A short distance to the east is St. Mary’s Hall, an institution for educating the daughters of poor clergymen, established in 1836. To the benevolence of the late Marquis of Bristol the building of this institution is principally attributable. His benefactions were not few nor small; they were, from first to last, every one of them, the unsolicited spontaneous effusion of his noble heart.
His Lordship’s first gift was £500,—to purchase a site for the building, which was originally designed to look east and west, with only frontage for the present lodge and the carriage-drive to the Hall. On the land so bought St. Mary’s Hall stands. But before the excavations for the first design were finished, it was judged best to turn the building, so as to look north and south, and to purchase the additional frontage to the south. The piece of land at the back was given by Mr. Enos Durant. These together cost £1,100, in addition to the munificent gift of £500 from the Marquis, which was given before a sod was turned. In September, 1849, his Lordship gave to St. Mary’s Hall its drilling room, which before had been a painting room, as a free gift; and, moreover, sold to St. Mary’s Hall, for £500 (about half its cost), No. 6, Hervey Terrace, which had been connected with the drilling room. In 1842–3, he gave a donation of £200, to mitigate the loss which fell on the Institution, in consequence of a secret and outstanding mortgage on the play-garden and kitchen-garden, which had been purchased for £500. The Trustees were obliged to pay £700 more to reclaim the land, after it had been walled-in and stocked. The last gift of his Lordship was a cottage and half an acre of land at the north-west extremity of the premises, together with his share of right in the road leading to it. This gift was fully worth £400, and was intended as an encouragement for the establishment of an Infant St. Mary’s Hall, which has not yet been carried out. President, Lord Bishop of Chichester; Secretary and Treasurer, Rev. H. Venn Elliott.
Chapter XXX.
THE CHURCHES AND CHAPELS.
Immediately in connexion with St. Mary’s Hall, is St. Mark’s Church, Kemp Town. This is another instance of the benevolence of the late Marquis of Bristol. In 1838–9, he conveyed to the Trustees of St. Mary’s Hall the land on which the Church now stands. After the conveyance thereof, and when the land was no longer his own, such was his zeal to hasten the erection of St. Mark’s, that, at the expense of some £2,000, he actually built the carcase of the Church, roofed it in, and glazed its windows. If the Church Commissioners would have sanctioned it, he originally designed entirely to build and complete the Church himself. Baffled in that desire, and feeling at his age the uncertainty of life, he made over the property to the Trustees of St. Mary’s Hall, in the confidence that the interests of that Institution would induce them, sooner or later, to complete his purpose. After eight years of ineffectual effort and negociation, St. Mark’s Church was at last finished, and consecrated on St. Matthew’s Day, September 21st, 1849; and for some years his Lordship was a worshipper in that house of prayer. The cost of its completion and of the endowment, in addition to his Lordship’s free gift of the site and the carcase, was not far short of £5,000. For this expense one of the Trustees became personally responsible, on account of the immense value of the Church, and its gratuitous accommodation to St. Mary’s Hall. The subscriptions and collections entrusted to him amounted to £4,832 5s. 8d., of which sum Lord Bristol contributed a benefaction of £500.
In grateful remembrance of his Lordship, a splendid Memorial Window and Monumental Tablet were erected to his memory, in the Church, in 1860. The expense of the Window was defrayed by subscriptions, chiefly by the members of the congregation, and that of the Tablet by the Rev. E. B. Elliott and Lawrence Peel, Esq.
The Memorial Window is an elaborate work of art in the Gothic style, the subjects of the paintings being well selected from sacred history. The centre compartment has two divisions. In the upper division is the ascending Saviour, with His arms stretched out in the act of blessing His Disciples. The lower division represents the figure of St. Mark, writing the concluding verses of his Gospel. In the north compartment, the subject is the Lord descending, after the Paschal Supper with His Disciples, from Jerusalem towards Gethsamane; the Disciples are sorrowing at the thoughts of His speedy departure from them, and He is comforting them with the hope of His going to prepare for their re-union in Heaven. The south compartment contains a group of Disciples looking towards the ascending Saviour, in the upper central window, whilst two angels address them—as recorded in Acts I., ch. ii.
The Monumental Tablet is of Caen stone, bearing the following inscription in Latin:—
FENESTRA
ORIENTALIS TRIPARTITA HUJUS ECCLESLÆ
A QUIBUSDAM AMICIS HIC SACRA COLENTIBUS
ALIISQUE OPPIDI HUJUSCE CIVIBUS,
GRATO ANIMO POSITA ESTIn Memoriam
FREDERICI GULIELMI, PRIMI MARCHIONIS DE BRISTOL.
NOBTLITATE INSIGNIS, MUNIFICENTIA INSIGNIOR,
DIVITIIS NON SIBIMET, SED ALIIS, UTI DELECTATUS EST.
ECCLESIAM HANC,
PROPRIIS SUIS SUMPTIBUS QUOAD MUROS EXTRUCTAM,
CULTUI DIVINO DEDTCANDAM IN ALIORUM MANUS TRANSTULIT.
AULÆ SANCTÆ MARLÆ, PROXIME ADJACENTI,
AGRUM PRETIOSUM PRO SITU DONAVIT.
HOSPITALI BRIGHTONENSI SACELLUM ADDIDIT.
CŒMETERIUM PAROCHIALE TRANS COLLEM LARGE AMPLIFICAVIT.
USQUE AD EXTREMAM SENECTUTEM VITA PROTENSA,
FACULTATIBUS MENTIS VIX LANGUIDIORIBUS
CORDIS BENEVOLENTIA, UTI PRIUS, MINIME IMMINUTA FRUEBATUR.
TANDEM, MORBO LETHALI CORREPTUS,
RELIGIONIS CONSOLATIONIBUS
SACRAQUE COMMUNIONE, NANU FILII IPSIUS MINISTRATA, REFECTUS,
PLACIDE, FAMILIA SUA CIRCUMSTANTE, IN FIDE CHRISTI OBDORMIVIT.
QUOD ILLIUS MORTALE ERAT
IN CRYPTA FAMILIARI SUBTER ECCLESIAM ICKWORTHIENSEM SEPULTUM
JACET.
IBI, UT SPERAMUS, BEATAM RESURRECTIONEM EXPECTAT,
QUANDO QUI OLIM ASCENDIT
RURSUS, SECUNDUM PROMISSUM, GLORIOSE DESCENDET;
SUOS SIBI UNDIQUE ET MORTUOS COACTURUS.
JESUS HOMINUM SALVATOR.
The base of the Tablet bears the Escutcheon of the House of Bristol. On a brass plate, that extends under the whole window, is the following Latin inscription:—