London's Historic Henrietta Street
Visit The Haunt of Artists, Writers and Duellists
This Covent Garden street is a typical urban thoroughfare with offices, bars, shops, and restaurants. Yet its busy modern façade hides a past full of famous names.
Walk in the footsteps of Cromwell, Austen and Dickens on a street where Londoners have fought, drunk and worked for three centuries. Whether you're a visitor or a local, out to shop or do some sightseeing, you'll be surprised by Henrietta Street's history.
Queen and Commonwealth
In 1632 cutting-edge Italianate architect Inigo Jones created Britain's first chic urban quarter, and named one of the streets for Queen Henrietta Maria. Early residents were a mix of nobles, tradesmen and artists, like Samuel Cooper, a fashionable painter whose work is still highly regarded. His wife was aunt to society poet Alexander Pope. Diarist Samuel Pepys, always keen to be in fashion, chose Cooper to paint his wife.
Cooper had already drawn King Charles I, and his work was used to create coins for the reign. He later painted Oliver Cromwell, who told him to 'remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts and everything, as you see me". This is the origin of the expression "warts and all".
Writers and Publishers
Jane Austen's brother Henry, a banker, lived above Austen, Maunde and Tilson's offices at 10 Henrietta Street. Jane stayed there when she had business in London in 1813-15. She said the house was "all dirt and confusion, but in a very interesting way".
Bookseller John Bohn's shop at number 17 opened in1815. His son George carried on the business and went into publishing in 1844. Alexander Macmillan opened a second branch of his Cambridge publishing house at number 23 in 1858, the scene of lively get-togethers for writers Lord Tennyson, T.H. Huxley and Herbert Spencer.
Newspaper magnate C. Arthur Pearson, founder of the Daily Express, leased no 17 and 18 soon after rebuilding in 1892. Among his authors was Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scout movement, which had its first office in Bedford Mansions at number 33.
Gerald Duckworth, Virginia Woolf's step-brother, and publisher of Henry James and John Galsworthy, worked from number 3 from 1898. George Orwell's publisher, Victor Gollancz, was at number 14 from 1928 to 1992, following another publisher, Williams and Norgate.
Duelling Gallants
In the 18th century there were five public houses on the street, so it's not surprising that tempers could become a little overheated. At the Castle Tavern, a famous duel was fought in 1772 between two love rivals, playwright Richard Sheridan and Captain Thomas Matthews. The duel was the second between the pair. Both men survived. Two years later the Castle Inn became a china showroom.
Coffee Shops
Coffee houses were as popular in the 18th century as today. Braxton's opened at number 24 in 1702. The business was taken over by John Rawthmell in 1715, and moved to newly-built number 25 in 1729. In 1754 the Royal Society of Arts was founded there. By 1807 the venue of choice was Offley's tavern, at number 23, noted for its chops with shredded shallots and its Burton ale. It featured in Charles Dickens' Sketches by Boz in 1835.
Henrietta Street Today
Times have changed. The publishing powerhouse at number 17 is now Porters English Restaurant, owned by the Earl of Bradford, but number 3 still houses publishers. The office George Orwell visited is an events space. Henry Austen's bank is a clothing store with offices above.
You can't have your portrait painted, fight a duel or buy a book on Henrietta Street today, but you can still get a meal or coffee, and might even encounter an aristocrat or an artist.
