Dr. King
went very carefully into the subject, and one of his manuscripts
preserved at the British Museum is "A letter designed for Mr. Hearn
respecting Sir Thos. More's House at Chelsea." His reasons cannot be
given better than in his own words:

"First, his grandson, Mr. Thomas More, who wrote his life ... says that
Sir Thomas More's house in Chelsea was the same which my lord of Lincoln
bought of Sir Robert Cecil. Now, it appears pretty plainly that Sir
Robert Cecil's house was the same which is now the Duke of Beaufort's,
for in divers places [are] these letters R.C., and also R.c.E., with the
date of the year, viz., 1597, which letters were the initials of his name
and his lady's, and the year 1597, when he new built, or at least new
fronted, it. From the Earl of Lincoln that house was conveyed to Sir
Arthur Gorges; from him to Lionel Cranford, Earl of Middlesex; from him
to King Charles I.; from the King to the Duke of Buckingham; from his
son, since the Restoration, to Plummer, a citizen, for debts; from the
said Plummer to the Earl of Bristol; and from his heirs to the Duke of
Beaufort, so that we can trace all the Mesne assignments from Sir Robert
Cecil to the present possessor."

He goes on to add that More built the south chancel (otherwise the
chapel) in the church, and that this belonged to Beaufort House until Sir
Arthur Gorges sold the house but retained the chapel. When Sir Thomas
More came to Chelsea he was already a famous man, high in the King's
favour. The house he lived in is supposed to have stood right across the
site of Beaufort Street, not very far from the river. It is unnecessary
here to sketch that life, already so well known and so often written, but
we can picture that numerous and united household which even the second
Lady More's mean and acrid temper was unable to disturb. Here royal and
notable visitors frequently came. The King himself, strolling in the
well-kept garden with his arm round his Chancellor's neck, would jest
pleasantly, and Holbein, in the dawn of his fame, would work for his
patron, unfolding day by day the promise of his genius. Bishops from
Canterbury, London, and Rochester came to confer with More. Dukes and
Lords were honoured by Sir Thomas's friendship before his fall. The barge
which so often carried its owner to pleasure or business lay moored on
the river ready to carry him that last sad journey to the Tower; and
sadder still, to bring back the devoted daughter