Site of No. 65, Charing Cross

CHAPTER 20: SITE OF NO. 65, CHARING CROSS

On 20th December, 1618, George and Thomas Cole sold (fn. n1) to William "Goodacre" the tenement or dwelling house then in the latter's occupation, with a stable and yard adjoining on the east side, described as being "neere Charing crosse, betweene the way leading into the Inn called the Mermayde on the East parte and the tenemente now in the occupation of William Davison on the west parte, the Kings highway on the North parte, and the land now in the occupation of William Bingham on the South parte." William Goodacres appears in the ratebooks for a number of years in respect of what was probably this house, the last entry being for the year 1641. (fn. n2) His widow, Thomazine "Goodakers," by her will (fn. n3) left to her kinswoman Elizabeth Tiptree the messuage "wherin I nowe dwell, scituate… w^thin the said parish of St. Martin in the Fields, " but no trace has been found of Elizabeth Tiptree's dealings with the property. In the sale of the fee-farm rents by William Gamble alias Bowyer to Richard Price in 1679, (fn. n4) however, the tenement "heretofore in the occupacion of William Goodacre" is said to be "now or late… of Robert Hankinson." The ratebook evidence shows that Hankinson occupied from 1678 to 1681 the house for which Arthur Morris was rated from 1663 to 1675, and this enables the house to be identified with one owned in 1678 by Michepher Alphery of Great Ealing, and left by him (fn. n5) (ultimately) to his nephew of the same name. (fn. n6) The property subsequently came into the possession of Robert Alphery, who sold it in 1706 to John Rawlins. (fn. n7) From the latter it passed to his son Francis, and afterwards to Francis' daughter Elizabeth, wife of James Vaughan, who on 15th February, 1734–5, sold it to Wright Tuckey. (fn. n8) Tuckey died in 1738–9, (fn. n9) leaving various premises, including "all that my Messuage at Charing Cross… now in the occupation of — Cockbourn," (fn. n10) to Henry Woolley to carry out certain trusts, and on 16th November, 1770, William Thorowgood and his wife Elizabeth, niece and heir at law of Henry Woolley, in pursuance of the directions in Tuckey's will, conveyed (fn. n11) to John Ensor (son of Josiah Ensor, second cousin and heir at law of William Tuckey, nephew of Wright Tuckey) "all that Messuage… at Charing Cross… late in the Occupation of Andrew Cockburn and then of Robert Blount." Blount's successors are shown by the ratebooks as Frederick Accum (1797–9), John Brown (1799–1810), Thomas Scott (1810–15), and John Robins (1815–19), and Johnstone's Directory for 1817 shows Robins, "watch & clock maker," at No. 65, Charing Cross.