A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Vauxhall Gardens

by William Henry Husk

VAUXHALL GARDENS. In 1615 one Jane Vaux, widow of John Vaux, was tenant, as a copyholder of the manor of Kennington, of a tenement situate near to the Thames. About 1660 this house, with the grounds attached to it, was opened as a place of public entertainment. The earliest mention of it as such is in Evelyn's Diary, under date July 2, 1661: 'I went to see the New Spring Garden at Lambeth, a pretty contrived plantation.' Pepys at later dates frequently mentions it, and from him we learn that there was an older place of the same name and description in the neighbourhood. On May 29, 1662, he says, 'With my wife and the two maids and the boy took boat and to Fox-hall.… To the old Spring Garden.… Thence to the new one, where I never was before, which much exceeds the other.' The musical entertainment appears to have been of the most primitive description. Pepys (May 28, 1667) says, 'By water to Fox-hall and there walked in Spring Garden.… But to hear the nightingale and other birds, and here fiddles, and there a harp, and here a Jew's trump [Jew's Harp], and here laughing and there fine people walking, is mighty diverting.' Addison, in 'The Spectator,' mentions the place as much resorted to. In 1730 Jonathan Tyers obtained a lease of it and opened it June 7, 1732, with an entertainment termed a 'Ridotto al fresco,' then a novelty in England, which was attended by about 400 persons. This became very attractive and was frequently repeated in that and following seasons, and the success attending it induced Tyers to open the Gardens in 1736 every evening during the summer. He erected a large covered orchestra, closed at the back and sides, with the front open to the Gardens, and engaged a good band. Along the sides of the quadrangle in which the orchestra stood were placed covered boxes, open at the front, in which the company could sit and sup or take refreshments. These boxes were adorned with paintings by Hayman from designs by Hogarth. There was also a rotunda in which the concert was given in bad weather. In 1737 an organ was erected in the orchestra in the Gardens, and James Worgan appointed organist. An organ concerto formed, for a long series of years, a prominent feature in the concerts. On the opening of the Gardens on May 1, 1738, Roubiliac's statue of Handel (expressly commissioned by Tyers), was first exhibited.^[1] In 1745 Arne was engaged as composer, and Mrs. Arne and Lowe as singers. In 1749 Tyers adroitly managed, by offering the loan of all his lanterns, lamps, etc., and the assistance of 30 of his servants at the display of fireworks in the Green Park on the rejoicings for the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, to obtain permission to have the music composed by Handel for that occasion publicly rehearsed at Vauxhall, prior to its performance in the Green Park. The rehearsal took place on Friday, April 21, by a band of 100 performers, before an audience of 12,000 persons admitted by 2s. 6d. tickets. The throng of carriages was so great that the traffic over London Bridge (then the only metropolitan road between Middlesex and Surrey) was stopped for nearly three hours. After Lowe quitted, Vernon was the principal tenor singer. On the death of Jonathan Tyers in 1767 he was succeeded in the management by his two sons, one of whom, Thomas, who had written the words of many songs for the Gardens, soon afterwards sold his interest in the place to his brother's family. In 1774 Hook was engaged as organist and composer, and held these appointments until 1820. [See Hook, James.] In his time the singers were Mrs. Martyr, Mrs. Wrighten, Mrs. Weichsell, Miss Poole (Mrs. Dickons), Miss Leary, Mrs. Mountain, Mrs. Bland (probably the most universally favourite female singer who ever appeared in the Gardens), Miss Tunstall, Miss Povey, Vernon, Incledon, Dignum, Charles Taylor, Collyer, Mahon, etc., etc. Parke, the oboist, was for many years the principal solo instrumentalist. On May 29, 1786, the Gardens were opened for the season, for the first time under the name of 'Vauxhall Gardens' (the old name of 'Spring Garden' having been continued up to that time), with a jubilee performance in commemoration of their first nightly opening by Tyers 50 years before. In 1798 fireworks were occasionally introduced, and afterwards became one of the permanent attractions of the place. The favour shown by the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV.), made the Gardens the resort of the fashionable world, and the galas given during the Regency, on the occasions and the anniversaries of the several victories over Napoleon, attracted immense numbers of persons. During that period the prosperity of the establishment culminated. In 1815 the celebrated performer on the tight rope, Madame Saqui appeared, and excited universal astonishment by her ascent on the rope to the summit of the firework tower (60 feet high), during the pyrotechnic display. She continued one of the principal attractions of the Gardens for many years. In 1818, the Gardens having become the property of the Rev. Dr. Jon. Tyers Barrett, who deemed the derival of an income from them inconsistent with his sacred calling, they were submitted to auction (on April 11), but bought in. In 1822 however they passed into the hands of Messrs. Bish, Gye, and Hughes. Great changes then took place in the character of the entertainments; and a theatre was erected, in which at first ballets, and afterwards vaudevilles, were performed. The concert however was retained as a leading feature, and in 1823 the singers were Miss Tunstall, Miss Noel, Miss Melville, Goulden, Collyer, Clark, and Master Longhurst. In 1826 Miss Stephens, Mme. Vestris, Braham, Sinclair, De Begnis, etc. were engaged. In 1827 horsemanship was introduced and a mimic representation of the Battle of Waterloo (which proved attractive for several seasons), given on the firework ground. Miss Graddon, T. Phillips, Horn, and Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam were the singers, and Blewitt, T. Cooke, and Horn the composers. In 1828 Blewitt, T. Cooke and R. Hughes were the composers, and Misses Helme, Knight and Coveney, Benson, Williams and Tinney the singers. In 1829 Rossini's 'Il Barbiere di Siviglia' was performed in the theatre by Miss Fanny Ayton, Mesdames Castelli and De Angioli, and Signori Torri, Giubilei, De Angioli and Pellegrini; the orchestral concert being supported by Misses Helme and P. Horton (now Mrs. German Reed), George Robinson, W. H. Williams, and George Smith; Blewitt and T. Cooke continuing as composers. In 1830 Bishop was placed at the head of the musical department, and continued so for 3 years. He produced during that period the vaudevilles of 'Under the Oak,' and 'Adelaide, or the Royal William,' 1830; 'The Magic Fan,' 'The Sedan Chair,' and 'The Battle of Champagne,' 1832, and many single songs, amongst which was the still popular ballad, 'My pretty Jane,' written for the sweet-toned alto voice of George Robinson. His singers included Miss Hughes and Mrs. Waylett. Balloon ascents formed a main feature of the attractions a few years later. As far back as 1802 Garnerin had made an ascent from the Gardens, but that was an isolated case. In 1835 Charles Green ascended and remained in the air all night. On Nov. 7, 1836, Green, Monck Mason, and Holland ascended in the large balloon, afterwards known as the 'Nassau,' and descended next morning near Coblentz, having travelled nearly 500 miles in 18 hours. In July, 1837, Green ascended, with Cocking attached in a parachute beneath the balloon, when the latter was killed in his descent by the failure of his machinery. The Gardens now rapidly declined. In 1840 an attempt was made to sell them, but they were bought in at £20,000. In 1843 they were under the management of Wardell; masquerades, frequented by the most disreputable classes of the community were given; matters grew worse and worse, until in 1855 they came into the hands of Edward Tyrrell Smith, and reached their lowest depth of degradation. The musical arrangements were beneath contempt; a platform for promiscuous dancing was laid down; and everything lowered in quality. They were not afterwards regularly opened, but speculators were forthcoming who ventured to give entertainments for a few nights in each year, 'for positively the last nights,' until 1859, when the theatre, orchestra, and all the fittings were sold by auction. On July 25 in that year the trees were felled and the site handed over to builders. Vauxhall Gardens had a longer existence than any public gardens in England, and assisted in maintaining a taste for music as a source of rational enjoyment, although they did little or nothing towards promoting its advancement.

[ W. H. H. ]

1. This statue remained in the Gardens, in various situations, sometimes in the open air and sometimes under cover, until 1818, when it was removed to the house of the Rev. Jonathan Tyers Barrett, D.D. to whom the property in the Gardens had devolved, and who then contemplated a sale of it), in Duke Street, Westminster, where it remained until his death. It was purchased at auction in 1833 by Mr. Brown, a statuary, who in 1854 sold it to the Sacred Harmonic Society. It now belongs to Mr. Henry Littleton.