Doughty Street
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Doughty Street is a broad tree-lined street in the King's Cross district of the
London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...
. The southern part is a continuation of the short John Street, which comes off
Theobald's Road Theobalds Road is a road in the Holborn district of London. It is named after Theobalds Palace because King James I used this route when going between there and London, travelling with his court and baggage of some 200 carts. For this reason, ...
. The northern part crosses
Guilford Street Guilford Street is a road in Bloomsbury in central London, England, designated the B502. From Russell Square it extends east-northeast to Gray's Inn Road. Note that it is not spelt the same way as Guildford in Surrey. It is, in fact, named after ...
and ends at
Mecklenburgh Square Mecklenburgh Square is a Grade II listed square in Bloomsbury, London. The square and its garden were part of the Foundling Estate, a residential development of 1792–1825 on fields surrounding and owned by the Foundling Hospital. The square was ...
. The street is named after a landlord of the area at the time it was built, Henry Doughty.


History

The street contains mainly grade II listed
Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
houses built between 1790 and the 1840s. Many of the houses have been converted into offices and are popular with companies in the legal profession and the media. In the last few years, many of these have been converted back to family homes. In the nineteenth century, it was an exclusive residential street and had gates at either end to restrict entry and these were manned by porters. "It was a broad, airy, wholesome street – none of your common thoroughfares, to be rattled through by vulgar cabs and earth-shaking Pickford's vans; but a self-included property, with a gate at each end, and a lodge with a porter in a gold-laced hat and the Doughty arms on the buttons of his mulberry coat, to prevent any one, except with a mission to one of the houses, from, intruding on the exclusive territory." The
London Post Office Railway The Post Office Railway, is a narrow gauge, driverless underground railway in London that was built by the Post Office with assistance from the Underground Electric Railways Company of London, to transport mail between sorting offices. Inspire ...
passes underneath the street, but is now disused.


Notable occupants

*A notable resident of Doughty Street was
Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
. On 25 March 1837, Dickens moved with
his family ''His Family'' is a novel by Ernest Poole published in 1917 about the life of a New York widower and his three daughters in the 1910s. It received the first Pulitzer Prize for the Novel in 1918. Plot introduction ''His Family'' tells the story of ...
into No. 48 (on which he had a three-year lease at £80 a year) where he would remain until December 1839. He wrote '' Oliver Twist'' in the house. His sister-in-law, Mary Hogarth died here. This address is now a grade I listed building and has housed the
Charles Dickens Museum The Charles Dickens Museum is an author's house museum at 48 Doughty Street in King's Cross, in the London Borough of Camden. It occupies a typical Georgian terraced house which was Charles Dickens's home from 25 March 1837 (a year after h ...
since 1925. * Novelist and dramatist, and friend of Charles Dickens,
Edmund Yates Edmund Hodgson Yates (3 July 183120 May 1894) was a British journalist, novelist and dramatist. Early life He was born in Edinburgh to the actor and theatre manager Frederick Henry Yates and was educated at Highgate School in London from 1840 t ...
lived at No. 43 in the 1850s and recorded memories of the house and street in his memoirs. *Authors
Vera Brittain Vera Mary Brittain (29 December 1893 – 29 March 1970) was an English Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) nurse, writer, feminist, socialist and pacifist. Her best-selling 1933 memoir '' Testament of Youth'' recounted her experiences during the Fir ...
and
Winifred Holtby Winifred Holtby (23 June 1898 – 29 September 1935) was an English novelist and journalist, now best known for her novel '' South Riding'', which was posthumously published in 1936. Biography Holtby was born to a prosperous farming family in ...
shared a flat at No. 58 in the 1920s and earlier
Sydney Smith Sydney Smith (3 June 1771 – 22 February 1845) was an English wit, writer, and Anglican cleric. Early life and education Born in Woodford, Essex, England, Smith was the son of merchant Robert Smith (1739–1827) and Maria Olier (1750–1801) ...
lived at No. 14. *The poet
Charlotte Mew Charlotte Mary Mew (15 November 1869 – 24 March 1928) was an English poet whose work spans the eras of Victorian poetry and Modernism. Early life and education Mew was born in Bloomsbury, London, daughter of the architect Frederick Mew (1 ...
was born at No. 30 in 1869 and lived there until 1890. *The novelist and writer E. M. Delafield occupied a flat on the street, and it serves as the setting for several entries in her pseudo-autobiographical works 'The Provincial Lady Goes Further' and 'The Provincial Lady in America'. *
Doughty Street Chambers Doughty Street Chambers is a British set of barristers' chambers situated in Bristol, Manchester and London's Doughty Street, undertaking criminal justice, public law, immigration, employment, human rights and civil liberties work. Doughty Str ...
(No.10-11 & 53–54). This prominent Human Rights Chambers have occupied property on the street since opening its doors for business for the first time in 1990. Starting with only 30 members, they now have 100 barristers. *''
The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...
'', a conservative magazine was based at No. 56 for many years until moving to new premises. *
18 Doughty Street ''18 Doughty Street'' was a British internet-based political broadcaster that hosted a webcast as its chief product. It began broadcasting at 18:55 on 10 October 2006, from its studio at 18 Doughty Street in the Bloomsbury area of London, and ce ...
(Doughty Media Ltd.), a conservative internet site. * Sir
Travers Humphreys Sir Richard Somers Travers Christmas Humphreys (4 August 1867 – 20 February 1956) was a noted British barrister and judge who, during a sixty-year legal career, was involved in the cases of Oscar Wilde and the murderers Hawley Harvey Crippen, ...
, the eminent judge, was born here in 1867. *The
British Thoracic Society The British Thoracic Society (BTS) was formed in 1982 by the amalgamation of the British Thoracic Association and the Thoracic Society. It is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. Function The society's main charitable objecti ...
, a medical professional body are at No. 17. *The UK office of the US educational charity the
Fulbright Commission The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...
is based at No. 62. * The literary agency, Sheil Land Associates, is based at No. 52, having previously been based at No. 43. Their post is often still delivered to their old address.


References

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