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Stelfox, Rosamund; b. c.1773 ; succeeded Mrs.Packharness as Dame of the Centre House on the Terrace (listed in Dean’s Yard in Boyle’s Court Guide 1821-9) ; first boarder admitted to house in her name 17 Sep 1819, last boarder admitted 4 Jun 1834 ; house closed in 1834 and boys distributed between Scott’s and Benthall’s (Town Boy Ledger 1834) ; “a charming woman, of more than the usual stature of her sex, but as tender hearted as the tiniest” (Dasent) ; latterly of 6 Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, Middlesex ; buried St Luke, Chelsea 20 Jun 1839, aged 66 (will proved PCC 9 Jul 1839) ; she was already a widow in 1829. Under her undated will she bequeathed her entire estate, including her holdings of “annuities” and “consolidated long annuities”, to her “dear niece” Margaret Bower, except for her holding of 3 ½% reduced annuities, purchased at a cost of £1584 on 23 Jul 1835, which she bequeathed to her “dear niece” Mary Bower. Although her parentage remains uncertain, she was the sister-in-law of Anthony Bower (died 1823), Minster Yard, Lincoln, civil engineer and surveyor, the father of Margaret and Mary Bower. She may therefore have been a sister of Anthony Bower’s wife, Mary Tayler.

By letters patent dated 17 December 1540 he reconstituted the suppressed Benedictine monastery of Westminster as a cathedral church, the Cathedral establishment consisting of a bishop, dean, twelve prebendaries and other officers. The patent for the endowment of the Dean and Chapter was not completed until 5 August 1542, when a large part of the estates of the dissolved monastery was assigned to them for their support. Attached to the cathedral was a grammar school of forty scholars under a master and an usher. In the original list of scholars, two are described as “late querister”, presumably boys from the choir school of the dissolved monastery.

Price, ---; Russell Barker and Stenning record that a Dame of this name kept a small boarding house 1746-51, 1768 and 1787 (for 1787 see The World, 29 Sep 1787, but this is almost certainly a retrospective statement about a boarding house no longer in operation). First of four recorded boarders in the period up to the beginning of 1753 adm. Jan 1748/9, last recorded boarder adm. Jun 1751.

Severne, ---; proprietor of boarding house in late 1780s and early 1790s (house “had only seven boys”) ; John Smith (qv) became house usher there about Sep 1789 and moved to become house usher with Mrs Clapham at Whitsun 1791.

Taylor, Rachel; daughter of Thomas Baker, Oxford, City Solicitor for Oxford, and Ann, dau. of John Skingley, Oxford ; sister of Mrs.Ann Playford, Dame (qv) ; Dame of a boarding house in Dean’s Yard by c.1736 ; first of thirteen recorded boarders adm. Jan 1735/6, last recorded boarder adm. Jun 1740 (sic) ; m. Rev.Edward Taylor (d.1699), Rector of Finningley, Notts. ; buried North Cloister, Westminster Abbey 2 Jun 1740, aged 65. Mother of Mrs.Anne Ludford, Dame (qv).

Playford, Anne; eldest daughter of Thomas Baker, City Solicitor for Oxford, and Ann, dau. of John Skingley, Oxford ; Dame of a boarding house in Little Dean’s Yard (on the north side of Little Dean’s Yard, between the Head Master’s House and Ashburnham House, and demolished in 1841) by 5 Jun 1719, retaining it to death ; first of eighteen recorded boarders adm. Sep 1735, last recorded boarder adm. May 1742 ; she may have handed over management of the house to her niece, Mrs Anne Ludford (Dame, above), in the autumn of 1742, for the first five of Mrs Ludford’s boarders were admitted between Oct 1742 and Apr 1743 ; m. 20 Dec 1688 Henry Playford (d.c.1709), music publisher ; d. 29 Jun 1743, aged 72 (will proved PCC 14 Jul 1743). Buried North Cloister, Westminster Abbey. Sister of Mrs.Rachel Taylor (Dame, below), and mother-in-law of Thomas Fitzgerald (qv, also Usher). [What had been Mrs Playford’s house is shown on an undated manuscript plan postdating 1740 as “on lease to Bromfield & Dampier”].

Scott, William; b. Wakefield, Yorks. (1851 Census, then aged 51 so b. c.1800) ; listed in Dean’s Yard, Boyle’s Court Guide 1828 ; first boarder admitted to house under this name 12 Jan 1829, last boarder admitted Jun 1854 ; F.H.Forshall (qv), adm. as a day-boarder to Scott’s in 1843, writes of the kindness of “the lady who kept it – Mrs Scott” ; m. 18 Aug 1827 Sarah Maria Singleton (b. City of London, 1851 Census) (already attached to Du Brieux boarding house in 1814, managing her own boarding house by Jun 1825, house still described as Singleton’s in Town Boy Ledger May 1832) : she aged 50 in 1851 (1851 Census), so born c.1801 : probably Sarah Maria Scott, death registered St.Margaret’s, Westminster, fourth quarter 1857). Father of George William Scott (qv). [1851 Census also records as living at 2 (sic) Deans Yard, their son George William Scott (qv), their dau. Henrietta Maria Scott, then aged 18, and Mrs Scott’s sister Jane Singleton (born City of London), then aged 55].

Singleton, ---; took over the Du Brieux boarding house in Dean’s Yard, which she managed jointly with her daughter Sarah Maria Singleton, wife of William Scott (above) ; first pupil admitted to boarding house under this name 8 Jul 1822, last pupil admitted 9 Jun 1828.

Stikeman, ---; Dame of 1 Little Dean’s Yard (succeeding Miss Best) 1822-32 (house still known as Stikeman’s in May 1832), when she was succeeded by John Benthall (qv, also Assistant Master) as House Master ; first boarder admitted to boarding house under her name 23 Sep 1822, last boarder admitted 31 Jan 1832 ; evidently wife of Thomas Stikeman, listed in Little Dean’s Yard, Boyle’s Court Guide 1823-9. [presumably = Lucinda Willett, daughter of Rev.Waring Willett, Minor Canon of Westminster Abbey, b.c.1790, who m. 7 Mar 1812 Thomas James Stikeman (born c.1777), son of Thomas Stikeman, Greenwich, Kent, and his first wife Elizabeth, dau. of Robert Duckworth ; her husband was a clerk in the War Office (occurs 1810-1820), afterwards of Point Fortune, Quebec, Canada, where he purchased land 22 Oct 1832, suggesting emigration to Canada by them in that year ; d. at home of son Alfred Willett Stikeman (qv), 4 Stockwell Place, Clapham Road, Surrey 5 Nov 1863 (adm. PCC 24 Nov 1863, effects under £200)].

Tollett, ---; presumably kin to George Tollett (qv) ; the bill for boarding William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (qv) in 1718-9, was paid to her.