Transcribed from the 1853 W. Birch edition by David Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org. Many thanks to Royal Kensington Libraries for allowing their copy to be used for this transcription.
NINTH
ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
ST. MARY ABBOTT’S,
Kensington,
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
DISTRICT
VISITING SOCIETY,
TOGETHER
WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE DIFFERENT SOCIETIES
SUBORDINATE OR AFFILIATED TO IT.
1853.
KENSINGTON:
PRINTED BY W. BIRCH, TERRACE, HIGH STREET.
ST. MARY ABBOTT’S, KENSINGTON,
Church of England
DISTRICT VISITING SOCIETY.
PRESIDENT.
THE VEN. ARCHDEACON SINCLAIR, Vicar.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
Sir J. CONROY, Bart., K.C.H. Sir HENRY WILLOCK, K.L.S.
TREASURER.
Mr. CLARKE.
JOINT SECRETARIES.
The Rev. THE CURATES. Mr. WARNER.
AUDITORS.
Mr. WESTON. Mr. FREDERICK THOMPSON.
COMMITTEE.
| Mr. BAILEY. | Mr. GOODEVE. |
| Dr. BAYFORD, D.C.L. | Mr. HUGHES. |
| Mr. BELLWORTHY. | Rev. J. H. HOWLETT. |
| Mr. C. BUNYON. | Mr. MERRIMAN. |
| Mr. COOKE. | Mr. J. N. MERRIMAN. |
| Mr. ELLIS. | Mr. CARRICK MOORE. |
COLLECTOR.
ALFRED ELLIS, 16, Lower Phillimore Place.
Ladies or Gentlemen who may be desirous of taking charge of Districts as Visitors, are requested to communicate with the Secretaries, who, in the event vacancies occurring, will inform them thereof.
The Secretaries will be happy to give all the information in their power to any Subscriber or Parishioner who may wish for it, upon any point not fully treated of in the Report of the Committee.
GENERAL RULES.
1. This Society shall be called the “St. Mary Abbott’s Kensington, Church of England District Visiting Society.”
2. The object of this Society shall be, to improve the temporal and spiritual condition of the Poor of Kensington.
3. A Fund for that purpose shall be raised by Subscriptions and Donations; Subscriptions to be due on the first of January in each year.
4. Annual Subscribers of not less than One Guinea shall be Members of the Society.
5. The business of the Society shall be conducted by a Board, consisting of a President, Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, Secretary, and Committee of Management. The Vicar to be President, ex-officio; the Curates, Members of the Committee; other twelve members, to be elected at the yearly general meeting of the Society. A Report of the Proceedings of the Board shall be presented annually at the General Meeting, and published for the information of the Parishioners.
6. The Board shall meet on the first Saturday in every Month, to audit accounts submitted, and decide upon cases referred. Three Members to form a quorum.
7. The operations of this Society shall be extended over that portion of Kensington which is in connexion with the Clergy of St. Mary Abbott’s Church.
8. The Visitors shall all be members of the Established Church; their business shall be, to keep a List of all the families in their several Districts, according to a prescribed form; to inquire into all cases recommended; to administer relief; and to circulate Books and Tracts upon the List of this Society.
9. Relief shall not be given in any case by the Visitor to a larger amount than 2s. a week for adults, and 1s. for each child, nor continue for a longer period than four weeks, without the sanction of the Board, at its monthly meeting. The Board, however, shall not be subject to the same restrictions.
10. Relief shall be administered by orders on Shopkeepers, and not in money, except in extreme cases.
11. No applicant of notoriously immoral character shall be relieved; but relief shall not be refused to any person on account of his religious persuasion.
12. No person shall be relieved who has not resided three months in the Parish, and has not occupied the same house or lodging, unless good reason be assigned.
13. Subscribers to the Society may recommend cases for inquiry and relief. Recommendations may be sent to the National School House, whence they will be forwarded daily to the Visitors. Money remitted to any of the Parochial Clergy for the relief of particular families shall be appropriated to that purpose, if they are found to be proper objects of charity; otherwise it shall be returned to the Donor, or, with his consent, added to the general fund.
14. Visitors are requested to forward their Books to the Secretaries, for the consideration of the Board, the Saturday before the monthly meeting.
15. A Parochial Lending Library shall be provided by the Board, together with a supply of Books and Tracts, to be either given, lent, or sold by the Visitors. No Book to be sold at a lower rate than half-price.
16. Cases of sickness shall always be reported by the Visitors to the Parochial Clergy.
17. The Board, at its monthly meeting, shall supply the Visitors with funds proportioned to the probable wants of their several Districts.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| Blankets | [22] |
| Coal Fund | [20] |
| Clothing Fund | [21] |
| Winter Club | [21] |
| Provident Club | [21] |
| Work Society | [23] |
| Maternity Society | [13] |
| Parochial Nursery | [14] |
| Infant School | [15] |
| Christ Church National School, Gore Lane | [18] |
| Jennings’ Buildings School | [16] |
| Analysis of Relief given | [24] |
| District Visiting—Its Practical Working | [25] |
| —Results | [28] |
NINTH ANNUAL REPORT.
In putting forth, for the information and satisfaction of the Parishioners of St. Mary Abbott’s, the Ninth Annual Report of the Kensington Church of England District Visiting Society, the Committee feel constrained to call the serious attention of all residents blessed with the will and power of exercising a discriminating charity to the several subscription lists annually put forth from the date of its foundation. A comparative view of the balance sheets of its receipts and expenditure, from the time that the several Ecclesiastical Districts were separated from the Mother Church will reveal facts, which no impartial person can consider in creditable keeping with the progress that has taken place in the numbers and respectability of the population. Large areas of formerly vacant ground, both in the New Town and on Campden Hill, are now covered with houses, in the occupation of tenants who must possess competent, if not abundant, means. In Palace Gardens, mansions have sprung up, which, in all the appliances of a luxurious and tasteful civilization, throw into the shade the neighbouring Royal residence. The value of rateable property is now assessed at a sum that very largely exceeds its registered amount six years ago. From such data, and arguing from the general benevolence of the English character it would not have been unreasonable to expect a corresponding advance in the sums set apart for Christian Almsgiving. This natural hope has not been justified. The reverse is the case. Year by year the contributions have been falling off, until between the revenues of 1846 and 1852, there exists no less a difference than 150l., being considerably more than a third of the entire income from those sources. Nor must it be supposed that the continued erection of habitations adapted to the requirements of families moving in the upper and middle walks of life has been unaccompanied by any provision for the accommodation of the numerous classes who wait upon and minister to their wants. In one street alone a considerable number of small dwellings, containing from six to eight rooms, have recently been built, by which comfortable lodgings are secured to upwards of five hundred new inhabitants, of whom a large majority, on any failure of health or employment, would become eligible candidates for temporary relief. Under the pressure of circumstances thus doubly adverse, with a sphere of usefulness steadily increasing, yet decreasing supplies wherewith to occupy it profitably, it may be a matter of surprise to some, that the operations of the Society have been so efficiently and perseveringly maintained. But the solution of the problem is to be sought in the tendency of those operations themselves. The alleviation of physical misery was but one, and not the most important one, amongst the many objects, which engaged the attention of its first managers. To forestall the occurrence of distress, by stimulating and encouraging provident habits, was, in temporal affairs, their main purpose. The principle of forethought was systematically wrought into the mind of each applicant for help. Hence, in proportion as the love of the rich waxed cold, the energy of the poor strengthened; and though the bounty of the former diminished, the savings of the latter augmented until the Deposits in the Coal, Clothing, and Winter Clubs have more than doubled the amounts collected by subscription. These constitute a reserve fund always available to its members, in seasons of unlooked for privation. Ordinarily, the man who has money in each of these Clubs requires no extraneous assistance; he is sufficient for himself. His three grand winter wants, fuel, raiment, and rent, are all provided for. This independence enables him to understand the pleasures of an honest industry; raises him above the influence of any trifling fluctuation in his trade, and educes at once and fosters the invaluable characteristic of consistent self-respect. The establishment of safe and remunerating investments for the earnings of the prudent artizan is a boon, which soon returns an ample interest to a neighbourhood. As their intention and working becomes known and comprehended, they are thankfully appreciated by the more thoughtful portion of the operative body, who soon learn that by the exercise of a due economy and regular apportionment of their wages, it is quite possible to anticipate the ordinary exigencies of the future, and live independent of eleemosynary aid. That this result has taken place in Kensington is demonstrable from the subjoined table, which shows the sums spent by the Visitor in a district where the population has increased an eighth in three years before and after the introduction of the Clubs. It would probably be found a fair type of the system.
| Money expended. | Moneydeposited. | ||||
1847 | £13 | 12 | 9 | £11 | 16 | 3 |
1850 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 18 | 3 |
1852 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 26 | 0 | 10 |
The Winter Club deposits amounting last year to £8 1s. 6d. are not included in the summary. Enough however will have been adduced to indicate in what way the reduced resources of the Institution have hitherto sufficed for its actual necessities. But the causes that have led to the deficiency in its income are yet to be explained.
These may be stated as arising first from the death or change of residence of many original supporters; and, secondly, from want of acquaintance on the part of new comers with its existence. Nor should this be a matter of much surprise; since, in every populous parish, so many Institutions for the temporal and spiritual advantage of the working-classes are necessary to be maintained, that comparatively few of those, who do not make a conscience of inquiring into their condition, are aware of either their number or relative importance. This remark applies with peculiar force to suburban districts such as Kensington, where a large proportion of the heads of families proceed early in the morning to transact their daily business in London, and do not return until the evening. The fault of their ignorance is not however to be charged to the Committee of the Society, who do all in their power to make known its title to assistance, both by the publication of Reports, and the appointment of a collector, whose business it is not merely to gather old, but also to solicit new subscriptions. But in many instances, the servants are prohibited from receiving printed appeals by a general order, which, of course, renders nugatory any communication that might be addressed to their masters through the medium of the Press. This is a hardship on both parties, in that the very individuals who are the first to complain of the apparent omission, are the involuntary victims of their own direction, and continue deprived of a satisfactory channel for the administration of their alms; while the Charity advocated in the pamphlet intended to be left at their houses suffers in the full amount which might otherwise have been placed at its disposal. There are some cases on the other side, in which the clergy have been requested by persons immediately on their entrance into the Parish to supply them with a list of the benevolent Institutions requiring succour. It would be well were this example more universally followed. None would then complain of being overlooked.
With these preliminary observations the Committee proceed to the more grateful task of giving an account of their stewardship in the past year; and as the best means of exhibiting the organisation now existing in St. Mary Abbott’s, and informing the public of the comprehensive scheme of charity, to which they are invited to take a part, the present Report will bring in order under notice, the graduated agencies of beneficence that are exerted upon the poor throughout the several stages of their lives.
As that which refers to its very earliest period, it may be advisable to commence with some account of the