The Kensington DistrictMitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
History
The Kensington District
Mitton, G. E. (Geraldine Edith)
Kensington (London, England) -- Description and travel
The next opening on the north side is an avenue of young lime-trees
leading to Holy Trinity Church, the parish church of Brompton. It was
opened in 1829, and the exterior is as devoid of beauty as the date
would lead one to suppose. There are about 1,800 seats, and 700 are
free. The burial-ground behind the church is about 41/2 acres in
extent, and was consecrated at the same time as the church. Croker
mentions that it was once a flower-garden. Northward are Ennismore
Gardens, named after the secondary title of the Earl of Listowel, who
lives in Kingston House. The house recalls the notorious Duchess of
Kingston, who occupied it for some time. The Duchess, who began life as
Elizabeth Chudleigh, must have had strong personal attractions. She was
appointed maid of honour to Augusta, Princess of Wales, and after
several love-affairs was married secretly to the Hon. Augustus John
Hervey, brother of the Earl of Bristol. She continued to be a maid of
honour after this event, which remained a profound secret. Her husband
was a lieutenant in the navy, and on his return from his long absences
the couple quarrelled violently. It was not, however, until sixteen
years later that Mrs. Hervey began a connection with the Duke of
Kingston, which ended in a form of marriage. It was then that she
assumed the title, and caused Kingston House to be built for her
residence; fifteen years later her real husband succeeded to the title
of Earl of Bristol, and she was brought up to answer to the charge of
bigamy, on which she was proved guilty, but with extenuating
circumstances, and she seems to have got off scot-free. She afterwards
went abroad, and died in Paris in 1788, aged sixty-eight, after a life
of gaiety and dissipation. From the very beginning her behaviour seems
to have been scandalous, and she richly merited the epithet always
prefixed to her name. Sir George Warren and Lord Stair subsequently
occupied the house, and later the Marquis Wellesley, elder brother of
the famous Duke of Wellington. Intermediately it was occupied by the
Listowel family, to whom the freehold belongs.
All Saints' Church in Ennismore Gardens was built by Vulliamy, and is in
rather a striking Lombardian style, refreshing after the meaningless
"Gothic" of so many parish churches.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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