"It became a street in being somewhere about the year of grace 1667, and owed its name to Henry Jermyn, Earl of St Albans. It is quite a smart place for a man to have chambers, and in earlier days it was smarter still. His Grace the Duke of Marlborough lived here when he was Colonel Churchill, so did the Duchess of Richmond and the Countess of Northumberland, and yet moe illustrious names connected with the street are those of Sir Isaac Newton and John Hunter, the famous surgeon. The poet Gray found lodging here, though whether with Roberts the hosier, or Frisby the oilman appears to be a matter of doubt.The Gun Tavern here was, at the end of the eighteenth centry, a great resort for foreigners with revolutionary tastes, while Grenier's Hotel was patronised by French refugees. At the Brunswick Hotel, Louis Napoleon took up his residence under the assumed name Count D'Arenberg on his escape frm captivity in the fortress of Ham. In 1782, at his rooms in this street, Mrs Siddons gave sittings to Sherwin for her portrait as the 'Tragic Muse'..."
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