_A Paper read at a Meeting of the Kensington Ratepayers Association_,
_held at S. Mark’s Parish Rooms_, _Notting Hill_, _on Tuesday_, 21_st_
_April_, 1891.
[Reprinted from the “S. MARY ABBOTS PARISH MAGAZINE.”]
AS everyone has need of charity, everyone exercises charity, and most of
us receive charity, the subject is of personal application and importance
to us all. This is the case when charity is abstractly regarded; but
when we approach the consideration of the charities of our own parish,
those which we are bound to support and upon which we have individually a
claim, our subject must excite the keenest interest. Too much cannot be
known about them in order that their benefits may be distributed amongst
the fittest subjects and most deserving persons that can be found; and in
order that those of us who are blessed with means may learn how carefully
and fruitfully any benefaction we may make in the future will be utilised
and bestowed, if placed in the hands of those administering the charities
already established in our parish.
Perhaps the point which will strike you most, when you have learned what
I have to tell you this evening of the charities of Kensington, is the
circumstance that, from small sums of money left for purposes of charity,
great and ever growing results may spring, fulfilling purposes of good
far beyond the most sanguine anticipations in which the original donors
could have ever indulged.
Old Faulkner, to whose quaint and interesting history of Kensington I
would refer all lovers of antiquity and curious anecdote, writing in
1820, says: “The amount of benefactions to this parish is highly
creditable to the humanity of the original founders, and it is a pleasing
as well as an important part of the duty of the historian to record
these; perhaps in few parishes in the kingdom have they been more
scrupulously observed, or more faithfully administered.” Pleasing as it
was to Faulkner seventy years ago to remark upon the then condition of
the parish charities, it will be yet more gratifying to us to observe at
the present time how greatly they have developed, and how admirably they
have been fostered, improved, and administered. Seventy years ago
Kensington was really rural, containing only three or four hamlets, or
assemblages of dwellings, a few large houses with grounds, some
celebrated nursery and market gardens, and a few distinguished
inhabitants. This is what Tickell, the poet, says about it:—
“Here, while the town in damp and darkness lies,
They (at Kensington he means) breathe in sunshine and see azure
skies.”
What Kensington is now we all know; would that its charities had grown in
proportion to its population. Perhaps if through your kind exertions
more attention can be drawn to the subject they may enlarge, and the
history of the future charities of Kensington prove as creditable as the
past.
In the year 1807 a joint committee of the trustees of the poor, and of
the vestry, was appointed to consider and report, amongst other subjects,
upon the charities of the parish; and that committee undertook a most
careful and exhaustive inquiry into the matter, the results of which were
recorded in “The Report of the Kensington Committee of the 30th October,
1810.” It is needless to say that this report has now become a very rare
document. Fortunately a copy has been preserved in the archives of the
vestry, and to that copy—through the kindness of the vestry clerk,
although with all due precautions to its safe preservation—I have had
access; and thus we are enabled to make an interesting comparison between
the condition of the parish and its charities then and now.
It appears from this report (which is as able a document as I ever read)
that the parish in 1810 contained about 1,500 rateable houses, and an
estimated population of 10,000 souls.
It appears from the report to the vestry of the Medical Officer of Health
to the parish for the year 1888, dated July, 1889, that at the middle of
1888 the inhabited houses in the parish numbered 21,566, with an
estimated population of 177,000 persons.
In 1810 the main charity of the parish was then, as now, the Campden
Bequests. There were also the Methwold Almshouses, the Parish Free
School, and some various other bequests of comparatively small amount for
specific objects, or for the purposes of the poor of the parish
generally.
What are known as the Campden Bequests have a most interesting history,
and have grown from very small beginnings into a wealthy institution.
They are alike the most ancient and most important of the parish
charities.
In 1629, Baptist Viscount Campden, of the family which built Campden
House, which has within the last sixty years extended its name to the
hill on which its stands, bequeathed the sum of £200 to two gentlemen,
and to the churchwardens of Kensington from time to time, “in trust to be
employed for the good and benefit of the poor of the parish for ever as
the trustees should think fit to establish.” This sum of £200, with £20
added from accumulated interest and otherwise, was in 1635 expended in
the purchase of two closes of land containing fourteen acres, called
Charecrofts, situate near Shepherd’s Bush Green, a very fortunate
investment, as we shall presently find.
Elizabeth, Viscountess Dowager Campden, the widow of the former donor, in
1644 bequeathed another sum of £200 to Sir John Thorowgood and sundry
parishioners, and to the churchwardens of Kensington, “upon trust that
they should within eighteen months purchase lands of the clear yearly
value of £10; one-half whereof should be applied from time to time for
ever for and towards the better relief of the most poor and needy people
_that be of good life and conversation_ that should be inhabiting the
said parish of Kensington; and the other half thereof should be applied
yearly for ever to put forth one poor boy or more living in said parish
to be apprenticed. The said £5 due to the poor to be paid to them
half-yearly for ever at Lady Day and Michaelmas in the church or the
porch thereof at Kensington.”
With Lady Campden’s £200 a close called Butt’s Field was immediately
purchased, containing 5 acres 2 roods and 30 perches, and the purchase
also included 3 roods to be taken out of an adjoining field, called the
Middle Quale Field, at the south end of Butt’s Field. This purchase, we
shall find, has proved a still more profitable investment than that of
Lord Campden’s £200.
The remaining portion of the original property, now known as the Campden
Bequests, is of a still more interesting character. In 1651, one Thomas
Coppin, in consideration of the sum of £45, sold to the same Sir John
Thorowgood and eleven of the parishioners and their heirs, “all that land
with the appurtenances at the gravel pits in Kensington, containing two
acres, in the occupation of Richard Barton.” No trust was declared in
this conveyance, but subsequent occurrences leave no doubt that it was
intended for purposes similar to those provided for by Lord and Lady
Campden’s wills. And the purchase having been made so shortly after the
two others, and at a time when the great Oliver Cromwell was the ruler of
the country under the title of Protector, and when he held property in
the parish, added to the circumstance that the gift was always
traditionally ascribed to him and known as Cromwell’s gift, appear to
leave no real doubt that it is to Oliver Cromwell that the parish owes
this addition to the charities. It will be seen that this gift and
purchase has proved no less profitable to the parish than the two others.
Let us pause for a moment, and see of what the property of the Campden
Bequests then consisted.
Purchased in 1635 from Lord Campden’s gift, Charecrofts, 14 £220
acres, costing
Purchased in 1645 from Lady Campden, Butt’s Field (say), 6½ 200
acres, costing
Purchased in 1651 from Cromwell, Gravel Pits, 2 acres, 45
costing
Total, 22½ acres, costing £465
Let us now endeavour to identify these properties.
I can make you understand where Charecrofts is situated by telling you
that the Shepherd’s Bush Station of the London and South Western Railway
now occupies a portion of the site.
Butt’s Field comprises the frontage to the Kensington Road extending from
Gloucester Road on the west, eastward about 140 feet to Palace Gate, and
from the Kensington Road southwards to and including the whole of the
premises known as Kensington Gate.
The Gravel Pits are now occupied by Clanricarde Gardens, and the six
shops known as Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12, High Street, Notting Hill.
It would take too long to describe the various uses to which these sites
have been put, and all the applications of the income derived from them.
Suffice it to say, that the whole was always conscientiously applied to
the purposes intended by their donors, except, that under an Act of
Parliament passed in 1777 the original parish workhouse was built upon
that part of Butt’s Field where Kensington Gate now stands, and the Act
provided that the then existing rents of the three estates, amounting to
£54, should be applied to the apprenticing of poor boys, but that any
further rents that might be obtained beyond that sum should be applied in
aid of the parish rates until the expense incurred in erecting the
workhouse should be discharged. And accordingly they were so applied
until Lady Day of 1816. This, no doubt, was a perversion of the fund,
because, although the workhouse was for the relief of the poor, still by
law all the parishioners were rated for that purpose, the rich as well as
the poor; and in proportion as anyone was relieved from the payment of
rates, so was the money diverted from the poor intended to be objects of
the bounty. However, this distinction in 1777 escaped attention; but in
the report of 1810, to which I have alluded, the point was strongly made,
and since 1816 the whole income has been applied to its proper purpose.
As we have seen, in 1777 the total receipts from the lands were £54.
In 1810 the Charecroft Estate £103 0 0 per annum.
produced
„ Butt’s „ „ 39 17 6 „
,, Gravel Pits „ „ 38 0 0
Total £180 17 6 „
of which £54 was applied to putting out apprentices, £29 to pay two
remaining annuities; the amount necessary for building the workhouse
having been obtained by the then fashionable expedient of settling life
annuities, while the balance of £97 17_s._ 6_d._ was applied in aid of
poor rates.
Let me now approach much nearer our own times, and, by referring to an
elaborate report of the trustees of Campden’s Bequest appointed for the
purpose in December, 1853, ascertain what was the income derived from
these lands in 1854. Among the trustees at that time there were some
well known persons, including the Venerable Archdeacon Sinclair, the then
Vicar of Kensington, who many of us now present can well remember; the
Rev. Dr. Hessey, Vicar of S. Barnabas; Sir Henry Cole, C.B., well known
to many of us in connection with the South Kensington Museum; the Rev. E.
P. Denniss, Vicar of S. John’s, Notting Hill; and Dr. Frost, of Ladbroke
Square; who, if I mistake not, is the same Charles Maynard Frost who yet
remains an active trustee of the charity.
In 1853 Charecrofts was let in two £99 0 0 per annum.
lots, producing
Butt’s Field, let in various lots 445 7 0 „
(among which was the site of the old
workhouse, let at £235 a year),
producing annually
The Gravel Pits, let in various lots, 123 0 0 „
producing
Total £667 7 0 „
In the year ending Lady Day, 1853, £253 had been paid in pensions to poor
persons, and £157 10_s._ applied for apprenticing poor boys, while £373
1_s._ 5_d._ remained to the credit of the pension fund, and £308 6_s._
7_d._, to the credit of the apprenticeship fund.
Thus we see that the sum £465 invested in land in the years 1635 to 1651
produced in 1777 £54; in 1810, £180 17_s._ 6_d._; and in 1853, £677 7_s._
per annum in rents.
And the application of the funds had, except as regards the old parish
workhouse for the period mentioned above, been in accordance with the
intention of the donors, namely:—
The income from Lord Campden’s Bequest (Charecrofts) in pensions to the
deserving poor of the parish.
From Lady Campden’s (Butt’s) half in such pensions, and half in
apprenticeships.
And from Cromwell’s (Gravel Pits) three-fourths in pensions, and
one-fourth in apprenticeships.
Meanwhile the parish had been increasing greatly in population. Other
churches had been built, and other congregations than that worshipping at
the Parish Church of S. Mary Abbots had been formed, and districts
allotted to them. Questions arose as to distribution of the charity
funds as between the inhabitants of the various districts, and in 1852 a
petition was presented to the Court of Chancery by the Incumbent and
Churchwardens of the District Church at Brompton to have them settled by
the Court under the powers of an Act of Parliament of 52 George III. And
on the 23rd December, 1852, the Court of Chancery made an order directing
that the trustees of the Campden Charities should in future apply the
profits therefrom as they had hitherto been accustomed to do; but that in
future without interfering with any pensions or contracts of
apprenticeship already entered into by them in the proportions following
among the various church districts:—
S. Mary Abbots, Kensington 25 parts.
S. Barnabas, Kensington 9 „
Holy Trinity, Brompton 21 „
S. Mary’s, West Brompton 6½ „
S. John’s, Notting Hill 17 „
S. James, Norland 9½ „
Total 88 „
Such order, it is evident, must have embarrassed the actions of the
trustees greatly, and considerably interfered with their judicious
application of the charity funds. I have not been able to refer to the
evidence upon which the order was obtained, but if, on the ground of the
distribution of the population of the parish in 1852 it had any shadow of
justice then, it would be highly unjust now, when the population of the
northern half of the parish, forming the Parliamentary district of North
Kensington, and then comprised in the church districts of S. John’s,
Notting Hill, arid S. James’, Norland, is greater than that of all the
other districts put together.
Between 1853 and 1879 the income from the Campden Charities increased
from the £667 7_s._ to about £3,500 a year.
Several leases of plots of ground had fallen in, and meanwhile the value
of the land had been rising enormously. Charecrofts, at Shepherd’s Bush,
formerly a nursery ground, was in 1864 let on a building lease for a term
of ninety-nine years at a ground rent of £870 per annum. In 1865 the
London and South Western Railway treated for and subsequently purchased a
part of the estate, 5 acres 2 roods 5 perches in extent, for the sum of
£10,000, which reduced the rent of the estate from £870 to £485 per
annum.
This sum of £10,000 was for some time invested in consols, but in 1887
was reinvested in the purchase of ground rents in the city of London.
In 1874 a portion of Butt’s Fields was sold to the Duke of Bedford for
the sum of £18,500 (a very good price you will think) for the site of
Thorney House at the corner of Gloucester Road. In 1875 a further
portion of the estate, being 12 and 13, Hyde Park Gate, was sold to Mr.
James Watney, M.P., for £22,500. Both of these amounts were at first
invested in consols, but have since been invested in the purchase of a
freehold estate in the city called Thanet House, and in ground rents in
the city.
In 1869 the Gravel Pits Estate was let on a building lease for
ninety-nine years at a rent of £1,040 per annum, when Clanricarde
Gardens, and Nos. 2, 4, 8, 10 and 12, High Street, Notting Hill, were
erected thereon. And advantageous leases of the remaining land were made
at greatly increased rentals from time to time as opportunity occurred.
Such being the case, and the trustees being hampered by that curious
order of the Court of December, 1852, it was clear that the time had
arrived when the affairs of the charity should be placed upon a footing
consonant with its increased income and the greater population of the
parish. Accordingly, application was made to the Charity Commissioners,
who have been provided by the legislature with powers in that respect,
and in 1879 that body made an order vesting the lands in the official
trustee of charity lands, and approved a scheme prepared under their
superintendence, altering the qualification for the office of trustee of
the charity, defining the duties and powers of the trustees, and
directing the application of the income of the charity. That scheme,
which has since been the subject of some further orders, is practically,
but not without some important modifications, the same as the one now in
force, which I will state at length presently.
But at the time it was objected to considerably, and at a meeting of
ratepayers held on the 3rd August, 1879, at the Vestry Hall, it was
resolved to petition the Court against it, on the grounds principally
that it limited the amounts payable in pensions and to be applied for
apprenticing poor boys, and that it abrogated the order of the Court of
the 23rd December, 1852, apportioning the distribution of the funds among
the districts of the various churches; and a petition against the scheme
was presented to the Court. Vice-Chancellor Hall was impressed by the
arguments for the petitioners, and set aside the scheme, but the Charity
Commissioners appealed, and the Court of Appeal, presided over by the
late Master of the Rolls, confirmed the order of the Charity Commission,
and, in his judgment, made some remarks of so generally interesting and
important a character that I regret time does not permit me to read them
to you. You will, however, find them recorded in vol. 45 of the “Law
Times Reports,” at page 158.
The decision was given on, the 27th May, 1881, and accordingly the
affairs of the charity were, up to the 4th of March, 1890, regulated by
that order.
But on the 4th March, 1890, the Charity Commissioners, on the application
of the trustees of the charity, made another order, which is the one now
in force. It is practically the same, with some important additions, as
that approved by the Court of Appeal in 1881. I now state it fully, so
that you all may learn how the affairs of the charity are regulated.
The charity is managed by eighteen competent persons as trustees,
viz.:—Three _ex-officio_, six representative, nine co-optative.
The three _ex-officio_ trustees are the Vicar and Churchwardens for the
time being of the parish of Kensington.
The six representative trustees are elected—two by the Vestry of
Kensington; two by the Board of Guardians of the poor of the parish; two
by the members of the School Board for London for the Division of
Chelsea.
The co-optative trustees must be persons residing or carrying on business
in the parish of Kensington, and are to be provisionally appointed by the
trustees, which appointment must be approved by the Charity Commissioners
before it is valid.
The representative trustees are appointed for five years, and the
co-optative trustees for seven years.
The income of the charity is to be applied as follows:—1st, in the
payment of the pensions and apprenticeship fees granted before the 27th
May, 1881.
The income is then divided into two portions.
One-half of the income, after providing for these old pensions, is to be
applied in charitable or eleemosynary purposes as follows:—(1) An annual
sum of not more than £900 nor less than £700 in the payment of pensions
to deserving and necessitous inhabitants of the parish of Kensington, who
shall have resided therein for not less than seven years next preceding
the time of their appointment, who shall not during that period have
received poor law relief, and who from age, ill-health, accident, or
infirmity shall be unable to maintain themselves by their own exertions.
(2) The remainder of the half, after paying the £900 applicable to
pensions, to the general benefit of the poor of Kensington, to such
persons and in such way as the trustees shall consider most advantageous
to the recipients and most conducive to the formation of provident
habits, as follows:—
1. (_a_) Subscriptions in aid of the funds of any dispensary, infirmary,
hospital, or convalescent home, upon such terms as to enable the trustees
to secure the benefit of the institution for the objects of the
charities.
(_b_) To provident clubs or societies in the parish of Kensington for the
supply of coal, clothes, or other necessaries.