large round baskets on their heads.  You would meet them along the road of a morning about seven, and again about three with a second picking, always on the trot, in gangs of as many as twenty.  The strawberries were packed in small tapering baskets called pottles, holding about two-thirds of a pint, and then in large baskets called rounds, containing seventy-two pottles; these rounds containing seventy-two pottles would sell at from twelve to sixty shillings, according to the season and quality of the fruit.  This was considered a very profitable industry as both pickers and the carriers were much better paid than the ordinary employees.  It was quite a harvest, and lasted from three weeks to a month.

The lying in state of the Duke of Wellington was held in the dining hall of Chelsea Hospital.  There was a raised platform at the west end beautifully draped in black velvet and white silk, with silver

cords and tassels.  The coffin was attended by four officers, generals, as chief mourners, and the gangway that the public passed along was lined with guardsmen.  During the ten days for which the body was on view the crowd was immense, and on about the third day there were two women trampled to death, and a great number injured, owing, it was supposed, to a number of artillerymen marching up in a body and trying to force their way through the crowd.  Steps were immediately taken to erect barricades, and police officers were stationed to regulate the crowd.  As it extended three parts of the way up Ebury Street, some had to wait from five to six hours, only a certain number being allowed to pass round at a time, and there were many taken out of the crowd that could not stand the crush and had fainted.

The Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race was best seen from Cheyne Walk as the course at that time was from Westminster to Putney, for that and all other leading races, and the race was considered a dead certainty for whichever boat got through Battersea Bridge first and had the Middlesex shore.

They used to have some tolerably good sailing matches for small boats off Chelsea Reach.  The course was from a boat moored opposite the “Adam and Eve,” turning round a boat moored off Lambeth

Palace, and back to the starting point.  Races were arranged to start at about three-quarter’s flood so that they would finish on the ebb of the tide.  They were small tubby-looking, half-decked boats, not above three tons, and would carry an immense amount of canvas, and when there was a breeze and the river was a little bit lumpy they would dance about merrily and were a very pretty sight.  They were generally sailed by the owners.

CHAPTER 6.—Public Gardens.

The first public garden that I recollect, long before Cremorne, was the Manor House in the King’s Road, between Little’s Nursery and Shawfield Street, where Radnor Street and the Commercial Tavern now stand.  It was a detached house with carriage drive in front, and grounds reaching to where the bottom of Radnor Street is.  It used to be occupied by one, Colonel Middleton, and in about 1836 it was taken by a man of the name of Smith, and turned into a tea and recreation garden, a sort of little Vauxhall with coloured lamps, statuary, shrubbery, winding path and fountain, with music and dancing.  Flexmar the clown, when a youth, was one of the regular visitors and would amuse the company with a break-down dance, and the great Mackney, the negro delineator and stump orator (I believe still on the music hall stage), as a youth was a very clever violinist, and would entertain the company by playing in almost any position and imitating almost any sound.  It was carried on only a few years, after which the owners built

the Commercial Tavern, with a large room behind, now Radnor Chapel.  The grounds were laid out for builders, and Radnor Street was built, leaving the old Manor House standing at the corner in the King’s Road.  It was then turned into the Chelsea Literary and Scientific Institution, and so continued until removed to the Chelsea Town Hall.  It struggled on for a few years and then came to grief.

Cremorne.—The first I recollect of Cremorne was a man known as Baron de Barranger, who used to ride about in grey military uniform with his two sons, tall, military-looking men.  They carried on a sort of livery stable and tavern at Cremorne House, by the river, and called it the Stadium Canteen.  It was on a road by the river, leading from the bottom of Cremorne Lane past Cremorne and Ashburton House and the cottage to the Lammas Lands, known as the Lots meadows, some eight or ten acres in extent, which was sold by the parish for about three or four hundred pounds.  There was, even in De Barranger’s time, some entertainment at Cremorne, for in the meadow known as Cremorne Meadow on the opposite side of the King’s Road, a fair was held, and at Cremorne ground some pony races and a horse and sporting-dog show, but the commencement of Cremorne as a place of public entertainment was in about 1839, under Baron

Nicholson, of the Garrick Head, in Bow Street.  This was where the “Judge and Jury” was held, with Baron Nicholson as the presiding judge, when counsel used to appear in wig and gown, and very remarkable mock trials were held, the evidence being of a broad and indecent character.  The partner of the Baron in organising the fete at Cremorne was a man of the name of Littlejohn.  It was extensively advertised by bands of music drawn about in stage coaches, and was called a “Thousand Guinea Fete.”  The entertainment lasted three days, and dancing, singing, music and drinking went on till the small hours of the morning.  This, I believe, was not a commercial success.

Two years after the place was opened by a Mr. Ellis, I think, a musical man connected with Drury Lane Theatre; regular entertainments were provided, and a band stand erected with a circular dancing platform round it, and a lot of alcoves and nooks for refreshments under the band stand and round the platform and in various parts of the gardens.  A pavilion for concerts was afterwards added.  Before these arrangements were made the dancing was in the long room of Cremorne House, which was turned into the supper room.  The House was kept open during the summer in a languishing sort of way till about 1848, when it

came to grief and was closed.  About 1849 it was purchased by a Mr. Simpson, I believe, a hotel keeper from near Covent Garden Theatre, and the whole thing was greatly improved and decorated and opened with some first-class music and popular artistes.  Two of the leading cornet players were engaged, Coney and Arbin, and a great amount of vigour and energy were thrown into its management, and from that time it became the most popular place of amusement and appeared to be vieing with Vauxhall Gardens, which were then on the wane of their popularity.  The land on the river front was taken in and converted into a pleasure garden, and a rustic bridge thrown across the road, connecting it with Cremorne proper, and river fetes were given, with fireworks and the assistance of steamboats.  An hotel was built on the river front, and a grand panorama of the Siege of Sebastopol, was shown with the assistance of some of the Foot Guards.  An accident happened by the falling of a platform and several were injured.  The balloon ascents were a great feature by Lieutenant Gale, Adam, and Coxwell taking up acrobats who performed on the trapeze