All about Battersea

by Henry S. Simmonds

FREE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, Queen's Crescent, Queen's Road. Some 6 years or more ago, Mr. Crosby began the above work in Arthur Street Mission Hall, a small Hall situated in the lowest part of Battersea, and the work under his superintendence has been so manifestly owned and blessed of God, that it was some time since deemed imperative on his part as the Lord's steward, to seek further to extend this effort in His cause. As far as the means of himself and friends allowed, and in the exercise of much consecrated faith and self-denial, a plot of land was secured, and an iron building erected adjacent to the most needy part of the neighbourhood, where the extended work is now carried on. The building, however, is of a temporary character, the Board of Works granting a license only of two years on iron buildings, and according to an agreement entered into in faith of the Lord's continued favour, a brick building must be erected in the course of 4 years. The present building, owing to the speedy growth of the work is even now too small. An effort is being made to purchase the freehold, and erect a building capable of holding about 700 persons, at an estimated cost of £2,750. W. Crosby, Pastor, E. V. Kelly, Treasurer.

In addition to other lay helpers (including Scripture Readers and 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.