Upper Cumming Street, Pentonville

1 Upper Cumming Street, Pentonville,

 1819-1821

Hays moved here c. August 1819, residing once again with Ann Cole, her first landlady from Kirby Street in 1795. Hays's letters reveal that she lived here through February 1821. A letter of 6 October 1820 says she has been expecting to move to another place but the attempt failed so she remained at Pentonville. While living here, her brother John, after experiencing some financial difficulties, moves from the Paragon in Blackheath to nearby Doughty Street in Camden  (Matilda Mary Hays was born there in 1820). Dought Street is at the upper end of John Street, the same street where Dickens lived from March 1837-Dec. 1839 and where Hays had lived c. 1796-97 in the home of Edward and Marianna Hays Palmer. No houses from that time have survived, and the area where she lived is most likely now a part of Joseph Grimaldi Park.