Key

Steel key with a solid oval shaped bow with a crowned 'W IV R South St Gate No 6' inscribed on the obverse and 'Sir Thos Clarges' inscribed on the reverse. It was used to unlock a gate to Hyde Park at the junction of Park Lane and South Street. Between 1790 and 1804, local householders paid the Office of Works to construct private gates through the park walls into Hyde Park. For at least another four decades after, the Office issued individually numbered, non-transferable keys, granting entry only during permitted hours.

Sir Thomas Clarges (c. 1780-17 February 1834) was the son of Sir Thomas Clarges, 3rd Baronet and Louisa Skrine. He succeeded as the 4th Baronet Clarges, of St. Martin's in the Fields in the County of Middlesex, on 23 December 1782. From 1803 until his death, he was Constable of Durham Castle in the County Palatine. In addition to his landed estates in Lincolnshire and Sutton-on-Derwent he also owned a half-share in the Theatre Royal, Brighton, puchased in 1807 for five thousand, two hundred and fifty guineas. He died on 17 February 1834 at Brighton, unmarried. On his death, his baronetcy became extinct.