The new purchases of land round our little museum at Sheffield have
been made at rather under than over the market price of land in the
district; and they will enable me, as I get more funds, to extend the
rooms of the museum under skylight as far as I wish. I did not want to
buy so soon; but Fors giving me the opportunity, I must take it at her
hand. Our cash accounts will in future be drawn up, as below, by our
Companion, Mr. Rydings, to whom all questions, corrections, etc., are
to be sent, and all subscriptions under fifty pounds.
[For Cash Account, see next page (230).]
The following letter from Messrs. Tarrant will be seen to be in reply
to mine of the 6th June, printed in last Fors. From the tone of it, as
well as from careful examination of my legal friends, I perceive that
it is out of my power to give the Company a legal status, according to
the present law of England, unless it be permitted to gather dividends
for itself, instead of store for the nation, and to put its affairs in
the hands of a number of persons who know nothing about them, instead
of in the hands of one person who is acquainted with them.
Under these circumstances, I consider it to be best that the Companions
should settle their own legal status with the lawyers; and this the
more, as I do not choose to run the Society into farther expense by the
continuance of correspondence between these legal gentlemen and me,
without the slightest chance of either party ever understanding the
other. Accordingly, I hereby authorize Mr. Robert Somervell, of
Hazelthwaite, Windermere, to collect the opinions of the other
Companions, (a list of whom I have put in his hands,) and to act in
their name, as they shall direct him, respecting the tenure of the
Company’s lands and property, now and in future. And I hereby hold
myself quit of all responsibility touching such tenure, maintaining
simply the right of the Master of the Company to direct their current
expenditures.
CASH ACCOUNT OF ST. GEORGE’S COMPANY (From March 15th to June 15th, 1876).
Dr. Cr.
1876. £ s. d. | 1876. £ s. d.
March 15. To Balance at Union Bank, London (see April 157 11 10 | April 17. By Benjamin Bradshawe (advance on new 30 0 0
Fors, p. 128) | purchase of land at Sheffield)
,, Balance in Mr. Ruskin’s hand (see 107 16 5 | 23. ,, Theodore D. Acland (expenses of 5 0 0
May Fors, p.169) | chemicals for Sheffield Museum)
March ,, F. D. Drewitt (tithe of first earning) 1 4 1 | May 7. ,, Henry Swan (Salary and Expenses at Museum) 55 15 3
,, Miss M. Guest 2 2 0 | 23. ,, Mrs. Talbot (repairing expenses on our
April ,, James Burdon (tithe of wage) 2 10 0 | cottages at Barmouth, with other
,, Wm. B. Graham (gift) 1 0 0 | expensesfor educational purposes,
| afterwards to beexplained) 27 0 0
,, Anon., post stamp, Birkenhead 1 10 0 | 26. ,, Benjamin Bagshawe (on completion of 300 0 0
April 16 ,, Egbert Rydings 25 0 0 | purchase at Sheffield)
,, Miss S. Beever 7 0 6 |
,, Anon. (tithe gift for half-year 1876) 50 0 0 |
,, Rev. R. St. J. Tyrwhitt 20 0 0 |
,, No. 50, G. 10 10 0 |
June 16 ,, Balance due to Mr. Ruskin 31 10 5 |
---------- | ----------
£417 15 3 | £417 15 3
“Re ST. GEORGE’S COMPANY.
“2, Bond Court, Walbrook, London,
“31st May, 1876.
“Dear Sir,—We have carefully considered the points raised in your
letter to us of the 6th inst., and have also consulted Mr. Barber upon
them, and with reference thereto we advise you that the law stands
shortly thus:—by the 13th Eliz., c. 5, a voluntary settlement of real
or personal estate will be void and may be set aside by a creditor of
the settlor, upon his showing an intent on the part of the settlor to
defraud his creditors; and such an intent may be inferred from the
circumstances. The Bankruptcy Act 1869 (32 and 33 Vict., c. 71)
contains a still more stringent provision where the voluntary settlor
is a trader. These are liabilities and risks which your association
cannot avoid; but they are more imaginary than real, as the donors of
land to the Company are not likely to make a voluntary gift for the
purpose of defeating their creditors. By the 27th Eliz., c. 4, a
voluntary gift or settlement of real estate, unless it be in favour of
a charity, will be avoided by a subsequent bonâ fide sale for value,
even though the purchaser have notice of the voluntary settlement.
This, too, is an ordinary risk from which you cannot escape, unless you
are willing to submit to the jurisdiction of the Charity Commissioners.
It does not often happen that a person who has made a voluntary
settlement of real estate seeks to stultify his own act by a subsequent
sale of the same estate, but the payment of a small consideration, or
even matter ex post facto, would prevent the deed being voluntary, and
the risk is not a very serious one.
“We do not recollect Mr. Baker’s name, and we find no mention of it in
any of your letters to us: we think you must have meant Mr. Talbot,
with whose solicitors we were in communication as to some cottages and
land, and it was arranged that that matter should stand over until the
St. George’s Company was constituted.
“As to the writing out of the memorandum and rules for signature of the
Companions—the case is this: you receive donations from people who give
them to you on the faith of a certain scheme of yours being duly
carried out; it is therefore necessary that the leading features of
that scheme should be reduced to writing, in order that there may be no
misunderstanding between the givers and receivers of these donations as
to the objects to which they are devoted. The signatures of the
Companions are a feature of your published scheme, and in addition will
be useful to show who are the acknowledged Companions having a direct
interest in it—the right to elect and control the action of the Master,
elect Trustees, etc., etc.; and the signatures will be the evidence of
the deliberate submission of the Companions to be bound by the rules to
which they subscribe their names.
“But all this will not make the St. George’s Company other than a
voluntary association of persons which the law will not recognize as a
corporation.
“The Companions of St. George will be capable of holding land, but not
as the St. George’s Company,—that is, not as a corporation. Land must
be held by or for them as individuals. You may have a piece of land
conveyed to, say two hundred Companions; naming each of them; but for
the sake of convenience you would have it conveyed to two or three who
should hold it upon trust for the Companions generally.
“You can only obtain the countenance and supervision of the law for
your Company on certain conditions, and when you came to us we were
careful to explain this to you. You at once told us the conditions
would not do for your Company, therefore we have had to do the best we
could for you, treating your Company as an association without the
countenance and supervision of the law.
“Forgive us for quoting from a letter of yours to us of the 27th May,
1875. ‘Mr. Barber’s notion is the popular one of a Mob of Directors.
But St. George’s Company must have only one Master. They may dismiss
him at their pleasure, but they must not bother him. I am going to draw
up a form myself, and submit it to Mr. Barber for criticism and
completion.’ We think you may rest satisfied with matters as they are.
“We remain, dear Sir,
“Yours very truly,
“Tarrant & Mackrell.
“John Ruskin, Esq.
“Brantwood, Coniston, Lancashire.”