Note 5 — CREMORNE GARDENS

It is sometimes stated that Simpson bought the property in 1846, and put in James Ellis to act as manager. But other accounts speak of Ellis as the real lessee, 1846–1849, and this seems to be correct, because, when Ellis became bankrupt in 1849, execution for £8,000 was levied upon Cremorne. Ellis’s unsecured debts amounted to over £16,000, of which £250 was due to a confiding Cremorne waiter. The rent of the gardens had been £582 per annum, and there was an unpaid gas-bill for £665. Simpson was certainly proprietor from 1850 onwards to 1861.