London in 1903: Soho

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Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of London with this look at Soho:

Soho has been derived from the watchword of Monmouth at Sedgemoor, because the Duke had a house in Soho, then King's Square.

It is much more likely that the reverse is the case, and the Duke took the watchword from the locality in which he lived, for the word Soho occurs in the rate-books long before the Battle of Sedgemoor was fought.

In 1634 So-howe appears in State papers; and various other spellings are extant, as Soe-hoe, So-hoe.

This district was at one time a favourite hunting-ground, and Halliwell-Phillipps in the "Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words" suggests that the name has arisen from a favourite hunting cry, "So-ho!"

The parish was first made independent of St. Martin's in 1678.

Soho has always been a favourite locality with foreigners.

There were three distinct waves of emigration which flooded over it: first after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1635; then in 1798, during the Reign of Terror; and thirdly in 1871, when many Communists who had escaped from Paris found their way to England.

At the present time half the population of the parish consists of foreigners, of which French and Italians preponderate, but Swiss, Germans, and specimens of various other nationalities, are frequently to be met with in the streets.

The parish church of St. Anne's was so named "after the mother of the Virgin Mary and in compliment to Princess Anne."

The site was a piece of ground known as Kemp's Field, and the architect selected was Sir Christopher Wren.

The building is in all respects like others of its period, but has a curious spire added later.

This has been described as "two hogsheads placed crosswise, in the ends of which are the dials of the clock," and above is a kind of pyramid, ending in a vane.

Next: Soho: St Anne's Churchyard