Paddington: Past and Present

by William Robins

With the rents of this land it was formerly the custom to purchase bread and cheese, which, on the Sunday before Christmas, were thrown down from the church among the poor assembled in the church-yard. Latterly, a less objectionable mode of distribution has been adopted: bread and coals are now given by the minister and parish officers to poor families inhabiting the parish, of whom a list is made out annually for the churchwardens, stating their residence and occupation, and the number of children under ten years of age: and we are assured that much care is taken in selecting those to receive this gift who are most deserving. One or two four-pound loaves, and one or two bushels of coals are given to each family, according to the number it consists of. No distinction is made between parishioners, and unsettled resident poor, nor between such as do not receive parochial relief.

Johnson’s Charity.

The account above referred to mentions a rent-charge of one pound a-year, given by Thomas Johnson, merchant-tailor, of London, issuing out of three houses on the east side of Paddington Green, and payable on St. Thomas’s-day in every year, in the following proportions:—

Out of a house in the occupation of the Rev. Basil Wood	„	10	„
Ditto in the occupation of Benjamin Edward Hall, esq.	„	5	„
Ditto in the occupation of Miss Morel	„	5	„

It is not stated when this benefaction was given, nor to what purposes it was appropriated.

In the returns of 1786, it is said that this, and Mrs. Robertson’s benefaction after mentioned were given for apprenticing poor children; but they are not now so applied. It appears indeed that Johnson’s rent-charge goes into the churchwarden’s general account, and it is not the subject of any particular application. This seems to have arisen from inadvertence, as it is understood to have been a charitable gift; and we are assured that it shall in future be corrected.

Dr. Compton’s Charity.

There is a copyhold estate in the Harrow-road, held of the manor of Paddington, and which is stated in the account to have been the gift of Dr. Compton, bishop of London, lord of the said manor, by the description of “one cottage and a piece of land.”

The estate now consists of six houses: one of these is at present occupied as a poor house, the rest are let and occupied in the following manner:—

	£	s.	d.
1.—A public house, called the“Running-horse,” held by Robert Cuthbertson, under a leasegranted to Robert Hullah, for twenty-one years, from lady-day,1806, at the rent of	28	„	„
In 1802, the rent was £14. It is avery old house, but to be let as a public-house its value wouldbe considerably beyond the present rent, if it were out oflease. The value of public-houses is rather of a fluctuating nature;but even for any other mode of occupation, it seems probable thata few pounds more a year might be obtained.
2.—A house in the possession of Thomas Seabrook, astenant from year to year, at the rent of	16	,,	„
The rent of this house also, in 1802, was£14. It is a very old house, and the present rentseems a fair one.
3 and 4.—Two houses in the respective occupation, in1802, of Joseph Mansell, and John Dyke, one at the rent of£11, and the other of £14; now on lease to Mr.William Smith, for twenty-one years, from Lady-day, 1806, at therent of	32	,,	„
The lease is stated to have been granted inconsideration of the costs and expenses which the said WilliamSmith had been put to in enlarging and repairing themessuages.
5.—A house in the occupation of Mr. John Bucquet, astenant from year to year, at the rent of	30	,,	,,
The occupier has laid out money in repairingthese premises. The house is stated in the account to havebeen intended to be leased as a school-house for thecharity-children, and in fact a schoolroom was built in thegarden belonging to it; but the charity-school has now beenestablished in another part of the parish, and this room has beenannexed to the sixth messuage now used as a workhouse.
	£106	„	,,