Jane and Thomas Carlyle, the great historian and philosopher, lived here at 5 Cheyne Row (it is now number 24 and a National Trust Property) from 1834 until they died. In 1855 Jane decided that she had to persuade Thomas to increase her allowance from £50 per quarter. She wrote up her request in the form of a Parliamentary Budget - 'the Budget of a Femme Incomprise'. Unusually Jane settled all bills, e.g., Income Tax, insurances, rent and rates as well as household expenses. She wrote:
'I will show my Noble Lord, with his permission, what the new current expenses are, and to what they amount per annum ('Hear, hear!' and cries of 'Be brief!')
She then told of: the additional expense of their new servant who was to receive £16 p.a. and a regular meat dinner each day, whilst the other servants had 'scrambled for their living out of ours', which cost £3 p.a.; the 16s [80p] plus 1s [5p] because they now had a tap rather than a pump in the kitchen; and how 'Within the last eighteen months, there has been added to the Lighting, Pavement and Improvement Rate ten shillings [50p] yearly, to the Poor Rate one pound, to the Sewer Rate ten shillings; and now the Income Tax makes a difference of £5 16s. 8d. yearly; she listed many household goods and foods including bread being 4s instead of 2s 6d., coal being 29s p. ton [£1.45] and potatos 1d. p. lb instead of 2d. p.2 lbs - 'Who could imagine, that at the year's end that makes a difference of fifteen and twopence on one's mere potatos?'
She concluded with
'to disclose the actual state of the Exchequer. It is as empty as a drum. (Sensation).' and 'If I was a man, I might fling a gauntlet to society, join with a few brave fellows, and rob a diligence. But my sex kind o' debars from that.'
Thomas responded with a note on the last page:
'Excellent, my dear clever Goody, thriftiest, wittiest and cleverest of women. I will set thee up again to a certainty, and thy £30 more shall be granted, thy bits of debts paid, and thy will be done. T.C.'

O/S Co-ords:2721.7770
Source(s):

Chelsea

Thomas, one of the most influential writers in the UK in the 19th century, had arrived here at the house where he died, 24, Cheyne Row, Chelsea, in 1834 aged 38 with his excellent wife Jane then aged 33. They came from the Scottish estate of Craigenputtoch, had £300 and were virtually unknown in London. The first book he wrote here was 'The French Revolution' published in 1837 which made his name. Jane had died in April 1866 whilst out driving. Reportedly Thomas, who was a diligent walker all his life, would quite often cover the ground through Fulham Road, Cromwell Road, Kensington Gardens and into Hyde Park. There, when passing the spot where he believed Jane had died, he would doff his hat. There is a story from Hall Caine, who was Dante Gabriel Rossetti's secretary in the last two years of his life, that he and Rossetti (1828-82) passed Carlyle and his niece as they took a late night stroll on the Embankment.

O/S Co-ords:2721.7770
Source(s):

Chelsea