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Geary, Mary, d. 1796; Dame of 3 Dean’s Yard c.1780; Mary (née Smith) married Stephen Geary in 1744. [Note “Stephen Geary” listed Dean’s Yard, Boyle’s Court Guide 1808 : he d. 1 Aug 1810, aged 91, having been “a house-keeper in Dean’s Yard near 70 years” ; he was on electoral register as of Dean’s Yard, 1774-1806] [She would have been his first wife if he was her husband, since he m. as widower at Marylebone Parish Church 5 May 1796 Ann Pittman (she is said to have been aged 49 and her husband aged 84 in 1797, when she gave birth to twins)]

Farren, Elizabeth; Dame of the Centre House on the Terrace from about Christmas 1785 (succeeding Mrs.Ottey) ; the house continued to be known as Ottey’s, but was renamed Hayes’s after her marriage on 1 May 1788 with Samuel Hayes (qv), when his adjoining boarding house was amalgamated with hers ; following the appointment of John Wingfield (qv) as Under Master later in the same year, in preference to Hayes, Hayes and his wife left Westminster and their house was taken over by Mrs Clough.

Driffield (afterwards Du Brieux), Charlotte; daughter of Rev.Joseph Driffield, Rector of Chelsworth, Suffolk, and Mary, dau. of Rev.William Coyte, Rector of Hintlesham, Suffolk ; bapt.Chelsworth, Suffolk 2 Jan 1766 ; Dame of 1 Dean’s Yard 1805-22 (but described as of Great Smith Street on marriage) ; last boarder admitted to house under her name was on 8 Jul 1822 ; m. 17 Feb 1806 Corentin Honoré Joseph Du Brieux, “Chevalier du Brieux” (“second son of the late Count du Brieux, of Bretagne”) [Note “Chev.Du Brieux’s School” listed in Dean’s Yard (he resident there by 2 Apr 1807, listed in Boyle’s Court Guide 1808, still listed ibid. 1821, 1822, no longer 1823). Charlotte A.F. Driffield, wife of Robert Glover, one of the sons of Mrs.Sarah Glover (see below), seems to have been her niece]

Des Carrieres, Jean Thomas Herissant; b. Paris 1742 ; emigrated to London by the late 1760s, where he became a bookseller and gave French lessons ; taking boarders at 16 Cowley Street 1791 ; “Messrs. Des Carrieres and Ouiseau, Masters of Languages, continue to receive in their house, No.16, Cowley Street, Westminster, young Gentlemen who attend Westminster School” (advert in J. Ouiseau, Practical Geography, 1794, stating that “number of Boarders limited to twelve”) ; author of French-English grammars and of translations from the French ; d. at Croydon, Surrey 13 Jun 1820.

Clough, Marian; Dame of 1 Little Dean’s Yard (in succession to Rev.W.Morel) 1781-8, afterwards Dame of the Centre House on the Terrace (succeeding Mrs.Farren and Samuel Hayes, and preceding her dau. Mrs.Glover) ; her will, dated Jan 1796, was proved PCC 12 Jun 1798, as of Marian Clough, widow, parish of St.Margaret, Westminster ; she directed in it that her daughter’s husband, Rev.Richard Glover, should be “cut off … from having the most trifling article belonging to me”, he having failed to keep his promise to pay £500 that she needed “to pay for this house” [evidently the Centre House on the Terrace] ; m. --- Clough ; d. 21 May 1798, aged 64. Buried West Cloister, Westminster Abbey. [But Southey states that she “migrated thither [the Centre House on the Terrace] with a few boarders from Abingdon Street”]

Clapham, Martha; Dame of a boarding house in College Street 1775-8, of 1 Dean’s Yard 1778-90, of 1 Little Dean’s Yard 1790 (still there 9 Jan 1803) ; “a woman of the old school, both as to the fashion of her garb, and as to the singular decency and matronly propriety with which she invested the character of a Dame” (Public Characters of the year 1828, 103) ; m. (by 1765) Richard Clapham, Brodsworth, Yorks., and Dartmouth Street, Westminster, Secretary to Archbishop of York ; d. 22 Aug 1804. Mother of Robert Clapham (qv) and of Thomas Clapham (qv, also Usher). Presumably Martha Smith, spinster, who m. at St.George’s, Hanover Square 15 Dec 1757 Richard Clapham. Her husband “Richard Clapham, Esq.”, Secretary to Archbishop of York, d. at his house in Dartmouth Street, Westminster, Mar 1774 (Morning Chronicle 17 Mar 1774) (will proved PCC 22 Mar 1774, as Richard Clapham, otherwise Clapam, of Brodworth, Yorkshire, gentleman).

Chelsum, Mary; daughter of --- Ward ; m. 21 Jun 1731 James Chelsum (qv, fl. 1743) ; continued to take boarders after his death, “with the assistance of a maiden sister whose name was Ward” ; first of three recorded boarders adm. Jun 1744, last adm. Jan 1747/8 ; her address between 1749 and 1766 was what is now 16 Lord North Street, and she is likely to have taken further boarders there during the period after the beginning of 1753 for which boarding data ceases to be available ; later went to live in Hampshire with her son James Chelsum (qv) ; living 1793.

Chelsum, James; a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal from 1718 ; a Lay Vicar of Westminster Abbey from Dec 1736 and of St.Paul’s Cathedral from Mar 1736/7 ; took boarders from c.1732 ; only recorded boarder during his lifetime adm. Oct 1735 ; m. 21 Jun 1731 Mary Ward ; d. 3 Aug 1743, aged 43. Buried West Cloister, Westminster Abbey. [perhaps James Chelsome (sic), son of John Chelsome, and Anne ---, b. 5 Mar 1699, bapt. St.Martin, Vintry 10 Mar 1699 (IGI)]

Burges, Ann; daughter of James Burges, bell ringer, Westminster Abbey, and Ann --- ; Dame of a boarding house in Great Smith Street ; first of eighteen recorded boarders in the period covered by available boarding data adm. Feb 1742/3, last recorded pupil in this period adm. Jun 1752, but further boarders are recorded in 1757 and in the early 1760s, and Russell Barker and Stenning give the terminal date for her boarding house as 1771 ; still living in 1777 when she was a legatee under the will of Edward Wortley Montagu (qv). Niece of Mrs.Sarah Preston (Dame, see below).

Best, Jane; daughter of --- Barton ; b.c.1755 ; Dame of 1 Little Dean’s Yard from c.1809 (in succession to Mrs Baines) ; her will shows that she owned the leasehold of the house in Little Dean’s Yard, as well as a leasehold cottage at Brixton Causeway, Surrey; m. 25 Nov 1782 George Best (d. 28 May 1812, aged 53), of Little Dean’s Yard, Westminster, attorney, at death, previously resident in Pershore, Worcestershire and Coroner for Worcestershire ; d. 1815 (will dated 27 Jul 1815, proved PCC 10 Jan 1816) (death of “the relict of George Best, esq.”, Dean’s Yard, Westminster, reported Monthly Magazine, issue for Sep 1815). Mother of Rev.George Best (qv), Archdeacon of New Brunswick.