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St George Hanover Square pub history index
The Pub was first licensed in 1775 as the Devil and Bag o' Nails; and rebuilt in 1838, the address is 1 Arabella row in 1839; and the Bag of Nails, 1 Victoria road, Pimlico in the 1849 license transfer and in 1856. **
A listing of historical London public houses, Taverns, Inns, Beer Houses and Hotels in St George Hanover Square - London; and includes such areas of London as Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Pimlico.
Bag o' Nails, 6 Buckingham Palace Road, SW1 - in November 2007
Kindly provided by Stephen Harris
Residents at this address.
My ancestor Thomas George Wake, who was landlord of the Bag of Nails until
his death in 1827, and I have attached a history of his life running the Bag
of Nails, and as a Royal Servant at Buckingham Palace - see end of the page
**
1827/Thomas George Wake/../../../Personal History ***
1829/J Wood, Bag of Nails, Arabella Row, Pimlico/../../Robsons Directory
1833-34/John Wool, Bag of Nails, Arabella Row, Pimlico/../../Pigots
Directory
1839/J Shaw/../../../Pigots Directory
1841/G Loddy/../../../Post Office Directory
1843/George Loddy/../../../Kellys Directory
March 1849/G T Luddy/Outgoing Licensee/../../Era Newspaper
March 1849/John Hart/Incoming Licensee/../../Era Newspaper
1851/John Hart/../../../Post Office Directory
1851/John Hart/Victualler/38/Wycombe, Buckinghamshire/Census
1851/Sarah Hart/Wife/37/Whitehaven, Cumberland/Census
1851/Katherine Hart/Daughter/4/Clapham, Surrey/Census
1851/Emma Hart/Daughter/2/St Georges, Middlesex/Census
1851/Fanny Hart/Daughter/9 months/St Georges, Middlesex/Census
1851/James Goodchild/Barman/41/Basingstoke, Hampshire/Census
1851/Henry Osbourn/Barman/18/Clapham, Surrey/Census
1851/Jane Emery/Barmaid/19/Ponders End, Middlesex/Census
1851/Helen Warren/Cook/34/Teigngrace, Devon/Census
1851/Rebecca Batty/Nursemaid/22/Hackney, Middlesex/Census
1851/Elizabeth Williams/Nursemaid/17/Kensington, Middlesex/Census
1856/John Hart/../../../Post Office Directory
1862/John Todd Swainston/../../../Post Office Directory
1869/John Todd Swainston/../../../Post Office Directory
1876/Henry Guest/../../../Post Office Directory **
1881/Henry Guest/Licensed Victualler/35/Middlesex/Census
1881/Henry Pitchford/Manager/21/St Lukes, Middlesex/Census
1881/Sarah A Gould/Housekeeper/37/Somerset/Census
1881/Margaret George/Housemaid/22/N K, Cornwall/Census
1881/George Evans/Barman/18/Surrey/Census
1881/Hanry Hillier/Barman/18/N K, Cornwall/Census
1881/Alfred Chittle/Barman/14/Westminster, Middlesex/Census
1881/Richard Phillips/Barman/16/Westminster, Middlesex/Census
1881/Herbert Sillman/Barman/16/Westminster, Middlesex/Census
1881/William M Durham/Barman/18/Ware, Hertford/Census
1882/Henry Guest/../../../Post Office Directory
1884/Henry Guest/../../../Post Office Directory
1891/Henry Guest/../../../Post Office Directory
1899/Henry Guest/../../../Post Office Directory
1901/Henry Guest/../../../Post Office Directory **
1901/Joseph Jefferies/Licensed Victualler/35/Knightsbridge, London/Census
1901/Mary Jefferies/Wife/36/Filleigh, Devon/Census
1901/Edmond Doherty/Head Barman/23/Ireland/Census
1901/George H Graves/Barman/20/Hertford/Census
1901/Thomas Glover/Barman/23/Yeovil, Somerset/Census
1901/John McCourt/Barman/21/Ireland/Census
1901/Francis A Clarke/Barman/19/Leicester/Census
1901/Florence M Cowper/Cook/27/Richmond, Surrey/Census
1901/Ethel M Baves/Housemaid/17/Battersea, Surrey/Census
1910/Henry Guest/../../../Post Office Directory
1914/Henry Guest/../../../Post Office Directory
1934/Daniel Heathfield/../../../Kellys Directory
1936/Daniel Heathfield/../../../BT Telephone Directory - VICtoria 6540
1938/Daniel Heathfield/../../../Post Office Directory
1944/Clarke, Baker & Co Ltd/../../../Post Office Directory
2017, Bag O`Nails (Victoria) 6 Buckingham Palace Road Victoria Greater London SW1W 0PP, Greene King
THOMAS GEORGE WAKE (1784-1827) AND HIS FAMILY ***
Louisa Wake (1807-c.1835), was my 3x great-grandmother. She was born
10 February and baptised 21 February 1807 at St George Hanover Square, the
daughter of Thomas George Wake and his wife Ann Mitchell. She married
Charles Jones at St Luke Chelsea on 4 July 1822, when she was only 15 years
and four months old, and her husband not much older. Both were minors and
the marriage was by licence. Despite the incontrovertible evidence about
their ages, Charles Jones made a statement to the Vicar General for the
purposes of obtaining the licence on the day before their marriage that they
were both “21 years and upwards”. Louisa had three children, Ann (1824),
Charles George (1826), and Frederick David (1830). Sadly she died at the
early age of 29, and was buried at St George Hanover Square on 17 July 1836,
her address being Lower Belgrave Street.
Thomas George Wake (d. 1827). Thomas George Wake was my 4x
great-grandfather. He is well known in our family as the subject of the
portrait which passed down to my late second cousin Christopher Impey, and
which was mentioned in the will of Charles Jones. The portrait had hung in
the parlour of great-grandfather Impey’s house in Ottery St Mary, and was
known to my grandmother and great-aunts as George Wake, so it seems likely
that he was known by his middle name. This would also avoid confusion with
his father, Thomas Wake.
Thomas George was baptised at Kingston-on-Thames on 8 September 1784, the
son of Thomas and Ann Wake. His father, Thomas Wake, left an estate which
was the subject to an administration order in April 1801. This Thomas was
described as being of Kew Green in Surrey but late of Pimlico in the parish
of St George Hanover Square.
Thomas George was married at St George Hanover Square on 14 June 1803, to
Ann Mitchell. His will mentions three children, Mary Ann, Louisa, and
George. This is the order they are mentioned in the will, and in fact Mary
Ann was the eldest, and George the youngest, with Louisa in the middle.
Louisa’s baptism and birth date were recorded in the register of St George
Hanover Square in 1807 (see above), whilst Mary Ann was baptised there on 7
April 1805 (born 8 March 1805), and George baptised there 31 May 1812 (born
3 May 1812).
Thomas George had a very colourful life working in the Royal Household at
Buckingham House (later Palace), and subsequently as landlord of the Bag o’
Nails pub just outside the back gate of the Palace. It is likely that his
father Thomas, who lived at Kew, would also have been in Royal service at
Kew Palace (still existing in the grounds of Kew Gardens), which was the
main residence of King George III, and it may be that Thomas George started
his employment with his father in the establishment at Kew.
Family legend, passed on by Aunty Belle, among others, had it that “Georgie
Wake” was “cup-bearer to one of the Georges”. As so often happens with
family legends, this one had a grain of truth in it, but proved to be
something of an exaggeration. I wrote to the Royal Archives back in 1980,
and received confirmation that Thomas George Wake was indeed in the Royal
employment, but as “Assistant Porter at the Gate and Sweeper of the Courts
at the Queen’s House” i.e. Buckingham House later Buckingham Palace.
According to the Royal Archives, he was appointed Third Assistant Porter on
6 April 1801, and promoted to Second Assistant in May 1804. He is shown in
the Lord Chamberlain’s papers in November 1818 as Assistant Porter at
Buckingham House, and in the Royal Kalendar as such until 1827. Buckingham
House had originally been the London residence of the Dukes of Buckingham,
but it had been bought by King George III in 1761. The Queen in the official
title was Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III. The King lived mainly at
Kew Palace.
The letter from the Royal Archives also mentions Thomas Wake (Thomas
George’s father), mentioned above, who held the position of First Assistant
Porter from 1788 until his death in 1801.
Evidence of Thomas George’s occupation also comes from his will, where he is
said to be the owner of £1600 of Navy Stock, and “of the Queen’s House,
Gentleman”. In a codicil, he is described as “Assistant Porter in His
Majesty’s Palace for several years.”
The will also indicates that Thomas George had died in1827, the year when he
ceased to be listed in the Royal Kalendar. George III had died in 1820, to
be succeeded by the notorious George IV, who spent most of his time at the
Royal Pavilion in Brighton. However, despite being listed as a Royal
employee up to his death, Thomas George had in his later years become a
victualler running the Bag o’ Nails pub just outside the back gate of the
Palace. This strange name may have been a corruption of the name ‘Bacchanales’,
by which it was sometimes known.
The will makes bequests to his three children out of the proceeds of the
abovementioned Navy Stock, and also mentions his wife, but without naming
her. The original will was made in 1821, when he named James Lys Seager and
William Evans as his executors. These two gentlemen are recognisable as the
partners in the distilling company of Seager Evans & Co Ltd, famous for its
brand of gin, and then based at nearby Millbank. The likely explanation is
that this firm either owned or held a mortgage over the Bag o’ Nails. His
first wife Ann Mitchell had apparently died in 1817, a burial in the name of
Ann Wake being recorded in the register of St George Hanover Square on 23
November 1817. Then on 10 April 1823, the register of St George Hanover
Square records Thomas George’s marriage by licence to Ann Newman, a spinster
of St Margaret Westminster. A codicil dated 29 December 1823 refers to “my
dear wife”, presumably the new one. This codicil was attested in 1827
shortly after his death, by two friends, James Clark and John Milne, by
which time Thomas George is described as “formerly of the Bag o’ Nails” and
“late of Lower Eaton Street”. I have not yet established the exact date of
his death.
The will is also listed in the Estate Duty Registers, where it states:
“Business sold before Testator’s death and produce in brewers’ hands” and as
regards the Navy Stock, “sold out before his decease”, so it may be that his
wife and children did not benefit from either the business assets or the
Navy Stock, but there was a residue of £1741 13s 3d which they would have
received. This was quite a useful sum in 1827.
The Bag o’ Nails pub was still in existence opposite the Royal Mews at No 6
Buckingham Palace Road when I last visited the area. It would be nice to
speculate that perhaps King George IV might have visited Thomas George
Wake’s hostelry on one of his rare visits from Brighton, and perhaps Thomas
George might have been an unofficial “cup-bearer” to this King, or perhaps
his predecessor King George III.
Thomas George Wake and Ann Mitchell had three children, as mentioned above.
These were:
(i) Mary Ann. Baptised at St George Hanover Square on 7 April 1805 (born 8
March 1805), and possibly the Mary Ann Wake married to George Eke 11
November 1827 at the same church (witnesses George Griffin and Christina A.
Shore). No further information.
(ii) Louisa. My 3x great-grandmother. (see above).
(iii) George. Baptised at St George Hanover Square on 31 May 1812 (born 3
May 1812). Probably the George Wake, grocer, living in Lower Ranelagh Street
in 1841, and married to Ursula Peckham. Also in London directories as an oil
and colour man at 21 Shaftesbury Terrace, Pimlico, from 1836.
ShaftesburyTerrace was near Eaton Square. Ursula Peckham was from Petersham,
Surrey, and they were married at St George Hanover Square on 23 June 1834
(witnesses Samuel Nobbs and Maria Norris).
Ann Mitchell. The first wife of Thomas George Wake, and therefore my 4x
great-grandmother. Possibly the Ann Wake buried St George Hanover Square 23
November 1817 aged 46, although this would make her year of birth about
1771, and therefore 13 years older than her husband. This entry must
therefore be treated with caution, but she must in any case have died by
1823 when Thomas George married Ann Newman. No other information.
Thomas Wake. The father of Thomas George Wake and therefore my 5x
great-grandfather. His wife was named Ann and he was First Assistant Porter
at Buckingham House from 1788 until his death in 1801 per letter from the
Royal Archives. Almost certainly he was also employed at Kew Palace.
He died in 1801 and was buried at St George Hanover Square on 4 April 1801.
His estate was subject to an administration order later the same
year, when administration was granted to his “relict”, Anne Wake, the estate
being worth under £600. Thomas was described as “formerly of Kew Green in
the County of Surrey, but late of Pimlico in the parish of St George Hanover
Square in the County of Middlesex.” This strengthens the view that Thomas
was probably employed at Kew Palace. Kew is of course not far from
Kingston-on-Thames, where Thomas and his wife lived when son Thomas George
was baptised in 1784. ***
** Provided By Stephen Harris
*** Provided By John Read
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