How the Cadogan family made modern Chelsea

Take a walk around SW3 and you will soon notice the Cadogan name: Cadogan Street, Cadogan Square, and the Cadogan Arms too. This aristocratic family owns much of modern Chelsea, making them one of the wealthiest London landlords.

The family can trace its roots back to the royal tribes of Wales. Their coat of arms belonged to Cadwgan ap Elystan, a medieval ancestor from the historic county of Radnorshire. However, the family rose to prominence during the War of Spanish Succession, when William Cadogan was appointed the Duke of Marlborough’s Quartermaster-General after fighting heroically at the Battle of Blenheim (1704).

William ended his military career as Master-General of Ordnance. He also became MP for Woodstock, Master of the Robes and Governor General of the Isle of Wight. In 1716 he was made a Baronet, and in 1718 awarded an Earldom. However, he died without a son, meaning his younger brother Charles inherited the lesser title, while the Earldom fell into abeyance.

But it was thanks to this younger brother, the 2nd Baron Cadogan, that the family fortune was secured. He married a young woman named Elizabeth Sloane, and when her father Hans died without male heirs, they inherited a substantial estate outside London.

Sir Hans Sloane was one of the great figures of the Georgian Era. In early life, he studied botany at the Chelsea Physic Garden and chemistry at the Apothecaries’ Hall. He was appointed personal physician to Queen Anne in 1696, then to George I in 1716, and finally to George II in 1727. At the same time, he became President of the College of Physicians in 1719 and succeeded Sir Isaac Newton as President of the Royal Society in 1727.

Sloane was a curious and inventive scientist. In 1687, when personal physician to the Duke of Albermarle, Governor of Jamaica, Sloane joined him in the Caribbean. As well documenting the tropical flora and fauna, he was the first to mix cocoa with warm milk, creating the recipe for drinking chocolate that Cadbury’s would later make popular.

Over the course of his life, Sloane collected more than 71,000 natural history specimens, along with books, coins and medals. This collection was eventually bequeathed to the nation, forming part of the founding collections of both the British Museum and the Natural History Museum. And it was Sloane who ensured the Chelsea Physic Garden be ‘forever kept and maintained’ as a place of learning.

Sloane became wealthy over the course of his career. In 1712 he purchased the manor of Chelsea, the main stately home for the medieval village of Chelsea, once owned by Henry VIII. A few decades later Sloane expanded his holdings with Beaufort House on Cheyne Walk, and by the time of his death aged 92, he owned an impressive estate.

This land was bequeathed to Elizabeth Sloane and her husband Charles Cadogan. At the time, Chelsea was an affluent village several miles from the City of London, although easy to reach via the River Thames. However, on inheriting this estate in the 1770s, the couple’s eldest son, Charles Sloane Cadogan, decided to transform the neighbourhood.

As a result, Chelsea became the site of the first purpose-built new town. Named ‘Hans Town’ as a tribute to Hans Sloane, it was laid out in 1771 by the architect Henry Holland. Covering 89 acres of fields between Knightsbridge and the King’s Road, the new neighbourhood was filled with attractive terraces for moderately affluent families.

Much of Henry Holland’s street plan survives to this day. He laid out Sloane Street, Sloane Square, Hans Place and Cadogan Place, lining them with three-storey terraced houses. Early residents included one of Jane Austen’s brothers, as well as William Wilberforce, the politician who led the movement to abolish slavery.

The family also built properties to the north of Cheyne Walk – an area still known as ‘Old Chelsea’, with many charming Georgian houses preserved to this day. However, with the coming of the Victoria Era and the rapid growth of London, this Georgian village was transformed once more by the Cadogan family.