Jermyn Street - History

History

Jermyn Street was created by and named after Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, as part of his development of the St James's area of London, around the year 1664. The Duke of Marlborough lived there when he was Colonel Churchill, as did Isaac Newton (at number 88, from 1696-1700 and then moving next door to number 86, from 1700 to 1710, during his time working in London as Warden of the Royal Mint), the mid-18th century highwayman and apothecary William Plunkett, the Duchess of Richmond, the Countess of Northumberland and the artist Sherwin (in whose rooms in 1782 the actress Sarah Siddons sat for him for her portrait as the Tragic Muse).

The Gun Tavern was one of the great resorts for foreigners of revolutionary tastes during the end of the 18th century, whilst Grenier's Hotel was patronised by French refugees. At the Brunswick Hotel, Louis Napoleon took up his residence under the assumed name of Count D'Arenberg on his escape from captivity in the fortress of Ham. Twentieth-century residents included the 1930s 'big band' singer Al Bowlly (killed in his flat on the street by a parachute mine during the Blitz of 1941).

Though he did not live there, a statue of Beau Brummell stands on Jermyn Street at its junction with Piccadilly Arcade, as embodying its elegant clothing values. Aleister Crowley lived in number 93, Jermyn Street.