The Chatterton Manuscript Project
(C8 + C811 + C812)
C811
1st June 1770 - 25 August 1770
Chatterton in Brooke Street
Lodging with Mrs Angel
Age 17, (he won't reach 18)
Mr's Angel's House ?
4 Brooke Street (1825/30)
(John Wykeham Archer)
Meyerstein's, A Life of Chatterton
Image dated 1825
Illustrated London News
1857
Chatterton has moved from the restrictions and lack of privacy of Shoreditch, to his own attic room at Broke St, Holborn, London. He can now control what his family in Bristol might be told about his situation - nobody can belie him now, but he has just 12 weeks and 1 day to live.
Brooke Street, it is said, was a somewhat sleazy and run-down area but now, at last, Chatterton had the privacy he craved. The privacy he needed to put pen to paper and bring to light the works filling his head - that's how I see it - for what it's worth!
It is not known on what date Chatterton moved to Holborn, but I have selected June 1st as his first day, based on the following: his letter to his mother dated the 14th May, states 'Direct for me, at Mr. Walmsley's, at Shoreditch - only, so at that point in time he had no plans to be anywhere else; The Death of Nicou, was dated Brooke-Street, 12th June - so a date in-between the two dates seems reasonable enough.
So, Chatterton is now in Brooke Street, but which house did he actually live in?
It has been claimed to be number 4, however, in a magazine 'The Train,' dated 1858, a writer demolishes Masson's 1856 essay, 'Chatterton: A story of the Year 1770,' and states that the house was actually number 39. It took Masson until 1874 to publish his Chatterton essay as a stand alone book, where he corrects his errors, 'Chatterton: A Story of the Year 1770.'
A letter from Moy Thomas, in the Athenaeum, December 1857, settles it.
The British Museum has a drawing by John Wykeham Archer, which dates to around 1825/30. He states the house to be No.4, and that Chatterton died in the garret (attic room) top left of the image. The curator at the BM corrects this, stating that No. 39, on the opposite side of the road, is where Chatterton lived and died
Nothing remains of the house in Brooke Street, so it hardly matters which house it was, apart from helping to determine the depth of research (if any) a particular editor has put into the production of his work but, it must be said, it is so much easier these days.
One of Chatterton's earliest works produced in Brooke Street. Part of Letter VI from A Hunter of Oddities, which appeared in the Town & Country Magazine June 1770.
It reminds me of an anecdote/story in the Town and Country magazine for 1769, about Samuel Derrick challenging someone to a duel.
(.QE!.) is currently working on this page
C812
Chatterton's Works
Brooke Street, Holborn
1 June 1770 - 25 August 1770
Authentic Works
39 While at Brooke Street
The Death of Nicou, An African Eclogue
1: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
Maria Friendless Letter
3: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
Exhibition of Sign Paintings at the West End of Town
4: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
Letters to Mary Chatterton 19 & 29 June 1770
5: Written 1770. Pub. 1803
Speech of Sir John de Beauchamp
6: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
The False Step, a Real History
7: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
To Miss B-sh, of Bristol
8: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
9: Written 1770. Pub. 1795
A Bacchanalian sung by Mr Reinhold
10: Written 1770. Pub. 1795?/1803
The Invitation to be sung by Mrs Barthelemoon....
11: Written 1770. Pub. 1795?/1803
A Bacchanalian
12: Written 1770. Pub. 1795?/1803
The Virgin's Choice
13: Written 1770. Pub. 1795?/1803
The Happy Pair
14: Written 1770. Pub. 1795?/1803
Betsy of the Hill
15: Written 1770. Pub. 1784/1795
A Burlesque Cantata
16: Written 1770. Pub. 1784
Burletta. The Woman of Spirit
17: Written 1770. Pub. 1784
To Thomas Cary, 1st July 1770
18: Written 1770. Pub. 1837/1842
Genuine Copy of a Letter from the Earl of C--d to the...
19: Written 1770. Pub. 1771
An Excelente Balade of Charitie
20: Written 1770. Pub. 1777/1803
Letter to Sarah Chatterton, 8 July 1770
21: Published 1780.
Letter to Mary Chatterton, 11 July 1770
22: Published 1780
Letter to Mary Chatterton 20 July 1770
23: Published 1780
The Art of Puffing by a Bookseller's Journeyman
24: Written 1770. Pub. 1783
Memoirs of a Sad Dog
25: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
An African Song
26: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
Menenius. To William Lord M--d
27: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
From George Catcott, 8 August 1770
28: Pub. 1930
To George Catcott, 12 August 1770
29: Pub. 1792/1803
The Happy Pair. A Tale
31: Written 1770. Pub. 1771
Gorthmund
32: Written 1770. Pub. 1770
Colin Instructed
33: Written 1770. Pub. 1784
To John Rudhall and Baster, n.d
34: Written 1770. Pub. 1803
Impromtu on the Immortality of the Soul
35: Written 1770. Pub. ????
To a Friend on his Intended Marriage
36: Written 1770. Pub. 1803
The Resignation
37: Written 1770. Pub. 1780
From an Unknown Girl, n.d. The Letter Paraphras'd
38: Written 1770. Pub. 1856 (letter) / 1933 (paraphrase).
To William Smith n.d.
39: Written 1770. Pub. 1803
Works of Doubtful Authenticity
28 While at Brooke Street
Anecdote of Lord Ch---d
40: Writ1770 - Published 1770 TP1150A
An Elegy on the Much Lamented Death
of William Beckford, Esq.
41: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1150
Anecdote on Judge Jeffries
42: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1151
Old Bailey Intelligence Extraordinary, for 1770
44: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1153
Ambulator's Exhibition
48: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1156
Atticus. To the Right Reverend the Lord Bishop of Bristol
49: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1157A
Catalogue of Pictures Every Day Exhibited
50: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1157B
Naked and Friendless to the World Expos'd
51: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1158
Letter 8 from a Hunter of Oddities
54: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1154A
The Last Verses Written by Chatterton
Letter 9 from a Hunter of Oddities
57: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1166
Letter 10 from a Hunter of Oddities
58: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1167
Adventures of a Star
59: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1168
Letter 11 from a Hunter of Oddities
60: Writ1770? - Published 1770 TP1171A
Letter 12 from a Hunter of Oddities
61: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1171B
One Hour after Marriage. A Tale
62: Writ 1770 - Published 1770 TP1172
1792 When that day of Death shall come
64: Writ 1770? - Published 1792 TP1174A
On a very Calm Sea
66: Writ Unknown date - Published 1971 TP1175A
Lines on Mrs. Haywood
67: Writ unknown date - Published 1815 TP175B
Works Wrongly Attributed
8 While at Brooke Street
Lost Works