Place Name
Sir Francis Burdett (March 23, 1813 – May 31, 1892) who for a long time served as a member of Richmond Vestry, a prototype parish council, lived at Ancaster Gate, Richmond Hill from 1864 until shortly before his death. He was a member of the wealthy Burdett-Coutts banking family, and a magistrate for the counties of Derby, Berkshire, Wiltshire, and Surrey, the last county of which he was made high sheriff in 1880. For some time he was lieutenant-colonel of the 17th Lancers and later commander of the 8th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers. He was also a Freemason, holding the title of Provincial Grand Master of Middlesex. The name was chosen on the advice of local librarian Alfred Barkas, who was asked to draw up a list of suitable street names after a councillor objected to the landowner picking the names himself. This street, one of seven leading west of Sandycombe Road, was one of the last of the Selwyn estate to be developed. Work started in 1911 but most of the properties were not completed until after the First World War. The Selwyn family held more than 100 acres around Richmond. The family’s connections with the area stretch back to the early 18thCentury, when Major Charles Selwyn, veteran of the Marlborough Wars moved to the area from Matson, near Gloucester. He was an MP and found himself within the inner circle of the Prince of Wales – later George II. As a result he took lodgings near the Old Deer Park and by 1720 had begun to buy up land, on which more than 50 new roads were later built – making up some one in five of all of Richmond’s street names.
