Brown's Hotel

European Royalty, an American President, a Scientist and Famous Authors - Brown’s Hotel has hosted many famous names, as well as events

1837 – James Brown, Lord Byron’s butler and his wife, who was Lady Byron’s maid, acquired 23 Dover Street and, by 1838, had expanded into numbers 21, 22 and 24 to create Brown’s Hotel.

1859 – James John Ford bought the hotel.  James Ford came from Wiltshire and made his money in the livery and stable business, having premises in Oxford Street.   Also in this year James Ford acquired another asset that was to prove every bit as important – his son Henry was born, who was later to take over the hotel (see 1882).

1876 – Alexander Graham Bell checked into Brown’s Hotel when he came to London to tell the British government about his fabulous invention, the telephone.  He subsequently made the first ever telephone call from the hotel to James Ford, with the aide of a private telegraph line installed between the hotel and the Ford’s household in Ravenscourt Park.

1871 – After the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the third republic in France, Napoleon III and the Empress Eugenie were compelled to flee and stayed at Brown’s Hotel for a time.

1882 – James Ford’s son, Henry, took over the management of the hotel, which he was to manage for the next 46 years. A lover of flowers, the colourful window boxes that are present today are a legacy to his memory. The Fords focused on creating a “private” hotel, where premier guests would be undisturbed and able to enjoy homely comforts. During the late 1880s, he introduced a smoking room for gentlemen and the first ever restaurant within a hotel - prior to this, guests had dined in their own rooms or hired one of the 16 licensed suites in which to dine.

1884 – Electricity was installed with the help of an oil-driven generator in the basement.

1885 – Bathrooms were introduced and in one contemporary publication these were referred to as ‘fixed baths’ and described as a Brown’s novelty.

1886 – Theodore Roosevelt stayed at the hotel before his marriage to Edith Kermit Carow, which took place at St George’s in Hanover Square.   A copy of the marriage certificate still hangs in the hotel today and on it one can see that the occupation of the future President of the United States is given simply as – ranchman.

1886 to 1894 – Count de Paris, Pretender to the French throne, lived at Brown’s Hotel and held Court regularly in his suite. Cecil Rhodes, after whom Rhodesia was named, stayed at Brown’s Hotel on many occasions.