The Bailiwick of St. James

CHAPTER I

The Bailiwick of St. James

Volumes XXIX and XXX of the Survey of London describe that part of the parish of St. James which lies south of Piccadilly. (fn. 1) About half of this area now belongs to the royal estates which are administered for the Sovereign by the Crown Estate Office. At the time of the Restoration, when important building development began, all (or nearly all) (fn. 2) of it belonged to the Crown, and it formed part of a much larger estate called the Bailiwick or Manor of St. James.

The bailiwick was created by Henry VIII out of lands in the parishes of St. Margaret, St. Martin in the Fields, St. Giles in the Fields, Fulham and Chelsea which were surrendered to the King between 1531 and 1536. These lands were surrendered by the Provost and College of Eton (1531), (fn. 14) the Prior and Convent of St. Peter's, Westminster (1531, 1536), (fn. 15) the Abbot and Convent of Abingdon, the Mercers' Company and the Master of the Hospital of Burton Saint Lazar (1536). (fn. 16) The area under review comprised two parts of the bailiwick—St. James's Field (or Pall Mall Field, as it was later called), and part of the Pulteney estate; their history is discussed on pages 23–8. The following account describes the history of the bailiwick as a whole. (fn. 3)

Some of the land acquired by Henry VIII was retained for his own and his successors' use, but the greater part was granted in lease to various tenants. (fn. 4)

The individual leases still had some years to run when in 1617 James I, wishing to settle certain of the royal estates on his son Charles, granted the bailiwick with St. James's Palace (fn. 5) for ninety-nine years to trustees for the use of the prince. The trustees were empowered to grant reversionary leases for terms not exceeding thirtyone years or determinable on three lives. (fn. 17) In 1629 Charles I gave the bailiwick to Queen Henrietta Maria as part of her jointure and it was conveyed by his trustees to those of the Queen, who were also empowered to grant leases. (fn. 18)

During the Commonwealth period most of the lessees who held parts of the bailiwick under Crown or sub-leases appear to have been allowed to continue their tenancies. After the Restoration the surviving members of the trust created for Henrietta Maria in 1629 conveyed the bailiwick to new trustees on her behalf, and some of the sub-lessees were dispossessed (see page 26). (fn. 19)

Among Henrietta Maria's new trustees was Henry Jermyn, Earl of St. Albans (c. 1604–84), whose connexion with the bailiwick, and particularly with the St. James's Square area, whilst it was being laid out, forms the basic theme of much of this volume. Henry Jermyn was the third son of Sir Thomas Jermyn of Rushbrooke, Suffolk; in 1626 he was elected member of Parliament for Bodmin and in 1628 he became vice-chamberlain to the Queen, to whose favour he owed much of his subsequent success. In 1643 he was created Baron Jermyn of St. Edmundsbury, and in the following year he accompanied the Queen to France. During his long residence abroad he busied himself in royal affairs and was much criticized for his display of wealth among the poverty-stricken Royalists in exile in France, where he 'kept an excellent Table for those who courted him, and had a Coach of his own, and all other accommodation incident to the most full fortune'. (fn. 20) At the Restoration he was, at Henrietta Maria's desire, created (by letters patent dated at Breda, 27 April 1660) Earl of St. Albans, and his long service was rewarded with numerous offices and grants of land. In 1660, 1667 and 1669 he was ambassador to France, and from 1671 to 1674 lord chamberlain of the household. Evelyn describes a meeting with him a few months before his death, when he was 'growne so blind, that he could not see to the taking his meate: It is incredible how easy a life this Gent: has lived, and in what plenty even abroad, whilst his Majestie was a sufferer . . . a prudent old Courtier, and much inrich'd since his Majestie's returne.' (fn. 21) He died unmarried on 2 January 1683/4, aged about eighty. (fn. 22)

On 26 March 1661 Henrietta Maria and her trustees granted a lease to Henry Guy, Thomas Hawes, John Hervey or Harvey and John Coell of that part of the bailiwick which is called the Pulteney estate. Guy and Hawes were trustees for Sir William Pulteney and Hervey and Coell were trustees for the Earl of St. Albans. (fn. 23) The effect of this lease was to vest the Pulteney estate, as part of the bailiwick, in St. Albans until 1691, with Sir William Pulteney as his under-tenant. On the next and following days, 27 and 28 March 1661, the rest of the bailiwick was let to St. Albans's trustees, Hervey and Coell, for two separate terms due to expire in 1691 at the same time as the lease of the Pulteney estate. (fn. 24)

The Earl's schemes for the development of the bailiwick must have been severely handicapped by the short term for which he held it, and in January 1662 he petitioned Charles II for an extension of his term. (fn. 6) He mentioned in his petition that he had been 'for above Forty yeares in ye Actuall Service of yo^r. Ma.^tes. late Royall Father . . . of ye Queene yo^r. Mother, & of yo^r. Ma.^ty. yo^r Self' and reminded the King of 'some Debts owing to him . . . for moneyes Lent to yo^r. Ma^ty. during yo^r. Residence in forren parts'. He therefore begged the King 'in deduction of ye said Debts' for a reversionary interest in the bailiwick. (fn. 19)

This petition was partially successful. In April 1662 Henrietta Maria and her trustees surrendered the residue of her interest in Pall Mall Field and certain other parts of the bailiwick to Charles II. (fn. 25) In September of the same year the latter ratified (but did not extend) the leases of the whole bailiwick already granted to St. Albans, and extended his term in a particular part of the bailiwick, Pall Mall Field, for twenty-nine years from 1691. For this extension St. Albans paid six thousand pounds. (fn. 26) In 1665 Charles II granted the freehold interest of part of Pall Mall Field (St. James's Square and the area round it) to Abraham Cowley and Baptist May on behalf of the Earl (fig. 3). (fn. 27) Some other small parcels of the bailiwick were later granted to other members of Charles II's court (see pages 378, 431), and in 1668 part of the Pulteney estate was taken for the laying out of Green Park (see page 27).

After the death of Henrietta Maria in 1669 the term of ninety-nine years in the bailiwick, which James I had in 1617 vested in trustees for his son, reverted to Charles II. In 1672 St. Albans's leasehold term in part of the bailiwick was extended and in the same and the following year Charles II vested the whole of the bailiwick in trustees on behalf of his wife, Queen Catherine, and extended her term to 1759. In 1674, however, the trustees, on the instructions of the Queen, surrendered her interest to Charles II, who in the same year ratified and extended the leases granted to St. Albans. (fn. 25) The ancient rent of the bailiwick was reserved to the Queen during her lifetime.

At the time of his death in January 1683/4, the Earl of St. Albans held part of Pall Mall Field as freehold and part on lease, his term in the latter being due to expire in 1740. In other parts of the bailiwick his various leasehold interests were due to expire in 1711, 1720, 1734, 1740 and 1748. (fn. 25) (fn. 7)

St. Albans left his property to his two nephews, Thomas Jermyn (later Lord Jermyn) of Rushbrooke, Suffolk, and Henry Jermyn (later Lord Dover) of Cheveley, Cambridgeshire, and to Martin Folkes of Gray's Inn, in trust, after the payment of certain debts and legacies, for Thomas Jermyn. (fn. 28)

Both before and after St. Albans's death, petitions were addressed to the Crown for reversionary leases of part of the bailiwick. In 1679 Charles, Earl of Burford (the natural son of Charles II and Nell Gwynne, and later Duke of St. Albans), petitioned for such a lease, which he said the King had promised him, (fn. 29) and James, Duke of Ormonde, made a similar request in 1694. (fn. 30) But after the grant to St. Albans in 1674 the bailiwick was never again leased as a single entity, perhaps because of the confusion already caused by such a multiplicity of leases. Instead it became the custom, as the sub-leases granted by St. Albans or his assigns fell in, to allow tenants to renew their leases direct from the Crown.

St. James's Field

(LATER PALL MALL CLOSE OR FIELD)

The history of St. James's Field (fn. 8) before the formation of the Bailiwick of St. James by Henry VIII is obscure. There is some evidence that the lands in the field were divided among several owners, including the Hospital of St. James and the Abbey of Westminster, (fn. 31) and a survey of common land in the parish of St. Martin in the Fields, made in 1549, states that since 1485 (which was apparently the date of the previous survey) 'There ys A ffeld Called Sent James feld by estimacon xl Acres wiche was Comen And owght to be Comen And in Clossed by Kyng henry the viij^th. . . wiche was Arrable And now ys Meadowe.' (fn. 32) The exact date of the enclosure of the field by Henry VIII is not known (it was obviously between 1536 and 1547), and later sources give its measurements as 42, (fn. 33) 44 (fn. 34) or 45 acres. (fn. 35) In 1576 it was said to be newly enclosed by a ditch, (fn. 33) and was bounded on the north by Piccadilly, and on the east and west by the roads which later became known as Haymarket and St. James's Street, respectively. On the south it was bounded by the old highway which led from Charing Cross past St. James's Hospital to Hyde Park at some distance to the south of the present Pall Mall.

From the time of its enclosure by Henry VIII until the Restoration it became customary for the field to be held jointly with the office of keeper of St. James's House or Palace. William Moren or Moraunt(e) was keeper of St. James's in 1531 (fn. 36) and in 1537 the King granted to him the offices of keeper of St. James's House, keeper of the wardrobe there, keeper of the gardens and orchards there and of St. James's Field, bailiff of St. James's Fair and bailiff of all messuages, lands and tenements of the King lying in the parishes of St. Margaret, St. Martin and St. Giles on the north side of the way leading from Charing Cross to Knightsbridge. Moraunte received a fee of 8d. a day. (fn. 37) The last grant of these offices before the Commonwealth was in 1625 to Henry, Lord Danvers and his brother Sir John Danvers, (fn. 38) who appointed Hugh Woodward as their deputy in 1637. (fn. 34)

During the Commonwealth Woodward purchased the field and began to develop it (see below). At the Restoration he petitioned for reinstatement to the office of under-keeper of St. James's Palace, (fn. 39) but he died in July 1660 and in the following month the offices formerly held by the Danvers brothers were granted to Sir John Grenville, a gentleman of the King's bedchamber. In addition to the ancient offices Grenville also received a new one—bailiff or collector of the rents and profits of the houses and buildings recently erected on St. James's Field. (fn. 40) In February 1662/3 the Earl of St. Albans offered to pay Grenville, recently created Earl of Bath, (fn. 22) £500 for his interest in the field, instead of £3000 which Grenville had hoped for. (fn. 41) The amount which Grenville eventually received is not known. (fn. 9)

References to St. James's Field during the period covered by the above account are almost exclusively to its use for mustering troops or for royal sports. In 1551 'there was a mustre before the Kinges Maiestie in St. James [field] beyonde Charinge Crosse, the Kinges Maiestie sittinge on horse-backe on a hill by St. James with his maiesties Privie Counsell with him'. (fn. 42) In 1554, on the day Sir Thomas Wyatt reached London with the rebels, there was 'great mustering at Saint James' field', (fn. 43) where 'earlye in the morninge, the Earle of Pembroke, Lieutenant of the Queen's armie, with the horsemen and footmen of the noblemen, gathered their armies together with the Queen's ordinance, and pitched their field by St. James beyond Charinge Cross'. An engagement took place between the two forces 'by the wall of the parke at St. James, toward Charing Crosse' but Wyatt escaped and was later captured at Temple Bar. (fn. 44) In 1640 the Council ordered the Lords Lieutenants of Middlesex 'to cause as many of the trained horse of Middlesex as you can assemble together to be tomorrow morning . . . in St. James's-field, well-armed and provided for such present employment' as might be necessary 'to repress the traitorous insolence of some base people'. (fn. 45)

In more peaceful times the royal family and court used the field for playing the games of pall mall and tennis.

The Game of Pall Mall

Pall mall appears to have originated in Italy and to have been introduced into France during the sixteenth century; (fn. 46) its name, palle-maille in French, (fn. 10) derived from the Italian palla = ball and maglio = mallet, in reference to the equipment used by the players. The balls and mallets used in the game were made of wood. The mallet, which resembled those now used for croquet, had a slightly curved head with flattened ends, each bound with an iron hoop, and a long slender handle. There are in the British Museum a ball and a pair of mallets, one marked with the name 'Latoure'. They were presented in 1854 by G. Vulliamy, and had been found in his father's house at No. 68 Pall Mall, which had been occupied by the Vulliamy family since the 1760's. (fn. 47)

A Frenchman, Joseph Lauthier, writing in 1722, mentions four variants of the game. (fn. 48) One of these, à la Chicane, was played in open country, and resembled golf; it was probably the version played in Scotland (see below). In England another variant seems to have been popular, and was played in a smooth grass alley, called a pall mall. Sir Robert Dallington, in his View of France As it stoode in . . . 1598, stated that 'Among all the exercises of France, I preferre none before the Palle-maille, both because it is a Gentleman-like sport, not violent, and yeelds good occasion and opportunity of discourse, as they walke from the one marke to the other. I marvell, among many more Apish and foolish toyes, which wee have brought out of France, that wee have not brought this sport also into England.' (fn. 49) The game was, however, well established in Scotland at this time, where it had perhaps been introduced from France by Mary, Queen of Scots. One of the points made in the 'book of articles' accusing her of complicity in her husband's murder was that, shortly afterwards (1567), she was at Seton with Bothwell, playing 'one day richt oppinlie at the fieldis with the pal mall and goif'. (fn. 50)

Mary's son, James, probably brought the game to England. In the book which he wrote to instruct his son Henry in princely behaviour, he included pall mall amongst the sports which he thought suitable for a young prince to play: 'the exercises that I would have you to use (although but moderatlie not making a craft of them) are running, leaping, wrestling, fencing, dauncing, and playing at the caitche or tennise, archery, palle maillé, and such like other faire and pleasant field games'. (fn. 51)

Pall mall continued to be a popular royal game during the reigns of Charles I and Charles II. Peter Mundy mentions among 'Matters off Note' that he saw Charles I 'playing att Palle Malle by St. James' in 1639, (fn. 52) and Charles II's play was described in verse by Edmund Waller:

'Here a well-polisht Mall gives us the joy To see our Prince his matchless force imploy; . . .

No sooner has he toucht the flying ball, But 'tis already more than half the mall, And such a fury from his arm has got As from a smoaking Culverin 'twere shot.' (fn. 53)

The mall mentioned by Mundy was on the south side of St. James's Field, and is shown on Faithorne and Newcourt's map (published 1658 but surveyed 1643–7, Plate 1). When this mall was first laid down is not known. About 1629 John Bonnealle, a Frenchman, took a piece of land in St. James's Field, 'under pretence of making a Pall Mall'. (fn. 54) 'Under pretence' suggests that Bonnealle failed to make one, but another source, dated 1630, refers to 'St. James's field where the pallmall is'. (fn. 55) It may be that the pall mall mentioned in 1630 was an old one and that Bonnealle had been commissioned to make a new one. In 1635 Archibald Lumsden, who in the three preceding years had spent £425 14s. 'in bowls, malls and scopes' and in repairs to the mall, (fn. 56) was granted the sole right to furnish 'all the Malls, bowls, scoops and other necessaries for the game of Pall Mall within his grounds in St. James Fields'. (fn. 57) (Lumsden never received payment of Charles I's debt; he was granted a patent for 'transporting 500 dozen pair of leather boots' in lieu thereof, but even this was recalled by Parliament. (fn. 56) ) In time, by association with the game, St. James's Field became known as Pall Mall Field or Close, and it was under this name that it was surveyed in 1650. There were then 140 elm trees 'standinge in Pell Mell walke in a very decent and Regular manner on both sides the Walke'. (fn. 34)

After the Restoration the mall in St. James's Field was abandoned, and a new highway on the line of the present Pall Mall street was laid over it (see page 322). A new mall, to which Waller referred in the lines quoted above, was made within St. James's Park, on the south side of the wall bordering the old highway from St. James's Palace to Charing Cross. (fn. 58)

The Tennis Court

The tennis court in St. James's Field was built between 1617 and 1619 by Gedeon Lozer. Lozer built the court and a dwelling house on a piece of ground in the south-west corner of the field which measured 140 feet along St. James's Street and 80 feet along the old highway (B on fig. 58). (fn. 59) The court itself measured 100 feet by 35 feet; it was built of brick, covered and paved with tiles, and on its east side was a lean-to or walk. (fn. 60) In 1631 a reversionary lease of this property was granted to Thomas Hooker, keeper of the tennis court. (fn. 61) By 1663 Hooker's lease had passed to Martha Barker, who in that year sub-let part of the house and the tennis court to Robert Havercampe, 'with the Curtaines and nets thereunto belonging together with the benefitt of the Rackets, balls, sockes and shoes belonging to the game of Tennis there exercised', and freedom to appoint 'the markers for the use of such as should play in the said Court'. (fn. 62) When Pall Mall street was laid out along its present course the tennis court was left standing and projecting across the western end of the street; it was eventually pulled down about 1679 (see page 323).

Early Building Development in Pall Mall Field

The layout of Pall Mall Field after the Restoration in the form which it has today was preceded by a ramshackle development along the fringes of the field. Charles I seems to have been concerned to keep it as private as possible, and in 1630 ordered all footbridges, passages and ways into the field to be closed, except the door out of the tennis court 'which is to be for the kings private use & ye addmittance of whom his Ma^tye shall please'. (fn. 55) The King's intention was further signified by an order to David Mallard or Mallock in 1631(?) to demolish a house which he had erected on the piece of land taken by John Bonnealle to make a pall mall (fn. 54) (see page 24), and by another order to Archibald Lumsden or Lumsdale in 1638 to demolish a 'bridge of bricks begun for passage of carts' into the field. (fn. 63) Nevertheless a parliamentary survey made in 1650 shows that there were a few buildings standing in Pall Mall Field, besides the tennis court and adjoining house, and only one was new. They included a mean wooden tenement with 'two small Drinkinge roomes', five sheds, an arbour and a barn, all on the south side of the field. Attached to these buildings was a garden with pear, apple, quince, cherry and other small fruit trees, and a pigeon house. On the south-west corner of Pall Mall Walk there was another garden 'well planted with fruite trees rose bushes Vines and hansome Knotts, with A sun diall', and on the west side of the field was a new brick house, with a garden surrounded by a high brick wall, 'plentifully planted w^th various and rare plants, flowers and rootes, Wall fruite, cherrie trees and Vine trees, verry pleasant to the eye, and profitable for use'. (fn. 34) This last, known later as the Physic Garden, had been planted by James Parkinson (1567– 1650), the famous herbalist, and apothecary to James I. (fn. 64) It lay on the east side of St. James's Street, (fn. 11) to the north of and adjoining the tennis court (A on fig. 58). (fn. 65)

In the 1650's there was a great increase of building in the fields between the City and Westminster, and some attempt was made (apparently without much success) to arrest the process in Lincoln's Inn Fields and St. James's Fields. (fn. 66)

In 1651 Hugh Woodward, whom the Danvers brothers had appointed as their deputy in the office of keeper of St. James's Palace, (fn. 34) purchased Pall Mall Field from the trustees for the sale of the late King's lands, for the sum of £1842 15s. 10d. (fn. 67) He had employed his brother-in-law, Martin Scudamore, as agent for the purchase, (fn. 68) he himself 'being formerly a servant to the late King and one that seemingly declared much affection for him'. (fn. 69) Woodward did some building in Pall Mall Field (fn. 68) and he also treated with several other speculators and builders. Among these were John Emlyn, Borrage Salter, Abbott Newhall (alias Hunt), (fn. 68) Daniel Charlewood, (fn. 70) Ambrose Scudamore, (fn. 71) John Hughson, (fn. 72) John Betts, carpenter, (fn. 73) John Brasbee, bricklayer, (fn. 69) Henry Wharton, citizen and carpenter, (fn. 74) and James Supple, vintner. (fn. 75) Woodward sold part of the field to speculators (fn. 76) but at the Restoration he still held thirtythree acres which he conveyed to trustees to pay his debts. He died shortly afterwards in July 1660. (fn. 68) Some of the tenants compounded for their property with Henrietta Maria's trustees and obtained new leases. (fn. 77) The claim made by Woodward's trustees for the thirty-three acres was, however, refused, and the only properties which they are known to have retained were ten messuages and Cock Yard, of which the Earl of St. Albans granted them thirty-year leases in 1661. (fn. 68) The property of John Hughson was also seized, he 'unfortunately happening to be engaged in the generall revolution of these Kingdoms'. (fn. 70) In 1662 the number of houses and sheds 'of all sorts' around the sides of Pall Mall Field was said to be two hundred and fifty, (fn. 19) and they were valued at £1400 per annum. (fn. 35)

The Pulteney Estate

The Bailiwick of St. James included lands which were held for many years by members of the Pulteney family as under-tenants. The part of their estate within the area under review lay to the west of St. James's Street (see fig. 81). Other parts in Westminster (fn. 12) lay in the northern half of St. James's parish, in the parishes of St. Margaret, St. Martin and St. George and included what is now Green Park and the area between Park Place and Piccadilly. The following is a general account of the history of the Pulteney estate; the detailed history of building development on that part which lay to the west of St. James's Street is dealt with in the chapters on individual streets.

Unfortunately it has not been possible to define the exact extent of the Pulteney estate and the disposition of all its parts in Westminster. It is, however, certain that it was made up of two older estates, one of which had belonged to the Hospital of St. James and the other to the Convent of Abingdon.

St. James's Hospital stood on the site now occupied by St. James's Palace and was founded, probably in the eleventh century, as a colony for fourteen leprous maidens. From time to time it had been endowed with gifts of lands. (fn. 78)

In 1531 the hospital, with 185½ acres of land in Westminster, was surrendered to the King by the Provost and College of Eton (fn. 79) in whose custody the hospital had become vested. (fn. 80) The lands of the hospital thus became the nucleus of the bailiwick to which it gave its name.

At the time of the surrender the demesne lands of the hospital, which had been let as a single farm since at least the middle of the fifteenth century, were in lease to Thomas Arnold. (fn. 81) He was allowed to continue as tenant, but his rent was reduced because fifty-five acres of his farm had been taken by the King and imparked. (fn. 82) Another twenty-eight acres were subtracted from the farm between 1531 and 1552, nine acres having been laid into roads and the rest into St. James's Park. (fn. 83)

The Crown continued to let the rest of the demesne lands as a unit, which had commonly become known as St. James's Farm, after the expiration of Arnold's lease. (fn. 84) Some time before 1575 Thomas Poultney became the sub-tenant. In that year he and other farmers in St. Martin's parish supplied the Queen's Mews with hay, and he was listed as one of the farmers who had enclosed Lammas land within the last three years. (fn. 85)

Poultney died in 1581 (fn. 86) and was succeeded by another Thomas Poultney, who was presumably his son. The second Thomas maintained the policy of enclosure on St. James's Farm, going so far as to threaten 'death to any that shall presume to open' his lands. (fn. 13) In 1590 he secured an assignment from Goma or Gomer van Osserwick (Osterwicke), one of the Queen's musicians and the Crown lessee, of a reversionary lease of St. James's Farm for twenty-one years from 1608. (fn. 87)

In 1590 he also acquired an interest in the other property which went to make up the Pulteney estate. This comprised sixty acres of land in the parish of St. Margaret, which had been surrendered by the Abbot and Convent of Abingdon to Henry VIII in 1536, and taken into the bailiwick; it was then said to be worth £5 per annum. (fn. 16) At this same rent it was let in 1538 to George Sutton (fn. 88) (fn. c1) and in 1590 to James Harden, who like Osterwicke, the lessee of St. James's Farm, was one of the Queen's musicians. Harden immediately assigned his interest, which was for twenty-one years from 1595, to Thomas Poultney (fn. 87) At the time of his death in 1593, (fn. 89) Poultney therefore held a leasehold interest in 160 acres of land—St. James's Farm (said to contain 100 acres) (fn. 90) and sixty acres comprising the Abingdon-Sutton lands.

In 1610, before the terms assigned to Poultney had expired, both properties were leased by the Crown to John Eldred and William Whitmore for sixty years. This transaction was part of a much larger assignment of Crown estates to Eldred, Whitmore and others of the City of London, whereby James I secured £67,000 for the Exchequer. (fn. 91)

It is not certain who inherited Thomas Poultney's estate, but in 1651 Michael Pulteney was said to be the tenant. (fn. 92) He or his predecessor apparently obtained a sub-lease from Eldred and Whitmore after the grant of the Crown lease to them in 1610. The Pulteneys were Royalists during the Civil War (a Captain Poultney was captured at Worcester in 1646) (fn. 93) and their estate was sequestered and sold in 1651 to Samuel Stevens of Bray for £3758. (fn. 92)

Michael Pulteney, junior, of Bray, whose will was proved in 1655, left his brother William as his heir. (fn. 94) After the Restoration the latter, who had been knighted in June 1660, (fn. 95) recovered his estate, (fn. 96) and in addition obtained a reversionary term of twenty-one years after the expiry of the leases to Eldred and Whitmore. This new term, which extended his interest to 1691, was granted in 1661 by Queen Henrietta Maria, since the Bailiwick of St. James was still part of her jointure. (fn. 97)

A few years later the Pulteney estate was considerably curtailed. Charles II's improvements to St. James's Park included a scheme for its enlargement, and he desired Sir William to give up Sandpit Field and Six Acre Close, which together contained some twenty-six acres, for this purpose. (fn. 98) In 1668 Pulteney surrendered his interest in the two fields to the King and both were enclosed to form the new park. (fn. 99) Six Acre Close did not remain for long in use as part of the park, being granted in 1682 to the Earl of Arlington, who caused Arlington and Bennet Streets to be built on the site. (fn. 100) Green Park, as it is now called, marks the former site of Sandpit Field. A small strip of the field was not needed for the new park, but it was not returned to Pulteney. It now forms the western side of St. James's Place, and part of the sites of Spencer House and Bridgwater House.

In recompense for his loss Sir William received a reversionary lease for thirty-four years from 1688/9—the first time that a Pulteney had had a direct lease from the Crown—of nearly all the remainder of his estate. (fn. 99) Excluded from this reversionary grant were five pieces of land adjoining Berkshire House and garden; they were acquired by the Duchess of Cleveland and in 1690 the freehold was granted to her son, the Duke of Grafton (see page 491).

In 1679 Sir William Pulteney attempted to obtain the freehold of his estate, reminding the King 'of the great Sufferings' of himself and his father 'by reason of the late usurpacons', and of £500 lent to Charles I by the latter, (fn. 101) but his petition was unsuccessful. By his will, which was proved in 1691, he devised all his leasehold estates, except his house in St. James's Street, to Sir Thomas Clarges and Henry Guy in trust to dispose of them to pay his debts and for the benefit of his heirs. (fn. 102) In 1721 an Act of Parliament was passed enabling the Crown to grant the freehold of part of the estate to the trustees. (fn. 103) The grant was passed in 1722, (fn. 104) and included all that remained of the Pulteney estate on the west side of St. James's Street, with the exception of the land on which the Thatched House Tavern stood and a few houses on the north side of Cleveland Row, which continued to be held on lease from the Crown (see pages 466, 487). The intermingling of Crown and privately owned land was later found to be unsatisfactory, and in 1830 Sir Richard Sutton, who had inherited the Pulteney estate, surrendered all his freehold lands on the west side of St. James's Street to the Crown in exchange for a grant of other lands in Soho. (fn. 105)