Repository of Fashion, etc (1813)
A fine example of the new Georgian London suburban development,Manchester square was developed in 1766 by the new Lord Portman who inherited the Marylebone Estate in 1761. The grounds were later leased out and the first house was sited in 1776. In 1784 an Act was passed for the regulation and maintenance of the square and its garden.
Manchester Square was reportedly famous between the years of 1814 and 1815 owing to reports that a “pig-faced woman” lived there. There was some debate in the newspapers that this was a resurfacing of an old urban legend, and the reports of the young gentlewoman’s existence were fed by cartoons in the broadsheets depicting how she might look.
For more on the pig faced lady of Manchester Square:
http://www.bl.uk/collection-items/broadside-on-the-pig-faced-lady
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig-faced_women
