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completed by 1781. It is perhaps not unnatural that a soldier as
famous as General Gordon of Khartoum should have been born
at Woolwich Common in 1833. He was later christened at St.
Alfege's Church, near the Royal Naval College.
The commanding position held by Greenwich in the 17th
century, began to wane during the following century partly due to
the conversion of the Palace into a hospital which induced many
of the fashionable people to leave the area. Moreover, it was in
an atmosphere of violence and unscrupulous intrigue that George I,
who began the Hanoverian dynasty, landed at Greenwich in 1714
and held his first reception at the Queen's House. Nevertheless,
although the Court was no longer in permanent residence and
Blackheath was still plagued with highwaymen and footpads, its
position continued to appeal to influential people of the times
who still frequented Greenwich or lived in the fine buildings in its
environs. Lord Chesterfield, friend of Voltaire and Pope, lived
and wrote many of his celebrated "Letters" to his son at the
Rangers House. Adjoining was McCartney House, the home of
General Wolfe—Angerstein, father of "Lloyds" of London, whose
paintings became the foundation of the National Portrait Gallery,
resided at the "Woodlands". Sir John Morden, the founder of
Morden College, a delightful Wren masterpiece, lived locally in a
handsome mansion at Wricklemarsh. Dr. Johnson, the lexicographer
and poet, who lodged locally, composed in and often
strolled the park with his biographer, James Boswell. Notable
occupants of other stately homes such as Charlton House (one of
the country's finest examples of Jacobean architecture), of Vanbrugh
Castle and Mince Pie House, (both erected by the designer
of Blenheim Palace and the Mansion House), and of the Manor
Houses at Crooms Hill and East and West Combe (the latter being
the home of the Dowager Duchess of Bolton—the "Polly Peachum"
of the "Beggar's Opera", and East-Combe, the residence of the
Duchess of Athol), gave evidence of the continued popularity of
Greenwich.
Within its boundaries Greenwich had two traditional fairs.
Granted to Charlton by Henry III at the same time as sanction for
its market received Royal Assent, Horn Fair was held on St.
Luke's Day, October 18th, when horn trinkets of all kinds were
sold and where a carnival of the most restrained kind was included.
However, over the years the procession became more ribald and
the crowds so disorderly that it was ended by an Order in Council
dated March, 1872.
That Greenwich Fair held on 12th-14th May and 11th-13th
October was one of London's brightest attractions is emphasised
by the numerous clever skits and drawings which emanated from