Long Acre

[2] The Russell family, who in 1694 were advanced in their peerage from Earl to Duke of Bedford, held the land from 1552 to 1918.

[3] At the time of Charles I it was renamed Long Acre after the length of the first pathway constructed across the land.

[1] Charles took offence at the condition of the road and houses along it, which were the responsibility of Russell and Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth.

[4] This licence allowed the development of Covent Garden Square to the south of Long Acre.

Emma Martin, author, socialist and free thinker worked as a midwife from No.100 where her daughters ran a surgical bandage shop.

It is said that the poet Richard Lovelace spent his final years in Long Acre, in great poverty.

As a young man, Thomas Paine worked as a corset maker in Long Acre.