EARL OF CADOGAN: BORN 1840
ESTATE DEVELOPER

The 5th Earl of Cadogan, owned at the end of 19th century 93 acres of land in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. He developed it for housing, designed in a distinctive red brick style. The Cadogan family remains one of the richest in the UK.

Cadogan was a considerable philanthropist, paying for the entire cost of building Holy Trinity Church in Sloane Street. He also applied large parts of his Chelsea estate to housing for the working class.

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LIFE

The following account of the Cadogan estate was extracted, with acknowledgement and thanks, from Wikipedia.

George Henry Cadogan, 5th Earl Cadogan (12 May 1840 – 6 March 1915), styled Viscount Chelsea from 1864 to 1873, was a British Conservative politician. Cadogan was the eldest son of Henry Cadogan, 4th Earl Cadogan, by his wife Mary, daughter of Reverend Gerald Wellesley, younger brother of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. He was born in the city of Durham and baptised at St James's, Westminster, London. He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.

The Cadogan Estate

Cadogan Group Limited and its subsidiaries, including Cadogan Estates Limited, are British property investment and management companies that are owned by the Cadogan family, one of the richest families in the United Kingdom. The Cadogan Group is the main landlord in the west London districts of Chelsea and Knightsbridge, and it is now the second largest of the surviving aristocratic Freehold Estates in Central London, after the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor Estate, to which it is adjacent, covering Mayfair and Belgravia.

The Cadogan Estate covers 93 acres (over 376,000 square metres) of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, including residential properties, offices and retail space. The Foundations of the Estate were established in 1717 when Charles Cadogan, 2nd Baron Cadogan, married Elizabeth Sloane, daughter of Sir Hans Sloane, having purchased the Manor of Chelsea in 1712. This part of London has remained under the ownership of the Cadogan family ever since, the tradition continuing today under the present Chairman, Edward Cadogan, 9th Earl Cadogan.

Today the Estate includes approximately 3,000 flats, 200 houses, 300 shops, 500,000 square feet (over 46,000 square meters) of office space and over a dozen gardens covering 15 acres (some 60,000 square meters).

The Estate's long history, family ownership and conservative financial structure permit a long-term approach, the area developing into one of London's most notable neighbourhoods.

History

The company owes its origins to Sir Hans Sloane, a well-known explorer, physician and collector, having purchased the manor of Chelsea in 1712 and the 10-acre (40,000 m2) site of Beaufort House at Cheyne Walk in 1737. Sloane later died in 1753 without any male heirs, leaving his estate to two daughters.

In 1777, Charles Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan – granted a lease to architect Henry Holland to create the first-ever purpose-built new town. "Hans Town" provided attractive Georgian terraced houses to people of moderately affluent means. Jane Austen and her brother lived in one; William Wilberforce, who led the movement to abolish slavery, in another.

As London swelled during the industrial age, George Cadogan, 5th Earl Cadogan (1840-1915), undertook a review of his estate and decided on a comprehensive redevelopment. He commissioned cutting-edge architecture and a new red-brick style that became synonymous with the area: Pont Street Dutch. The opening of Sloane Square Station happened in 1868 and the completion of the riverside embankment in 1874. During the period 1877 to 1900 much of the modern Estate took shape. Cadogan Square – the "jewel in the crown" of the new development – the Royal Court Theatre at Sloane Square and Holy Trinity Church on Sloane Street were built under the 5th Earl's auspices and received support from Cadogan to the present day.

The 5th Earl was a Chelsea councillor and its first Mayor. His grandson, William Cadogan, 7th Earl Cadogan was Chelsea's last (before being incorporated with the Royal Borough of Kensington). He died in 1997 aged 83, the title passing to Charles Cadogan, 8th Earl Cadogan. The 8th Earl died in 2023 and was followed by his son Edward Cadogan, 9th Earl Cadogan, who is the current chairman.

Chelsea has a bohemian history and has long been a haven for artists, authors, musicians and designers from Dante Gabriel Rossetti to The Rolling Stones and Vivienne Westwood. Jane Austen stayed in Sloane Street with her brother Henry whilst writing Pride and Prejudice, and poet and writer Oscar Wilde called the borough his home.