Built in 1810 by James Burton Esq., Cartwright Gardens is part
of an estate owned by the City Guild of Skinners. The Gardens
form a classic Georgian crescent. The hotel, a Grade II listed
building, overlooks the private garden square and four tennis
courts. The Gardens and Courts are available to guests - an
oasis of quiet in the centre of London. Cartwright Gardens has a
tradition of radicalism. It was renamed from Burton Crescent, in
honour of Major John Cartwright (resident between 1820-24), the
political reformer who campaigned for universal suffrage, vote
by the ballot, annual parliaments and the abolition of slavery.
There is some suggestion that the renaming may have been
prompted by the unsolved Burton Crescent murder of Rachel
Samuel, a particularly brutal crime. Among the Crescent's other
notable residents were Sir Rowland Hill (1837-39), originator of
the penny postage system, Edwin Chadwick the social reformer who
fought the water companies to provide Londoners with clean water
and Sidney Smith (1