AS OWNERS OF 93 ACRES OF LAND WHICH STRETCHES FROM KNIGHTSBRIDGE THROUGH MOST OF CHELSEA, THE CADOGAN ESTATE COULD BE FORGIVEN FOR SITTING BACK AND COLLECTING RENT. HOWEVER, THAT COULDN’T BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. WE SPOKE TO HUGH SEABORN, THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR SHAPING THE ESTATE’S FUTURE STRATEGY.
Chelsea forward
SIR HANS SLOANE LOOMS LARGE IN THE HISTORY OF THE CADOGAN ESTATE.
Born in Ireland in 1660, Sloane was the great enlightenment figure whose presence is felt in Chelsea to this day. Sloane Square, Sloane Street and Hans Town are all named after him. From an early age he was fascinated by the natural world and observed plants and animals, an interest which led him to study botany at one of the foremost institutions of his day, the Chelsea Physic Garden. This was his first introduction to Chelsea. After passing his medical doctorate, Sloane went to Jamaica in 1687 as physician to the 2nd Duke of Albemarle.
During this voyage he began collecting samples of plants and animals. This collecting was the start of a life-long obsession. He also brought back from Jamaica a very important discovery: chocolate. He believed it had ‘health giving properties’ and invented a recipe for drinking chocolate. Many years later, this recipe was purchased by Cadbury who began commercial production of Sloane’s Drinking Chocolate and did rather well out of the product.
In 1712 Sloane bought the Manor of Chelsea from William Cheyne for £17,800. It included 11 houses, a selection of tenements and 166 acres. It is believed that the main reason he purchased the Manor House was as a place to store and exhibit his burgeoning collections.
At his death in 1753, Sloane’s collection amounted to more than 71,000 objects including natural history specimens, antiquities, coins and medals, books and manuscripts and a herbarium. In his will he offered this vast collection to the nation. It was acquired by order of Parliament and became the foundation of the British Museum and later the Natural History Museum.
Sloane had two daughters. In 1717 his younger daughter Elizabeth married Charles, later 2nd Baron Cadogan.
It was through this union that the stewardship of Chelsea passed into the Cadogan family and the Cadogan Estate in Chelsea was established.
Much of Chelsea as we now know it today was the result of a second great wave of development which followed the 5th Earl of Cadogan inheriting the title in 1873. By this time the once grand houses of Sloane Street were nearing the end of long leases and in need of repair. As the quality of the buildings diminished, rents fell. As the neighbourhood went down, the Earl received numerous complaints regarding the multi- occupancy of houses, ‘rats the size of dogs’, and the general ‘corruption of the moral fibre of the area’.
Between 1877 and 1900 the majority of the estate was redeveloped. Most pertinently to the estate as it operates today, it was the 5th Earl who modernised how it was owned and run; creating trusts and development companies.
Fast forward to 2008 when Hugh Seaborn arrived at the estate as Chief Executive with responsibility for shaping the next chapter in the estate’s history. He was conscious of the history involved and the context in which it places today’s estate.
“If you look back, the great landed estates were, essentially, ground rent collectors. They weren’t that involved in either the strategic or day-to-day management of property. The income structure was set up to provide the family with a similar return that agricultural land would generate.
“The emergence of leasehold reform in 1967 catalysed a gradual, but distinct increase in direct involvement by the estates. Although the legislation was, and still
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