Chestertons is one of the oldest firms of estate agents in the world. First established in 1805 by a man named Charles Chesterton, the firm has continued as one of the most familiar names in property for well over 200 years and is now one of the most respected international property companies.
Charles Chesterton (1779 – 1849)
Charles John Bickerton Chesterton was born in London in March 1779 to Elizabeth and Edward Chesterton, a wholesale poulterer (a dealer of poultry and game) of Leicester Square. Very little is known of Charles’ early years, but when he was a young man, he was sent to Kensington – which was at that time a rural area – to establish himself in business and tax records confirm that he was renting in
Kensington (the exact address is unknown) by 1801.
Charles thrived in the small village of Kensington during the early years of the 19th century. A local business directory from 1805 – Holden’s Triennial Directory, which covered the ‘Metropolis and Villages Around, – lists Charles Chesterton as following his father’s profession as a poulterer, but he was clearly building his reputation as land agent and estate agent as well as it is recorded that in that same year he was collecting rents for William Phillimore (b. 1749) and the Phillimore Estate. 1805 is therefore the date that has been accepted as the founding year of Chestertons, although it appears it is likely to have been a few years earlier. One of the earliest surviving newspaper advertisements to show Charles Chesterton operating as an estate agent appeared in the London Courier in 1817 for property in Southampton and Hampshire, and ‘For Particulars enquire of Mr. Chesterton, High Street, Kensington, Middlesex’. It appears this may have been property belonging to the Phillimore family in Hampshire, revealing he also acted for the family outside of London.
Arthur Chesterton (1815 – 1902) Charles Chesterton married Sophia Blackett in Marylebone parish church on 3rd August 1810 and had four children: Charles Arthur; Hubert, and Elizabeth. Of the four children, it appears that only Arthur followed his father in the family business (Charles became a ‘commercial traveller’; Hubert went into the civil service and Elizabeth married William Spencer Godfree, gentleman and wine merchant), and in the 1830s, he became the first of the Chesterton family to officially call himself a ‘house agent’ and ‘estate agent’.
Regular property advertisements for Charles Chesterton’s business began to appear in several newspapers during the 1830s, including a six-bedroom house in Kensington Terrace advertised in the Morning Post in May 1830 and a family residence with stabling and greenhouse in Vicarage Place, overlooking Kensington Gardens, advertised in the London Courier in February 1830. In both cases the particulars could be requested from ‘Mr Chesterton, 6 Lower Phillimore Place, Kensington’.
By the 1840s, Arthur was taking on a more prominent role in the business and advertisements appeared for ‘Mr A. Chesterton, house agent, Kensington’ in The Times in August 1841 and ‘Mr Arthur Chesterton, House and Estate Agent, No.2 Terrace, Kensington’ in the Morning Post in August 1842. Charles finally handed control of the business over to Arthur on his retirement in 1846.
Chesterton and Sons Arthur Chesterton and his wife, Susan, had several children, but it was Edward, the eldest, and Sidney who played key roles in the development of the firm during the late 19th and into the early 20th centuries.
Edward joined his father in the business during the 1860s, prompting Arthur to change the company name to ‘Chesterton and Son’. The 1861 census records Arthur Chesterton as ‘Estate and House Agent’ and Edward, then 19 years old, as ‘clerk in auctioneer’s office’, presumably his father’s. The first reference to ‘Messrs Chesterton and Son’ appeared in London newspapers in 1867, including The Times in January 1867 advertising the auction of No.32 Upper Phillimore Place.
A short time later, another of Arthur’s sons, Sidney Rawlins (b. 1851), joined the firm to create ‘Chesterton and Sons’. The 19th century saw enormous growth in the population of London, and with it many new streets and houses spreading across the capital. This provided a lot of potential business for Chesterton and Sons – by now a respected and well established firm of estate agents offering surveying and auctioneering services in Kensington.
The 19th century saw enormous growth in the population of London, and with it many new streets and houses spreading across the capital. This provided a lot of potential business for Chesterton and Sons – by now a respected and well established firm of estate agents offering surveying and auctioneering services in Kensington.
By the end of the 1870s, Arthur Chesterton passed on more of the business to his sons and by the time the census was taken in April 1881, Arthur was living in Barnes in south west London, recorded as ‘retired estate agent’. He died in April 1902, at the age of 87. Meanwhile, Edward, recorded as ‘auctioneer’, was living in Warwick Gardens with his wife and two sons, Gilbert and Cecil; and Sidney, recorded as ‘auctioneer and house agent’, was living in Earls Court Road with his wife and three sons: Frank, Sidney James and Frederick.
The sons of both Edward and Sidney would go on to have prominent careers, but it was only Sidney’s son, Sidney James, that continued with the family firm and followed in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great grandfather before him.
G.K. Chesterton (1874 – 1936)
Gilbert Keith (known as G.K.) Chesterton, the eldest son of Edward Chesterton, tried working in his father’s office for a few weeks but decided it was not for him and decided instead to pursue a career in writing. He was a high profile and prolific writer, publishing not just novels and short stories, but also letters and reviews.
Today, he is perhaps best known for his Father Brown stories, which have been adapted for television several times, but also for his Christian writing, critical essays and social commentary.
Gilbert Keith (G.K) Chesterton
Cecil Chesterton (1879 – 1918) Gilbert’s younger brother, Cecil, also gained a highly-respected reputation as a writer and journalist. It is believed that on the birth of his brother, Gilbert responded that ‘now he would have someone to argue with’ and apparently this is exactly what happened, with the two brothers famous for their debates and arguments. The Oxford Dictionary of Biography states that Cecil ‘was destined to join the family estate agency, and qualified as a surveyor, but by 1901 he had turned to journalism’. In 1916 he joined the army, serving throughout the remaining years of the First World War but became ill shortly after his marriage to Ada Jones (b.1869) and died in France in December 1918
