Paddington: Past and Present

by William Robins

One would have thought that the bishop, and his lessees, knowing all this—knowing that the “expenses of supporting the poor, had increased fourfold in the last sixteen years (that is, since the Act of 1795, during which time their income from the land had increased, perhaps in a like proportion) and that the same has arisen, in a great measure, from the necessity of constant and casual relief to paupers residing in small tenements built upon the Bishop of London’s Estate;” knowing that they had received £2,263 7s. 6d., for land to increase the burial ground,—a purchase made necessary principally on account of this great increase in the number of paupers, and the conditions under which they were placed: Knowing, I say, all these things; for to not one could they have pleaded ignorance, it is barely believeable that these legal protectors of the church and of the poor should have refused this legal demand. Yet most certainly they did so; and further, put the parishioners to the unpleasant necessity of applying to a barrister, learned in the law, for his opinion on this point. By the vestry minutes, dated November 3rd, 1810, we find that Mr. Const, “apprehends the Lord Bishop is liable to the poor-rate for the tithes both of the lands, belonging to the See, in occupation of other persons, and those for which a composition is received.” And accordingly in January, 1811, the Bishop of London is rated in the new assessment made that year, upon £462, the estimated annual value of the great tithes.

As the land became more valuable, this burdensome charge could not be endured. The agents of the bishop advise “merging,” and “commutation;” and, after the performance of these feats, on the twenty-third of July, 1844, the vestry receive a letter from Messrs. Budd and Hayes, informing them, “the Tithes of the Paddington Estate have been merged, and that the rent-charge for the tithes of the rest of the parish is £166 13s. 8d.” And they considerately mention this, “in order that the future rates may be assessed with reference to that sum, after making proper deductions, and not on the amount they have been hitherto assessed upon.”

Whereupon the poor bishop and his lessees are relieved from some of the great charges laid on them, for the support of the poor; the vestry resolving to assess “the tithes of the Paddington Estate in future, at £166, instead of £340, as heretofore!”

At the end of 1810, it was found that out of a rental of £5,200 paid by the cottagers, only £535 of this was rated to the poor; and that the average of all the assessments in the parish, was but two-thirds of the real value; some being rated at one-third, others at one-half, and others at five-twelfths of the full value. The value of the property, as assessed in 1811, was £28,597, the assessment having been taken on 865 separate tenements.

From the census of this year, 1811, I find that 4,609 persons then living in the parish, constituted 1,083 families, occupying 879 houses. In 1812, out of 935 dwelling-houses, only 393 were rated to the poor; “the rest being miserable huts, occupied by paupers and very poor people.”

In 1821 there were 1,448 families in Paddington, four of whom are returned in the census of that year as being agricultural. In the same year there were 824 persons claiming relief as paupers; and the sum of £37 7s. 3d. was paid weekly for out-door and casual relief.

In 1825 the assessment of this parish was £46,245 13s. 4d.; and in 1831 it had increased to £71,528 18s. The rates levied in the former year, amounted to £6,025 10s. 8½d.; in the latter, to £14,691 16s. 5½d. The number of families, according to the census of 1831, was 3,493. In 1841 Paddington was in union with Kensington, Hammersmith, and Fulham, and I find the average of the establishment charges for three years for Paddington, set down at £2,712.

The transition-state from an agricultural village to the fashionable Tyburnia, was no very agreeable time for the majority of those who lived in Paddington. When the cottages were swept away, and the heavy poor-rates which they had entailed, were diminished, new burdens sprang up, scarcely less grievous. Rents became enormous; the Highway, Watching, and Lighting rates were excessive; and these were rendered more oppressive on account of those, who received the greatest benefit from the causes which necessitated the greater expenditure, not bearing their just share of this local taxation. And yet the local Act had made some sort of provision for an equitable adjustment of these expenses.

Unfortunately, however, for the majority of the rate-payers, the election of those, who had to carry into execution the provisions of that Act, viz., the election of vestrymen, was not in their hands. That clause of Sturges Bourne’s Act, which gave four votes to those who were rated at £100; five votes to those who were rated at £125; and six votes to all those rated at £150; placed the election in the hands of the minority; and, as that minority was much more interested in the success of the building-speculations which were in progress, than in that just and wise economy, which was advantageous to the majority of the rate-payers, one of the most important clauses in the local Act, was for years, and still is, disregarded. This, the 132nd clause of that Act, is as follows:

“And whereas it has happened and may happen that Houses and other Buildings within the said Parish have been or may be began to be built, but not finished nor let, and it is reasonable that such Houses and Buildings should be rated and assessed for the Purposes of paving, watching, and lighting; be it therefore further enacted, That until such Houses or other Buildings which now are or hereafter may be built or in building shall be finished and tenanted, (if the Street, Square, Lane, or other Place wherein such House or other Building is or shall be situated shall be paved, repaired, cleansed, and lighted by virtue and in pursuance of this Act,) it shall and may be lawful [196] to and for the said Vestry to rate and assess all such Houses and other Buildings situate within the said Parish as are or shall be erected and covered in, but not finished nor let, either by One or more distinct Assessment or Assessments, or by including them in any other Assessment or Assessments, at a Rate not exceeding Sixpence for every Square Yard of Ground paved or to be paved belonging to or lying before the Fronts or Sides of such Houses or other Buildings, and in like Manner and for the like Purposes to rate and assess all such Houses or other Buildings as last mentioned which are or shall be erected but not covered in, at a Rate not exceeding Four-pence for every Square Yard of Ground paved or to be paved by virtue of this Act, and belonging to or lying before the Fronts or Sides of such Houses or other Buildings, until the same shall be covered in, as aforesaid, and then at a Rate not exceeding Four-pence for every Square Yard until the same shall be let or occupied; which last-mentioned Rates or Assessments shall be paid by and recoverable from the Proprietor or Proprietors, Lessee or Lessees, Owner or Owners of such House or Houses, Building or Buildings respectively, and shall be charged and changeable on the said Premises; and if the said Owner or Owners, Proprietor or Proprietors, Lessee or Lessees, shall refuse or neglect to pay the same, upon Demand, then and in every such Case such Rate or Rates, Assessment or Assessments, and all Arrears due thereon, shall and may be levied on the Goods and Chattels of the Person or Persons so required to pay the same in manner herein directed; and in case the Owner or Owners, Proprietor or Proprietors, Lessee or Lessees of such House or Houses, Building or Buildings, shall not be known or cannot be found, then the said Rate or Rates, Assessment or Assessments made thereon, shall be and remain charged and chargeable on the said Premises until the Owner or Owners, Proprietor or Proprietors, Lessee or Lessees, can be found, and the same may at any Time be levied and recovered upon the said Premises in like Manner as other Rates made by virtue of this Act are made recoverable.”