On the twenty-seventh of July, 1838, the first and second Victoria, Chap. 32, “An Act for enabling the trustees of certain lands situate in the Parish of Paddington, in the county of Middlesex, to grant building leases of the said lands and for other purposes,” confirmed an order of the Court of Chancery relative to the appointment of trustees, and the disposal of the proceeds of this freehold estate. By this Act six trustees are appointed, and future appointments are to be made by the vestry, whenever the number is reduced to three; and to these, and their successors, power is given to grant building leases. And after the payment of all costs and charges relative to their trust, they are directed to “pay and apply the rents and profits arising from the said Charity Estates, in manner following, that is to say, the same to be divided into five equal parts, three-fifths thereof to be applied towards the support of the Paddington Parochial National and Infant Schools, for the instruction of boys and girls, children of poor persons residing in the said parish of Paddington; one other fifth-part towards apprenticing or instructing in business, for their future support, boys and girls, the children of parishioners of and not having received parochial relief from the said parish; and the remaining one-fifth part in the distribution of bread and cheese, coals, blankets, and other necessary articles, at the discretion of the said trustees, for the benefit of and amongst poor parishioners of the said parish not receiving parochial relief.”
By the ninth section of this Act, the money paid into the Court of Exchequer for that portion of the estate sold to the Great Western Railway Company, was assigned to the application for and expenses incurred in obtaining this Act.
The schedule which is annexed to this Act describes the bread and cheese lands, then claimed by the trustees, as follows:—
“All that piece of Garden Ground formerly lying in the common field, called Bayswater field, containing three roods, six perches, and three quarters, being in the occupation of Thomas Hopgood, as a yearly tenant; and also all that piece or parcel of Garden Ground, contiguous to the above-mentioned piece of Garden Ground, containing one acre, two roods, and fifteen perches, now in the occupation of Samuel Cheese as yearly tenant; and also all that piece or parcel of meadow-land, with a dwelling-house thereon, lying near Black Lion Lane, containing one acre or thereabouts, now in the occupation, of Robert Nevins, for a term of sixty-three years, from Christmas, one thousand, eight hundred and two.”
Messrs. Hopgood and Cheese are still the tenants of the land north of the Uxbridge-road. The house and grounds, situated “near Black-lion lane,” are now in the occupation of Mr. G. P. Shapcott.
With respect to what Bishop Compton gave to the poor of this parish, little appears to be known. The deed of gift cannot be found; but from many circumstances, I am inclined to believe it was the land on which the Alms’-houses now stand, and not that estate which is situated at the entrance of the Harrow-road, for which the poor are indebted to this bishop.
The houses, described in the report under “Dr. Compton’s charity,” were pulled down ten or eleven years ago, and the ground was let on building leases; six large and handsome houses, including the public-house, were built on the ground on which the old poor-house, &c. stood; and, as I have been informed, these houses pay to the trustees of the charity-estate a ground rent averaging forty pounds per house. By the cash accounts, it will be seen that the “Enfranchised Copyholds” have for many years past produced an annual income of upwards of five hundred pounds. The “Freehold rents” appear from the same accounts, to be seventy-one pounds and a few shillings per annum. [70]
Of the trustees mentioned in the report as having been admitted tenants in trust for the copyhold estates, in 1822, only one, I believe, is now living.
Mrs. Margaret Robertson’s will is still existing, and to be seen at Doctors’ Commons: it is dated sixteenth of December, and not September. The messuage and garden which she gave, appear to have joined the Red Lion, which was also in her possession, and which she left to Mr. Gee. The will does not express the donor’s desire respecting the disposal of her charity, excepting that it was “for the use of the poor.”
New leases have been granted for “Margaret Robertson’s charity,” and also “Dr. Compton’s charity,” by trustees appointed under an order of the Court of Chancery. These charities are now called “The Enfranchised Copyhold Estate.” I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Campbell that the proceeds are applied in the same manner as the rents of “The Freehold Estate,” but that a separate trust exists.