BRIEF HISTORY DURING THE SNOW ERA (1813-58)

In 1717, there were grand intentions for Cavendish Square.  It was laid out by John Prince for Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford, as the nucleus of the Harley-Cavendish estate.  Harley had married Lady Henrietta Cavendish Holles, and named the square after her.  The plans were stymied by a building slump, but eventually in the later eighteenth century the square was further developed.  In John Snow's time, a bronze statue by Thomas Campbell was erected in the square in 1851 of Lord (William) George Bentinck, the 2nd Duke of Portland who had married the Cavendishes daughter.  

Source: Weinreb B, Hibbert C (eds). The London Encyclopaedia, 1993.

              Porter R. London - A Social History, 1994.