Bayswater is also one of London's most cosmopolitan areas: a diverse local population is augmented by a high concentration of hotels. In addition to the English, there are many other nationalities. Notable ethnic groups includeGreeks,French,Americans,Irish,Italians,Brazilians, andArabs, amongst others.[citation needed]
The name Bayswater is derived from the 1380 placename "Bayards Watering Place", which inMiddle English meant either a watering place for horses, or the watering place that belonged to the Bayard family.[2]
Historically, Bayswater was located to the west of London on the road fromTyburn towardsUxbridge. It was ahamlet in the seventeenth century close to theKensington Gravel Pits. By the end of the eighteenth century Bayswater remained a small settlement, although the gradual expansion of London westward intoMayfair andPaddington brought it closer to the outskirts of the city. During theRegency era newsuburbs were rapidly constructed to cope with the growing population of the city. An important early developer in Bayswater wasEdward Orme who constructedMoscow Road andSt. Petersburgh Place, which he named in honour ofAlexander I of Russia. Both Bayswater andTyburnia to the east developed independently of each other. Gradually over the following decades the remaining open spaces were built on and it became an urban area of affluent residential streets andgarden squares.[3]
Guglielmo Marconi, the pioneer of wireless communication, lived at 71 Hereford Road between 1896 and 1897 with his mother upon arrival in England (marked by ablue plaque).
Irfan Orga, exile and writer, lived at 29, 35 and 21 Inverness Terrace from 1942 until the mid-1950s, publishing his memoirsPortrait of a Turkish Family in 1950.
The Bayswater area elects a total of six councillors toWestminster City Council: three from the eponymous Bayswater ward,[10] and three from Lancaster Gate ward.[11]
InMartin Amis'sSuccess, the two main characters live together in a flat in Bayswater, which he calls 'the district of transients.'
InOscar Wilde'sThe Importance of Being Earnest, Lady Bracknell indicates that the perambulator (carrying Jack, as a baby) was found "standing by itself in a remote corner of Bayswater".
InSaki's short story "Cross Currents" (1909), Vanessa Pennington lives on a "Bayswater back street" but would have preferred "smarter surroundings."
Media related toBayswater at Wikimedia Commons
