Bloomsbury or St George Bloomsbury, Middlesex

Historical Description

Bloomsbury or St George Bloomsbury, a parish in Middlesex, about 1½ mile WNW of St Paul's, London. It was originally part of St Giles-in-the-Fields parish, and was separately constituted in 1729. It includes Bloomsbury Square, Russell Square, Woburn Square, and part of Torrington Square, together with intermediate and adjacent streets. Part of it shows the architecture of the time of Queen Anne, and much consists of houses which were fashionable residences till about 1828. It contains the British Museum, and the buildings or offices of several metropolitan institutions. A sitting statue of Fox, 9 feet high, by Westmacott, is in Bloomsbury Square, and a statue of the Duke of Bedford, also by Westmacott, is in Russell Square. St George's Church, adjacent to New Oxford Street, was built in 1731, at a cost of £9790, is in a mixed style of Doric and Corinthian, and has a steeple, modelled after Pliny's account of the tomb of Mausolus, crowned by a statue of George II. The living is a rectory in the diocese of London; gross value, £500 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. Christ Church, in Woburn Square, is a separate benefice, with income of £400. S. Jenyns and T. Hook were natives, and Richard Baxter, Sir H. Sloane, Dr Radcliffe, Akenside, Romilly, Lawrence, Lord Mansfield, and Lord Chancellor Loughborough were residents. See also LONDON.

Land and Property

A full transcript of the Return of Owners of Land in 1873 for Middlesex is online.