Christopher Pond (1826–1881) was a British caterer and hotelier. Christopher Pond was born in

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

in 1826. While looking to seek his fortune in Australia he met Felix William Spiers, and the pair rented a room at the

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...

National Hotel in which they created their first restaurant called "The Shakespeare Grill Room", catering for gold miners. They then created the Café de Paris in

, before moving into railway catering for the gold miners' Melbourne-Ballarat Railway during the 1850s. Spiers & Pond organised the first tour of a national English cricket team to Australia during 1861/2,and were involved with the first balloon flight in Australia. Returning to England, they pioneered railway catering to the UK, introducing it on the

Metropolitan Railway The Metropolitan Railway (also known as the Met) was a passenger and goods railway that served London from 1863 to 1933, its main line heading north-west from the capital's financial heart in the City to what were to become the Middlesex su ...

and the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. They also created the

Criterion Restaurant The Criterion Restaurant is an opulent restaurant complex facing Piccadilly Circus in the heart of London. It was built by architect Thomas Verity in ''Neo-Byzantine'' style for the partnership Spiers and Pond, which opened it in 1873. Apart f ...

and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road that connects central London to Hammersmith, Earl's Cour ...

, London. On 15 May 1889 they catered for a celebration dinner hosted by the

for the opening for their extension to

Chesham tube station Chesham is a London Underground station in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. The station opened on the 8 July 1889 by the Metropolitan Railway (MR). It is the terminus station of the Chesham branch of the Metropolitan line, which runs fro ...

Celebration dinner menu for Metropolitan Railway extension to Chesham 1889

Although he lived at

Herne Hill Herne Hill is a district in South London, approximately four miles from Charing Cross and bordered by Brixton, Camberwell, Dulwich, and Tulse Hill. It sits to the north and east of Brockwell Park and straddles the boundary between the borough ...

, Pond died in Margate on 30 July 1881. He is buried in

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

where his elaborate mausoleum is listed as Grade II. Spiers and Pond's business continued successfully until 1957, owning a dozen restaurants including the Gaiety Theatre Restaurant in The Strand, the

Grand Hotel, Brighton The Grand Brighton Hotel is a historic Victorian era, Victorian sea front hotel in Brighton on the south coast of England. Designed by John Whichcord Jr. and built in 1864, it was intended for members of the upper classes visiting the city, and ...

, catering at the Regents Park Zoo and the

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, commonly known as Drury Lane, is a West End theatre and Grade I listed building in Covent Garden, London, England. The building faces Catherine Street (earlier named Bridges or Brydges Street) and backs onto Dr ...

and a monthly mail order catering catalogue.

References

* Pond, Modern English Biography {{DEFAULTSORT:Pond, Christopher Burials at West Norwood Cemetery 1826 births 1881 deaths English chefs