Holborn: Queen Square: St George the Martyr

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1796 Original Antique Map of London & Environ Thornton
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W. J. Loftie, adding to the incomplete work of Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of Holborn with this look at the church of St George the Martyr in Queen Square:

The Church of St. George the Martyr stands on the west side of Queen Square, facing the open space at the south end.

It was founded in 1706 by private subscription as a chapel of ease to St. Andrew, and was named in honour of one of the founders, who had been Governor of Fort George, on the coast of Coromandel.

"The Martyr" was added to distinguish it from the other St. George in the vicinity.

It was accepted as one of the fifty new churches by the commissioners in Queen Anne's reign, was consecrated in 1723, and had a district assigned to it.

It was entirely rearranged and restored in 1868, and has lately been repainted.

It is a most peculiar-looking church, with a spire cased in zinc.

Small figures of angels embellish some points of vantage, and the symbols of the four Evangelists appear in niches.

The windows are round-headed, with tracery of a peculiarly ugly type; but the interior is better than the exterior, and has lately been repaired and redecorated throughout.

Powis House originally stood where Powis Place, Great Ormond Street, now is.

This was built by the second Marquis or Duke of Powis, even before he had sold his Lincoln's Inn Fields house to the Duke of Newcastle, for he was living here in 1708.

The second Duke was, like his father, a Jacobite, and had suffered much for his loyalty to the cause, having endured imprisonment in the Tower of London, but he was eventually restored to his position and estates.

The house was burnt down in 1714, when the Duc d'Aumont, French Ambassador, was tenant, and it was believed that the fire was the work of an incendiary.

The French King, Louis XIV, caused it to be rebuilt at his own cost, though insurance could have been claimed. In 1777 this later building was taken down.

Lord Chancellor Thurlow lived in this street at No. 46, and it was from this house, now the Working Men's College, that the Great Seal was stolen and never recovered.

Dr. Mead, a well-known physician, had a house here, afterwards occupied by the Hospital for Sick Children

Next: Holborn: Great Ormond Street