Bloomsbury is a fashionable residential district in the West End of London, England. During the 13th century, the area was called Blemondisberi in honor of the landowning Norman Blemond family, and, while King Edward III of England granted the area to the Carthusian monks during the 14th century, it was seized by King Henry VIII during his Dissolution of the Monasteries and was granted to Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton. In 1731, a small independent parish of Bloomsbury was created, and the Earls of Southampton presided over Bloomsbury's development. During the 18th century, Wriothesley Russell, 3rd Duke of Bedford laid out the area, and Francis Russell, 5th Duke of Bedford demolished Bedford House and built Russell Square as the centerpiece for Bloomsbury. Bloomsbury came to be associated with the arts, medicine, and education, and it became home to University College London, the London Contemporary Dance School, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Goodenough College, the British Museum, and the Queen Elizabeth II Great Court. In 2011, the ward had a population of 10,892 people, and it was located within the London Borough of Camden.
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