II. REBUILDING AFTER
THE GREAT FIRE, 1666–88
In September 1666 old Derby House perished in the Great Fire of London,
but a petition made by the heralds in 1670 says that the records, rolls and
books were by the diligence of some of the petitioners rescued and preserved. (fn. 1) It is supposed they were taken to Westminster by water. On
25 January 1667 a notice appeared in the Gazette that the heralds' office was
kept in a room in the Palace of Westminster, near the Court of Requests,
formerly called the Queen's Court. Stephen Martin Leake, Garter (d. 1773),
tells us that a seventeenth-century painting on panel of John Talbot, first
Earl of Shrewsbury (d. 1453), which has hung in the College at least since
the early eighteenth century, once hung in Old St Paul's against a pillar over
a monumental inscription to Margaret, this Earl's Countess. (fn. 2) It is therefore
thought that a herald may have saved it at the time of the fire.
On 3 February 1668 (fn. 3) Chester was asked by the chapter to draft a petition
for the rebuilding of the office. The matter was much discussed in the
ensuing two years and a petition actually presented to the Crown on
7 December 1670. On 19 November 1669 Sir Thomas St George, Somerset,
Henry Dethick, Rouge Croix, and Francis Sandford, Rouge Dragon, were
requested to go to the old office and consider the building up of the wall on
the south side thereof and to report their opinions at the next chapter. (fn. 4) On
5 November 1670 it was agreed that Mr Sandford should confer with
Mr Emott, a bricklayer, about building the old office and that certain debts
he owed the College should be remitted 'in consideration of his pains taken
at the funeral of the late Duke of Albemarle (fn. 5) and preparing a model of the
new office'. (fn. 6) The 'Mr Emott' here mentioned is better known as Morris
(or Maurice) Emmett. Born probably in 1646, he seems to have been the
son of another Morris Emmett. (fn. 7) He was engaged on two City churches
soon after 1670 and in 1677 had been appointed Master Bricklayer in the
Office of Works. In this capacity he was employed at Chelsea Hospital from
1682, at Winchester Palace in 1683–4, at Windsor in 1685–6, at Whitehall
in 1685–7 and at Kensington Palace in 1689–90. At Hampton Court, in
1689, he was involved in the collapse of some piers when, in the subsequent
inquiry, Sir Christopher Wren declared himself 'very ill used' by Emmett.
He died in November 1694 and was buried in St Margaret's, Westminster,
where there is an enriched white marble tablet, with armorial bearings, to
his memory. His will shows him to have been possessed of considerable
house-property in and around Jermyn Street and in the City, while he had
built himself a house in Cannon Row, Westminster.
Morris Emmett had an elder brother, William, whose career was somewhat similar. Born in 1645, he became a joiner and carver, succeeding his
uncle, Henry Phillips, according to Vertue, in the office of Carver to the
King, probably erroneous (see H. M. Colvin, Biog. Dic. of British Architects,
p. 196). He worked on many of the City churches, at Chelsea, in the royal
palaces and made and carved the oak reredos at the Temple Church. Both
Morris and William, as well as Morris junior, presumably a son of the elder
Morris and, like him, a bricklayer, played an important part in the building
of the College, and as master craftsmen were not only capable of discharging
the functions of the modern architect, but seem literally to have done so
here. The fact that Thomas Lee, Chester Herald, signs a letter to Emmett
on 31 May 1674, 'Your affectionate friend' shows the cordial relations
between them. On 14 July 1687 the Emmett pedigree was entered at the
Heralds' Visitation of London and shows William then aged 42 and Morris,
'his Majestie's bricklayer', aged 33 [sic].
It was reckoned that to build according to Sandford's model would cost
at least £5000. According to an estimate presented at a chapter held on
22 April 1671 the first stage of the work, comprising foundations and a
section of the building which would house the records, would cost £600.
Thomas Lee, Chester, proposed that various fees due to the officers amounting
to £350 should be put towards the work and this first stage put in hand. Since
even so there would be a deficit and no further funds were in sight, there
was room for two opinions on the advisability of this. Sir Edward Walker,
Garter, was for delay, but Lee and Sandford, with Henry St George, Richmond (whom Walker called the triumvirate), were for pressing on. At an
unofficial meeting held later on the chapter day Walker was persuaded to
agree. Lee and Sandford asked Emmett to dinner and they agreed 'about
the building an Office'. On Wednesday, 26 April, Emmett therefore began
the work and on the Friday Sandford told Walker, who asked why they
were so hasty to begin in the holidays and was answered, 'Because you
should not hinder it'. Walker passionately said he would go at once and
forbid the workmen, but on second thoughts did not and going the next
day found the workmen digging a new foundation where formerly there
was a garden. Walker's opposition, however, continued, and as late as 1674
he complained that, though he had himself given £70 towards the building
and procured subscriptions of £380 more, 'to gratify the Triumvirate,
Mr Lee, Mr St George and Mr Sandford, two heralds and a Pursuivant, the
Earl Marshall has assigned them the lodgings there and since built, and hath
given Garter, Clarenceux and Norroy, three Kings of Arms, four heralds
and three pursuivants, lodgings in a Paper Designe'. (fn. 8)
The history of the new building continues with a royal commission, dated
6 December 1671, authorizing the heralds and pursuivants to take and receive
subscriptions for the rebuilding from the nobility and gentry. The same
commission appoints Henry Dethick, Rouge Croix, and John Gibbon,
Bluemantle, as collectors and commands them to pay all moneys received
to the two treasurers. Five parchment rolls record the names of subscribers
or of some of those who were approached, as follows:
1. 1672. The Names of the Nobility (besides those of his Matys most honoble Privy
Councill) whom I Edward Walker Knt. Garter Principall King of Armees have undertaken humbly to attend for for their subscriptions etc. There are forty names, twenty of
which are marked as having subscribed (most £10: the Duke of Albemarle £30,
two others £20). The dates are all in April and May.
2. A list of Subscriptions made by the Nobility of England of their voluntary Benevolence towards the rebuilding the Colledge of Armes in London consumed by the late Fire...
Taken by F. Sandford, Rouge Dragon. Two names only, dated March and April
1672.
3. 12 Maii 1675. A list of Subscriptions Made by the most Reverend the Lords ArchBishops, the Right Reverend, the Lords Bishops &c. of their Voluntary Benevolence,
towards Rebuilding the Colledge of Armes in London etc. There are twenty-eight names,
with subscriptions against twelve of them (all £10 except the Archbishop of
Canterbury, £30).
4. The Subscriptions of ye Right Honble. the Lord Mayor, & yt. honble. the Aldermen of the Citty of London towards the Rebuilding of yt. Colledge of Armes etc. Twentyfive names but only three have subscriptions against them. The first two are dated
1677 and 1676.
5. A list of Subscriptions made by the Baronets, Knights of the Bath and Knights of
England and Wales...taken by Francis Sandford, Rouge Dragon, 1672. Sixteen names
with subscriptions between £5 and £20, all dated apparently between April 1672
and June 1673.
Besides these rolls, the names of the benefactors, their arms and pedigrees
were registered in vellum books in a particularly handsome style as a mark
of the gratitude of the College. Two such benefactors' books were completed
and still exist in the College. (fn. 9) One dated 1673–8 represents subscriptions
totalling £206. 6s. 8d. procured by Elias Ashmole, Windsor Herald. The
second dated 1672–6 represents subscriptions totalling £509. 5s. 6d. procured
by Francis Sandford, Rouge Dragon.
It is clear from these books and rolls that a determined attempt to secure
funds was made in the spring of 1672, but the heralds had already made a
beginning with their rebuilding. We learn this from a valuable report to the
Earl Marshal, made by Garter and Rouge Dragon in 1689 after a series of
complaints on the part of Mr May, Chester Herald, the executor and successor of Thomas Lee. This report recalls that after the Great Fire the officers
of arms contributed among themselves some £500 (fn. 10) and about the year 1670
built a new hall, library, a room for the Earl Marshal and eight other rooms
in one 'pile or upright' which formed the centre of the north range of the
quadrangle. This work must have taken some time for the hall was not
ceiled until February 1673, and the final payment for this 'first pile' was
not made to Morris Emmett until May 1675, although of course it may have
been completed some time before.
It has already been mentioned that the hall of the new College occupied
the opposite side of the quadrangle to that of Derby House, but the principal
entrance was retained on the west side, approached from St Benet's Hill
(Plates 4 and 5). The plans for the whole north and west ranges were already in
existence when they were formally approved in a warrant issued by the
Earl Marshal on 17 June 1673, dated from Arundel House, which directed
the completion of those parts of the College shown thereon but not yet
built. The plans are still preserved (Plates 30–34) attached to the warrant, and
the Earl Marshal states that he has viewed the work already done and orders
its continuance forthwith, appointing as overseers of the works and treasurers
of the funds: Henry St George alias Richmond, Thomas Lee alias Chester,
Heralds of Arms, and Francis Sandford alias Rouge Dragon, pursuivant. (fn. 11) Ten years, however, were to elapse before the contract for the west range
was put in hand.
Some indications of the progress of the work on the northern range can
be gleaned from the Chapter Book and the accounts. In February 1671
a workman was to be engaged in laying the foundations. In April 1672
Rouge Dragon was asked to reside in the College 'for the better putting
forward the work of rebuilding the said College and preserving the lead and
other materials from being imbezilled and for that end to make use of the
superstructures over the new erected office and the hall there', also that
'Rouge Croix make use of such part of the Hall or room intended for the
office for his present occasion'. In October 1672 it was ordered that Lancaster should 'have the present use of the two vacant rooms in the College
of Arms over the hall for placing some household goods until further order'.
The report of 1689 goes on to state that the north-east section (that is,
adjoining the east side of the office and hall and reaching St Peter's Hill)
was built by Thomas Lee, Chester Herald, by 1675, from 'contributions of
the nobility, etc.', and that it comprised five rooms which were to be shared
between him and Richmond Herald. We get frequent references to this work
in the accounts rendered by Francis Sandford, Thomas Lee and Henry
St George, which cover the period from May 1672 to January 1677, and
also to what is evidently the foundation work to the west range, including
the paving of the gate passages (19 May 1675).
The report next states that the north-west building (between the hall and
St Benet's Hill) was erected by Sir William Dugdale, Garter, apparently at
his own charge. (fn. 12) Sir William was appointed Garter in 1677, the year that
Thomas Lee, Chester Herald, died. The accounts for the work paid for by
Dugdale are in the hands of his descendant, Sir William Dugdale, Bt., by
whose kindness they have been made available in the preparation of this
monograph. There is a contract dated 18 May 1677 between 'Nathaniell
Hanwell Citizen and Carpenter of London' and 'Sr. William Dugdale Knt.
principall King att Armes'. The other tradesmen are represented only by
their accounts, but the receipts for certain interim payments to Morris
Emmett, the bricklayer, contain the rates at which he agrees to work, made
out in Dugdale's own handwriting, and there are certain estimates as well.
The names of the tradesmen have been inserted in square brackets in the
summary in Appendix I, by which it will be seen that he spent in all £300. 6s.
It was not until 1682 that the College was in a position to complete the
western range of which the foundations were already laid. The money was
to have been provided by Sir Edward Bysshe, Clarenceux, who was asked
to appoint deputies to make a visitation of the remaining counties in his
province and devote the profits, after taking one quarter for himself, towards
the building, in the proportion of a second quarter for his own lodgings and
the remaining half towards the general work. He first refused and then
agreed but died before any action had been taken. In 1680 his successor in
the office of Clarenceux, Sir Henry St George, (fn. 13) agreed to give the profits
of the visitations of six counties: Northampton, Rutland, Leicester, Warwick,
Gloucester and Worcester to be visited by such deputies as chapter should
recommend, towards the rebuilding. These visitations were made between
1681 and 1683 and the accounts for them are preserved at the College. (fn. 14)
The profits totalled £530 but another £50 was needed to pay the builders
and this was lent to the College by John Gibbon, Bluemantle. The contract
was undertaken by John Hodge 'my lord duke's carpenter' for £546, and
was signed on 5 February 1683. The roofs were tiled by September and the
whole completed by the end of the year.
The specification for this west range and the priced estimate are interesting
since they give us the first description of the form of the original building.
They are printed in Appendix 2 and will be referred to again when the
architecture of the College is described. The plan of the range apparently
followed fairly closely the arrangement shown in the plans attached to the
Earl Marshal's warrant of 17 June 1673, but the builders used their own
discretion in varying the thickness of the walls and the width of the range,
as can be seen by comparing the measured drawings of the present buildings
with the original draught. These 'warrant' plans, which are reproduced on
Plates 30–34, consist of five sheets of cartridge paper, marked respectively
'the cellars', 'the first story', 'the second story', 'the third story', and 'the
garretts'. Apart from a porter's lodge, the hall and the heralds' office,
the whole of the accommodation is distributed among the members of the
College, most of them having rooms on three or more floors and sharing
a staircase with their neighbours. Thus, Garter has the large basement room
under the hall and uses a staircase entered at the north-west corner of the
courtyard which brings him to the north-west room, adjoining the hall on
the ground floor ('first story'), two more rooms on the first ('second story'),
one each side of the stair, nothing on the second ('third story'), but a further
room on the third floor ('the garretts'), perhaps for a servant—five rooms
in all. Clarenceux and Norroy, similarly, have five rooms. The heralds have
either three or four rooms each, the pursuivants one. On the ground floor,
next to the hall, is an office (query library) and on the first floor is a room
for the Earl Marshal.
These plans, as has already been remarked, show only the north and west
ranges with the small return on the south of the latter. No elevations have
survived except two sketches for the external face of the west range, one to
a scale of rather under 8 feet to the inch and the other to a scale of something
less than 6 feet to the inch. The former is reproduced on Plate 35 and they
will be referred to under the architectural description (see pp. 29–31). Among
the College muniments are several diagrammatic plans showing the rearrangements made at various times, and one set purports to set forth the principles
on which the officers could choose their rooms while the College was
building. The assignment of rooms set out in the plans accompanying the
Earl Marshal's warrant of 17 June 1673 had to be revised by an order of
9 March 1682, since Garter had built the north-west corner of the College.
This new arrangement was signed on 2 November 1683 and following this
there were petitions and letters objecting to certain details which continued
until the final report of 14 June 1689.
The setting out of the grounds of the College was carried out by Mr Oliver,
the City Surveyor, in 1675, and he was paid his fee of 10s. on 29 August.
This was in accordance with the Fire decrees which made it obligatory on
all owners of property to obtain official verification of their sites as they
existed before the Fire. (fn. 15) It is not clear if there had been an earlier inspection,
which should have occurred before the north block was built. Discrepancies
were bound to occur and there is a memorandum on a sheet of plans showing
the arrangement of rooms in 1672; 'upon the measuring the Hospital ground
adjoyning next below the Heralds' Office on St Bennet's side, which by the
Hospital Survey book ought to be but 28 foot 3 Inches. There is to the outside
of the wall 16 inches and a half over above the 28 Foot 3 inches belonging
to the Hospitall which had it been a partition wall ought to have been but
9 Inches.' This hospital seems to have been the almshouse on the west side
of St Peter's Hill 'lately founded', says John Stow, 'by Daniel Smith,
Imbroderer, for 6 poore widowes, whereof each to have 20s. by the yeare'. (fn. 16)
The completion of the quadrangle can best be described in the minutes
of the Chapter Book of the College. On 1 December 1687 'Clarenceux
proposed a person who would take a lease of the upper ground of the office
yet unbuilt and build 3 houses thereon and level the court and make the
stone steps requisite and a new pair of great gates, etc. All which beside the
bldg. he esteems at £250 charge and this without charge to the office.' On
the 6th it was agreed that a draft of the proposals be made and that Mr Sandford, Lancaster Herald, be asked to assist.
An idea of the contemplated work can be obtained from a document
endorsed: 'Proposals for building the East End of the College of Arms, 1687'
(Appendix 3). The east range was to be built from Sir Henry St George's
lodgings (namely, the north-east angle of the quadrangle) as far as the almshouses, 'with a Return of 14 foot on the South side, answerable to the
Return at Sr John Dugdale's apartment' and 'a passage in the middle over
against the great gate of 4 foot wide'. This would be an entrance to St Peter's
Hill. The 'space on the south side unbuilt between the said 14 foot Return
and Sr John Dugdale's lodgings shall be a terrace walk level with the ground
floor of the Building already erected under which shall be a Vault'. This
space below ground was to be used as 'one or more houses of office for the
Society'. Between the two south return wings there was to be a wall 3 feet
higher than the terrace and 36 feet long, except for the gates in the centre
and such lights as were agreed for the vaults. This was in front of the terrace
but on the southern boundary there was to be a 'handsom brick wall as high
as the eves of the said Almshouses'. Further provision was made for levelling
the courtyard, new gates to the entrance, sewer and rainwater pipes, etc.
The Chapter Book records further discussion on 15 December of proposals
ascribed to Mr King, Rouge Dragon, and it was agreed that the officers
should meet Mr Beacham 'the stonecutter'. His Christian name was
Ephraim according to Anstis. (fn. 17) On 21 December Mr Beacham 'exhibited
2 drafts of an upright of the building intended.' He was apparently willing
to carry out the work on a payment of £20 and the grant to him of a
sixty-one-year lease at an annual ground-rent of 20s. if the plainer design of
the two was accepted, but he would want £60 for the other design which
followed the west front, with rubbed brick, pilasters, etc. It was agreed to
carry out this second design 'with the circular pediment, rubbed front and
pilasters'. The final terms were agreed at a meeting at the Horn Tavern,
with an allowance of £40, a sixty-one-year lease at 20s., a peppercorn for
the first year. The lease and articles were sealed and signed on 27 January
1688. There had evidently been an intention at one time to close the quadrangle with a complete range on the south side, since a draft plan of this survives,
but the final arrangement left a wide opening, with terrace and railings, a
rough sketch for which is among the papers. A sequel to the levelling of the
court and the terrace was the complaint of Sir John Dugdale, who occupied
the south-west building, that his kitchen and the vault under were darkened
and the privacy of his parlour impaired by the terrace (1 March 1688). (fn. 18)
On 3 May 1688 a new lease and articles 'touching the buildings now
erecting at the College' were drawn up, converting the original agreement
'into 3 distinct leases for the 3 tenements now erecting at the East side and
South east corner of the College of Arms, receiving 6s. 8d. yearly rent upon
each tenement'. These leases were sealed on 14 June 1688. John Anstis, in
his collections at the British Museum, (fn. 19) under this date, refers to this agreement. He evidently disapproved of the business side since he observes that
by this 'imprudent step the office not only precluded itself from an opportunity of receiving further benefactions towards its building, unless any
would be so generous (which could be wished) to contribute towards the
purchasing out the term now subsisting, but also from preventing the intention of some of the succeeding officers to enlarge their lodgings if there had
been any ground left for that purpose'.
Thus by 1688, twenty-two years after the Fire of London had destroyed
Derby House there had arisen, in the words of William Maitland, (fn. 20) 'one
uniform quadrangular building, as it now appears, and is one of the handsomest and best designed brick buildings in London. And (he adds) the
hollow arch of the gateway is esteemed a curiosity.'