Berkeley was born in the parish of Saint George’s Hanover Square, London, England, where his parents, John Symes Berkeley and his second wife, Elizabeth Norborne Berkeley, resided while Berkeley attended the House of Commons as a Tory member for Gloucestershire. Their only other child, Elizabeth, married Lord Charles Noel Somerset, who became the fourth duke of Beaufort. From 1756 until 1765 Norborne Berkeley served as guardian of his sister’s son, who in the latter year became the fifth duke. Berkeley never married but provided handsomely and obtained a commission in the Royal Navy for a son who became Vice Admiral Sir Charles Thompson, baronet (ca. 1740–1799).
Richards, Fowkes & Co. Cover Feature April 28, 2021
Background
While some organ projects come together quickly, most usually take longer. And some, such as our recently completed Opus 24 for Christ Church Cathedral in Cincinnati, seem to require almost a micro-generation to fulfill. For those who are patient, this duration can pay dividends. After all, relationships take time to build, not merely between people or groups, but also between the creative act itself and the space in which it has been asked to flourish. Christ Church is a complicated space with an involved history; our becoming part of it was never likely to be straightforward.
Sunday 25 April 2021
Sitting down to write a 1,000-word guide to Mayfair is like sitting down to write the number six while simultaneously rotating your left foot in a clockwise direction. Not impossible but trickier than you might imagine. To keep it short, what follows is selective and subjective, reflecting the wide-eyed enthusiasms of its author, a bumpkin from the sticks, easily impressed by superficial big-city glamour.
A busy street in Mayfair
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SOME BACKGROUND ON MAYFAIR
Much of Mayfair – bounded by Oxford Street to the north, Piccadilly to the south, Regent Street to the east and Park Lane to the west – belongs to the Grosvenor family. It came into their possession in 1677, when Sir Thomas Grosvenor married Mary Davies, a 12-year-old heiress whose dowry included some marshy, undeveloped land north of the Thames. The couple had three daughters and five sons, but things took an awkward turn following Thomas’s death. The boys had Mary committed to a lunat