Soho: Frith Street

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London 1898 Silver APOSTLE SPOON Boyston & Son St. Luke
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1928 AD FOR CHARLES OF LONDON - FURNITURE & ANTIQUES
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Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of Soho with this look at Wardour Street, Dean Street and Frith Street:

Wardour Street has long been celebrated for its shops of old china, bric-a-brac, and furniture.

It can claim Flaxman among its bygone residents.

Dean Street is a long and narrow thoroughfare, a favourite residence with artists at the end of the eighteenth century; the names of Hayman, Baily, Ward, and Belines are all to be found here in association.

Sir James Thornhill lived at No. 75, where there are the remains of some curious staircase paintings by him, in the composition of which he is said to have been assisted by his son-in-law, Hogarth.

Turner, the father of the great painter, was a hairdresser in Dean Street, and Nollekens' father died in No. 28.

In the house adjoining the Royalty Theatre Madame Vestris was born.

Frith Street in old maps is marked "Thrift Street," a name by no means inappropriate at the present time (1903).

It also has its associations, and can claim the birth of Sir Samuel Romilly, the great law reformer, who lived until the early part of the nineteenth century, and whose father was a jeweller here; the early boyhood of Mozart, and the death of Hazlitt, which took place in furnished lodgings.

The failure of his publishers had made him short of money; he was harassed by pecuniary cares, yet his last words were: "I've had a happy life."

In this street there are many interesting relics of bygone splendour. No. 9 - now to let (1903) - has a splendid well staircase with spiral balusters.

The walls and ceiling of this are lined with oil-paintings of figures larger than life.

These have unfortunately been somewhat knocked about during successive tenancies, but clearly show that the house was one of considerable importance in past times.

It was in lodgings in this street that Mrs. Inchbald wrote her "Simple Story," published 1791, in four volumes, which was an immediate success.

She was an actress as well as an author, and a friend of the Kembles.

Her dramatic writings were very many.

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