Page:EB1911 - Volume 06.djvu/38

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CHELSEA—CHELTENHAM
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in 1555; Lord and Lady Dacre (1594–1595); Sir John Lawrence (1638); Lady Jane Cheyne (1698); Francis Thomas, “director of the china porcelain manufactory, Lawrence Street, Chelsea” (1770); Sir Hans Sloane (1753); Thomas Shadwell, poet laureate (1692); Woodfall the printer of Junius (1844), and many others. More’s tomb is dated 1532, as he set it up himself, though it is doubtful whether he lies beneath it. His house was near the present Beaufort Street. In the 18th and 19th centuries Chelsea, especially the parts about the embankment and Cheyne Walk, was the home of many eminent men, particularly of writers and artists, with whom this pleasant quarter has long been in favour. Thus in the earlier part of the period named, Atterbury and Swift lived in Church Lane, Steele and Smollett in Monmouth House. Later, the names of Turner, Rossetti, Whistler, Leigh Hunt, Carlyle (whose house in Cheyne Row is preserved as a public memorial), Count D’Orsay, and Isambard Brunel, are intimately connected with Chelsea. At Lindsey House Count Zinzendorf established a Moravian Society (c. 1750). Sir Robert Walpole’s residence was extant till 1810; and till 1824 the bishops of Winchester had a palace in Cheyne Walk. Queen’s House, the home of D. G. Rossetti (when it was called Tudor House), is believed to take name from Catharine of Braganza.

Chelsea was noted at different periods for two famous places of entertainment, Ranelagh (q.v.) in the second half of the 18th century, and Cremorne Gardens (q.v.) in the middle of the 19th. Don Saltero’s museum, which formed the attraction of a popular coffee-house, was formed of curiosities from Sir Hans Sloane’s famous collections. It was Sloane who gave to the Apothecaries’ Company the ground which they had leased in 1673 for the Physick Garden, which is still extant, but ceased in 1902 to be maintained by the Company. At Chelsea Sir John Danvers (d. 1655) introduced the Italian style of gardening which was so greatly admired by Bacon and soon after became prevalent in England. Chelsea was formerly famous for a manufacture of buns; the original Chelsea bun-house, claiming royal patronage, stood until 1839, and one of its successors until 1888. The porcelain works existed for some 25 years before 1769, when they were sold and removed to Derby. Examples of the original Chelsea ware (see Ceramics) are of great value.

Of buildings and institutions the most notable is Chelsea Royal Hospital for invalid soldiers, initiated by Charles II. (according to tradition on the suggestion of Nell Gwynne), and opened in 1694. The hospital itself accommodates upwards of 500 men, but a system of out-pensioning was found necessary from the outset, and now relieves large numbers throughout the empire. The picturesque building by Wren stands in extensive grounds, which include the former Ranelagh Gardens. A theological college (King James’s) formerly occupied the site; it was founded in 1610 and was intended to be of great size, but the scheme was unsuccessful, and only a small part of the buildings was erected. In the vicinity are the Chelsea Barracks (not actually in the borough). The Royal Military Asylum for boys, commonly called the Duke of York’s school, founded in 1801 by Frederick, duke of York, for the education of children connected with the army, was removed in 1909 to new quarters at Dover. Other institutions are the Whitelands training college for school-mistresses, in which Ruskin took deep interest; the St Mark’s college for school-masters; the Victoria and the Cheyne hospitals for children, a cancer hospital, the South-western polytechnic, and a public library containing an excellent collection relative to local history.

The parliamentary borough of Chelsea returns one member, and includes, as a detached portion, Kensal Town, north of Kensington. The borough council consists of a mayor, 6 aldermen and 36 councillors. Area, 659.6 acres.


CHELSEA, a city of Suffolk county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., a suburb of Boston. Pop. (1890) 27,909; (1900) 34,072, of whom 11,203 were foreign-born; (1910) 32,452. It is situated on a peninsula between the Mystic and Chelsea rivers, and Charlestown and East Boston, and is connected with East Boston and Charlestown by bridges. It is served by the Boston & Maine and (for freight) by the Boston & Albany railways. The United States maintains here naval and marine hospitals, and the state a soldiers’ home. Chelsea’s interests are primarily industrial. The value of the city’s factory products in 1905 was $13,879,159, the principal items being rubber and elastic goods ($3,635,211) and boots and shoes ($2,044,250.) The manufacture of stoves, and of mucilage and paste are important industries. Flexible tubing for electric wires (first made at Chelsea 1889) and art tiles are important products. The first settlement was established in 1624 by Samuel Maverick (c. 1602–c. 1670), the first settler (about 1629) of Noddle’s Island (or East Boston), and one of the first slave-holders in Massachusetts; a loyalist and Churchman, in 1664 he was appointed with three others by Charles II. on an important commission sent to Massachusetts and the other New England colonies (see Nicolls, Richard), and spent the last years of his life in New York. Until 1739, under the name of Winnisimmet, Chelsea formed a part of Boston, but in that year it was made a township; it became a city in 1857. In May 1775 a British schooner in the Mystic defended by a force of marines was taken by colonial militia under General John Stark and Israel Putnam,—one of the first conflicts of the War of Independence. A terrible fire swept the central part of the city on the 12th of April 1908.

See Mellen Chamberlain (and others), History of Chelsea (2 vols., Boston, 1908), published by the Massachusetts Historical Society.


CHELTENHAM, a municipal and parliamentary borough of Gloucestershire, England, 109 m. W. by N. of London by the Great Western railway; served also by the west and north line of the Midland railway. Pop. (1901) 49,439. The town is well situated in the valley of the Chelt, a small tributary of the Severn, under the high line of the Cotteswold Hills to the east, and is in high repute as a health resort. Mineral springs were accidentally discovered in 1716. The Montpellier and Pittville Springs supply handsome pump rooms standing in public gardens, and are the property of the corporation. The Montpellier waters are sulphated, and are valuable for their diuretic effect, and as a stimulant to the liver and alimentary canal. The alkaline-saline waters of Pittville are efficacious against diseases resulting from excess of uric acid. The parish church of St Mary dates from the 14th century, but is almost completely modernized. The town, moreover, is wholly modern in appearance. Assembly rooms opened in 1815 by the duke of Wellington were removed in 1901. A new town hall, including a central spa and assembly rooms, was opened in 1903. There are numerous other handsome buildings, especially in High Street, and the Promenade forms a beautiful broad thoroughfare, lined with trees. The town is famous as an educational centre. Cheltenham College (1842) provides education for boys in three departments, classical, military and commercial; and includes a preparatory school. The Ladies’ College (1854), long conducted by Miss Beale (q.v.), is one of the most successful in England. The Normal Training College was founded in 1846 for the training of teachers, male and female, in national and parochial schools. A free grammar school was founded in 1568 by Richard Pate, recorder of Gloucester. The art gallery and museum may be mentioned also. The parliamentary borough returns one member. The municipal borough is under a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors. Area, 4726 acres. The urban district of Charlton Kings (pop. 3806) forms a south-eastern suburb of Cheltenham.

The site of a British village and burying-ground, Cheltenham (Celtanhomme, Chiltham, Chelteham) was a village with a church in 803. The manor belonged to the crown; it was granted to Henry de Bohun, earl of Hereford, late in the 12th century, but in 1199 was exchanged for other lands with the king. It was granted to William de Longespée, earl of Salisbury, in 1219, but resumed on his death and granted in dower to Eleanor of Provence in 1243. In 1252 the abbey of Fécamp purchased the manor, and it afterwards belonged to the priory of Cormeille, but was confiscated in 1415 as the possession of an alien priory, and was granted in 1461 to the abbey of Lyon, by which it was held until, once more returning to the crown at the Dissolution,