Paternoster Row Explained

Paternoster Row is a street in the City of London that was a centre of the London publishing trade,^{[1] [2]} with booksellers operating from the street.^[3] Paternoster Row was described as "almost synonymous" with the book trade.^[4] It was part of an area called St Paul's Churchyard. In time Paternoster Row itself was used inclusively of various alleys, courts and side streets.

Current route

The street was devastated by aerial bombardment during World War II. In 2003 the area was pedestrianised with Paternoster Square, the modern home of the London Stock Exchange, at the west end and a paved area around St Pauls' Coop and an entrance to St Pauls tube station at the East, bounded by St Pauls Churchyard, New Change, Cheapside and Payner Alley. The route of Paternoster Row is not demarcated across the open areas, although there is a road sign at the south of the eastern area, perhaps designating the area as Paternoster Row. Between Payner Alley and Queen's Head Passage/Cannon Alley the road is clearly marked as Paternoster Row. The building to the south, Paternoster House has an address in St Pauls Churchyard (the pedestrian way north of the bounds of the churchyard proper), where its south face is. There are no signs on the next segment up to Paternoster Square, nor around the square. The exit from the south-west corner of the square, along, or very close to. the previous route of Paternoster Row, debouching on Ave Maria Lane - Warwick Avenue opposite Amen Corner, is signed as Paternoster Lane.

Name

The street is supposed to have received its name from the fact that, when the monks and clergy of St Paul's Cathedral would go in procession chanting the great litany, they would recite the Lord's Prayer (Pater Noster being its opening line in Latin) in the litany along this part of the route. The prayers said at these processions may have also given the names to nearby Ave Maria Lane and Amen Corner.^[5]

Another possible etymology is that it was the main place in London where paternoster beads were made. The beads were popular with the laity, as well as illiterate monks and friars at the time, who prayed 50 Paternoster prayers (Latin for "Our Father") three times a day as a substitute for the 150 psalms recited a day by literate monks.^{[6] [7]}

History

The name of the street dates back at least to the sixteenth century.

Houses in St. Paul's Churchyard were damaged in the Great Fire of London in 1666, burning down the old St. Paul's Cathedral. When the new St. Paul's Cathedral was erected, booksellers returned after a number of years.

A bust of Aldus Manutius, writer and publisher, can be seen above the fascia of number 13.^[8] The bust was placed there in 1820 by Bible publisher Samuel Bagster.^[9]

It was reported that Charlotte Brontë and Anne Brontë stayed at the Chapter Coffeehouse on the street when visiting London in 1847. They were in the city to meet their publisher regarding Jane Eyre.^[10]

A fire broke out at number 20 Paternoster Row on 6 February 1890. Occupied by sheet music publisher Fredrick Pitman, the first floor was found to be on fire by a police officer at 21:30. The fire alarm was sounded at St. Martin's-le-Grand and fire crews extinguished the flames in half an hour. The floor was badly damaged, with smoke, heat and water impacting the rest of the building.^[11]

This blaze was followed later the same year on 5 October by 'an alarming fire'. At 00:30 a fire was discovered at W. Hawtin and Sons, based in numbers 24 and 25. The wholesale stationers' warehouse was badly damaged by the blaze.^[12]

On 21 November 1894, police raided an alleged gambling club which was based on the first floor of 59 Paternoster Row. The club known both as the 'City Billiard Club' and the 'Junior Gresham Club' had been there barely three weeks at the time of the raid. Forty-five arrests were made, including club owner Albert Cohen.^[13]

On 4 November 1939, a large-scale civil defence exercise was held in the City of London. One of the simulated seats of fire was in Paternoster Row.^[14]

Trübner & Co. was one of the publishing companies on Paternoster Row.

Destruction during World War II

The street was devastated by aerial bombardment during the Blitz of World War II, suffering particularly heavy damage in the night raid of 29–30 December 1940, later characterised as the Second Great Fire of London, during which an estimated 5 million books were lost in the fires caused by tens of thousands of incendiary bombs.^[15]

After the raid a letter was written to The Times describing:

Another correspondent with the newspaper, Ernest W. Larby, described his experience of 25 years working on Paternoster Row:^[16]

The ruins of Paternoster Row were visited by Wendell Willkie in January 1941. He said, "I thought that the burning of Paternoster Row, the street where the books are published, was rather symbolic. They [the Germans] have destroyed the place where the truth is told".^[17]

Printers, publishers and booksellers formerly based in Paternoster Row

Note: Before about 1762, premises in London had signs rather than numbers.

By sign

• The Tyger's Head – Christopher Barker (????), his son Robert Barker (1545–1629)^[18]
• The Star – Henry Denham (1564)
• The Brazen Serpent (1627–1650) – Robert Dawlman (1627–1635, 1635–1638, died 1659), Luke Fawne (1635–1638, 1639–1641), Samuel Gellibrand (1639–1641, 1641–1650)
• The Golden Ball/Ball (1650–1675) – Samuel Gellibrand (1654, 1655, 1656, 1661, 1667, 1669, 1673) (died 1675), two of his sons Edward Gellibrand (1676, 1678, 1679, 1680, 1681, 1685), John Gellibrand (1679–1685),^[19] F.? Gellibrand (1683)
• The Gun – F.? Brome (1683)
• The Bell – B. Crayle (1683)
• The Sun – G. Wells (1683)
• The Angel – Moses Pitt (1683)
• The Bear – O. Blagrave (1683)
• The Rose and Crown – R. Chiswell (1683)
• The Crane – E. Brewster (1683)
• The Peacock – Robert Clavel/Clavell (1683)
• The Three Pigeons – F.? Baker (1683)
• The Golden Lyon/Golden Lion – F.? Robinson (1683)
• The Red Lyon/Red Lion – H. Bonwick (1683)
• The Phoenix/Phœnix – H. Mortlock (1683), Ed. Giles (1683)
• The Three Flower-de-luces/Three Flower-de-Luces – H. Hatley (1683)
• The Bishopshead/Bishops Head/Bishops head – W. Kettilby (1683)
• The Princes Arms/Prince's Arms (Arms of the Prince of Wales) – Samuel Smith (1683, 1692, 1694, 1695, 1704, 1705), Benjamin Walford (1694, 1695,^[20] 1705), printers to the Royal Society
• The Globe – F.? Taylor (1683), T. Cooper (1740)^[21]
• The Ship (later No. 38–41) – B. Tooke (1683), John Taylor (1710–1719), his son William Taylor (1708,^[22] 1719–1724), subsequently Longmans (see No. 39)^[23]
• The Black Swan – John and Awnsham Churchill^[24] – possibly John Taylor (????), later his son William Taylor (????), subsequently Longmans (????) (see No. 39)
• Bible and Crown Charles Rivington c. 1711-42 (succeeded by Rivington (publishers) (qv) and others at St Paul's Churchyard and environs)
• The Crown – T. Rickerton (1721)
• The Dove – J. Batley (1723)^[25]
• The Black-Boy - T. Warner (1724)^[26]

By building number

• No. 1 – J. Souter (1817), Jan Van Voorst (1851) (see No. 3)
• No. 2 – Orr and Co. (1851), J. W. Myers (~1800)^[27]
• No. 3 – Jan Van Voorst (1838)^[28] (see No. 1)
• No. 5 – Groombridge and Sons (c. 1845 to c. 1875)^[29]
• No. 6 Panyer Alley – R. Groombridge (prior to c. 1845)
• No. 9 – S. W. Partridge and Co. (1876)^[30]
• No. 10 – W. W. Gardner (1870/1)^[31]
• No. 11 – W. Brittain (1840)^[32]
• No. 12 – Trubner and Co. (1856)^[33]
• No. 13 - Talbot (1908)^[34]
• No. 15 – Samuel Bagster and Sons (1817, 1825, 1851,^[35] 1870)^[36]
• No. 16 – Alex Hogg (1780)^[37]
• No. 17 – Thomas Kelly (1840)^[38]
• No. 20 & 21 – F. Pitman, later F. Pitman Hart and Co. Ltd. (1904)^[39]
• No. 21 – J. Parsons (1792)^[40]
• No. 22 - The Electrical Review (1876–1897)^[41]
• No. 23 – Piper, Stephenson, and Spence (1857)^[42]
• No. 24 – George Wightman (1831)^[43]
• No. 25 – George Robinson, from 1763 to 1801, with John Roberts, 1763 to 1776^[44]
• No. 27 Ivy Lane – Walton and Maberly (also at 28 Upper Gower Street) (1837^[45] -1857), Hodder & Stoughton (from 1868-06-16)^[46]
• No. 31 – Sheed & Ward (1926)
• No. 33 – Hamilton and Co. (1851 1854^[47])
• No. 34 – Hurst and Blackett. (1930s)
• No. 37 – James Duncan (1825–1838), Blackwood and Sons (1851)
• No. 39 (see The Ship) – Longman, Hust, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green (1825),^[48] later Longman and Co. (1851), later Longmans, Green, and Co. (1866, 1899, 1902)^[49]
• No. 40 – West and Hughes (~1800)
• No. 47 – Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy (1817), Baldwin and Craddock,^[50] later Chambers (1891)
• No. 56 – The Religious Tract Society (1851)
• No. 60 – The Sunday School Union (1851) later Trübner & Co (1872)^[51]
• No. 62 – Eliot Stock (1876,^[52] 1893,^[53] 1910^[54])
• No. 65 – Houlston and Stoneman

Unknown building address

• C. Davis (1740)^[55]
• Hawes, Clarke and Collins (1771)^[56]
• Oxford University Press – Bible warehouse destroyed by fire in 1822,^[3] rebuilt c. 1880
• Sampson Low (after 1887)
• H. Woodfall & Co. G. Woodfall, printer, 1809.^[57]
• Marshall Brothers Ltd., Keswick House, Paternoster Row, London
• Thomas Nelson^[58]
• Sherwood, Neely, and Jones (1817)
• R. Fenner (1817)
• Kent and Co. (1859)
• Jackson & Walford
• Hutchinson & Co.
• Ralph Smith Kirby (1802)^[59]
• J. Osborn, 1716^[60]

Others based in Paternoster Row

• No. 34 – Boys Brigade London HQ (was Hurst and Blackett in 1930s)
• No. 59 - Junior Gresham Club, opened and destroyed by fire in 1894
• No. 60 – Friendly Female Society, "for indigent widows and single women of good character, entirely under the management of ladies."^[48]

In popular culture

• The Siege of Paternoster Row was an anonymous 1826 booklet in verse, attacking the reliability of bankers.^[61]
• The Paternoster Gang are a trio of Victorian detectives aligned with the Doctor in the television series Doctor Who, so named because they are based in Paternoster Row.
• In the episode "Young England" of the 2016 television series Victoria, a stalker of Queen Victoria indicates that he lives on Paternoster Row. (Coincidentally, the actress playing Victoria in the series, Jenna Coleman, had appeared in several episodes of Doctor Who that featured the above-mentioned Paternoster Gang.)
• The novel, The Last Bookshop in London, makes numerous references to Paternoster Row, and it mentions the destruction of the street during World War II.

See also

• History of London
• Doctors' Commons
• Fleet Street
• Longmans^[62]
• Paul's walk
• St. Paul's Cross
• Religious Tract Society^[62]

Further reading

• Book: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones . London . London: being a complete guide to the British capital . John . Wallis . John Wallis (publisher) . 4th . 1814 . 35294736 . Paternoster Row . https://archive.org/stream/londonbeingacom00wallgoog#page/n292/mode/2up.
• Book: A Dictionary of the Booksellers and Printers who Were at Work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667 . Dawlman . Robert . 1907 . Bibliographical Society . Dawlman (Robert)
• Book: A Survey of London . 127 . John . Stow . William John . Thoms . Whittaker and Company . 1842.
• Book: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885–1900 . Longman, Thomas. Francis . Espinasse . 34.
• Web site: Remembering the Great Fire of London. 29 September 2016.

51.5147°N -0.0981°W

Notes and References

1. Web site: Victorian London – Districts – Streets – Paternoster Row . Victorian London . 2016-11-19.
2. Book: James . Raven . James Raven . The Business of Books: Booksellers and the English Book Trade 1450–1850 . 2007 . . London and New Haven . 978-0-30012261-9 . 2010-07-19.
3. Book: Thornbury . Walter . Old and New London . 1878 . 1 . London, United Kingdom . 274–281 . Paternoster Row . Walter Thornbury . 2014-12-10 . http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45042. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol1/pp274-281
4. Book: A Pictorial and Descriptive Guide to London and Its Environs: With Two Large Section Plans of Central London… . . 1919.
5. E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
6. Book: Miller . John D. . Beads and Prayers: The Rosary in History and Devotion . 27 August 2002 . A&C Black . 978-0-86012-320-0 . ix . en.
7. Fr. D Calloway, Champions of the Rosary: The History and Heroes of a Spiritual Weapon, 2016
8. News: Aldus In The City . 1940-01-25 . . 48522 . 4.
9. News: Aldus in the City . 1940-01-27 . . 48524 . 4.
10. News: News in Brief – Charlotte Bronte in London . 1916-04-27 . . 41152 . 9.
11. News: Fire . 1890-02-07 . . 32929 . 7.
12. News: Paternoster-row, City . 1890-10-06 . . 33135 . 6.
13. News: Raid on City "Club" . 1894-11-22 . . 34428 . 11.
14. News: "Great Fire" Of London . 1939-11-06 . . 48455 . 3.
15. Web site: London Blitz — 29th December 1940 | Iconic Photos . Iconicphotos.wordpress.com . 12 November 2010 . 2016-11-19.
16. News: Sir,-It is with some diffidence that I com- . 1942-11-17 . . 49395 . 5.
17. News: Ministers Greet Mr. Willkie . 1941-01-28 . . 48835 . 4.
18. A Dictionary of Printers and Printing.
19. Book: McConchie, Roderick . Discovery in Haste: English Medical Dictionaries and Lexicographers 1547 to 1796 . 2019-05-20 . Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG . 9783110636024 . 2019-08-12.
20. Book: Payne, William . A Practical Discourse of Repentance, Rectifying the Mistakes about it, especially such as lead either to Despair or Presumption. Perswading and Directing to the True Practice of it, and Demonstrating the Invalidity of a Death-Bed Repentance. . 1695 . Samuel Smith. 2nd . London . 51617518 . William Payne (priest) . 2019-06-02 . 1695.
21. Book: An Impartial Hand . An Essay on the Management of the Present War with Spain . 1740 . T. Cooper.
22. Book: Payne, William . A Practical Discourse of Repentance, Rectifying the Mistakes about it, especially such as lead either to Despair or Presumption. Perswading and Directing to the True Practice of it, and Demonstrating the Invalidity of a Death-Bed Repentance. . 1708 . . corrected and reset 2nd . London, England . 1086876590 . William Payne (priest) . 2019-06-02 . 1693-03-21. at the Sun and Moon (near the Royal Exchange), Cornhill; William Taylor at the Ship, St. Paul's Church-Yard
23. Book: London Topographical Record . 1906 . London Topographical Society . 3 . 159.
24. Churchill, Awnsham. 10.
25. Book: Stevens, John . The Ecclesiastical History of the English People . 1723 . London . en.
26. Book: A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates . 1724 . Captain Charles Johnson. London. T. Warner. second . title page.
27. Book: Glasse . Hannah . Wilson . Maria . Hannah Glasse . Maria Wilson. The Complete Confectioner; or, Housekeeper's Guide: To a simple and speedy method of understanding the whole ART OF CONFECTIONARY . 1800 . West and Hughes . London, United Kingdom . […] Printed by J. W. Myers, No. 2, Paternoster-row, London, for West and Hughes, No. 40, Paternoster-row. […].
28. 1838 . advertisements . . 3056 . 846.
29. Various editions published during this period, including Book: Morris, F. O. . A History of British Birds (six volumes). . 1857 . 1851.
30. Church of England Temperance Tracts, no. 19, 1876
31. Book: John Erskine Clarke . Chatterbox, ed. by J.E. Clarke . 1871 . title page, 412.
32. Book: The Secret History of the Court of England from the Commencement of 1750 to the Reign of William the Fourth. . 1840 . W. Brittain . frontispiece.
33. Book: The London catalogue of periodicals, newspapers and transactions of various societies with a list of metropolitan printing societies and clubs . 1856 . . 3, of wrapper.
34. Book: Wall, J. Charles . Ancient Earthworks . Talbot . 1908 . London.
35. The British Metropolis in 1851
36. 1870 . Just Published . . 4 . 98.
37. Book: The New London Spy . 1781 . Alex Hogg.
38. Book: Practical CARPENTRY, JOINERY and CABINET MAKING . 1840-07-01 . Thomas Kelly.
39. The World's Paper Trade Review, 1904-05-13, p. 38
40. Book: Plain truth: or, an impartial account of the proceedings at Paris during the last nine months. Containing, Among other interesting Anecdotes, a particular statement of the memorable tenth of August, and third of September. By an eye witness . 1792.
41. 1897-06-25 . front page . The Electrical Review . en . London . 40 . 1022.
42. News: 1857-05-23 . advertisements . . . 336.
43. Book: Fox . William . Memoir of W. Fox, Esq., founder of the Sunday-School Society: comprising the history of the origin … of that … institution, with correspondence … between W. Fox, Esq. and R. Raikes, etc. . Raikes, the Younger . Robert . 1831 . George Wightman . Ivimey . Joseph . Joseph Ivimey . William Fox (deacon) . Robert Raikes, the Younger. (See also: Sunday School Society)
44. Henry Richard Tedder, "Robinson, George", in Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 49
45. Book: De Morgan, Augustus . Elements of algebra, preliminary to the differential calculus . 1837 . 255 . Augustus De Morgan.
46. Book: Attenborough, John . A Living Memory . 1975 . Hodder and Stoughton . 9780340203132 . John Attenborough . registration.
47. Book: How to Choose a Wife. H. W. H****. 1854. Hamilton and Co.. London.
48. Book: Feltham, John . The picture of London, enlarged and improved . 1825 . . 23rd . iv . John Feltham.
49. Book: Yonge, Charles Duke . Gradus Ad Parnassum . 1902 . . London, New York and Bombay . title . Charles Duke Yonge.
50. Book: Wheatley, Henry Benjamin . London Past and Present: Its History, Associations, and Traditions . 2011 . . 978-1-108-02808-0 . 37–39 . Paternoster Row . Henry Benjamin Wheatley . https://books.google.com/books?id=9KPxH48qnZwC&pg=PA37 . 1891.
51. Book: Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . January 1872 . Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia . 1.
52. Book: The Pilgrim's Progress: As Originally Published by John Bunyan : Being a Facsimile Reproduction of the First Edition. John Bunyan . Elliot Stock. 1876.
53. Book: Wheatley, Henry Benjamin . Literary Blunders – A Chapter in the History of Human Error . 1893 . Eliot Stock . The Book Lover's Library . Henry Benjamin Wheatley . 2019-06-03.
54. Richmondshire Churches, H. B. McCall, Eliot Stock, London, 1910
55. Book: Grey, Zachary . A Vindication of the Government, Doctrine, and Worship, of the Church of England: Established in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth . 1740 . C. Davis . Paternoster Row, London . Zachary Grey.
56. Book: Stevens, George Alexander . The Choice Spirit's Chaplet: Or, a Poesy from Parnassus. Being a Select Collection of Songs, from the Most Approved Authors; Many of Them Written and the Whole Compiled by George Alexander Stevens, Esq . 1771 . John Dunn, sold by Hawes, Clarke, and Collins . London . Front page . George Alexander Stevens.
57. Book: Hall's Chronicle: Containing the History of England, During the Reign of Henry the Fourth, and the Succeeding Monarchs, to the End of the Reign of Henry the Eighth, in which are Particularly Described the Manners and Customs of Those Periods. Edward Hall. Henry Ellis . J. Johnson. 1809.
58. Web site: Gittings . B.M. . 2012 . Thomas Bonnar: 1810 – 1873 . The Gazetteer for Scotland. (See also: Thomas Bonnar, the Younger)
59. Book: Tomes, Charles . The poll of the freemen of the city of Oxford for two representatives in parliament, 6th [-] 9th ... ]. 1802 . Slatter and Munday . 28 . English.
60. Book: Pamela. Samuel Richardson . Second . 1. title page . 1716 . C. Rivington and J. Osborn.
61. Book: The siege of Paternoster Row: a moral satire, unfolding in heroic metre, certain secrets concerning literary trading … funds … the exchequer … and … other subjects . Trimmer . Master . 1826-08-12 . G. Richards . 20352160M.
62. Book: . London . Herbert . Fry . London in 1880 . 1880 . https://archive.org/stream/londonin1880illu00fryh#page/208/mode/2up . Paternoster Row.