Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/170

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n 8. i. F EB. 26, 1910.

prior to the time when Bulwer took his house ; and researches in Boyle's ' Court Guide,' which commenced in 1792, confirmed this suspicion. The plan really shows the numbers as they were down to 1807, when, it appears, a house which was apparently new was numbered 23, the old 23 becoming 24, so that every subsequent house had " 1 " added to its number. Before this there was, I presume, a vacant space perhaps a garden, or perhaps a way into the stables at the back between 22 and the old 23. The name in Boyle's ' Court Guide ? against 22, both before and after the change, was Mrs. Graham. Then, before the change, came 23, the Dowager Lady Lawley ; 24, Lord Middleton ; and 25, the Earl of Liver- pool. After the change the name against 23 was Lord Eardley ; then came 24, the

34

3.

36 j

Little Stanhope Street was evidently not thought worthy of insertion in the * Court Guide ' ; but' in the issue for 1815, after "36, Dr. Jones,'\ there is " G. Mathison,. corner of Lit. Stanhope Str." This does not occur again, and in 1816 G. Mathison appears as living at Lisson Grove Lodge, Lisson Grove.

In 1823 there were two issues of the ' Court Guide' in January and April. In the January volume there is " 36, Rev. R. KL Simpson " ; but in the April one there is- " 36A, Rev. R. H. Simpson ; 36s, Sir Wathen Waller and Baroness Howe." The occupiers of 37 and 38 were the same as before, clearly showing that 36s was the house whichhad previously been 1, Little Stan- hope Street ; and from that time to the present Little Stanhope Street has had no No. 1.

Dowager Lady Lawley ; 25, Lord Middleton ; and 26, the Earl of Liverpool.*

From the first ' Court Guide,'- however, pub- lished after the change viz., that for 1808 there appears to have been no one then at the new 23. The name of Lord Eardley is given as its occupant in 1809. No change was made at this time in 1, Little Stanhope Street ; but the old 34, Hertford Street, occupied for many years by Lieut. -General Pigot, became 35, and the old 35 (at the corner of Little Stanhope Street) became

36, but appears to have been empty at the time, as was also the old 36, which became

37, The old 37, however, which became

38, was occupied, both before and after the change, by a Mr. Heatly.

and 25 have disappeared, the ground on which they stood being now occupied by the very large house at the corner of Park Lane.
 * The two houses that were last numbered 24

At 36A the Rev. R. H. Simpson was suc- ceeded by Mr. Mirehouse, and he by Mr. Bickersteth, who had the house when, in 1829, Bulwer succeeded Sir Wathen Waller after an interval at 3-6B. Bulwer does not appear to have used the B when putting his address at the head of his letters ; and perhaps when Nash the architect renovated: and altered the house before Bulwer moved into it, the B on the street-door was painted out and never renewed. In ' The Royal Blue Book,' which commenced in 1822, 1 the B was omitted from the time that Bulwer- .took the house ; but in Boyle's ' Court Guide * it was continued till 1836, when. Bulwer had left and had been succeeded by a Mr. Hall. The two houses, therefore, after this were known as 36A and 36 ; but the former was next to 35, and the latter next to 37, as it is at present.

From the 'Court Guide' for 1837 it appears that both houses were empty, but