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Button--Pitt London Uniform Winged Devil & Pitchfork
9 Aug 2011 at 11:36am
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Brass Square Dollond London Sundial Compass & BOX- NAUTICAL COLLECTION SUN CLOCK
29 Jan 2012 at 11:39am
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Sir Walter Besant, in The Fascination of London, published in 1903, continues his survey of Soho's Gerrard Street with this look at the famous literary Club:

On the site of the Westminster General Dispensary was a tavern named the Turk's Head, where the well-known literary club had its origin.

The members were at first twelve in number, including Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, Edmund Burke, Dr. Nugent, Topham Beauclerk, Mr. Langton, Dr. Goldsmith, and Sir J. Hawkins.

In 1772 the number of the members was increased to twenty, and instead of meeting weekly, on Mondays, for a supper, they met every fortnight, on a Friday, and dined together.

David Hume was here in 1758, and the actor Edmund Kean passed most of his boyhood in this street, sheltered by a couple who had adopted him when his mother deserted him in Frith Street.

All his early boyhood is associated with this neighbourhood; he was found in Frith Street, and his schools were in Orange Court, Leicester Square, and Chapel Street, Soho.

The dispensary is in itself interesting, being one of the very oldest institutions of the kind, established in 1774.

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