The original site of the Horn Tavern (also known as the Horn Coffee House) was at Doctor’s Commons, 10 Godliman Street, off Carter Lane on the south side of St Paul’s Churchyard. The origin of the name is unclear. Larwood and Hotten’s History of Signboards tells us that the bugle horn occurs on traders’ tokens as early as 1667, and could be seen on many roadside inns during and after the good old coaching times, when the guard on the mail coach used to announce his arrival with a cheerful tune. Larwood and Hottten also inform us that the Horn was sometimes used in a different sense. It was the sign and badge of the cattle doctor and village gilder, deriving from the horn’s use either in drenching animals or by being blown to announce a doctor’s arrival in the village.
    Strype’s edition of John Stow’s Survey of London (1720) informs us that Doctor’s Commons “consists of five courts - three appertaining to the see of Canterbury, one to the see of London, and one to the Lords’ Commissioners of the Admiralties.” Strype defines their functions as being “for the practice of civil or ecclesiastical causes. Several offices are also here kept; as the Registry of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the registry of the bishop of London.”
    The first recorded lodge at the tavern (numbered 246) is dated 1754, with a consecration date of 13 April; we do not know its name. A society called “Free and Easy under the Rose” met at the Horn in 1760, being one of many clubs and societies with the prefix “Free and Easy”. “The Free and Easy” Society met in 1748, 1749 and 1764 at the King’s Arms Tavern, New Place Yard, Westminster, while “The Free and Easy Counsellors under the Cauliflower” met at The Three Pigeons in Butcherhall Lane, Newgate. Records also mention “The Free and Easy Johns” and “The Free and Easy Round the Rose”. The Rose was an emblem of silence and meant that nothing uttered in the room was to be heard abroad. The Public Advertiser (24 April 1758) recorded that “The Free and Easy Round the Rose” would meet on St George’s Day and that those intending to dine with the President should obtain tickets. This society had moved from the Queen’s Arms in St Paul’s Churchyard, another masonic tavern.

John Wilkes

Freemason John Wilkes was familiar with the Horn as a member of the Joiners’ Company, in which he was sworn as Master in October 1771. The Company’s minute books include such details as: “Read and passed a Bill of Mr James Griffiths for Wine... for the Company’s refreshing at the Horn Tavern in Doctor’s Commons in their procession on the Lord Mayor’s Day £6 4/4d.”
    John Wilkes (1727-1797), author of An Introduction to the History of England from the Revolution to the Accession of the Brunswick Line (1768), a staunch libertarian and the subject of a notable Hogarth caricature (left), was one of the most famous men of his time. An MP for Aylesbury (1757,1761), Wilkes co-founded The North Briton whose forty-fifth issue led him to be arrested for libel on King George III, expelled from the Commons and outlawed. Returning from a Parisian ‘retirement’ in 1768, Wilkes surrendered to his outlawry and was committed to the King’s Bench Prison. His outlawry reversed in June of that year, he was elected MP for Middlesex, but was again expelled from the Commons in 1769. Three times re-elected, the elections were annulled. Elected again in 1774 (in which year he became Lord Mayor of London), he was permitted to retain his seat and graced the Commons with his presence until 1790. It is hardly surprising to learn that he opposed the Government in its struggle against colonial independence in America. The words ‘Wilkes’ and ‘Liberty’ have been joined ever since, while lovers of real ale will rejoice to find that one of the best pubs in the Midlands is called The Wilkes’ Head, outside which his portrait hangs happily opposite Leek parish church. There is still liberty in England!
    Curwen’s History of Booksellers tells us that “the booksellers’ trade sales were held at the Horn Tavern, and was preceded by a luxurious dinner.” An undated trade card of one Thomas Bowen of the Horn Tavern is to be found in English Inn Signs (1951). Our old friend Samuel Lovegrove (see my article on the London Coffee House in Issue 4) is reported to have been the Horn’s proprietor in Matz’s Dickensian Inns: “Mr Lovegrove from the Horn Tavern followed Mr Leech as landlord of the London Coffee House in 1833.” The Horn Tavern is mentioned in Dickens’ Household Words when a messenger is sent from the Fleet Prison for a bottle or two of very good wine on the occasion of Tupman, Snodgrass and Winkle’s visit to the prison to see Mr Pickwick. (The Fleet Prison was abolished in 1846, long before Household Words was published).
    Changes brought about by the reorganisation of the law courts led to the virtual dissolution of the College of Doctors of Law and the removal of the courts held there. The buildings were cleared away circa 1867, and soon afterwards Queen Victoria Street was laid over over the former garden of Doctor’s Commons. The last lodge known to have met at the Horn was the Lodge of Unity No 183 in 1837.
    The present tavern was rebuilt some three or four years ago, overlooking Old Change Court, at the corner of 29 Knightrider Street, just 25 yards from from its former position in Godliman Street. It has just undergone a refit with a Dickensian feel to it, and is well worth a visit.

David Peabody is President of the Goose & Gridiron Society and an elected member of the Quatuor Coronati Lodge of Research No 2076.