Person:James Bush (9)

Came from Bristol where he was a Burgess (freeman) of the City, who later became a prosperous builder in Kentish Town, then a village in Middlesex; now a part of NW London. Such had been his success in London, (including Kentish Town, Martylebone, St Pancras and Chick Lane, Holborn) that in his will he was able to leave all of his remaining eight children at least two properties each. He owned houses in Kingston upon Thames, Kentish Town, and Greek St in Soho; an inn in Soho; a building in Kentish Town called Southampton House, which was leased out as a school; and Bush Buildings.

Appearing in The Times, 12 September 1817 was the following

'JAMES BUSH the elder, late of Kentish town in the county of Middlesex, carpenter and builder, deceased. All persons having any claim or demand against the estate of the said James Bush are required forthwith to send an account and particulars thereof to Messrs Fisher and Sudlow, Holborn"

Email from Anthony Bush 12 May 2004

I went to Holborn Library recently to do a little research into Bush's Buildings (more of which later) and came across two books by Gillian Tindall that give a good feel for Kentish Town at the time James Bush lived there. (One is simply entitled Kentish Town and the other is called The Fields Beneath).

I also looked at what is called The Kentish Town Panorama, a series of sketches presented on a panel-by-panel basis that depict all the principal houses in Kentish Town at the end of the 18th century, although they were drawn from memory in the last seven years of the artist's life (1848 to1855). The artist, incidentally, was J. F. King, who was born in 1781 and was educated at Gordon House Academy. The Academy was only four houses away from James Bush, so it's possible that his children went to school there, too.

Anyhow, let me try to set the scene:

Kentish Town circa 1800 was, according to Tindall, "very rural but, in fact, on the verge of becoming a fashionable suburb, and gentlemen's residences were built there up to the 1830s". A picture to accompany this passage shows Kentish Town fronted by open pasture being grazed by cattle. The village itself is shown circled by trees with Highgate behind it perched on a hill about three fields away.

Another sign of Kentish Town's "growing fashionableness was the arrival of the Green Street Races in 1733". As it happens, James lived in Green Street and what became known as The Race Fields were on the other side of the road, north of him towards Highgate.

Green Street - part of which became known as The Grove - was referred to as "an elite enclave - an area of typical 18th century classicism. It continued to be the more select - and wealthiest - end of the village during the 18th century as it had been since Elizabethan times".

In 1868 part of Green Street - including James' house and, as far as I can see, Bush's Buildings - was swept away, having been bought for an expansion of the Tottenham and Hampstead Railway Junction.

This is very sad for us but I have been able to pinpoint where James' land was and that of his neighbours. Today, their enclave consists partially of Gordon House Road (named after the Academy); Mortimer Terrace (named after the farmer who lived next door to James); Wesleyan Place (named after the chapel that stood one beyond Mortimer's Farm); and Carrol Place (which is exactly where James' house, Bush Buildings and some of his remaining land would have stood). Why is wasn't called Bush Place is a puzzle as the other names have been kept and Bush's Buildings show up so clearly on a map of the area right up to, and slightly beyond, the time the railway bought the land. In fact, a map of 1869 bothers to show only six places by name: Bush's Buildings, Mortimer Terrace, Wesleyan Place, Little Green Street, Pleasant Row and Highgate Road.

Another point of interest is the siting of the enclave, which shows it to be right on the edge of Hampstead; in fact, the Parliament Hill end of the Heath jig-saws into Gordon House Road. So, clearly, it was on the very extremity of Kentish Town.

Anyway, back to the 18th century. With the help of the Panorama and Tindell's book, it is possible to "get to know" James' neighbours. They were:

No 39 (James was 38): Richard Mortimer, a farmer. (In 1986, it was discovered that some old sheds still being used by the railways were part of his outbuildings).

No 40: Small Wesleyan Chapel (removed to Gloucester Place in 1828).

No 41: Squire Brailsford's house.

Then (no further numbers given): Gordon House Academy. The first owner was a Mr Cooper, who "died suddenly of apoplexy in the year 1788 while sitting at his desk giving lessons to his pupils". His successor was Andrew Mensal, who called it Gordon House because he was a kinsman of the Duke of Gordon. His grandfather, John Mensal, fought at Culloden. (The school continued until 1895, when it became the home of a doctor.)

Next door: This was to have been the Emmanuel Hospital, but, in James' time, was known as The Ruins because the building had been destroyed by fire and the site wasn't cleared for 30 years. It was burnt to the ground in 1779, just before it was opened. A Mr Lowe, who managed the project and had raised £4,000 in subscriptions, was suspected of arson in that he had the building insured with the (wonderfully-named!) Bird-in-the-Hand Company. Lowe was arrested and poisoned himself while awaiting trial.

Next door: The Seat of G. Rose and formerly occupied by J. Suckling, uncle of Lord Nelson.

Next door: Another Family Seat (no name given).

Next door: Miss Hanwell's Establishment for Young Ladies.

Next door: A "Gentleman's Seat delightfully situated commanding a most picturesque view over Hampstead".

Next door: The Gothic, occupied by Sir James Williams.

Another prominent resident of the time who lived nearby (but not in Green Street itself) was Sir Francis Burdett, who, in his last panel of the Panorama, King has riding into Green Street from Highgate, where he had been visiting his father-in-law, the Queen's banker Thomas Coutts, who lived between Kentish Town and Highgate. Later, Sir Francis' daughter, Baroness Burdett-Coutts, inherited the Coutts estate.

Now to Bush's Building's: at first, I made a snap assessment and assumed (because of some rather convoluted wording in an 1804 Rate Book) that they comprised all the houses in Little Green Street. Then, when I got home and consulted James' will, I realised that they had to be behind his land at No 38. Then I became terribly confused about references to Green Street, Great Green Street and Little Green Street. All this resolved itself, when I suddenly realised that, after Little Green Street had been built, people referred to Green Street as Great Green Street to distinguish it from Little Green Street.

In other words, it made all the difference understanding that, in effect, there never was a Great Green Street.

So I made a second trip to the library and looked at the map of 1869, which made everything quite clear. James, according to the scale of the Panorama, had as much land as "Farmer" Mortimer and he built Bush's Buildings (as they are clearly referred to on the map) behind the main building shown on the Panorama. They were a mix of houses (five or six), tenements (defined as buildings divided into sets of apartments) and messuages (defined as dwellings and offices together with adjoining lands appropriate to the households).

It's also interesting to note that "Farmer" Mortimer was busy building along the back of his land as well and the 1869 map shows the houses that made up Mortimer Terrace.

Finally, are some details about Southampton House, owned by George and Eleanor Bush. It had crossed my mind that James might have built it but the builder (in 1820) was James Patterson. It was the first building in Kentish Town on the west of Highgate Road, just north of "the railway bridge".

According to Tindall, "It was managed as a school from 1828 by the Rev John Bickerdyke, who advertised that the first two wishes for his pupils were 'the fear of God and bodily health'. He charged a basic 24 guineas per annum. An extra 4 guineas was charged for drawing, engineering, architecture and surveying - but there was no charge for washing (!).

"The building suffered badly in status with the coming of the railway but was rescued from dereliction by Camden Council in the 1970s. Today, it still stands and has been considerably smartened up."

In 1811 London Directory, James BUSH Esq was living at 16 Montague Pl, Russel Square.

Will of James Bush , Carpenter and Builder of Pancras , Middlesex proved 19 May 1817 Pob 11/1592, Records of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. Beneficiaries were Thomas Bush, James Bush (the younger), George Bush, John Bush, Charles Bush, Edmund Bush, Sarah Lloyd, Elizth Blake, Elinor Mansell

1. ↑ Parish Records.
2. ↑ Will.
3. ↑ Jonathon Bush.