James Gunter
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

James Gunter (25 July 1731 – 19 September 1819) was an English confectioner, market gardener and property developer who laid the foundations for what became one of the great residential estates in West London, developed by his descendants, the "Redcliffe Estate" and The Boltons in Little Chelsea and West Brompton.


Career

Gunter was taken into partnership in 1777 by Domenico Negri who had opened a confectioner's shop in
Berkeley Square Berkeley Square is a garden square in the West End of London. It is one of the best known of the many squares in London, located in Mayfair in the City of Westminster. It was laid out in the mid 18th century by the architect William Kent, ...
,
Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...
, in 1757 under the sign of the Pot and Pine Apple. In 1797 Gunter was living in
New Bond Street New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...
, Mayfair, when an incident occurred which showed his nature. A servant of his had stolen and pawned a silver ladle and other goods and was found guilty at the
Old Bailey The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales, commonly referred to as the Old Bailey after the street on which it stands, is a criminal court building in central London, one of several that house the Crown Court of England and Wales. The s ...
. Her defence was "Mr. Gunter has been a worthy master to me, I hope he will be favourable; he always behaved well to me" resulted in her receiving a fine of one shilling and six months in the House of Correction, while others convicted of similar crimes were sentenced to seven years transportation. By the early 1800s Gunter's confectioner's business in Berkeley Square was flourishing. The royal dukes frequented his shop. He had served them when they were children. Gunter was ordered in 1805 to organise the catering and confectionary for a magnificent five day visit when the Marquess of Buckingham entertained the
Prince of Wales Prince of Wales (, ; ) is a title traditionally given to the male heir apparent to the History of the English monarchy, English, and later, the British throne. The title originated with the Welsh rulers of Kingdom of Gwynedd, Gwynedd who, from ...
and the
Duke of Clarence Duke of Clarence was a substantive title created three times in the Peerage of England. The title Duke of Clarence and St Andrews has also been created in the Peerage of Great Britain, and Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Prince Leopold, Duke ...
at Stowe. Gunter's shop was mentioned in
the Epicure's Almanack ''The Epicure's Almanack; or, Calendar of Good Living'', was a guide to eating establishments in London, written by Ralph Rylance and published by Longman in 1815. Given the poor reception of the initial printing, there was no effort to pull toge ...
(1815) in terms, Elizabeth David describes as 'reserved': '''We could not, if we would, leave Berkeley Square without paying a tribute to the merit of Mr Gunter, as a cook, confectioner, and fruiterer, if not the first, as Goldsmith says of somebody else, in the very first line. Mr Gunger has had for many years the high honour of supplying the Royal Family with articles from his shop. Some of the Royal Dukes condescend occasionally to give Mr Gunter a call for the purpose of tasting his pines, as if in gratitude for the many sweet repasts furnished to them from Mr Gunter's shop during their juvenile days. Gunter decided to develop his own farms and
market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to s ...
s to grow fruit which supplied his shop with the materials needed for his confectioners and cooks. Strawberries, raspberries, red currants and apricots were grown in enormous quantities. The fruit was used fresh in ices and creams during the summer and preserved in jellies, syrups and jams for use in the winter. He first became involved in the
Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...
area - then a prime market garden area in the parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington - when he took a sub-lease of part of Home Field and Great Court Field from a local farmer in 1797. He bought the freehold of these properties in 1799. He also bought Earls Court Lodge which became the Gunters’ family home for 60 years. By 1799 he had also become sole proprietor of Gunter's Tea Shop which became one of the most fashionable Mayfair meeting places. Earls Court Lodge, Gunter's family house in Earl's Court, where fruit jellies were a highlight of their ball suppers, was known by children at a neighbouring mansion as 'currant jelly hall'. In 1805 Gunter purchased some land where Coleherne Road and Redcliffe Square are now situated. By 1807 Gunter had also bought from speculative builder Thomas Smith some land in Great Court Field and the Home Field land. He also bought a large plot from William Boulton where in 1850 his son Robert I Gunter commenced the building of The Boltons, an exclusive residential area still in existence. He was unsuccessful in his bid to buy some land that would have connected his other plots to The Boltons area but carried on acquiring land on a piecemeal basis with more land at Redcliffe Square and the Boltons and in 1812 bought land between the Boltons and
Fulham Road Fulham Road is a street in London, England, which comprises the A304 and part of the A308. Overview Fulham Road ( the A219) runs from Putney Bridge as "Fulham High Street" and then eastward to Fulham Broadway, in the London Borough of Hamm ...
. He started building villas on his property between 1808 and 1810 around Earls Court Road and
Old Brompton Road Old Brompton Road is a major street in the South Kensington district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. It starts from South Kensington tube station, South Kensington Underground station and runs south-west, through a ma ...
, although these were subsequently demolished in later developments.


Marriage and children

Gunter had four daughters (Anne, Caroline, Elizabeth Negri, and Charlotte) and a son: *Robert I Gunter (d.1852), to whom he bequeathed his estate in
tail male In English common law, fee tail or entail is a form of trust, established by deed or settlement, that restricts the sale or inheritance of an estate in real property and prevents that property from being sold, devised by will, or otherwise ali ...
. Robert purchased further land and in 1850 began building the exclusive residential area now known as "The Boltons". He married Fanny Thompson, by whom he had two sons, who further developed the "Redcliffe Estate", including Redcliffe Gardens (east side), Redcliffe Square, Tregunter Road (apparently suggesting a Cornish or Welsh origin to the family name) etc.: ** Sir Robert Gunter, 1st Baronet (1831–1905), eldest son and heir to his grandfather under the entail. He was an officer in the Dragoon Guards and fought in the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
, and was later a Member of Parliament. He voluntarily shared his inherited lands with his younger brother and developed the property extensively particularly after the arrival of the
District Railway The Metropolitan District Railway, also known as the District Railway, was a passenger railway that served London, England, from 1868 to 1933. Established in 1864 to complete an " inner circle" of lines connecting railway termini in London, the ...
at West Brompton. ''The Gunter estate'', Survey of London: volume 42: Kensington Square to Earl's Court (1986), pp. 196-214. Date accessed: 12 October 2010
/ref> Having resided at Earl's Court Place, an old mansion on his estate (since demolished) he moved to Wetherby Grange in Yorkshire in 1857. **James II Gunter (born 1833), Dragoon Guards, fought in the
Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
, inherited further land from his father, which together with his brother he developed as the Redcliffe Estate .


Death and burial

Gunter died at Worthing, Sussex in 1819, following a fit of
apoplexy Apoplexy () refers to the rupture of an internal organ and the associated symptoms. Informally or metaphorically, the term ''apoplexy'' is associated with being furious, especially as "apoplectic". Historically, it described what is now known as a ...
, and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary Abbots, Kensington.


See also

*
Pettiward Estate The Pettiward Estate is a privately owned set of reversion (law), reversions in the far edge of two inner boroughs of south-west London, England, now owned by a family trust of the family, who were from 1794 until 1935 of Finborough Hall, Suffolk. ...
, adjoining the Redcliffe Estate to the west.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunter, James 1731 births 1819 deaths Businesspeople in confectionery English businesspeople
James James may refer to: People * James (given name) * James (surname) * James (musician), aka Faruq Mahfuz Anam James, (born 1964), Bollywood musician * James, brother of Jesus * King James (disambiguation), various kings named James * Prince Ja ...
Gardeners