London - Whitehall - Craig's Court

Most visitors will be well aware of the Queen’s current residence at Buckingham Palace.  Likewise it is common knowledge that the Tower of London served as an historic home to Royalty.  What is not so well known is that over the centuries monarchy have also resided at Westminster Palace, St James Palace, Somerset House, Kensington Palace, and Bridewell Palace.  A bit further away from the centre of London you also have Richmond Palace, Nonsuch Palace, Hampton Court, Eltham Palace, Kew Palace and Windsor Castle. 

Our tour today is taking us through the area once known as the Palace of Whitehall which served as the main Palace between 1530 to 1698.   You will be walking where the British Royals dined, slept, played, and ruled.  Here you would have seen King Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I, James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II and William & Mary.    Whitehall Palace became a huge sprawling thing covering 23 acres with over 1,500 rooms stretching from near Downing Street up to where we are now standing.    

In 1698 a great fire destroyed the palace and forced Royalty to move, and so began a new era when desirable town houses began to rise from the ashes of the palace.   

Here in Craig’s Court, located on the boundary of the Palace, was one of the town houses that arose after the fire.   Joseph Craig  (d.1711) built this court and lived in one of the homes.   A number of distinguished residents and businesses settled in this quiet yard:  

• ·         The Sun Fire Office had one of its main offices here (1726-1759).  They used the Sun symbol as its firemark, and metal ‘Fire Insurance’ sun  plaques were fixed to the front of properties of their customers.   The story is oft told that if their firemark was not displayed their private fire brigade would turn away and let the house burn.   While this may have happened they were more likely to extinguish the fire to prevent the threat to their own customer’s nearby properties and then charge other insurance companies if they put one of their fires out.    The Royal & Sun Alliance Group (RSA) are still insuring today.  
• ·         Charles Stanhope, 3^rd Earl Harrington (1753-1829) fought alongside General John Burgoyne in the American Revolutionary War whose surrender in 1777 was a turning point in the war.  Harrington moved into Craig’s court around 1780.  His son, the 4^th Earl (1780-1851), was born here and became a Regency trendsetter whose fashion sense was copied by many including royalty.  He was rarely seen before 6 pm, had a room full of different teas, owned 365 snuff boxes, groomed a small, pointy beard, and would probably be described today as a bit camp.    
• ·         Cox’s, the bankers to the British Army, had offices in Craig’s Court.  The bank was founded by Richard Cox (1718-1803) who was appointed as agent to the Foot Guards.  He was responsible for organising clothing, housing, weapons, and wages.   In 1765 he teamed up with Henry Drummond and by 1795 they were banking and arranging for 95 regiments of cavalry, infantry and militia.   The banking side of the business was taken over by Lloyds TSB (1923), and the travel side by Cox and Kings (1970). 
• ·         In 1925 the Postmaster-General arrived in the court.  William Mitchell-Thomson, 1^st Baron Selsden (1877-1938) was one of a long line of postmasters who had served in this position since 1517.   Between 1925 and 1928, under his leadership, the Post Office sunk huge investment into the creation of a telephone network.  Telephone Exchanges, like the one Selsden created in Craig Court, allowed customers to call directly without having to go through an operator.   Other services soon appeared including the Speaking Clock, 999 Emergency services and the iconic red telephone boxes.

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But this particular telephone exchange was a cut above the rest - it had to keep government communicating, so there is a lot more to this spot than meets the eye.    As we proceed through Whitehall we only see what is on street level, but beneath our feet is a whole maze of rooms and tunnels capable of holding thousands of people – many still guarded in secrecy for security reasons.  There are tunnels and rumours of tunnels – lots of conspiracy theories abound.    This telephone exchange was an essential hub providing vital communication links between government departments.   

During World War Two a 12 foot wide tunnel was dug deep in the ground to run from here to create a main thoroughfare right through to near Parliament Square and is referred to as ‘Q’, ‘Q Whitehall’ or ‘Post Office Scheme 2845.

More details about the people, places and events associated with these sites can be found on the tour London - Whitehall  available on   www.obelisktours.co.uk