afterwards Lady Hamilton, lived for four years under the protection of
the Hon. Charles Greville, to whom her mother was housekeeper. None of
the other houses now standing are old enough to merit comment.
Paddington House, "a handsome brick structure," built by Denis Chirac,
who had been jeweller to Queen Anne, formerly stood on the east side of
the Green, near to Harrow Road. He entered upon his residence here in
1753. At the corner of Church Street, on the Green, stands the
Children's Hospital, a large red-brick building. The origin of this was
a Free Dispensary for Sick Children, opened in 1862 in Lisson Grove by
two medical men. Relief was afforded to 20,000 children during the first
six years of the work, which was carried on under the management of a
medical committee. In 1869 a building fund was suggested. But it was in
1881, by the earnest work of Mr. George Hanbury, that practical steps
were taken for the establishment of a small hospital. In 1883 the
freehold of the land at the corner of Church Street was purchased, and
the buildings standing there were adapted for the purpose. Further
ground was bought at the back in 1885, and an out-patient department
established. In 1890, owing to the pressure of applications for
in-patients, it was decided to build a new wing. However, for sanitary
reasons, it was considered better to pull down the old building and
entirely rebuild the hospital. The children then in the hospital were
temporarily sent to Harrow, and the new building was commenced in 1894,
and was reopened in June, 1895. An interesting old shop at the corner
of Church Street was pulled down to make way for it. It contains all
modern improvements, including electric light and cooking by gas. There
is an isolation ward for any infectious illness which may break out, and
two large, bright wards for the ordinary patients. The walls of these
are lined with glazed bricks and tiles, and one of the wards contains
large tile-work pictures representing well-known fairy tales. Boys are
received up to the age of twelve, and girls to fourteen years. Babes of
even three and four days are admitted. The out-patients' department is
entirely free, no letter of any sort being required. The payment of a
nominal fee of a penny to insure genuine cases is all that is exacted.
Out-patients are selected by the medical staff to become in-patients.
The children look bright and well cared for; the wards are models of
cleanliness and comfort. The hospital is entirely supported by voluntary
contributions and subscriptions. The temporary house at Harrow has been
retained as a convalescent home.
A house, No. 13, close by the hospital, is one of Dr. Stainer's Homes
for Deaf and Dumb Children.
The Paddington charities may be here described. But it must be
remembered that amounts where mentioned are only given in general terms,
and are liable to variation.
The _Bread and Cheese Charity_ is of very ancient origin, and is said to
have been founded by two maiden ladies. The bequest was in the form of
land, though the name of the donors and the date of the gift are
unknown. With the rents of the land bread and cheese were purchased, and
thrown from the church tower to poor people on the Sunday before
Christmas. The annual income arising from this source is now divided,
being expended partly upon education, partly upon apprenticeship, and a
certain amount upon coals and blankets to be distributed among the poor
of the parish.
_Johnson's Charity_ is a rent-charge of £1 a year, distributed in small
sums among the poor of the parish. The date of this bequest is not
known.
_Lyon's Charity_ is of very ancient date--namely, 1578. It consists of
an estate in Kilburn and an estate in Paddington, and is distributed
among many different parishes. The greater part of the income, which, of
course, varies in amount, goes to the repairing of roads.
_Harvest's Charity_ in 1610 bequeathed an estate to the parishes of
Paddington and Marylebone for repairing the highways. The income derived
from this source is devoted to the above-mentioned purpose.
_Dr. Compton's and Margaret Robertson's, or Robinson's Charity._--This
is supposed to have been partly the gift of Dr. Compton, Bishop of
London. The first grant was made in 1717, which was after Dr. Compton's
death, but it is possible that he promised the gift which was granted by
his successor, Dr. Robinson. Lysons says "the donation was confirmed by
Dr. Robinson." "The first admission to the land, the property of
Margaret Robertson's Charity, was on the 18th day of April, 1721"
(Charity Commissioners' Report). The same persons are trustees for both
charities. The gross total income, which amounts to about £535, is
distributed as follows: £321 for education purposes, £107 for
apprenticing, and the same as the latter sum to be given to the poor of
the parish in kind.
_The Almshouse Charity._--Paddington is singularly deficient in
almshouses, the only houses of the kind having been pulled down between
1860 and 1870. These stood opposite the Vestry Hall, and are mentioned
below. The Almshouse Charity includes the charity of Frances King. It is
described as having been mentioned first on the Court Rolls of the manor
of Paddington in 1720, but Lysons, in referring to the same charity,
says: "Several small almshouses were built at the parish expense in the
year 1714." There were seventeen of these almshouses in all, inclusive
of four built by Samuel Pepys Cockerell. Two of them were used as rooms
by the master and mistress of the Charity School. Some of these houses
must have been pulled down previous to the year 1853, for at that date
the Vestry applied for permission to pull down the twelve almshouses in
the Harrow Road, considering that the estate could be more
advantageously administered. It was not until 1867, however, that the
order of the Court of Chancery was finally obtained, and after the
demolition part of the land was let on a building lease. Another part,
with a frontage to the Harrow Road, was let also on a building lease
1869. The houses erected on this are Nos. 111, 113, 115, 117, 119,
Harrow Road. Frances King's Charity was £200, given by will in 1845 to
be expended in coals for the inhabitants of the above-mentioned
almshouses. The total income of the Almshouse Charity is somewhere about
£200; of this amount the trustees pay a yearly sum of £50 to the
trustees of St. Mary's School, and the remainder is applied to necessary
expenses, and to pensions of £10 to £12 a year to deserving candidates
in the parish.
Denis Chirac left in 1777 a sum of £100 (Report Charity Commissioners;
Lysons says £138) for the benefit of the poor children of the parish.
This amount, together with £120 given by Baron Maseres, was applied to
the building of a schoolroom. The old Charity School, still standing
near the site of the almshouses, was built in 1822 upon copyhold land
granted for the purpose by the Bishop. St. Mary's Schools at present
stand near the spot in Church Place.
_Abourne's Charity_ was left in 1767. It is at present £300 in stock,
and produces an annual income of from £8 to £9, distributed in bread
among the poor of the parish.
_Simmonds' Charity_ consists of the dividends on £600 stock, from which
an annual income of from £16 to £20 is distributed among poor women of
the parish in sums of 10s. 6d.
_Marion Mayne's Charity._--In 1854 Marion Mayne left a sum of money by
her will for keeping in repair certain tombstones, tablets, etc.,
including her own, and a sum for the maintenance of Paddington Green in
good order, and a sum to be expended in annuities among the poor of the
parish. The present income is derived from the dividends on £6,416 1s.
7d. stock, the latest income of which is expended as directed.
_Smith Charity._--Under Augustus Frederick Smith's will, proved March
19, 1881, dividends on £9,985 3s. 8d. were left to the parish. The
income is between £200 and £300. This is distributed amongst poor women
about sixty years of age resident in Paddington, in pensions of not
more than £20, or less than £10 per annum.
Following St. Mary's Terrace northwards, we see on the east side a
curious little passage leading to a small Welsh chapel, an iron
building. Close by the chapel stands a genuine old cottage, whitewashed
and thatched, a remnant of the time when Paddington was largely composed
of open ground. This cottage is said by an antiquarian authority to be
several centuries old. It was granted to the Welsh congregation by the
Bishop of London in 1890. Not far from this, up another narrow opening,
is an old brick house with quaint red-tiled roof. This is Claremont
House. It is picturesque, but has no authentic history. Opening out of
St. Mary's Terrace on the east side, Howley and Fulham Places and
Porteus Road recall the ownership of the Bishops of London.
We must now mention the Grand Junction Canal. When it was first opened
it was the fashion to go excursions by the day on the water, a custom
referred to in "Nollekens and his Times." In 1812 the Regent's Canal
Company was incorporated and given authority to make and maintain a
navigable canal from the Grand Junction Canal in the parish of
Paddington to the river Thames in the parish of Limehouse. The canal to
the Regent's Park basin was opened two years after this, but was only
completed in 1820. About "Paddington Basin," as it is called, are
clustered many poor houses. The streets between the Harrow Road on the
one side, and the basin on the other, are miserable and squalid. At the
corner of Green Street is a church formerly belonging to the Catholic
Apostolic community, later purchased by the Baptists, and now belonging
to the Salvation Army. This is a structure of Kentish ragstone in a
Gothic style with small steeple. In the Edgware Road are one or two
public-houses, which, if not actually old, stand on the sites and
inherit the names of famous old predecessors. The White Lion, now
amalgamated with a music-hall, bears date of foundation 1524. It is said
that G. Morland, the animal painter, painted a sign for this. It is No.
267. Northward, at the corner of Church Street, is the Wheatsheaf,
which, says Robins, "has the credit of having frequently entertained
honest and learned Ben Jonson."
The Red Lion, No. 239, a little to the north of Praed Street, claims as
ancient a date. Tradition says that Shakespeare acted in one of the old
wooden rooms, now vanished, and the inn boasts a haunted chamber.
In Cambridge Place is St. Mary's Hospital and Medical School. The
suggestion of a hospital was discussed in 1840, but the foundation was
not laid until 1843 by the late Prince Consort. The building was
designed to hold 380 beds, but though it has been added to from time to
time it still contains less than this, a supply totally inadequate to
the demand for accommodation. The first wing was opened in 1857, and
contained 150 beds. In 1865 the present King laid the foundation-stone
of a further wing, and in 1892 the stone of the Clarence memorial wing.
By 1886 all the building land acquired by the hospital had been used,
and it was found necessary to purchase other land. In 1887 negotiations
were made by which the Grand Junction Canal Company agreed to sell their
interest in the required land. After five years' labour and the
expenditure of £48,000, the desired result was achieved, and the
Clarence wing was commenced. The hospital now faces Praed Street as well
as Cambridge Place, the intervening houses having been pulled down. It
is a great square red-brick building with stone facings. Behind the
hospital are All Saints' Schools, and to the west of them the Great
Western Railway Terminus. The Act for the extension of the Great Western
line to Paddington, and for the erection of a station, was dated 1836.
The first station was, however, only temporary. The present one was
designed by I. K. Brunel, commenced 1849, and completed in 1854. It
contains three passenger platforms, and the roof is divided by columns
into three great spans, of which the centre one measures over 102 feet
in width, and the outer ones 68 feet each. The station buildings and
platforms at Paddington cover an area of 373,407 feet, but even this
extent is insufficient for the railway purposes. Adjacent houses have
consequently been adapted for the offices, and there is continual need
for further accommodation. There are eight platform lines, and the
platforms themselves are 780 feet in length. The daily passenger trains
number from 250 to 300, and with the addition of excursion trains in the
season the total daily average has reached 350. The diurnal number of
passengers is estimated at 14,000, but high-water mark has been touched
between 40,000 and 50,000. Twenty-five tons of news parcels are
despatched from Paddington in one day, and nearly 3,000 mail-bags and
parcels-post packages pass through the station in the same time, besides
about 5,000 milk-churns. The above figures give some indication of the
enormous traffic at this great terminus. The army of workers employed
numbers 2,000, exclusive of the large clerical staff employed in the
general department. The Great Western Hotel in a Renaissance style
fronts Praed Street. It was built from 1850 to 1852, and its frontage is
nearly 89 yards in length, and it is connected with the station by means
of a covered way. Covered ways also connect the station with Praed
Street and Bishop's Road Stations of the Metropolitan Railway.
In No. 19, Warwick Crescent, Robert Browning lived for five-and-twenty
years, a fact recorded by a tablet of the Society of Arts. He came here
in 1862, broken down by the death of his wife, and remained until a
threatened railway near the front of the house--an innovation never
carried out--drove him away. We are now once more in the region where
the name of Westbourne is freely used. There is Westbourne Terrace and
Square, Westbourne Park Crescent and Terrace Road. Near to Park Crescent
in Chichester Place is a Jewish synagogue of red brick, with ornate
stone carving over doors and windows. Next door is a curiously built
Primitive Methodist chapel, with bands of differently coloured bricks in
relief. St. Mary Magdalene's Church and schools stand at the corner of
Cirencester Street. A temporary church was first opened in 1865, and the
real building in 1868. This was the work of G. E. Street, R.A., and is a
compactly built church of dark-red brick, with apse and very high spire,
202 feet in height. It stands in rather a peculiar situation at the
junction of three or four roads, and suits the position well.
On July 13, 1872, while workmen were still busy with the roofing, the
church caught fire. The damage, however, was not great. The church was
finally completed in 1878. The services are High Church. The patronage
is held by Keble College, Oxford, and the population of the parish is
about 10,000. The ward of Maida Vale is bounded by Church ward on the
south, Westbourne and Harrow Road wards on the west, and the borough
boundary north and east. Between the Maida Vale Road and St. Saviour's
Church in the Warwick Road there is nothing to comment on. The church of
St. Saviour is in a Decorated style of Gothic. It is ornately built,
with a square tower buttressed and pinnacled. The church was consecrated
in 1856, and in 1883 a very fine and solidly-built chancel was added.
This is faced on the interior with Cosham stone. Carved stone niches run
on the north and south and on both sides of the Communion table. Some of
these contain life-size statues of saints and the Apostles. A very
handsome set of sanctuary lamps, after a Florentine design, hang across
the chancel. In Formosa Street are the Church schools of St. Saviour's,
and in Amberley Road there is a Board School. At the north of Shirland
Road is a dingy brick building like a large meeting-room. This is the
Welsh Calvinistic Methodist Church; in it the services are held in
Welsh. Across Sutherland Avenue, at the corner of Shirland Road, is a
very large brick building faced with red brick, which has two doorways
with porticos supported by columns with ornamented capitals. This is a
Wesleyan Methodist chapel, built in 1876. The schools in connection are
beneath the chapel. Further northward in the Shirland Road is a large
brick building with two entrances. This is the Wordsworth Ladies'
College and a branch of the Kilburn Orphanage. It was built in the year
1887 for both purposes, and there is no interior division between the
college and home. The orphans are only kept here until nine years of
age, when they are passed on to the Central Home. The Kilburn Sisters
have patented a form of cot surrounded with wire to prevent the very
little ones from falling out in their sleep. The room where there are
rows upon rows of these cots with head curtains is a very curious
spectacle, though it certainly suggests the desirability of further
accommodation. The college has large class-rooms and a studio for art
students. Some students board here, but the greater number attend daily.
The terms are very low--fifteen shillings a week, including board,
lodging, and tuition. The college is intended to assist girls desirous
of passing the Government examinations as elementary school teachers.
Almost immediately opposite the college is a small brick Baptist chapel,
considerably below the level of the road. In Elgin Avenue there is a
school of the Girls' Public Day School Company. On either side of Elgin
Avenue are large spaces of open ground used by market-gardeners and
others. To the north lies Paddington Recreation Ground, with cricket,
football, and tennis grounds, running and cycling tracks. Beyond this,
in the most northerly part of the borough, is the Kilburn Orphanage.
This was begun in 1875 in two houses in the Kilburn Park Road, but funds
were raised for building purposes, and in 1880 the present orphanage was
completed. The Sisters themselves supplied quite half of the money
required. The rule of the Sisterhood is that, though each retains
control of her own capital, her income goes into the common fund. The
orphanage is a large red-brick building standing in Randolph Gardens.
The western wing, now connected with the main building, was added later,
and the chapel last of all; it was not completed until about 1890. The
chapel is well fitted up, and the whole building has an air of comfort
and warmth in the interior. The passages are paved with tessellated
pavement, and the floors of the large schoolrooms are of parquet. This
is only one of the orphanage homes. There is a large establishment at
Broadstairs, which is partly a home for convalescents and partly for
orphans; and another at Margate; a relief home for little ones, already
mentioned, in the Shirland Road; and homes for boys at Brondesbury,
Oxford, and elsewhere. In Burwood Place there are printing-offices and
workshops connected with the orphanage, entirely managed by the boys.
During the last few years there has been much discussion on the methods
of the orphanage, and several charges have been brought against the
Sisters, of which the chief are: (1) Want of business method and
properly audited accounts; (2) injudicious methods: advertising for
illegitimate children without inquiry, to the encouragement of vice; (3)
receiving payment with such children, when the foundation was intended
for the absolutely destitute; (4) repudiation of all external control,
evidenced by deposing the Archbishop of Canterbury from his post of
patron when he attempted inquiry. These offences seem to have been
chiefly the result of mismanagement, not deliberately wrought, and might
be condoned. The orphanage receives children from the workhouse under
five years of age, and also foundlings. The community comprises about
160 Sisters, of which many are abroad. The orphan girls are trained in
domestic work, and do all their own work in the home. They do not leave
until they are nineteen or twenty years of age.
Adjoining the orphanage is the large red-brick church of St. Augustine.
This is a remarkable church both inside and out. It was designed by J.
L. Pearson, who thereby obtained the distinction of adding the letters
R.A. to his name. Through this building he also obtained the commission
to build Truro Cathedral. The church, as above stated, is of red brick,
in the first Pointed style, with long lancet windows. At the four
corners are four Pointed towers enriched with stonework. The centre
steeple has never been added, for want of funds, though the foundations
for it are deeply laid. The interior is very picturesque. There is a
triforium formed by the bays of the arches carried up from the centre
aisle. The roof is groined, and the chancel-screen, pulpit, walls of the
chancel, and the reredos are all stonework, with niches fitted with
stone figures. In the transeptal chapels are some fine oil paintings
executed on brick; that in the south chapel is the work of a prize pupil
of the Royal Academy. The church was built entirely owing to the
exertions of the present vicar, Mr. Kirkpatrick, who himself contributed
largely. An iron church on the same site was erected in 1870, and was so
constructed that the present building could be built over and enclose
it; therefore service was never interrupted for one day during the
process. In 1871 the greater part of the church was built, and in 1877
the nave was opened. It was completed in 1880.
There is very little of interest in the remaining part of the district.
St. Peter's Church, Elgin Avenue, was consecrated on August 12, 1872.
The church is built of Kentish ragstone, and is in a plain Early English
style, with an apse at the east end. The square tower, surmounted by a
short steeple, was added a few years later. The pillars are of polished
Aberdeen granite. St. Peter's National Schools lie to the south in
Chippenham Road. In Fernhead Road there is a Wesleyan chapel, built in
an ornate style with two square towers. Further north, just within the
borough boundary, is St. Luke's Church, built of brick, with schools
attached. This was consecrated in January, 1877, and is in a severe
Gothic style.
[Illustration: BAYSWATER DISTRICT.
Published by A. & C. Black, London.]
INDEX
Aberdare, Lord, 67
Aberfield, 83
Abergavenny, Lord, 28
Abershaw, Jerry, 83
Abingdon, Lord, 29
Abington, Mrs., 70
Adair, Sir R., 40
Albemarle Club, 31
Albemarle, Earl of, 26
Albemarle Street, 30
Aldford Street, 13, 17, 38
Alington House, 14
Alison, Sir A., 65
Allingham, W., 19
Ancaster, Earl of, 61
Anglesea, Lord, 29
Anne, Queen, 49
Anson, Admiral, 23
Anthropological Society, 21
Apsley House, 54
Arbuthnot, Dr., 34
Argyle, Duke of, 37, 53
Army Clothing Factory, 86
Ashbourne, Lord, 62
Ashburnham House, 33
Atholl, Duke of, 60, 65
Austro-Hungarian Embassy, 61
Aylesford Street, 85
Bach, J. C., 21
Baden-Powell, Lady, 68
Badminton Club, 61
Baillie, Matthew, 19, 56
Balcarres, Lord, 20
Balfe, M. W., 27
Balfour Place, 17
Bancroft, Sir S., 36
Baring, Thomas, 40
Barker, Thomas, 20
Barnard, Lady Anne, 36
Barré, Colonel, 39
Barrington, B., 62
Barrymore, Lord, 38
Barrymore, Earl of, 51
Bartlett, Sir E. Ashmead, 19
Bath Club, 33
Bath House, 50
Bathurst, C., 45
Bathurst, Earl, 37, 39
Bayswater, 97
Bayswater Road, 101
Beaconsfield, Earl of, 42
Beau Brummell, 38, 39, 41
Beaumont, Sir John, 13
Beckford, W., 13
Bedford, Duke of, 39, 53, 61
Beechey, Sir W., 26
Belgrave Hospital, 83
Belgrave Place, 65
Belgrave Road, 83
Belgrave Square, 61
Belgravia, 60
Bell, Sir Charles, 20
Belmore, Earl of, 53
Bennett, Sir W. H., 41
Bennett, W. J., 62
Berkeley, Hon. G., 49
Berkeley House, 49
Berkeley Square, 34
Berkeley Street, 36
Bernal, R., 67
Berry, the Misses, 14 42
Bevan, Henry, 53
Blake, W., 20
Blessington, Lady, 41
Bloomfield Terrace, 76
Blount, Martha, 36, 42
Blythswood, Lord, 41
Bolingbroke, Viscount, 34
Bolton Row, 42
Bolton Street, 43
Bond Street, 27
Boswell, J., 27, 29, 44
Boundaries of Paddington, 87
Brampton, Lord, 39
Brandes, W. T., 43
Brassey, Lord, 12
Breadalbane, Marquis of, 12
Brick Street, 46
Broadbent, Sir W., 20
Brodie, Sir B., 56
Brook House, 11
Brook Street, 19
Brougham and Vaux, Lord, 36, 37, 39
Broughton, Dr., 66
Browning, Robert, 120
Brownlow, Earl, 61
Brunswick, Duchess of, 23
Bruton Street, 86
Buckingham Gate, 73
Buckingham Palace Gardens, 73
Buckingham Palace Road, 73
Buckinghamshire, Duchess of, 26
Buckinghamshire, Earl of, 53
Bulkeley, General, 36
Buller, Charles, 68
Bunsen, Baron, 16, 42
Burdett, Sir F., 49
Burdett-Coutts, Baroness, 49
Burghclere, Lord, 40
Burgoyne, General, 45
Burke, Edmund, 20
Burton, Lord, 15
Bute House, 15
Bute, Lord, 32
Byng, Admiral, 37
Byron, 32
Byron, Lady, 34
Byron, Lord, 28
Cambridge, Duke of, 50, 52
Cambridge House, 50
Cambridge Terrace, 95
Camden, Lord, 37
Camelford House, 10
Camelford, Lord, 29
Campbell, Thomas, 23, 49, 70, 71
Campbell-Bannerman, Sir H., 60
Camperdown, Earl of, 40
Canning, George, 27, 37
Canning, Lord, 13
Cardwell, 67
Carlisle, Earl of, 37, 59
Carlos Place, 17
Carnarvon, Earl of, 36
Carnarvon House, 10
Caroline, Queen, 16
Carrington, Earl, 19
Carrington Street, 45
Carte, Samuel, 45
Carter, Elizabeth, 15
Cary, Rev. H. F., 40, 46
Cathcart, Earl, 60
Caulfield, General, 65
Cavalry Club, 52
Chandos, Duke of, 41
Chantrey, Sir F., 42, 44, 74
Chapel Street, 64
Charities, Paddington, 112-115
Charlemont, Lord, 45
Charles Street, 39, 40
Charles X., 16