Paddington: Past and Present

by William Robins

In 1795, a private Act of Parliament, the 35th Geo. III, cap. 83, entitled “An Act for enabling the Lord Bishop of London to grant a lease with powers of renewal of lands in the parish of Paddington, in the county of Middlesex; for the purpose of building upon,” received the sanction of the legislature.

We are informed by the preamble of this Act, which occupies thirty-two Act of Parliament pages, and recites wholly or in part fifteen indentures; [75a] that on the fourth of May, 1768, the manor and rectory were leased to Gascoigne Frederick, his heirs and assigns, for three lives, and that in consideration of the surrender of this lease, “as also for divers other good causes and valuable considerations him thereunto specially moving,” the “Right honourable and Reverend Father-in-God, Richard, [75b] by Divine permission, then Lord Bishop of London,” granted unto the aforesaid Gascoigne Frederick, of the Inner Temple, a new lease, for three lives, bearing date the fourteenth of August, 1776.

We are further informed, that this Gascoigne Frederick died intestate, leaving Mary Frederick, Elizabeth Snell, and Susannah Frederick, all of Bampton, in the county of Oxford, his only surviving sisters and co-heirs at law. We are also informed, that in this lease of the fourteenth of August, 1776, Gascoigne Frederick’s “name was made use of therein only for the use and benefit of Elizabeth Frederick and Selina Frederick,” and that they, with their husbands, applied to the ladies of Bampton to sell all the hereditaments and premises demised to the said Gascoigne Frederick, in 1776; and which these ladies kindly did for ten shillings a-piece, as is witnessed by indentures, dated fifth and sixth of February, 1781, which re-convey the said lease and leasehold premises to trustees for the purposes mentioned in the will and codicil of Sir John Frederick, and in the marriage-settlements of the granddaughters of the aforesaid baronet.

By a “fine sur concessit,” levied in Trinity Term, in the twenty-second year of George the third, “in order to dock, bar, and extinguish all estates, tail,” &c, this estate was conveyed to Thomas Lloyd and his heirs for the uses of the trustees, in trust to be applied, one half according to the marriage settlement of Elizabeth wife of John Morshead, afterwards Sir John Morshead; the other half subject to the uses of the marriage settlement of her sister Selina, wife of Robert Thistlethwayte.

These indentures are dated respectively the fifth of July, 1782, and fourth of March, 1783. They are set forth, in part, in the Act now under review; and as they were executed during the minority of these ladies, there are also, as we may suppose, references to sundry opinions, reports, orders, &c. of that very ancient Court of Equity, whose interesting proceedings are so excellently depicted in “Bleak House,” by the great teacher of our time.

By conveying these lay interests in this estate with other interests in private property to trustees,—by charging the whole with large sums of money,—by carrying the “remainder” over a thousand years in one case, and in the other one thousand five hundred;—by changing “the said leasehold premises from a freehold to a chattle interest;”—and then by making “the tenure thereof as nearly equal to freehold as possible;”—and by certain acts which we are about to examine, Gascoigne Frederick’s lease for three lives has been converted into as snug and nice a little property, as any lady or gentleman in the land need desire; provided always, it could be secured from the anxious care of the ancient court before mentioned, and that more modern tribunal, which will one day be instituted to examine into the claims the public may have on such estates as this.

As the chief instruments in the formation of the Paddington estate are those peculiar Acts of Parliament which have been denominated “facts,” to distinguish them from “laws,” it is from these chiefly that I shall gather the facts contained in this chapter: and as this Act of 1795 is somewhat scarce, and as the preamble affords some interesting information, I shall quote several passages from it entire:—

Purchase of Waste Lands.—“And whereas there are certain Pieces or Parcels or small narrow strips of Land, containing in the whole about five acres, which lie as Waste or Commonable Lands in the Lanes and Road-Ways dispersed in, about, and within the said Parish of Paddington, and are contiguous to and in front of some of the said Lanes, Hereditaments, and Premises comprised in the said lease, between the Hedge Rows of the same Lands and the different Road and Carriage Ways leading to, from and through the said parish, as the public highways thereof, and which have been used by the tenants of the said lessees for the purpose chiefly of laying Dung Heaps thereon, and the same are become a great nuisance, not only to the said Parishioners, but to the Public at large, and which nuisance would not only considerably increase if the same Lands were to remain open and unenclosed in their present state, to the great annoyance of the said Public and Parish at large, but would greatly impede the good purposes of this Act; and therefore it is proposed by the said Lord Bishop and his said Lessees, that the said Waste Lands should be annexed to and become a Part of the said Hereditaments and Premises so to be demised under the powers of this Act, and that such Compensation shall be made to the said Parish at large for any Interest they may claim therein for the benefit of the said Parish, by way of a Rent Charge, to be paid to the Churchwardens of the said Parish for the Time being for ever, for enclosing the same as is hereinafter provided for, and annexing the same to the said Hereditaments and Premises, discharged of and from any Common Right or Claim, if any such did exist.”

Contemplated Destruction of Parsonage and other Souses.—“And whereas some few Farm Houses and Messuages have many years since been erected, and are now standing on Part of the said demised Premises, but the same with the Out Buildings are now become very ancient and much out of repair, and in some respects so very ruinous as to be incapable of being repaired; and a variety of other small and temporary Buildings of Lath and Plaster, and of a very inferior quality, have also been lately erected and built, and now are erecting and building thereon, and which by means of the Persons who inhabit therein may become a great Burthen to the said Parish in the increase of their Poor Rates, but the principal Part of the said Ground demised by the said Indenture of Lease of the fourteenth day of August, 1776, still lies open and unbuilt upon, and on account of its vicinity to London, the whole is capable of very great and capital improvement, and if such Improvements were made would render a very large Increase of Rent, as well to the said Lessees and their Heirs and Assigns, as to the said Lord Bishop and his Successors for the Time being, but by reason of the nature of the present Tenure such Improvements cannot be effected, and therefore in order to induce Builders and other Persons to take the same and build capital Houses and Squares thereon, it is thought necessary that the Tenure thereof should be made in value as nearly equal to Freehold as possible.”

The Nature of the Lease to be Changed.—“And whereas it would be greatly for the Benefit and Advantage of the said Lord Bishop of London and of his Successors, and of the said Sir John Morshead and Dame Elizabeth, his wife, and their Issue, (instead of granting Leases for Lives as has been usual and customary on Fines paid for the same) if a power was given to the said Lord Bishop and his Successors to grant a new Lease of the said Premisses comprised in the said Lease of the fourteenth day of August, 1776, together with the said Strips of Waste Land within the said Parish of Paddington, for such Terms of Years, and with such Powers of Renewal as are hereafter mentioned, and particularly with a power for the Lessees therein to grant Under Leases thereof, at such Rents, and under such restrictions, and in such manner as is hereinafter expressed with respect to such Original and Under Leases respectively.”