John Laurens' London address
John lived in London for two stretches of time - after first arriving in England in 1771-2, and then when he returned from Geneva in 1774.
During the first period, he lived with Henry in Chelsea and then Fludyer Street in Westminster - a street that ran parallel to Downing Street and led directly onto St James's Park. It doesn't exist anymore.
When John returned to start his studies at Middle Temple, he moved in with Charles Bicknell and his family in Chancery Lane. Historically, it was rare to give more than just the family and street names when directing post, but I wanted to see if I could track down the exact location of Bicknell's house - and I think I've come pretty close!
After a considerable amount of digging, I found an insurance record for Charles Bicknell, giving his address as "opposite the Rolls Tavern" on Chancery Lane. The 'Rolls Tavern' is actually the Crown and Rolls Tavern, a popular meeting place for lawyers and debating societies in the late 18th century.
But of course, that address is also hard to come by. Here we have two clues.
The first is that further digging into insurance records seems to indicate that the tavern was at number 9 Chancery Lane - though that's not incredibly helpful, because there are several number 9s on the street.
The second is that taverns and public houses were often named after significant nearby landmarks - and indeed, the area towards the southern end of Chancery Lane, where it meets Fleet Street, is part of the Liberty of the Rolls district, which included the Chapel of the Rolls, and the Rolls Court and Gardens (all named after the fact that the court rolls, or legal records, were kept in storage there).
If we put this together, we do in fact find a number 9 backing on the Rolls Court, which might well have been the location of the Crown and Rolls Tavern. As for what would count as "opposite", that narrows it down to a few homes on Horwood's Plan of London:
None of the original buildings from the time period survive, but...
I'm taking the 🏳️🌈 as a sign!
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