Hammersmith 1690s
'Young' Sir John Brownlow (YJB) was a member of the English Parliament. His London home was in Hammersmith, a hamlet of the parish of Fulham, until a separate parish was created in 1834. Selected extracts from the accounts inform us about YJB himself and his young family before his death later that decade. The records transcribed by Janet Roworth & Dawn Bowskill cover a 6 month period from 31st December 1690 to 3rd July 1691. They glean life for the Brownlow family at that time.
Header, Boydell 1752 View of Hammersmith, looking down the Thames
The top 75 words used in the accounts, size relates to frequency of occurence. As with later London stays, everything from water to vegetables were bought in, hence bill.
A transcription of the accounts. Extracts below are are adjusted to 2021 prices.
YJB represented Grantham Borough as MP from 1689 to 1697, and so attended the English Parliament.
The Brownlows sold their Bloomsbury Square property and rented a house in Hammersmith at £10 15s a fortnight (£2,849) lit by oil lamps and candles, complete with still room, brewery and garden. The address is unknown. Stable rent cost an additional £133 per fortnight.
Upper Mall was the upmarket residential quarter. Catherine of Braganza, queen consort of Charles II, lived here from 1687 after her widowhood. She moved to Portugal in 1692, but her house not vacated until 1707. Her London home was Somerset House.
The Brownlow family comprised 10-year-old Elizabeth, Alice (Alicia), 6, Margaret 4 and Jane 2. Eleanor was born during 1691, month unknown.
The Parliamentary sessions began in October and continued until the spring. The session for the time period of the accounts ran from October 1690 to March 1691, 78 working days.
The Master, YJB, is mentioned 28 times from January 1690 (Julian calendar) to June 1691. We see him giving to a poor man by Master’s order 6d (£7). He buys a Scrutoir, a writing desk for £8 (£2,120).
Late 17th century fur muff
Clothing
a short wigg for my Master cost £1 10s (£400), the Perrywigg maker for two short wiggs for my Master £3 10s (£928). Louis XIII wore wigs at court to hide his baldness, continued by Charles II, wig-wearing became essential by the 1680s. Portraits of judges from the early 1680s still show them sporting their own natural hair. Wigs only became widely accepted after 1684.
a pair of silk stockings for 11s (£146), yet YJB spends 6d (£7) for drawing [mending] a hole in my Master’s coate Sleeve. His clothing is of cambric, a finely woven linen with a plain weave and a smooth surface appearance. Earlier used for ruffs. Floreisht Muslyn [muslin] neckcloths for my Master one at 6s: and two at 5s: 6: a peece 17s (£225). The cravat was made fashionable by Charles II borrowed from his cousin, Louis XIV of France. The Floreisht may refer to a floral design often incorporated.
A cravatte is another kind of adornment for the neck being nothing else but a long towel put about the Collar, and so tyed before with a Bow Knott (Randle Holme1688).
a pr. of whale boned bootes for Master £3 (£795). The whale bone utilised as a stiffener. Charles I suffered from rickets and stiffened boots formed a calliper. King William of Orange introduced the jackboot that was likewise stiffened. Thigh high boots were fashionable for soldiers and horsemen.
a Muff for my Lady £5 (£1,325)
Red fox fur muffs cost ~£1 in C18 (£200). Quite why Alice's handwarmer was so expensive is a mystery, but Hellie 1989 records C17 Muscovy processed sable as 12-fold the cost of fox.
Travel
"An Ordinance for the Regulation of Hackney-Coachmen in London and the places adjacent" was approved by Parliament in 1654. The source of the word Hackney is controversial.
To Dick Allett that he payd to a Hackney for my Masters order 1s. The word Hack also occurs, a term still used to describe New York taxi drivers!
Coming from Hamersmyth 1s: goeing by water to ye house 1d: For comeing from Hamersmyth by water 6d, Mrs. Wade the housekeep her charges comeing from London by water by my Ladye’s order 1s 6d
Indicates travel by watermen and their wherries along the Thames, perhaps to Westminster.
To Two chairmen with my Lady from London to Hammersmith 15s (£200) To the chairmen to drink by my Ladys order 1s At a C17 4d for a quart of beer, 3 pints each,
The eight payments for sedan chairmen mainly applied to Alice Brownlow. But most payments were 5s {£65). Roque's 1746 map of Hammersmith has Hyde Park Corner 4 miles distant. An 1806 fare guide was 3s for 2 miles and 6d for every 586 yards beyond.
Sir Saunders Duncombe introduced the sedan chair, named after the town of Sedan in France, first used for hire in London in 1634 as a cheaper alternative to the Hackney carriage. Travelling faster than pedestrians the cries of Have a care! or By your leave, sir! were called out for a speedy journey.
Left, Belton's own 1795 sedan chair, in storage for years (NT 434881).
YJB's earlier London house in Southampton (Bloomsbury) Square on the corner to the left of the carriage c1725. Sold late 1680s. Why he sold and then rented in 'rural' Hammersmith is unclear.
Old London Water carriers C17
Alice Sherard, undated Grimesthorpe Castle
Food & Drink
For bakeing a Steake Pye 6d: 1 pudding & 4 tarts 5d:
Baking was not done 'in house'
two chickens for my Master’s Supper 2s 6d (£33)
a pinte of old Maligo [Malaga, fortified Spanish wine] 1s 3d
a bill for white wine £4 18s (£1,300)
For a pound of coffee Berryes 4s (£53)
ten turns of water at 2d per turn [tun = 250 gall] 1s 8d
The West Middlesex Waterworks Company was founded in 1806 with intake from the River Thames at Hammersmith. But we know that Alice Brownlow bought much safer, spring-sourced conduit water by the tun when staying at Holland House 2 miles east.
Medicaments
YJB suffered from gout and stones, either kidney or bladder. These seem some of the treatments he tried.
14 quarts of milk for my master’s possett drink 1s 9d
Posset was milk curdled with wine or ale, often spiced given to people in rich households when they were feeling unwell. The Queens Closet Opened (1659) is somewhat uninformative recommending it for the Heart sick. Pepys uses it for his melancholy over possible deafness. One recipe is 2 pints milk to one of ale to be taken hot, 8 spoons at a time. 28 pints would imply purchase over two weeks. A posset of white wine is employed specifically for the Stone Collick.
two bott: of red wine for my Masters’ Ankle at 16d p bott 2s 8d one of the common joints affected by gout. The Skillful Physician (1656) recommended herbs steeped in wine and then applied to the gouty area. This was good quality wine at £18 a bottle.
two yards of cloath at 16s: per yard to Spread Salve upon & two pound of Salve
Used for open wounds or boils. While this could be applied to gouty tophi, like many C17 medicines it has multiple uses, e.g. To loosen the Belly of young Children - constipation.
For half a pound of Tobacco for my Master haveing the Toothache: 1s The Skillful Physician has tobacco leaves boiled in your own Urine or milk. Bathe the pained place and lay the leaves thereon and lie down.
For water cresses and penny Royall 4d
Pennyroyal, a plant treatment for gout, but also to stimulate birth - a January birth month for Eleanor?
Belton's own remedy for Gowty Leggs that swell,
Take a good quantity of Sage and boyle it in Springe water till halfe be consumed; then let the party grieved hold his leggs a hower every Morning & this will bring downe the swelling being usd.
Sage purchase appears 16 times. It is still employed as a naturopathic treatment for gout to this day.
The Journals of the House of Commons Vol 10 pages 390 & 628, record leave sometimes specifically for his health, for example
26 April 1690 Ordered: that Sir John Brownlow have Leave to go into the Country for 3 weeks
14 Januarii 1691 Ordered: that Sir John Brownlow have Leave to go into the Country for a Month for Recovery of his Health
The Children
Madam Betty’s writeing Master as p bill £1 9s 6d (£391) Elizabeth Brownlow's teacher.
a Thimble for Miss Betty,
a boy that brought a little dogg for Miss Alice by order 2s (£27)
a baskett for Miss Alice’s dogg 1s 3d
two Mince pyes for Misses Suppers, a cake for Misses
Left, a mince pie recipe from Leticia Cromwell's C17 recipe book.
People & Places
To a Porter from thence to the Lady Hussey’s lodgings 2s
Sir Edward Hussey, 3rd Baronet (1661 -1725), of Caythorpe & Welbourn, Lincolnshire, English MP for Lincoln. Sir William Brownlow, 1st Bt. of Humby was his grandfather. The lady is either his mother or wife.
To a Sculler from the Temple to ye White Swan 3d
YJB admitted to the Inner Temple 1676, a walled district between Fleet Street and the River Thames. Two of the four Inns of Court, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, are located here. The inn could be Pepys' Swan at New Palace Yard Westminster, demolished when Westminster bridge was built. One or two scullers manned a Thames skiff or wherry.
Payd to Lance ye Groome to bear his charges to Belton wth: 5 horses 16s
For hoopeing and Naileing a case of Orrang trees for Belton 2
To Richard Wing that hee payd for letters to and from London and Belton 2s
The Brownlows maintained contact with Belton via letters.
Roque's 1745 map of Hammersmith. Upper Mall, a likely area for the Brownlow's expensive rental by the Thames, circled lower left. Holland House where Alice Brownlow rented an apartment for her London visits after the death of YJB top right, 2 miles distant from Hammersmith. YJB's journey to Parliament is over 5 miles by road and 9 miles by wherry on the Thames. This compares to just 1.4 miles from 17 Bloomsbury Square their earlier London home. Despite the distance, we can see YJB at work in in Parliament for example in December 1690.