The best of Chelsea by the people who know - Cadogan

9 | HISTORY | Sir Hans Sloane
many Chelsea tenants were left facing
either hikes in their rent or eviction.
This trend continued with other
factors exacerbating the situation:
the high proportion of space-hungry
institutions in Chelsea such as the
Royal Hospital meant less room for
housing, and redevelopment led by the
council started targeting tenants from
higher income groups.
Sections of society that had long
called Chelsea home, such as the
artists, were gradually forced out of the
area. The cultural revolutions of the
1960s and 1970s sped up this process
through the fashionable appeal that
came with them, and by the mid-1980s
the gentrification of Chelsea was in full
swing.
Today, Chelsea still bears the marks
of its rich cultural heritage: fashion, art,
theatre, music and history combine
together to create the diverse area we
see now.
Chelsea’s
founding
families
Two names you see everywhere in
Chelsea, from street signs to pubs, are
Sloane and Cadogan – the families who
helped make the area what it is. And it
all started with a medical genius who
invented hot chocolate...
Sir Hans Sloane
Sir Hans Sloane is one of the most
important figures in Chelsea’s past and
he is remembered in place names
throughout the area, from Sloane Square
to Hans Town to the Botanist pub. He
was a physician and philanthropist who
invented drinking chocolate and gifted the
nation such a vast collection of natural
specimens, books, coins, manuscripts
and artefacts that the British Museum
was formed to house them.
Chelsea Physic Garden
features a statue of
Sir Hans Sloane
Royal Borough of Kensingon & Chelsea, Family & Children’s Service
Born in Ireland in 1660, Sloane studied
botany at the Chelsea Physic Garden
and chemistry at the Apothecaries’ Hall.
He travelled around Europe to learn
more about medicine and botany, and
passed his Doctorate of Physic in 1683.
He was friends with botanist John Ray
and chemist Robert Boyle (known for
Boyle’s Law).
Sloane quickly became a rising star
in the medical field, becoming a Fellow
of the Royal Society in 1685 at the age
of 25 and a Fellow of the Royal College
of Physicians in 1687. He set off on a
voyage to Jamaica as the 2nd Duke
of Albemarle’s physician and wrote
extensive notes about the flora and
fauna, local customs and other points
he found interesting. He also started
collecting samples of plants and animals
with a passion.
Sloane invented a recipe for drinking
chocolate, mixing it with milk rather than
water, after encountering cocoa in
Jamaica. It was originally sold by apothecaries
as a beverage with health-giving
properties and by the 19th century, the
Cadbury Brothers were selling tins of
drinking chocolate.
Sloane returned to England in
1689 and set up a medical practice in
Bloomsbury a few years later, which was
hugely successful. He married Elizabeth
Rose, a widow, in 1695, and they had
two daughters – Sarah and Elizabeth.
He was appointed the physician to
three different monarchs during his life:
Queen Anne in 1696, George I in 1716
and George II in 1727. He was knighted
in 1716. Sloane became president of
the College of Physicians in 1719 and
succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as president
of the Royal Society in 1727. He
was a socially-minded man and used
some of the fortune he made providing
medical care to the rich to give free
services to the poor.
Collecting was an obsession Sloane
pursued throughout his life, and he
bought the Manor of Chelsea from
Charles Cheyne to house and exhibit his
growing collections in 1712. It also gave
him the freehold of the Chelsea Physic
Garden, which he supported by leasing it
to the Society of Apothecaries in 1722
for £5 a year in perpetuity on the condition
that ‘it be forever kept up and
maintained as a physic garden’ and
that 50 plant specimens a year were
delivered to the Royal Society until 2,000
pressed and mounted species had been
received. By 1795, the total had reached
3,700. The peppercorn rent is still paid
to Sloane’s heirs at the Cadogan Estate
by the charity that runs the Chelsea