 17 is the next slightly unusual and higher-scoring plaque… Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a British poet, illustrator, painter and translator who founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais. Rossetti became the main inspira-tion for the next generation of artists and writers includ-ing William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. His work also influenced the European Symbolists and was a ma-jor precursor of the Aesthetic movement. William Morris was an English textile designer, poet, novelist, translator, and a prominent socialist activist. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional Brit-ish textile arts and methods of production associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. 17John Harrison

! Edward Burne-Jones was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. His early paintings show how heavily in-fluenced he was by Rossetti, but by the 1860s Burne-Jones was discovering his own inner "voice". In 1877, he was per-suaded to show eight oil paintings at the Grosvenor Gallery (a new rival to the Royal Academy). These included ‘The Beguiling of Merlin' shown right. The timing was right, and he was taken up as a herald and star of the new Aesthetic Movement. Walk across to Conway Hall and enter Lambs Conduit Passage… The Conway Hall is a Grade II listed build-ing in Red Lion Square, London, first opened in 1929 as the new home of the South Place Ethical Society. Named for Moncure Daniel Conway, abolitionist, freethinker, and former leader of South Place, Conway Hall was intended to embody and invigorate the humanist values of the Society and continues its role in programming talks, de-bates, musical performances, and social activities. It also houses the Humanist Library and Archives. Turn left by the Enterprise and Dolphin Tavern and then right into Theobalds Road… 18

This old tavern has a clock inside whose hands are fixed at 10.40pm - the exact time on 8th September, 1915 when Ger-man Army Airship L13, commanded by Kpt/Lt Heinrich Mathy bombed it killing three customers and leaving a pile of rubble in its wake. Walk down Theobalds Road past Grays Inn on your right and the Hol-born Library and local Studies çentre on your left… Just past John Street at number 22 Theobalds Road is the next plaque… … marking where Benjamin Disraeli was born here in Theobalds Road which, at the time, was 6 King's Road. He was a popular novelist, e.g. Coningsby, Sybil, and Tancred and became Tory Prime Minister in 1868 and 1874 - 1880. He was titled as 1st Earl of Beaconsfield. A book review in the Guardian 20 July 2013 said "He entered politics because he was fearful of being imprisoned in a debt-ors' prison, and therefore sought an MP's immunity from arrest. ... He enjoyed the company of racy older women, and had a famously happy marriage to a rich widow 15 years his senior.” 19Kpt/Lt Heinrich MathyBenjamin Disraeli

Cross over Grays Inn Road into Clerkenwell Road… Opposite the Duke of York pub is the entrance to Leather Lane Market and some public toilets… Leather Lane Market is the oldest street market in Cam-den. Hatton Garden was being developed into a residen-tial area just prior to the Great Fire of London. The un-developed areas of Hatton Garden were used as a refuge for Londoners escaping the destruction of much of the city. Street trading established itself to cater to the needs of those refugees and to provide employment for the traders who had lost their normal pitches. A little further on is Hatton House on the corner of Hatton Garden where you can see a plaque com-memorating Hiram Maxim… Hiram Maxim was an American-born British inventor best known as the creator of the first automatic machine gun, the Maxim gun. Maxim held patents on numerous mechanical devices such as hair-curling irons, a mousetrap, and steam pumps. He also claimed to have invented the lightbulb. Across the Clerkenwell Road is the magnificent Italian Church of St Peter - a reminder that this area was once the Italian Quarter of London… There are two quite unusual plaques to be found here at the church entrance. 20Hiram Maxim

Just to the right of the steps is an English Heritage plaque which states that: ‘In 1845 St. Vincent Pallotti a R.C. priest and Founder of the S.A.C. (Pallottine Fathers) thought of constructing a church in London for Italian immigrants. The Irish architect, Sir John Miller-Bryson modelled the church on the Basilica of San Crisogono in Trastevere - Rome. It was to hold 3.400 people but was scaled down, at that time it was the only church in Britain in the Roman basilican style. It was consecrated on the 16th April 1863, as “The Church of St Peter of all Nations". The building has an English Heritage Grade II* star listing. The second plaque is unusual in being dedicated to a wartime disaster. On the morning of 2 July, 1940 the un-escorted ‘Arandora Star’ (shown above) was 75 nautical 21

miles off the coast of Ireland, bound for Canada with 1178 German and Italian internees and prisoners-of-war, when she was struck in the engine room by a torpedo from the German submarine ‘U-47’. Panic broke out among the prisoners of the sinking ship, which delayed the launching of the lifeboats and rafts. She sank in just an hour with the loss of many lives. The survivors were sighted later that morning by a Sunderland flying boat and were later picked up by the Canadian destroyer ‘St Laurent’’. Walk back up Clerkenwell Road and turn into Lay-stall Street on your right… Cross over Roseberry Avenue and continue along Laystall Street into Mount Pleasant… Continue along Mount Pleasant and turn left into Elm Street to bring you back to Grays Inn Road… Turn left and cross over into Northington Street… At the end of this street you’ll see the next plaque remembering Dorothy L Sayers at 23/24 Great James Street… Dorothy L. Sayers was ‘a renowned English crime writer, poet, playwright, essayist, translator, and Christian hu-manist. She was also a student of classical and modern languages. 22

She is best known for her mysteries, a series of novels and short stories set between the First and Second World Wars that feature English aristocrat and ama-teur sleuth Lord Peter Wimsey, which re-main popular to this day. However, Sayers herself considered her translation of Dante's Divine Comedy to be her best work. She is also known for her plays, literary criticism and essays’. Turn back down Northington Street and left into John Street… Walk along John Street over Roger Street into Doughty Street where, at number 58, you’ll see the next plaque… Vera Brittain and Winifred Holtby lived and worked here. Vera had been an English Voluntary Aid Detach-ment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and a promin-ent pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir Testament of Youth recounted her experiences during the First World War and the beginning of her journey towards pacifism. She married George Catlin, a political scientist and her daughter born 1930, was the former La-bour Cabinet Minister, later Liberal Demo-crat peer, Shirley Williams (1930–2021), one of the "Gang of Four" rebels on the Social Democratic wing of the Labour Party who founded the SDP in 1981. 23Dorthy L Sayers Vera Brittain

Winifred Holtby was an English novelist and journalist, now best known for her novel South Riding, which was posthumously published in 1936. She came to Somerville (then an Oxford women’s college) in 1917 to read Modern History, having spent a year working in a private nursing home in London. She suspended her studies the following academic year so that she could enlist with the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC). She returned to the college in 1919 and was a contem-porary of Vera Brittain, who became her closest friend (Brittain called Holtby her ‘second self’). A little further on and you will come to the Charles Dickens Museum at number 48 where there is the next plaque… In the nineteenth century, this was an exclusive residen-tial street with gates at either end to restrict entry and manned by porters. Charles Dickens and his wife 24

Catherine Dickens (née Hogarth) lived here with the eld-est three of their ten children, with the older two of Dickens's daughters, Mary Dickens and Kate Macready Dickens being born in the house. ‘Perhaps the best-known exhibit is the portrait of Dick-ens known as Dickens's Dream by R. W. Buss, an original illustrator of The Pickwick Papers. This unfinished portrait shows Dickens in his study at Gads Hill Place surrounded by many of the characters he had created. The painting was begun in 1870 after Dickens's death. Other notable artefacts include numerous first editions, original manuscripts, original letters by Dickens, and many personal items owned by Dickens and his family.' Open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4pm. 25

Across the road at Number 13 you’ll find the home of Sydney Smith… Smith was an English wit, writer, and Anglican cleric. Be-sides his energetic parochial work, he was known for his writing and philosophy, founding the Edinburgh Review, lecturing at the Royal Institution and remembered for his rhyming recipe for salad dressing: Two boiled potatoes, strained through a kit-chen sieve, Softness and smoothness to the salad give; Of mordant mustard take a single spoon— Distrust the condiment that bites too soon; Yet deem it not, thou man of taste, a fault, To add a double quantity of salt. Turn left into Lambs Conduit and first right into Great Ormand Street… Look out for John Howard’s plaque at number 23… John Howard was a philanthropist and an early and zealous English prison reformer. He visited prisons all over England and sometimes abroad. His reports detailed the often shocking conditions he un-covered - leading to humanitarian reform. ‘Howard became the first civilian to be honoured with a statue in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. A statue was also erected in Bedford, and 26Sydney Smith John Howard

a further one in a John Haviland-designed monument in Kherson. His bust features in the architecture of a number of Victorian prisons across the UK, such as at Shrewsbury. He was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of the Amer-ican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1790., Continue along Great Ormand St to Queen Square and cut through Queen Anne's Walk… At number 28 Queens Court 28 you’ll find Yeo Thomas’ plaque - on Guilford Street… Wing Commander Forest Frederick Ed-ward Yeo-Thomas, GC, MC* known as "Tommy",was a British Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in the Second World War. Codenamed "Seahorse" and "Shelley" in the SOE, Yeo-Thomas was known by the Gestapo as "The White Rabbit". His particular sphere of opera-tions was Occupied and Vichy France. He was one of the most highly decorated agents in the Second World War. His wartime exploits formed the basis of a best-selling memoir, ‘The White Rabbit’, by Bruce Marshall. In 1967 it was used as the basis for a British four-part TV series starring Kenneth More. Turn right along Guilford Street and pause at the junction with Landsdowne Terrace to view the next (Marchmont Association) blue plaque… 27F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas

This Marchmont Association plaque commemorates James Burton who ‘was the most success-ful property developer of Regency and of Georgian London, in which he built over 3000 properties in 250 acres.’ The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes Burton as 'the most successful developer in late Georgian London, responsible for some of its most characteristic architec-ture'. Turn left briefly into Lansdowne Ter-race where, at number 2, George Or-well and Sir Stephen Spender wrote for Cyril Con-nelly’s Horizon Magazine. George Orwell (real name Eric Arthur Blair) was an Eng-lish novelist, essayist, journalist. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to the wide-spread totalitarianism, in Europe, and support of demo-cratic socialism Return to Guilford Street and turn left alongside the walls of Coram’s Fields open space to reach the Foundling Gate which has a plaque… If you decide to enter and have a look around Brun-swick Square Gardens you’ll see a statue of Thomas Coram ahead of you, behind which is the Foundling Museum… 28James Burton

Thomas Coram was an English sea captain and philan-thropist who created the London Foundling Hospital here in what used to be known as Lamb's Conduit Fields. Its purpose was to look after children abandoned on the streets of London. It is said to be the world's first incorporated charity. In May 1749, the composer George Fre-deric Handel held a benefit concert in the Hospital chapel to raise funds for the charity, performing his specially com-posed choral piece, the Foundling Hos-pital Anthem. The work included the "Hal-lelujah" chorus from recently composed oratorio, Messiah, which had premiered in Dublin in 1742. On 1 May 1750 Handel directed a performance of Messiah to mark the presentation of the organ to the chapel. (See video below). 29Thomas Coram

Return to Guilford Street and turn left… Across the road at number 10 Guilford Street is a plaque commemorating the opening here of a ‘Home from Home’ by HRH The Duchess of York in 1990. The Sick Children's Trust is a charity that gives families with a sick child in hospital a place to stay and someone to talk to free of charge just minutes from their child's bedside. It was founded in 1982 by Dr Jon Pritchard, working at nearby Great Ormond Street Hospital, and Professor James Malpas, from St Bart's Hospital. ‘They saw first-hand the families who could not stay near their sick children. Some were sleeping on mattresses on the floor or in chairs, as there was nowhere for them to stay!’ Turn left again into Doughty Street towards Mecklenburgh Square looking for number 30… The plaque here remembers a poet Char-lotte Mew who was born here. ‘She ap-parently wrote very little poetry until the 1910s. Her first collection, The Farmer's Bride, was published in 1916 in chapbook format by the Poetry Bookshop; in the United States this collection was entitled Saturday Market and published in 1921 by Macmillan. It earned her the admiration of Sydney Cockerell and drew respect for her as a poet from writers such as Sara Teas-dale, Ezra Pound, and Virginia Woolf. She struggled with poverty and debt and sadly was eventually committed to the 30Charlotte Mew

Beaumont Street Nursing Home in Marylebone, where she committed suicide by drinking Lysol, a disinfectant.’ Look for two plaques on the doorway at number 21 commemorating R H Tawney and Syad Khan who lived here… R. H. Tawney was an English economic histori-an, social critic, ethical socialist, Christian so-cialist, and an important supporter of adult education. A.!L. Rowse stated that "Tawney exercised the widest influence of any histor-ian of his time, politically, socially and, above all, educationally”. He was a life-long supporter of left-wing causes and joined the Labour Party in 1918. However he was never elected to Parliament. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan KCSI, FRAS was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu–Muslim unity, he later became the pioneer of Muslim nationalism in India and is widely credited as the father of the two-nation theory. Next door at number 22 is a recent plaque placed in memory of Helena Normanton… 31R H TawneySyad Khan

Helena Normanton was a leading campaigner for wo-men's rights, particularly within marriage and the legal profession. Despite a lifelong dream to work as a lawyer she was forced to begin her working life as a teacher because the legal professions were closed to women. Helena fought alongside other women to remove these barriers and, after the pas-sage of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919 she became the first woman to join one of the Inns of Court, in December 1919. In 1922 she became the second woman called to the bar of England and Wales, but she was the first to set up prac-tice as a barrister and to appear in the High Court. In 1949 she became one of the two first women to take silk in England and Wales, becoming King's Counsel.!! She fought for divorce and inheritance law reforms and equal treatment in the home. She also con-tinued to use her own name throughout her life and in her work, despite having married, and was the first mar-ried woman to have been issued a UK passport other than in her husband’s name. Continue walking along Mecklenburgh Street to the junction with Heathcote Street and then turn right to reach Grays Inn Road… Turn left and then first right into Ampton Street where there is a plaque at number 33 … 32Helena Normanton

Thomas Carlyle was a British essayist, historian, and philosopher born and raised in the Scottish Lowlands. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a pro-found influence on 19th-century art, literature, and philosophy. However, his racist and anti-semitic views are well-known - he refused an invitation by Baron Rothschild in 1848 to support a Bill in Parliament to allow voting rights for Jews in the United Kingdom, asking Richard Monckton Milnes in a corres-pondence how a Jew could "try to be Senator, or even Citizen, of any Country, except his own wretched Palestine," and expressed his hope that they would "ar-rive" in Palestine "as soon as possible”! Turn back and cross over Grays Inn Road into Sidmouth Street to reach Regent Square… Follow the path across the Square and exit into the Kings Cross pathway down through Harrison Street turning left into Cromer Street… The church was built 1887–88 by Joseph Peacock and was designated a Grade II listed building on 14 May 1974. The painting Santa Maria Magdalena by Reginald Gray hangs in the small chapel. (See next page). Walk past Holy Cross CE church and turn right into Tonbridge Street… 33Thomas Carlyle

Follow this road around past the Dolphin pub into Bidborough Street, where, the outside wall of Queen Alexandra Mansions, you’ll see a plaque… …which honours the artist Paul Nash. He was a British surrealist painter and war artist, as well as a photograph-er, writer and designer of applied art. Nash was among the most important landscape artists of the first half of the twentieth century. He played a key role in the devel- opment of Modernism in English art. 34Sancta Maria Magdalena by Reginald Gray

He became an official war artist and produced many dramatic and profound images of life and death in the trenches. © IWM Art.IWM ART 1146 Paul Nash - http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/20070 At the junction with Judd Street turn right and cross over the very busy Euston Road… There are two extremely important buildings you can see from here that are significant both in terms of architecture and function. Slightly to your left is the British Library - a research library and the national library of the UK. 35

It is one of the largest libraries in the world and designed by Colin St John Wilson It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200!million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British Library receives cop-ies of all books produced in the United Kingdom and Ire-land, including a significant proportion of overseas titles distributed in the UK. It was built in a Scandinavian Modernist style, with a very spacious atrium at a cost of £142m. It was the largest public building constructed in the United Kingdom in the 20th century. No other architecture project, since the building of St. Paul’s Cathedral, over 400 years ago, took 36

so long to construct or was surrounded by so much con-troversy - it was 37 years from the award of the brief to the opening of the last Reading Room! As you walk down Euston Road to the St Pancras under-ground station the magnificent Midland Grand Hotel (now known as the ‘St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel ‘stands imperiously on your left. In 1865 the Midland Railway Company held a competi-tion for the design of a 150-bed hotel to be constructed next to its railway station, St Pancras, which was still un-der construction at the time. Eleven designs were sub-mitted, including one by George Gilbert Scott, which, at 300 rooms, was much bigger and more expensive than the original specifications. After closing as a hotel, the building was renamed St Pancras Chambers and used as railway offices, eventually for British Rail. 37

‘British Rail had hoped to demolish it, but was thwarted in a high-profile campaign by Jane Hughes Fawcett and her colleagues at the Victorian Society, a historic preser-vationist organisation founded in part to preserve the Victorian railways and other buildings. Officials dubbed Jane Fawcett the "furious Mrs Fawcett" for her unceasing efforts, and in 1967, the Hotel and the St Pancras station received Grade I listed status. When you reach Kings Cross Square there is just one last plaque you can ‘bag’. It’s just by the main en-trance and commemorates the builder of Kings Cross Station. … Lewis Cubitt was a younger brother of Thomas Cubitt, the leading master builder of Pimlico in the second quarter of the 19th century, and he designed many of the housing developments constructed by his brother. 38

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