Address Help

[Ambersand]

I need help identifying the street in this address.

I thought it was 6 Plymouth Street, Portman Square London, but there is no street called Plymouth Street. Date is 1818.

I assume it's a residential address? Links to anything that might help giving some idea of the type of people who lived at that address back then would be good.

[Megan Roberts]

Portman Square is one of the most notable squares in London - today it houses many corporate establishments. It is just behind Oxford Street and just off Baker Street, so it is ideally placed. How this would have been in the early 1800s I don't know but I suspect that it may have been an area for merchants etc and or those climbing the ladder.
I can't find a map early enough which is suffiently detailed to help you but I did find one that is pre 1939 and therefore pre the Blitz and subsequent redevelopment. There does not seem to be an obvious street that would fit, a lot of them seem to have Portman in the name.

[Ambersand]

Hi, thanks Megan. I suspect the new rich might be appropriate here, with his money I think coming from his father running an Eating House or Pub.

I'm scrolling through the 1821 London census in case one is a work address and one a residential address. I think he was employed as a Secretary at that stage. The downstroke letter could even be a "ss"

[Lesley Robertson]

Take a look at Portman Square in the oldest OS map you can find. The street should feed off it, or be close. The main streets seem to all be variations on “Portman”, so you’ll need the detail provided by OS.
The National Library of Scotland has its enormous map collection online for free use.

[Ambersand]

Thanks for tip, Lesley. I checked the OS website. Now I’m wondering if it is meant to be Seymour Street, badly spelled. He was 19 I think at that date. Maybe spelling wasn’t his thing? Or he was copying from someone else’s bad writing. No. 6 is at that end, near the park.
It was inside this writing desk.

[Lesley Robertson]

That P is almost identical to the one on Portman...

The other option might be to look at the trade directories of the time - Ancestry has some. Also, some of the London squares have their own web pages with local history groups, listing occupants and/or businesses.

[Ambersand]

Thanks for the heads up about the squares webpages will check them out.

[gilian rowland]

AMBERSAND

I don't know if this is of any use if indeed it is Portman - I googled Portman Square
and Wiki states the following:

"It was built between 1765 and 1784 on land belonging to Henry William Portman.

An infantry barracks, Portman Square Barracks, was built between Portman and Orchard Streets; it was demolished in about 1860.[1]"
On that site is a map from that era.

In your last posting No. 5 you refer to "he was 19 at that date" is this referring to the person
who wrote the letter and do you know the name of the recipient?
Jill

[helachau]

1827 map
https://mapco.net/cruchley/cruch10.htm

This site has maps pre/post 1818. Click on "London Maps" on top line

[Ambersand]

Helachu, that website is brilliant. Thank you.

Gillan, the desk belongs to Henry who I believe was born Jun 1798.

I’m starting to suspect it could even be a deliberate misspelling as a private joke. Seymour = Pee more = Peymawr

It’s located inside in a hidden spot. You wouldn’t see it when you opened it to use it, but there is a storage section under that

If it had been an honest mistake, I think he would have corrected it. But as Lesley says, the P is formed too well. Perhaps it reveals more about his personality?

He adopted the middle name, Henry, (I suspect because he was fifth in a line of Richard’s). He admits that in his will. It caused us no end of trouble tracking him down. Then, despite being a “gentleman” in the will he encouraged his only son to be a cook when he grew up. His father, if I’ve worked it correctly, was a tobacconist and a Licensed Victualler but wanted his only son (and only surviving child) to be a gentleman. I suspect, Richard had mixed feelings about that as time went on. He died at 32, I suspect of consumption. The will is full of comments that fuel speculation about what prompted them.

I suppose it is a reminder that our ancestors were human with all that entails.