thestreetnames

Thank you to my loyal readers for not only being my loyal readers but also for keeping me on my toes. First of all, following on from the Red Lion Square post, I have been reminded that Jonas Hanway had a street named after him: Hanway Street, just off the Tottenham Court Road. As the Galliard Homes website puts it:

“The Street is rumoured to be named after the Portsmouth-born traveller, philanthropist and Hanway resident, Jonas Hanway (1712-1786). Records around 1740 indicate that the footpath was initially known as Hanover Yard, before becoming Hanway Yard and then finally Hanway Street. Hanway is most famous for being the first Londoner to brave ridicule by championing the use of an umbrella, however, he also founded The Marine Society in 1756, became governor of the Foundling Hospital two years later and then went on to help establish the Magdalen Hospital.”

On the subject of streets named after people, there is also a Barbon Alley, named after Nicholas Barbon, something else that I should have mentioned in the context of Red Lion Square.

This is probably a good time to point out that the Barbone, or Barebone, family were exceedingly creative when it came to names. Praisegod was christened “Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barebone” and Nicholas Barbon’s middle name was “If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned”.

Another loyal reader, a fellow Red Sox fan, also challenged me to be fair and give some air time to the Dodgers: “Artful Dodger, Dickens…should be right up your alley”, was the comment. A very fair point and I will have to look at rising to that challenge.