Bible Women) there are six agents at work in Battersea connected with
the London City Mission. This is an excellent Institution, having
for its object the Evangelization of the poor of London. Mr. David
Nasmith founded the London City Mission May 16, 1835. The general
business of the London City Mission is conducted at the Mission House,
Bridewell Street, Blackfriars, by a Committee consisting of an equal
number of members of the Established Church and of Dissenters; and the
Examiners of Missionaries consist of an equal number of Clergymen and
Dissenting Ministers, all of whom, with the Treasurers, Secretaries
and Auditors and Members of the Committee, ex-officio. These gentlemen
give practical illustration of the purest ideal of Christian unity by
showing, notwithstanding the peculiar church organization to which each
may be attached, how harmoniously they can work together on one common
platform under the guidance of their Divine Head for the extension
of the Redeemer's Kingdom by bringing back wanderers from God to the
fold of the one Great Shepherd, Jesus Christ. The number of City
Missionaries engaged in the Metropolis is about 450.
The Corner Stone of Trinity Mission Hall, Stewart's Lane, promulgated
and subscribed to by the members and adherents of Trinity Presbyterian
Church, Clapham Road, was laid Wednesday, June 20, 1877, by the
Rev. David Macewan, D.D. in the presence of a very large concourse
of people. It is estimated that the Hall will accommodate about 400
persons; and in addition to the Hall there is a School-room which
will probably accommodate 150 to 200 scholars The building cost about
£2,500. The land, which is freehold, has been purchased for £400. The
Hall is built of brick with box stone dressings. W. H. Robbins, Esq.,
Architect; B. E. Nightingale, Builder. Mr. Cameron is the Minister.
The handsome edifice belonging to the Presbyterian Church of England,
Clapham Road, cost about £12,000, built through the unremitting energy
and pious zeal of the late Dr. John MacFarlane and was for many years
the scene of his earnest, faithful and successful pastoral labours.
PLYMOUTH BRETHREN.--A body of Christians calling themselves "The
Brethren" came into existence about 1830-1835 in Plymouth, Dublin,
and other places in the British Islands, extended throughout the
British Dominions, and in some other parts of the continent of Europe,
particularly among the Protestants of France, Switzerland, and Italy,
and also in the United States of America. Many of the first religious
communities found in Plymouth and elsewhere, were retired Anglo-Indian
officers, men of unquestionable zeal and piety and those communities
began to appear almost simultaneously in a number of places. Mr.
Darby, regarded as an influential member, afterwards separated from
them with many adherents. Mr. Darby was previously a Barrister,
moving in the highest circles of Society, and under deeply religious
impressions became a Clergyman of the Church of England, lived for
some time in a mud-hovel in the County of Wicklow devoting himself
to his work. The Plymouth Brethren object to National Churches as
too Latitudinarian, and to other Dissenters as too Sectarian; their
doctrines however agree with those of most Evangelical Protestant
Churches, but they recognize no ordination of minister; their tenets
may be stated thus:--Original Sin, Predestination, the efficiency of
Christ's Sacrifice, the merits of his obedience, the power of his
intercession, the gracious operations of the Holy Ghost in Regeneration
and Sanctification; they also generally maintain millenary views,
usually practise the Baptism of believers without regard to previous
infant baptism, they acknowledge the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper and
administer it to one another in their meetings usually every Sunday,
or first day of the week. In 1851, they had 132 places of Worship
in England and Wales. This year 1879, the (exclusive) Brethren have
erected a small place of Worship in High Street, near Battersea Railway
Station.
A Railway Arch in Latchmere Road, has been utilized for a Gospel Hall
where the (Open) Brethren meet for worship.
Situated in the rear of Lawn House Laundry, Orkney Street, is a small
place of worship called the "_Little Tabernacle_" erected at the sole
expense of Mr. John Strutt, where meetings for Bible Readings, Breaking
of Bread, Exhortation, and Prayer are held every Lord's day.
THOMAS BLOOD, generally known by the appellation of _Colonel Blood_,
was a discarded officer of Oliver Cromwell's Household; he was
notorious for his daring crimes and his good fortune. He was first
distinguished by an attempt to surprise the Castle of Dublin, which
was defeated by the vigilance of the Duke of Ormond, and some of his
accomplices were executed. Escaping to England he with his confederates
meditated revenge, and actually seized the Duke of Ormond one night
in his coach in St. James' Street, intending to hang him, and had got
him to Tyburn, where, after struggling with his would-be assassins in
the mire, the Duke was rescued by his servants, 6 Dec, 1670. Blood
afterwards in the disguise of a clergyman, attempted to steal the crown
and regalia from the Jewel Office in the Tower, 9th May, 1671. He was
very near succeeding, for he had bound and wounded Edwards the keeper,
and was making off with his booty, but was overtaken and seized with
his associates. Blood, who was accused as being the ringleader in
this conspiracy, when questioned he frankly owned that he had taken
part in the enterprise, but refused to discover his accomplices, "the
fear of death (he said) should never induce him to deny a guilt or
betray a friend." All these extraordinary circumstances made him the
subject of general conversation. Charles II. moved by the influence
of popular excitement, or from idle curiosity, granted him a personal
interview. Blood confessed to the king that "he had been engaged with
others in a design to kill him with a Carbine (said to be in the
vicinity of Battersea Priory) where His Majesty often used to bathe
(beneath the garden belonging to the Priory was a Subterranean passage
leading to the river-bank); that the cause of this resolution was the
severity exercised over the consciences of the godly, in destroying
their religious assemblies; that when he had taken his stand among the
reeds on the other side of the river full of these bloody resolutions
he found his heart checked with an awe of Majesty; that he not only
relented himself, but diverted his associates from their purpose; that
he had long ago brought himself to an entire indifference about life,
which he now gave for lost; yet he could not forebear warning the king
of the danger which might attend his execution; that his associates had
bound themselves by the strictest oaths to revenge the death of any of
their confederacy and that no precaution nor power could rescue any one
from the effects of their desperate resolution." Yet notwithstanding
these and other offences, the King not only pardoned but granted him
an Estate of £500 per annum, thus this man who had been regarded as a
monster became a kind of favourite. He lived to enjoy his pension about
ten years, till being charged with fixing an imputation of a scandalous
nature on the Duke of Buckingham, he was thrown into prison, where he
died August 24, 1671.
Battersea Priory is a castellated building reported to have been a
Convent for Ursuline Nuns.
PRIOR was the Ecclesiastical title formerly given to the head of a
small Monastery, to which the designation of Priory was applied. The
Prior ranked next in position to the Abbot. Similarly the term Prioress
was applied to the head of a female convent. The title of Grand Prior
was given to the Commandants of the Grand Military Priories of the
Orders of John of Jerusalem, of Malta and of the Templars.
Alien Priories were cells of the religious houses in England which
belonged to foreign Monasteries. The whole number is not exactly
ascertained; the Monasticon has given a list of 100. Weever, p. 338,
says 110. The houses belonging to the several religious orders which
obtained in England and Wales, were, Cathedrals, Colleges, Abbeys,
Priories, Preceptories, Commandries, Hospitals, Friaries, Hermitages,
Chantries, and free Chapels. These were under the direction and
management of various officers; the dissolution of houses of this kind
began as early as 1312, when the Templars were suppressed; and in 1323
their lands, churches, advowsons, and liberties, here in England were
given by Ed. II., st. 3, to the prior and brethren of the hospital of
St. John at Jerusalem.
In the years 1390, 1437, 1441, 1459, 1497, 1505, 1508, and 1515,
several other houses were dissolved, and their revenues settled on
different Colleges in Oxford and Cambridge. From the year 1312 in the
reign of Edward the 2nd to the close of the reign of Henry VIII, 1547,
the number of houses and places suppressed from first to last as far
as any calculations appear to have been made were 23, 4; besides the
friars' houses and those suppressed by Wolsey, and many small houses
of which we have no particular account. Henry VIII founded six new
bishoprics of which Westminster was one, which was changed by Queen
Elizabeth into a Deanery with twelve prebends and a school.
Persons desirous of obtaining information respecting Monasteries should
consult Dugdale's _Monasticon Anglicanum_, (Lond. 1655, 1661, 1673).
Also a new and greatly Enlarged Edition by Bandinel, Caley and Ellis,
published in 1817, 1830, and reissued in 1846.
URSULINES, or Nuns of St. Ursula: a sisterhood founded about the
year 1537, by Angela Merici at Brescia, the community numbering at
that time, as many as six hundred. St. Angela was born in 1511, at
Desenzano, on the Lago de Garda, and died at Brescia, 21st March, 1540.
The institution was formally approved of and confirmed by Paul III.,
in 1544, and it was on this occasion that the name of Ursulines was
given to the order after the famous St. Ursula; a Virgin Martyr of the
Roman Catholic Calendar especially honoured in Germany, and especially
at Cologne, which is the reputed place of her Martyrdom. The Legend
substantially, in its present form, can be traced as far back as the
end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th Century, as it is to be
found in the revised Edition of the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gemblours
(Pertzs Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores VIII. 310) which was made between
1106 and 1111. "According to their writer, Ursula was the daughter
of the British King, Deonatis; and on account of her distinguished
beauty, was sought in marriage by the son of a heathen Prince who was
originally named Holofernes, but afterwards when a Christian was named
Ætherius. Her father was forced to yield to the demand; but Ursula made
it a condition that her suitor should become a Christian, and that she
should be allowed the space of three years, during which she proposed,
in company with her maidens to each of whom should be assigned a
thousand companions and a three-oared galley to convey them, to make a
voyage of pious pilgrimage. The conditions were accepted; the maidens
to the number of 11,000 were collected from all parts of the world,
and at length the expedition set sail from the British Coast. Arriving
at the mouth of the Rhine they sailed up the river to Cologne, and
thence upwards to Basel, where leaving their galleys, they proceeded
by land to visit the tombs of the Apostles at Rome. This Pilgrimage
accomplished, they descended the river to Cologne, which however,
had meanwhile fallen into the hands of an army of Hunnish invaders
under the headship of a Chief, who although not named is plainly the
Attila of history. Landing at Cologne in ignorant security, the pious
Virgins fell into the hands of these barbarous heathens by whom they
were all put to the sword with the exception of Ursula, who for her
beauty sake was reserved as a prize for the chief. She too, however, as
well as another maiden, who had at first concealed herself in terror,
demanded to join her companions in Martyrdom and then the full number
of 11,000 victims was made up. Heaven, however, interposed a host of
Angel Warriors who smote the cruel Huns; Cologne was again set free;
and in gratitude to their Martyred intercessors the citizens erected
a church on the site still occupied by the Church now known under the
name of St. Ursula." Soon after the Reformation this legend became the
Subject of a most animated controversy "on one hand the Centuriators
of Magdeburg exposed its weak points with unsparing severity, on the
other a Jesuit father, Crombach devoted an entire folio volume to the
vindication of the narrative." Secular writers deny that the Legend
has any foundation in historical facts; they trace no reverencing of
Virgins in the Martyrologies and missals till the latter half of the
9th Century. Many suggestions have been offered by way of explanation
of its startling improbability viz., the alleged number of the Martyred
victims 11,000. One of these is that the belief arose from the name
of a Virgin who was really the companion of Ursula's Martyrdom called
according to the legend and according to a Missal which belonged to
the Sorbonne, Undecimilla for a number. The Roman Martyrology mentions
the Saint and her Companion, without stating their number. St. Ursula
was the Patroness of the Sorbonne. The record of the Martyrdom in
the Calender thus begins. "_Ursula et Undecim Milla_ V. V." Ursula
and Undecimilla Virgins was easily mistaken for "Ursula et _Undecim
Millia_ V. V. Ursula and _Eleven thousand Virgins_." Respecting further
remarks concerning this Legend, suffice it to say, "that while the
most learned of the Catholic hagiographers, putting aside the idea
of a directly and unintentionally invented narrative, have traced the
origin of the legend to a real historical massacre of a very large
number of Christian Maidens, which took place during the invasion of
Attila, and soon after the celebrated battle of Chalons in 451, all the
modern writers of that Church are agreed in regarding the details of
the narrative, the number, the pilgrimages to Rome, the interposition
of the heavenly host, etc, as legendary embellishments of the Medieval
Chroniclers."
Young as Angela was she had been elected the first Superior of her
Order and had ruled it well for the two or three years she lived.
At first the Ursulines practised charity and devoted themselves to the
education of Children without being bound to the rules of Monastic
Life. In 1571-2 Pope Gregory XIII. made the Society a religious order,
subject to the rule of St. Augustine, at the solicitation of Charles
Borromeo the additional privileges thus conferred were afterwards
confirmed by Sextus V. and Paul V. "They add to three religious vows
a fourth to occupy themselves gratuitously in the education of their
own sex. The order is under the Superintendence of the Bishops. In the
18th Century, it had 350 Convents. Many governments which abolished
Convents in general, protected the Ursulines on account of their useful
labours, particularly in the practice of Christian Charity towards the
sick. The _Dictionnaire de Theologie_ published in 1817, says that
300 Convents of these sisters existed at that time in France, their
dress is black with a leather belt, and a rope for the purpose of
self-scourging. Their congregations however did not universally accept
the Monastic rule; and in France and Italy, there were Societies, the
members of which only took the vow of Charity, and gave instruction
like their sisters. Their dress was that commonly worn about 200 years
ago by widows." In some countries however, their dress appears to have
been white, and to have varied in other respects as well as colour. The
Ursuline Sisters have several Educational Establishments in Ireland, in
England and the United States.
BATTERSEA GRAMMAR SCHOOL, St. John's Hill. Founded under the
Trust of Sir Walter St. John A.D. 1700. Scheme revised A.D. 1873.
GOVERNORS:--William Evill, Jun., Esq., Robert Hudson, Esq., Rev. Evan
Daniel, M.A., W. G. Baker, Esq., John Costeker, Esq., _Treasurer_,
Rev. Canon Clarke, M.A., James H. T. Connor, Esq., Richard Hadfield,
Esq., Thomas D. Tully, Esq., Charles Few, Esq., James Stiff, Esq.
HEAD MASTER:--Rev. E. A. Richardson, M.A., late Scholar of Queen's
College, Oxford. ASSISTANT MASTERS:--W. H. Bindley, B.A., late Scholar
of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, M. Michael, Bachelier-es-Lettres,
University of Paris, C. P. Martinnant, University of London, Mr. Badel,
Writing Master, Serjeant Major Doberty, Drill Master.
_Scheme of Instruction._ RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION, (according to the
principles of the Church of England) forms a regular part of the
teaching of each class. Those boys are excepted from the teaching
of the Church Catechism and Prayer Book, whose parents, (being
Dissenters), express a desire to that effect, in writing to the Head
Master. THE COURSE OF STUDY comprises the English, Latin, Greek,
French and German Languages; Writing, Arithmetic, Book-keeping and
Mathematics. History and Geography; Natural Science and Drawing.
French is taught throughout the School; German in the three highest
classes only. DRAWING, (Freehand, Model and Landscape), is taught in
all classes. TECHNICAL DRAWING, (including Practical Geometry, and
Perspective), and Painting are taught only in the two upper classes.
SCIENCE, (comprising Physics, Chemistry and Botany), is taught only in
the upper classes. Vocal Music is taught.
_School Term and Holidays._ The period of instruction is divided into
three terms, as nearly equal as possible. The holidays are four weeks
at Christmas, three weeks at Easter, and six weeks at Mid-summer,
commencing about the 1st of August.
1st Term commences September 7th; ends December 7th.
2nd. do. January 8th; do. March 29th.
3rd. do. April 23rd; do. July 31st.
_Tuition Fees._ The annual payment for boys above 12 years of age,
£12; for boys under 12, £10. The fees are to be paid terminally and in
advance.
_Regulations for Admission._ Application for admission must be made
either in person or by writing to the Head Master. No boy will be
admitted, who shall be found on examination unable to read English,
to write correctly and legibly from dictation and to work sums in the
first four rules of arithmetic. The boys must attend at the school for
examination on the first day of each term, at two o'clock p.m. The
Governors require a term's notice to be given on the removal of a boy,
or the payment of the terminal fee.
THE SOUTHLANDS PRACTISING MODEL SCHOOLS.--Girls' School, seven years
and upwards, 6d. per week. Infants' Boys and Girls to seven years, 3d.
per week.
ST. PETER'S SCHOOLS. Fee, 9d. per week.
ST. JOHN'S, Usk Road. Boys 1st, 2nd, and 3rd classes, 4d. per week, the
rest 3d. Girls 1st class 3d., the rest 2d. Infants 2d. per week.
ST. SAVIOUR'S INFANT. Infants 2d. Girls 3d. over 10 years of age 4d.
per week.
CHRIST CHURCH NATIONAL SCHOOLS, Grove Road, Falcon Lane, were erected
from designs of Mr. C. E. Robins, selected in competition, and were
built by Messrs. Lathey Brothers at a cost of £3,000. Accommodation is
given for 200 boys, 200 girls and about the same number of infants.
There are two residences, one for the Master and the other for the
Mistress. The buildings form a picturesque group facing the roads on
three sides with intermediate play-grounds for each sex. Mr. Robins
was also the Architect for the British Schools at Wandsworth and other
Educational Buildings in the Parish, as the Walter St. John's Upper
Schools and the extension of the Training College, the Chapel of which
was decorated by him some seven years since. The office of E. C.
Robins, F.R.I.B.A., etc., is No. 14, John Street, Adelphi.
ST. GEORGE'S NATIONAL SCHOOLS, built in 1857 from designs furnished
by Joseph Peacock, Architect, Bloomsbury Square. Cost about £4,500
including a Parliamentary Grant of £1,500. The Schools were enlarged
in 1870. The Infant Schools were established in 1826. The following
text of Scripture is engraved on a stone outside the buildings.
"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able
to make thee wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus."--_II. Timothy iii._ 15.
Boys and Girls 4d. per week for one in a family, 6d. for two brothers
or sisters, and 7d. for three in a family, Infants 2d.
Erected outside St. Mary's Schools, Green Lane, is a tablet bearing
the following inscription:--"National Schools for Girls and Infants.
These buildings were erected by Miss Champion on land granted by Earl
Spencer, and opened April 10th, 1850, for the education of the children
of the poor on Scriptural principles." This tablet is placed by order
of the Parishioners in Vestry assembled in Grateful Remembrance of her
Munificent Charities to the Parish of Battersea.--Rev. J. S. Jenkinson,
M.A., _Vicar_. W. H. Wilson, John Hunt, _Churchwardens_, 1855.
Within the Parish of Battersea there were in the year 1879, Fourteen
Voluntary Schools, viz.:--
SIR WALTER ST. JOHN'S Accommodation.
Up-stairs Middle-class for Boys.
Terms, 15s. to 25s. per quarter.
Ditto Ground-floor Public Elementary School for Boys.
Payments, 6d. and 9d. per week. Head Master, Mr.
Taylor; Assistants, Mr. Jones, B.A., Mr. E. Mills,
Mr. Oliver, and Mr. Blackman. 489
ST. MARY'S, Green Lane. Girls; Mistress, Miss Keene.
Infants' Governess; Miss Paul. Boys: Master, Mr. T.
Ryder. Fees, Boys and Girls 4d. a week, of which
at the year's end 2d. a week will be returned to all who
have attended more than 250 times. Infants 3d. a week,
of which 1d. a week will be returned to regular
attendants at the year's end. 606
CHRIST CHURCH, Grove Road. Master, Mr. Weston.
Mistress, Miss Paton. Infants, Miss Kemp. 590
ST. JOHN'S, Usk Road. Head Master, Mr. Henry Smith.
Mistress, Miss Hook. Infants' Governess, Mrs. Hughes. 658
ST. PETER'S, Plough Lane. Head Master W. F. Normon.
Assistant, W. Beasley. 180
ST. MARK'S, Battersea Rise. Infant Schools, Miss E.
Townsend. 4d. per week. 99
ST. GEORGE'S, New Road. Head Master, Mr. John Douthwaite.
Mistress, Miss Salter. Infants' Governess, Miss
Holding. 609
ST. GEORGE'S Girls and Infants' Schools, Ponton Road, Nine
Elms. Mistress, Miss B. Smith. Infants' Governess,
Miss A. E. Basnett. 184
ST. SAVIOUR'S, Orkney Street. Mistress, Miss Merrett. 201
WESLEYAN MODEL, High Street. 557
ST. MICHAEL'S, Bolingbroke Grove, (mixed). Mistress, Mrs.
M. Watson. 3d. per week. 152
GROVE BOYS' BRITISH, York Road, Established 1799, Enlarged
1840. Master, Mr. James Hammond. 196
GIRLS' BRITISH, Plough Lane. Mistress, Miss Mansell.
Assistant, Miss Willett. 297
ST. JOSEPH AND ST. MARY, Battersea Park Road. 466
Total 5284
In 1879 there were Nine Board Schools in Battersea:--[1]
Name of Builder. When Opened. Boys' Master. Girls' Infants'
School. Mistress. Mistress.
Bolingbroke Mr. Spinks, Dec. 1, 1873 Mr. Pink. Miss Mrs.
Road. Clapham Deacon. Pink.
Junction.
Battersea Mr. Sheppard, April 14, 1874 Mr. Stokes. Mrs. Cox. Mrs.
Park. Bermondsey. Parker.
Winstanley Jan. 6, 1874 Mr. Vince. Miss Gale. Miss
Road. Blackburn.
Sleaford William Higgs, Aug. 10, 1874 Mr. Wheaton. Miss Pook. Miss
Street. South Lambeth. Browett.
Gideon Wall, Bros., May 16, 1876 Mr. Lee. Miss Dunn. Mrs.
Road. Kentish Town. Pyle.
Mantua Sept. 1876 Mr. Mansell. Miss Miss
Street. Spalding. Spalding.
Holden Feb. 1877 Mr. Morris. Miss Miss
Street. Macleod. Marshall.
Tennyson Mr. Tyerman. Feb. 1877 Mr. Philips. Miss Davis. Mrs.
Road. Lower.
Belleville Mr. Thompson, Aug. 13, 1877 Mr. Barter. Mrs. Mrs.
Road. Camberwell Christopher. Watson.
Green
N.B.--There are Sunday Schools connected with the different places of
Worship some of which are held in Board Schools.
LAMBETH DIVISION LONDON SCHOOL BOARD.--Accommodation Area and Cost of
New Permanent Schools.
Name of School. Children Area Cost of Cost of
Accommodation. sq. feet. Site. Building.
Sleaford Street 1,055 23,000 £2543 1s. 4d. £8399 19s. 3d.
Tennyson Road 837 28,000 £2376 18s. 6d. £7590 9s. 1d.
Gideon Road 776 19,700 £3404 18s. 3d. £9921 7s. 5d.
Holden Street 1,101 26,887 £3074 14s. 1d. £10305 1s. 7d.
Battersea Park 1,334 32,670 £2378 5s. 5d. £7442 12s. 9d.
Bolingbroke Road 792 54,426 £768 5s. 5d. £5980 15s. 10d.
Mantua Street 1,105 32,670 £2334 5s. 4d. £11337 1s. 1d.
Winstanley Road 1,127 17,792 £3152 5s. 5d. £7948 4s. 7d.
Belleville Road 828 £1661 6s. 2d. £10165 19s. 11d.
8,955