The Yellow Earl’s London house was in Carlton House Terrace. It was in fact two houses knocked into one. Here is an extract from The Yellow Earl, Douglas Sutherland’s excellent biography of the 5th Earl of Lonsdale.
Carlton House Terrace suited Hugh Lonsdale admirably. It had all the advantages of living in London with many of the facilities of being in the country. The Terrace, overlooking St James’s Park, provided an exercise ground for his dogs, whilst the Park itself he regarded to all intents and purposes as his own personal property. He had his own key to all the London Parks, which were then fenced in with high railings and closed to the public after six o’clock at night. He took a personal interest in the bedding out of the flower-beds and the welfare of the ducks, and did not hesitate to give instructions as to what was to be done. On Sunday afternoons he would take his dogs on a tour of inspection through St James’s Park, Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, puffing vigorously at his cigar and noting every detail. Later, a chit would be sent to the Head Gardener suggesting alterations or variations in the colours of the flowers, or other attractions. No one seems ever to have questioned his authority.
When another Earl, Lord Emsworth, visited Kensington Gardens and picked two tulips he was not granted the same privilege. Indeed he was nabbed by the park keeper and only the intervention of Angus McAllister, head gardener at Blandings, extricated him from the consommé. I wonder if PG Wodehouse was aware of Lord Lonsdale’s ways when he wrote about this in Custody of the Pumpkin?
After a haircut at Geo. F Trumper ( a name that might have been invented by PGW) and a bit of book-buying at Heywood Hill yesterday, I walked back through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. The first thing I noticed was this bare flowerbed near Curzon Gate. Maybe it’s about to be replanted but the only silver that I could see was the birches. There is a tendency to continually add to the stock of memorials in central London. While each one individually may have merit the combined impact is gradually reducing our public spaces.
Further on, in the rose garden, there was a parrot dining at a bird feeder and then some goslings by the Serpentine.
The road dividing Hyde Park from Kensington Gardens will soon have a dedicated cycle lane. Here’s what it looks like now. Across the road the Serpentine Galleries pavilion is open. It leaks.
A spot more shopping in Kensington High Street rounded off the morning: some clothes from Uniqlo, slug pellets from Robert Dyas and lunch from Waitrose. Slugs have been munching the basil.
The ears picked up when you mentioned lunch at Waitrose. I must check if there’s one near Tottenham Court Road. Unfortunately we don’t have Waitrose in Northern Ireland. Yet.
246 High Holborn is the nearest.
The townhouse of the Duke of Omnium was in Carlton Terrace. I don’t think there is any mention of him being in the park, although Everett Wharton was mugged there late at night and rescued by Ferdinand Lopez (The Prime Minister, Trollope).