.HAMPSTEAD 



3818 



HAMPSTEAD 



Hampstead. 



Church Row, a characteristic street o! the 

 North-West London borough 



Du Maurier, who Jived at New 

 Grove House, 1874-95, and Sir 

 Walter Besant. 



For long a favourite residence of 

 artists and literary men, Hamp- 

 stead is full of interesting associa- 

 tions. Dr. Johnson wrote The 

 Vanity of Human Wishes at 

 Priory Lodge, 1749 ; Clarkson 

 Stanfield lived at Stanfield House ; 

 Sir Hany Vane was arrested at his 

 residence here in 1660; Keats, who 

 wrote Hyperion and The Eve of St. 

 Agnes at Lawn Bank, also lived in 

 Well Walk, as did Constable. 

 Other notable inhabitants include 

 Romney, William Blake, Akenside, 

 Arbuthnot, Mrs. Barbauld, Mrs. 

 Siddons, Shelley, Leigh Hunt, 

 Steele, Talleyrand, Sir T. Palgrave, 

 Edward Irving, Baron Erskine, 

 Lord Mansfield, the 1st earl of 

 Chatham, Spencer Percival, Sir 

 Spencer Wells, and Sir Charles 

 Dilkc. 



The manor, first mentioned in 

 978 and referred to in Domesday, 

 is owned by the Maryon-Wilson 

 family. The history of Hampstead 

 is linked with that of Belsize, and it 

 was part of Hendon in the 1 6th cen- 

 tury. With Highgate (q.v.), it was 

 once a favourite hunting ground. 

 Its chalybeate wells are said to 

 have been known to the Romans, 

 and Well Walk, Wellside, and 

 Flask Walk recall the davs in 



the 18th century 

 when it was a 

 fashionable spa, 

 the scene of 

 novels by Fanny 

 Burney and 

 Samuel Richard- 

 son. The famous 

 Kit-Kat Club 

 (q.v. ) met at the 

 Upper Flask 

 Tavern, now 

 Upper Heath, 

 where George 

 Steevens, the 

 Shake spearean 

 scholar, lived in 

 1771. Hamp- 

 stead is one of the 

 28 metropolitan boroughs, tt re- 

 turns one member to Parliament. 

 Pop. of bor., 86.080. See Bull and 

 Bush ; Jack Straw's Castle ; Ken 

 Wood ; Spaniards, The. 



Bibliography. The Northern 

 Heights, W. Howitt, 1869; Records 

 of the Manor, Parish and Borough 

 of Hampstead, F. E. Baines, 1890; 

 Sweet Hampstead, C. A. White, 2nd 

 ed. 1 904 ; The Annals of Hampstead, 

 T. J. Barratt, 3 vols., 1912. 



Hampstead Garden Suburb. 

 Residential suburb of N.W. Lon- 

 don. Situated N. of Hampstead 

 Heath Extension, of which it was 

 an outcome, and E. of Golder's 

 Green (q.v.), it was founded by 

 Mrs. Henrietta Octavia Barnett, 

 and is owned and managed by a 

 trust. Mrs. Barnett set out the 

 scheme in Feb., 1905, and, aided 

 by Earl Grey, Sir Robert Hunter, 

 Bishop Winnington-Ingram, and 

 others, was able to form a com- 

 pany in March, 1906, when the 240 

 acres were purchased from the 

 Eton College trustees. The land 

 had not previously changed hands 

 since the time of Henry VIII. The 

 first sod was cut May 4, 1907. The 

 scheme aimed at doing something 

 to meet the housing problem, to 

 lay out the suburb on an orderly 

 plan, to provide houses for all 

 classes, and to preserve natural 

 beauty. The main buildings in- 

 clude three places of worship, an 



educational institute, art and 

 music schools, invalid children's 

 school, council school, home* of 

 rest, convalescent cottage, and a 

 club house for working women. 

 See Garden City. 



Hampstead Heath. Open space 

 in N.W. London. It occupies the 

 summit and N. slopes of Hamp 

 stead Hill, at an elevation of 430 

 ft. above sea level. From its higher 

 stratum of Bagshot sand, some 80 

 ft. thick above the London clay, 

 issued the Holbourne, Tybourne, 

 and other streams which once tra- 

 versed the capital. The heath, 

 famous for its firs, broken hillocks, 

 wild gorse, grassy glades, extensive 

 views, and old inns, covers 250 

 acres, Parliament Hill (265 acres) 

 and Golder's Hill (36 acres) adjoin- 

 ing. In the 16th century it was 

 noted for the variety of plants grow- 

 ing upon it. 



Down to the early days of the 

 19th century a haunt of highway 

 robbers, fairs and races were once 

 held here, and it is a popular Bank 

 Holiday resort. Preserved from en- 

 closure by the Metropolitan Com- 

 mons Act, 1866, the greater part 

 was acquired as a public recreation 

 ground in 1870, additional ground 

 being added in 1 907. Old inns on 

 and near the Heath are The Bull 

 and Bush, Jack Straw's Castle, 

 and The Spaniards. 



Hampstead Murder, THE. The 

 dead body of a baby was dis- 

 covered, Oct. 24, 1890, in a field 

 near Finchley Road, London ; and 

 at the same time the discovery was 

 made of the dead body of a woman 

 near Crossfield Road, Hampstead. 

 They were found to be the wife and 

 child of F. S. Hogg. The last place 

 they had visited alive were the 

 rooms of Mary Eleanor Wheeler 

 (Mrs. Pearcey). This woman had 

 known the husband before his 

 marriage, and in a fit of un- 

 controllable jealousy decoyed Mrs. 

 Hogg with her baby to her rooms 

 and there murdered them. She was 

 convicted Dec. 3 and executed 

 Dec. 23, 1890. 



Hampstead Heath. The view from the flagstaff, looking west towards Harrow 



