Another friend of Horace Walpole who had many acquaintances and stories to tell of them and their activities in Grosvenor Square was Gilly Williams.
His appearance was known by Sir Joshua's celebrated picture, in which he figures in company with George Selwyn and the Hon. Richard Edgecumb.
In 1763, writing to George Selwyn who was then in Paris, Williams told of a characteristic reply which Lord Berkeley's brother sent to Sir Charles Bunbury "at Lord Coventry's in Grosvenor Square," with regard to the character of a servant.
Another time, in 1766, Williams informed Selwyn that "Lord Lisburne had taken an excellent house in Grosvenor Square and will give dinners," adding "Pray come over and eat them."
That he himself tested their excellence is proved by another communication, in which he said "Lord Lisburne has an excellent house in Grosvenor Square, and some of the best old claret I have ever drank."
On 26th December of the same year he also wrote: "You have one enemy less in the world than you had: the Countess of Guildford expired yesterday. It is imagined she has left her estate among the St. Johns, but as the will is not opened yet all is conjecture. Lord Sondes gets a rent charge of £2,000, and the house in Grosvenor Square."
Lady Guildford was the widow of Lord Rockingham — not the Marquis mentioned before, but Lewis Watson, the second Earl, who died in 1745. The Lord Sondes mentioned here was a son of the first Lord Monson, who took the name of Watson in 1746.
This was also the year in which Lady Guildford became the third wife of the first Earl of Guildford, and therefore stepmother to Lord North, who also resided in the Square, probably in the same house.