KENSINGTON PAROCHIAL CHARITIES.
Year ended Easter, 1890.
The undermentioned charities are apportioned among the several ecclesiastical districts of the parish, pursuant to an order of the Court of Chancery, dated 22nd December, 1852, viz.:—
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. |
Lady Berkeley’s Gift |
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| 10 | 0 | 0 |
Thomas Young’s „ |
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| 1 | 3 | 4 |
Thomas Sam’s „ |
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| 4 | 17 | 6 |
Elizabeth Ramsden’s Gift |
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| 13 | 15 | 0 |
Mary Barnard’s „ |
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| 3 | 0 | 8 |
Mary Carnaby’s „ |
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| 54 | 16 | 11 |
Thomas McIntosh’s „ |
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| 3 | 7 | 4 |
Thomas Reeve’s „ |
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| 3 | 17 | 0 |
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| 94 | 17 | 9 |
Less |
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Cheque Book (stamps) | 0 | 8 | 4 |
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Clerical Assistants, re Accounts | 1 | 3 | 0 |
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| 1 | 9 | 4 |
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| 93 | 8 | 5 | |||
The Apportionment.
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| £ | s. | d. |
S. Mary Abbots District | 25-88ths | 26 | 10 | 9 |
S. Barnabas ,, | 9-88ths | 9 | 11 | 0 |
Holy Trinity „ | 21-88ths | 22 | 6 | 0 |
S. Mary, Boltons „ | 6½-88ths | 6 | 18 | 0 |
S. John’s ,, | 17-88ths | 18 | 1 | 0 |
S. James, Norlands „ | 9½-88ths | 10 | 1 | 9 |
| 93 | 8 | 5 | |
The undermentioned charities, having specific trusts, are distributed by the donors, viz.:—
Mr. Searle’s Gift, by the Vicar and Churchwardens, in single pounds, among women 60 years of age and upwards.
Mr. Haines’ Gift, by the Vicar and Churchwardens, in bread or coals, or both, but not in money.
Mr. Shore’s Gift, by the Churchwardens and Overseers, in bread or coals, or both, but not in money.
Charity. | The Vicar of S.Mary Abbots. | Capt. James, R.E.,Churchwarden. | Mr. F. C. Frye,Churchwarden. | Mr. A. White,(Town) Overseer. | Mr. C. G. Kemball,(Brompton) Overseer. | Lt.-Gen. R. M.Macdonald (Nottg. Hill) Overseer. | Total. | ||||||||||||||||
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||
General Charities applicable to St. Mary Abbots’District | 6 | 12 | 9 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 12 | 8 |
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| 26 | 10 | 9 | ||
Mr. Searle’s Gift | 2 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 15 |
| 2 | 15 | 0 |
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| 8 | 5 | 0 | ||
Mr. Haines’ ,, | 2 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 0 |
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| 8 | 5 | 0 | ||
Mr. Shore’s „ |
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| 0 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | ||
| 12 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 46 | 6 | 9 | ||
Unpaid Balances:— | |||||||||||||||||||||||
General Charities |
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Mr. Searle’s Gift | 0 | 10 | 4 |
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| 0 | 10 | 4 | ||
Mr. Haines’ „ | 0 | 15 | 4 |
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| 0 | 15 | 4 | ||
| 13 | 8 | 5 | 12 | 16 | 8 | 12 | 15 | 8 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 47 | 12 | 5 | ||
I must now hurry on to the three remaining endowed charities of Kensington.
The first is the Charity known as Leech and Aisley’s Trusts.
Margaret Leech, a lady residing in Kensington Square, by her will dated in the year 1799, gave £1000 6 per cent. bank annuities to five trustees, of whom the then Vicar was one, in trust to apply the interest thereof “in the maintenance, clothing, and instruction of so many female children as it would be sufficient to so provide for; such children being parishioners of Kensington whose fathers and mothers, and grandfathers and grandmothers should have been seven years successively housekeepers, or employed as servants in the parish, and have been three years in the same service.” The children to be appointed by the trustees, and not to be less than seven years of age when admitted, nor to be continued after attaining fifteen years. The interest always to remain a separate stock, and not to be applied to any other purpose, and the charity always to remain a distinct foundation, but the children might be placed in any other charitable institution, but so as always to be distinguished as children of this foundation.
This charity, as you have perceived, is for the benefit of girls.
Stephen Aisley, by his will dated 1805, gave so much money arising from the realisation on his personal estate as would, when invested in accordance with the directions in the will, produce an annual income of £30 a year, to five trustees, of whom the Vicar was one, “in trust for the apprenticing of boys from the Charity School of Kensington, of the boarding establishment only, to be selected by the trustees of his will. The £30 a year to be considered a separate fund, and not to be applied to any other purpose.”
You will notice the resemblance of these two bequests. It would seem as though the respective testators had been acquaintances, and had talked the matter over between themselves; and that Mrs. Leech had resolved to benefit some of the poor girls of the parish, while Mr. Aisley, on the other hand, determined in a similar manner to benefit some poor boys. You will also notice how strongly both testators insisted that these funds should for ever remain separate foundations, and should never be mixed with any other. If their intention was to keep up the memory of their names it has succeeded, for the Leech and Aisley Charity, established so long ago, remains to this day under the same name, and the funds are still applied as the testators directed.
These bequests were the subject of an order of the Charity Commissioners of the 13th July, 1880, by which the funds of both were vested in the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds, and which regulates their present application. It appears from this order that the property of Leech’s Charity then consisted of £1,477 19s. 10d. new 3 per cents. and that of Aisley’s Charity of £1,352 12s. 11d. consols.
The order provided that both charities were in future to be administered by seven trustees—three official, namely, the Vicar and Churchwardens of Kensington for the time being; and four more non-official, who were to be appointed from competent persons resident in Kensington, whose credentials should be satisfactory to the Charity Commissioners.
The order directs that the dividends arising from the £1,477 19s. 10d. new three per cents, representing Margaret Leech’s bequest, shall be applied in the “maintenance, clothing, and support of girls, daughters of deserving persons resident in Kensington, who are inmates of the Girls’ Industrial School established in the parish, and in providing such girls with suitable outfits upon their leaving school and entering domestic service, or otherwise for their benefit or advancement in life; provided that in case the trustees shall at any time consider that a girl not in the said school, but being the child of a poor inhabitant of the parish, is a more suitable object for the charity, such girl may be selected.” You will notice with what tenderness the directions of Mrs. Leech are treated and how closely they are followed in the order.
The Industrial School for Girls mentioned in the order does not come within the scope of my paper, since, as far as I am able to learn, it has never become an endowed charity. It is an excellent institution, established in 1858, with the object of providing education and a home for girls, who “either from evil example, extreme poverty, or the death of their parents, are exposed to temptation,” and supported entirely by voluntary contributions. The institution was formerly carried on at 2, Bullingham Place, Church Street, and is now merged into the Kensington Training School for Girls, at 3, Church Street.
It still subsists almost entirely on voluntary contribution, its only settled income amounting to £13 9s. 1d. a-year, and is an institution which deserves support. I trust that some charitable person may hear of or see this paper, and thus be induced to place the Kensington Training School for Girls among the endowed charities of Kensington by bestowing, preferably in his lifetime, but at all events by will, a handsome endowment upon it.
It appears from the accounts of Leech’s Charity for the year 1890, which I have seen, that its income for that year was £40 13s., and with that, and a balance from the preceding year, it paid the sum of £44 5s. 6d. to the Kensington Training School for Girls for the support of girls within that institution, in strict accordance with the directions of the donor, and the order of the Charity Commissioners.
This order, as regards Aisley’s Charity, directed that the dividends from the £1,352 12s. 11d. consols belonging to the charity should be applied in the payment “of exhibitions to boys of the yearly value not exceeding £15 a-year to boys educated at one of the public elementary schools in the parish, either in the situation of pupil teachers, or to assist their education at some school higher than elementary, or of technical or professional instruction.”
I have also examined the accounts of Aisley’s Charity for the year 1890, and I find during that year the income of the charity was £37 5s. 8d., out of which, and from a balance of £46 9s. 1d. from preceding years, exhibitions of varying value were paid to five boys at various schools.
I have next to deal with a charity as to which there was, at the time I prepared this paper, a singular absence of information. It is called the District School, carried on in Jenning’s Buildings. Jenning’s Buildings, if I remember rightly, was a rookery in Kensington, and removed to make way for Baron Grant’s house, since in its turn pulled down, and its site occupied by Kensington Court.
Since this lecture was delivered, Mr. J. J. Merriman, of 45, Kensington Square, one of the most respected and distinguished of Kensington parishioners, has most kindly given me full information as to these Jenning’s Buildings Schools. Jenning’s Buildings are thus described in the Report for the year 1853, of the S. Mary Abbot’s Kensington District Visiting Society:—
“Jenning’s Buildings is a portion of the town leading out of the High Street, and is the chosen settlement of the Irish Romanists. It consists of a series of courts and alleys, which, for closeness and filth, are probably without a parallel westward of S. Paul’s. Being a cul de sac, unlighted, irregularly-paved, and indifferently supplied with water, its best-disposed inhabitants find it difficult to cultivate the habits of civilized life. The majority give the matter up, and seek in alcoholic and other stimulants an antidote against wretchedness, malaria, and disease. Nowhere are the evils of overcrowded chambers more apparent. Single rooms frequently shelter two and even three families. Its choicest district exhibits a return of 40 families to 18 houses; of 160 persons, exclusive of lodgers, sleeping in 39 rooms. The entire population must exceed 1,500 souls. Prior to the erection of the present schools it was impossible for ladies to penetrate its recesses. The police entered its retreats in couples. In 1847 the work of reformation commenced, and since then a steady progress has been made. At first the school was emphatically ‘a ragged school;’ its scholars were literally running wild and half-naked in the streets; they outraged alike propriety and decency.”
The modern inhabitants of Kensington, especially those residing in its not least-favoured spot, Kensington Court, will have a difficulty in believing what is nevertheless the fact, that the above was a truthful description of the state in A.D. 1853 of the spot now occupied by the mansions and gardens of Kensington Court.
Jenning’s Buildings School was the outcome of the earnest efforts of a few Kensingtonians of those days, headed by that great and good man, Archdeacon Sinclair, to deal with this sad condition of things.
By voluntary contributions the school was established and carried on, and there, from 1847 to 1874, devoted men and women laboured amongst the poor Irish for their improvement, physical, mental, moral, and religious, with success.
In 1874 Baron Grant obtained the site of this rookery, and thereon erected the palace, destined to be so shortly afterwards demolished and replaced by Kensington Court, and the former inhabitants of the rookery dispersed, many of them to take refuge in the potteries in the northern part of the parish. The Jenning’s Buildings Schools were pulled down. Accommodation for those of the children remaining was found in the Parish National Schools, and out of the money received from Baron Grant on the purchase of the site, which was received by the Charity Commissioners, £1,600 was paid to the manager of the Parish National Schools by the Charity Commissioners, on the twofold condition that those schools should be worked in accordance with the 7th section of the Education Act of 1870, and should provide accommodation for the children of the Jenning’s Buildings class.
The balance of the money received by the Charity Commissioners from Baron Grant for the site of the Jenning’s Buildings Schools, remained unappropriated in the hands of the Charity Commissioners until last year, when the attention of the manager of the Parish Schools was called to the fact by one of the officials in the office of the Charity Commission, who is a member of the congregation of S. Mary Abbots. A scheme was thereupon prepared, and an order of the Charity Commissioners, dated the 21st November, 1890, was made on the application of the Vicar and Churchwardens (the trustees of the charity), reciting that the property of the charity is the sum of £343 3s. 2d. two and threequarter per cent. consols, standing in the names of the official trustees of charitable funds. And the order provided that the income of the charity is to be applied in payments of not more than £8 a year each to the advancement of the education of children attending public elementary schools, and in payments to encourage continuance at school. The money may be applied towards paying the tuition fees of the child, or it may be deposited in a savings bank for the benefit of the child, or otherwise applied for his or her benefit.