Henry St John Bolingbroke (ViscountBolingbroke) was an English statesman and political writer. He was born in 1678 at Battersea, London and died in 1751. Educated at Eton and at Oxford, where he had a reputation both for ability and libertinism. In 1700 he married a considerable heiress, the daughter of Sir Henry Winchcomb, but they speedily separated. In 1701 he obtained a seat in the House of Commons, attaching himself to Harley and the Tories. He at once gained influence and became secretary of war in 1706, though he retired with the ministry in 1708. He continued, however, to maintain a constant intercourse with the queen, who preferred him to her other counsellors, and on the overthrow of the Whig ministry in 1710, after the Sacheverell episode, he became one of the secretaries of state. In 1712 he was called to the House of Lords by the title of ViscountBolingbroke, and in 1713, against much popular opposition, concluded the Peace of Utrecht. At this period the Tory leaders were intriguing to counteract the inevitable accession of power which the Whigs would receive under the House of Hanover; but shortly after the conclusion of the peace a contention fatal to the party broke out between the lord high-treasurer (Harley, Earl of Oxford) and Bolingbroke.
Queen Anne, provoked by Oxford, dismissed him, and made Bolingbroke prime-minister, but died herself four days later. The Whig dukes at once assumed the power and proclaimed the elector king. Bolingbroke, dismissed by King George while yet in Germany, fled to France in March, 1715, to escape the inevitable impeachment by which, in the autumn of that year, he was deprived of his peerage and banished.
James III., the Pretender, invited him to Lorraine and made him his secretary of state, but dismissed him in 1716 on a suspicion of treachery. He remained for some years longer in France, where (his first wife having died) he married the Marquise de Villette, niece of Madame de Maintenon, occupying himself with various studies. In 1723 he was permitted to return to England, living at first retired in the country in correspondence with Jonathan Swift and Pope. He then joined the opposition to the Walpole ministry, which he attacked during eight years in the Craftsman and in pamphlets with such vigour and skill that in 1735 a return to France became prudent, if not necessary.
In 1742, on the fall of Walpole, he came back in the expectation that his allies would admit him to some share of power; but, being disappointed in this respect, he withdrew entirely from politics and spent the last nine years of his life quietly at Battersea, dying in 1751. He wrote an excellent and forcible style, his chief works being A Dissertation upon Parties; Letters on the Spirit of Patriotism, on the Idea of a Patriot King, and on the State of Parties at the Accession of George I; Letters on the Study of History (containing attacks on Christianity), and other works. Pope was indebted to him for suggestions for his Essay on Man. He was clever and versatile, but reportedly unscrupulous and insincere. Research Henry Bolingbroke
Battersea (recorded in the Domesday Book as Patricsey) is an area of south London on the south bank of the River Thames. It was a market gardening area in Surrey, renowned for the cultivation of medicinal herbs which London apothecaries went to cut, until the 19th-century railway and industrial developments when it developed into a municipal borough of London. In 1905 Battersea was described as having a fine public park extending over 185 acres. The district is associated with the names of Pope and Bolingbroke, and with the Wellington-Winchilsea duel. Research Battersea
Chelsea (recorded in the Domesday Book as Chelcede) is a district of London, on the Thames opposite Battersea, England. It was originally a landing point for chalk transported along the River Thames before being unloaded and transported to other places. Chelsea has long been distinguished for containing a royal military hospital, originally commenced by James I as a theological college, but converted by Charles I for the reception of sick, maimed and superannuated soldiers. The building was finished in 1692 by Sir Christopher Wren.
The Thames Embankment is a wall of granite, with a plane-tree bordered footway, built in three sections along the banks of the river Thames in London between 1864 and 1874. The embankment was begun by the metropolitan board of works with the Victoria embankment on the north side of the river between Blackfriars and Westminster and completed in 1870. Extending for a little over 2 km it includes a granite wall about 2.5 meters thick, with foundations 5 meters to 9 meters below low-water mark, landing stages, a roadway about 30 meters wide, footway and public gardens. Under the footway are a low-level sewer, water and gas mains and telephone cables. Under the roadway runs the Underground railway.
The Albert Embankment, on the side of the river Thames, between Westminster Bridge and Vauxhall was constructed on similar lines between 1866 and 1869.
The Chelsea Embankment, about 1.5 km in length, extends from Battersea Bridge to Chelsea Bridge, on the north side of the river Thames and was built between 1868 and 1874. There is another short section of embankment near the Tower of London. Research Thames Embankment
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