Charles Mockett Rassell

Occupation Details

• Charles Mockett's occupation was gardener and florist.

  • Occupation Notes
    • 
      Pembroke Square Garden
      
      An eighty-nine-year lease of the enclosure in the centre of Pembroke Square was granted by Lord Kensington c. 1834, probably to William Collins, in whom it was vested in 1860. (ref. 299) A building at the east end of the garden is shown on maps of 1837 and 1843, (ref. 300) and probably originally functioned as a lodge in a similar manner to that in Edwardes Square. It was indeed for many years known as ‘The Lodge’ before being numbered firstly No. 60 Earl's Court Road and then No. 80 in 1907. In the late nineteenth century it was used principally by a succession of florists and was acquired by Charles Rassell, gardener, c. 1897. (ref. 301) Rassell was the son of Henry Rassell, a gardener, who had lived at No. 1 Shaftesbury Terrace (later No. 179 Warwick Road) since c. 1879 and had taken a sub-lease of some of the garden plots which were provided as part of the layout of that area of working-class cottages (see page 285). (ref. 302) In 1903 Rassell undertook alterations to the house, and its basic appearance today accords with that date. (ref. 303)
      
      Rassell also acquired the freehold of the square garden, probably in the same year, when this part of the Edwardes estate was being sold in lots. (ref. 304) In 1923 he applied to the London Country Council for permission to build two houses at the western end of the enclosure, which was apparently not protected by any covenants restricting building, but his application was refused as undersirable. (ref. 305) Shortly afterwards the Prudential Assurance Company paid £3,000 for the freehold of land to the depth of sixty-nine feet at this end of the square on behalf of the freeholders of the surrounding houses. Rassell retained the ownership of the remaining 210 feet of the enclosure, but entered into a covenant not to build on 175 feet of this. (ref. 306)
      
      Today the western end of the square is occupied by a small formal garden, the middle part by a tennis court, and the eastern end by Rassell's Nursery.
      
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