Bloomsbury Square is a garden square in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London. Developed in the late 17th century, it was initially known as Southampton Square and was one of the earliest London squares. By the early 19th century, Bedford House along the north of the square had been demolished and replaced with terraced housing designed by James Burton. The Earl's own house, then known as Southampton House and later as Bedford House after the square and the rest of the Bloomsbury Estate passed by marriage from the Earls of Southampton to the Dukes of Bedford, occupied the whole of the north side of the square, where Bedford Place is now located. The other sides were lined with typical terraced houses of the time, which were initially occupied by members of the aristocracy and gentry.

On 9 April 1694 Bloomsbury Square was the setting for an infamous duel. The then 23-year-old Scottish economist and financier John Law fought Edward 'Beau' Wilson, killing him with a single pass and thrust of his sword. Law would be convicted of murder and sentenced to death, but would escape his condemned cell and go on to become the founder of the Mississippi Company and the de facto prime minister of France.

thumb|The west side of Bloomsbury Square in 2008

In culture

  • The second movement of Symphony No 2 (A London Symphony) by Vaughan Williams represents "Bloomsbury Square on a November Afternoon".
  • In the musical Oliver!, Mr. Brownlow lives in Bloomsbury Square, while in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, on which the musical is based, he lives in Pentonville.

Current occupants

  • No. 5a Pushkin House
  • No. 15 Le Cordon Bleu
  • No. 17 German Historical Institute
  • No. 18 The History of Parliament
  • No. 19 19 Bloomsbury Square Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy

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Former occupants

  • No. 6 Isaac D'Israeli
  • No. 29 Edwin Lutyens
  • William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield
  • Richard Steele
  • No. 38 Samuel Shepherd
  • No. 40 Gertrude Stein in 1902.

See also

thumb|right|Victoria House as seen from Bloomsbury Square

Other squares on the Bedford Estate in Bloomsbury included:

  • Bedford Square
  • Gordon Square
  • Mecklenburgh Square
  • Russell Square
  • Tavistock Square
  • Torrington Square
  • Woburn Square

References