Preface

PREFACE

This volume is the third of those dealing with the former parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, and the second (and concluding) volume on the neighbourhood of Whitehall. Only a portion of the Horse Guards (on the site of the old Tilt Yard) was within the parish of St. Margaret, the remainder being in St. Martin-in-the-Fields. As it was thought that the block of buildings extending from the Horse Guards to the Admiralty could most naturally be treated as a whole, it was decided to defer an account of the Horse Guards until it and the other buildings mentioned could be dealt with together in a later volume of the Survey of London on the parish of St. Martin-in-theFields. The present volume is therefore confined to that portion of the ancient Palace of Whitehall which lay west of the road and south of the Horse Guards, and, in addition, the northern side and western end of Downing Street. With regard to the illustrations of the interiors of Nos. 10 and 11, Downing Street, it is well to point out that the survey of these premises was made in 1927, when Mr. Stanley Baldwin and Mr. Winston Churchill respectively were the occupants.

In the course of the time which has elapsed since the publication of Vol. XIII, certain further information has come to light on matters dealt with in that volume. To render the record of Whitehall as complete as possible, a short appendix has been added to this volume containing the more important of these particulars. With the same object four additional drawings from the Wren Collection at All Souls' College, Oxford, are given at the end of the volume.

I gladly take this opportunity of placing on record the valuable assistance which the Council has received in the preparation of the volume.

The Earl of Berkeley, Mary, Countess of Ilchester, and the Viscountess Astor very kindly granted permission for the reproduction of three oil-paintings of Whitehall from St. James's Park in the reign of Charles II. The Westminster City Council again placed its excellently arranged series of ratebooks and overseers' accounts at the Council's service. These have proved of the utmost value, and without the information derived from them it would have been impossible to produce so complete an account of the residents in Downing Street as it may be claimed that this volume contains. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster again allowed the Council to examine and make extracts from their fine collection of early monastic deeds, and the first chapter of the volume is to a large extent based on the information thus obtained. To assist in the drafting of the account of the Holbein Gate, Mr. Chas. E. Russell most courteously lent the Council two original drawings of that structure. One of these has with his kind permission been reproduced in the volume. The Society of Antiquaries also kindly allowed the reproduction of Vertue's original drawing of the Gate. Thanks are also due to the Curator of the Soane Museum for assistance courteously rendered and for permission to reproduce several drawings in that collection, to the Bodley Librarian, and the Librarian of Worcester College, Oxford, for allowing the reproduction of Wyngaerde's sketch of Whitehall, and of Inigo Jones' designs for the alteration of the Cockpit Playhouse, and to the Librarian of All Souls' College, Oxford, for the facilities again afforded to the Council's officers for inspecting, and selecting for reproduction, drawings in the Wren Collection.

The volume was almost ready for press when, in response to the Council's request, the Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, forwarded photographs of a number of drawings of No. 10, Downing Street, showing the house as altered for Sir Robert Walpole. The Director's courtesy in placing these valuable records at the Council's disposal in connection with the volume is much appreciated. Having regard to the advanced condition of the volume, it was not found possible to include these drawings in their proper position, but they have been placed towards the end.

The records of H.M. Office of Works and of H.M. Commissioners of Crown Lands have again been unreservedly placed at the Council's service, and the kindness of the former in lending numerous plans for reproduction is gratefully acknowledged. The assistance freely rendered by the officials in the Public Record Office, the British Museum, and the Guildhall Library is also much appreciated. The Architect to the Council desires that his appreciation shall be recorded of the work done in connection with the preparation of the volume by Mr. C. J. T. Dadd, F.S.I., Mr. W. Dathy Quirke, A.R.I.B.A., and other assistants in his department.

The kindness of the Rev. E. E. Dorling, M.A., F.S.A., in advising on the heraldic descriptions and the drawings for the marginal shields is gratefully acknowledged.

The historical information contained in the volume has been prepared by Mr. W.W. Braines, B.A. (Lond.), a principal assistant in my department.

I cannot conclude this preface without referring with great regret to the death, during the preparation of this volume, of Dr. Philip Norman, my colleague in the general editorship of the series. Dr. Norman acted as general editor on behalf of the London Survey Committee ever since the amended arrangement between the Council and the Committee was come to in 1909, and consistently evinced the keenest interest in the work. His suggestions and queries on the proofs of those volumes which were prepared by the Council were always to the point, and such as to compel (as they willingly received) the most careful attention. His keenness in the work persisted even during the illness which culminated in his death, and only the development of that illness prevented him from continuing his notes throughout the present volume.

MONTAGU H. COX,
Clerk of the London County Council.

The County Hall,
Westminster Bridge, S.E.I.
September, 1931.