Chapter IX: Part 9

THOMAS BLOOD, generally known by the appellation of _Colonel Blood_, was a discarded officer of Oliver Cromwell's Household; he was notorious for his daring crimes and his good fortune. He was first distinguished by an attempt to surprise the Castle of Dublin, which was defeated by the vigilance of the Duke of Ormond, and some of his accomplices were executed. Escaping to England he with his confederates meditated revenge, and actually seized the Duke of Ormond one night in his coach in St. James' Street, intending to hang him, and had got him to Tyburn, where, after struggling with his would-be assassins in the mire, the Duke was rescued by his servants, 6 Dec, 1670. Blood afterwards in the disguise of a clergyman, attempted to steal the crown and regalia from the Jewel Office in the Tower, 9th May, 1671. He was very near succeeding, for he had bound and wounded Edwards the keeper, and was making off with his booty, but was overtaken and seized with his associates. Blood, who was accused as being the ringleader in this conspiracy, when questioned he frankly owned that he had taken part in the enterprise, but refused to discover his accomplices, "the fear of death (he said) should never induce him to deny a guilt or betray a friend." All these extraordinary circumstances made him the subject of general conversation. Charles II. moved by the influence of popular excitement, or from idle curiosity, granted him a personal interview. Blood confessed to the king that "he had been engaged with others in a design to kill him with a Carbine (said to be in the vicinity of Battersea Priory) where His Majesty often used to bathe (beneath the garden belonging to the Priory was a Subterranean passage leading to the river-bank); that the cause of this resolution was the severity exercised over the consciences of the godly, in destroying their religious assemblies; that when he had taken his stand among the reeds on the other side of the river full of these bloody resolutions he found his heart checked with an awe of Majesty; that he not only relented himself, but diverted his associates from their purpose; that he had long ago brought himself to an entire indifference about life, which he now gave for lost; yet he could not forebear warning the king of the danger which might attend his execution; that his associates had bound themselves by the strictest oaths to revenge the death of any of their confederacy and that no precaution nor power could rescue any one from the effects of their desperate resolution." Yet notwithstanding these and other offences, the King not only pardoned but granted him an Estate of £500 per annum, thus this man who had been regarded as a monster became a kind of favourite. He lived to enjoy his pension about ten years, till being charged with fixing an imputation of a scandalous nature on the Duke of Buckingham, he was thrown into prison, where he died August 24, 1671.

Battersea Priory is a castellated building reported to have been a Convent for Ursuline Nuns.

PRIOR was the Ecclesiastical title formerly given to the head of a small Monastery, to which the designation of Priory was applied. The Prior ranked next in position to the Abbot. Similarly the term Prioress was applied to the head of a female convent. The title of Grand Prior was given to the Commandants of the Grand Military Priories of the Orders of John of Jerusalem, of Malta and of the Templars.

Alien Priories were cells of the religious houses in England which belonged to foreign Monasteries. The whole number is not exactly ascertained; the Monasticon has given a list of 100. Weever, p. 338, says 110. The houses belonging to the several religious orders which obtained in England and Wales, were, Cathedrals, Colleges, Abbeys, Priories, Preceptories, Commandries, Hospitals, Friaries, Hermitages, Chantries, and free Chapels. These were under the direction and management of various officers; the dissolution of houses of this kind began as early as 1312, when the Templars were suppressed; and in 1323 their lands, churches, advowsons, and liberties, here in England were given by Ed. II., st. 3, to the prior and brethren of the hospital of St. John at Jerusalem.

In the years 1390, 1437, 1441, 1459, 1497, 1505, 1508, and 1515, several other houses were dissolved, and their revenues settled on different Colleges in Oxford and Cambridge. From the year 1312 in the reign of Edward the 2nd to the close of the reign of Henry VIII, 1547, the number of houses and places suppressed from first to last as far as any calculations appear to have been made were 23, 4; besides the friars' houses and those suppressed by Wolsey, and many small houses of which we have no particular account. Henry VIII founded six new bishoprics of which Westminster was one, which was changed by Queen Elizabeth into a Deanery with twelve prebends and a school.

Persons desirous of obtaining information respecting Monasteries should consult Dugdale's _Monasticon Anglicanum_, (Lond. 1655, 1661, 1673). Also a new and greatly Enlarged Edition by Bandinel, Caley and Ellis, published in 1817, 1830, and reissued in 1846.

URSULINES, or Nuns of St. Ursula: a sisterhood founded about the year 1537, by Angela Merici at Brescia, the community numbering at that time, as many as six hundred. St. Angela was born in 1511, at Desenzano, on the Lago de Garda, and died at Brescia, 21st March, 1540. The institution was formally approved of and confirmed by Paul III., in 1544, and it was on this occasion that the name of Ursulines was given to the order after the famous St. Ursula; a Virgin Martyr of the Roman Catholic Calendar especially honoured in Germany, and especially at Cologne, which is the reputed place of her Martyrdom. The Legend substantially, in its present form, can be traced as far back as the end of the 11th or beginning of the 12th Century, as it is to be found in the revised Edition of the Chronicle of Sigebert of Gemblours (Pertzs Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores VIII. 310) which was made between 1106 and 1111. "According to their writer, Ursula was the daughter of the British King, Deonatis; and on account of her distinguished beauty, was sought in marriage by the son of a heathen Prince who was originally named Holofernes, but afterwards when a Christian was named Ætherius. Her father was forced to yield to the demand; but Ursula made it a condition that her suitor should become a Christian, and that she should be allowed the space of three years, during which she proposed, in company with her maidens to each of whom should be assigned a thousand companions and a three-oared galley to convey them, to make a voyage of pious pilgrimage. The conditions were accepted; the maidens to the number of 11,000 were collected from all parts of the world, and at length the expedition set sail from the British Coast. Arriving at the mouth of the Rhine they sailed up the river to Cologne, and thence upwards to Basel, where leaving their galleys, they proceeded by land to visit the tombs of the Apostles at Rome. This Pilgrimage accomplished, they descended the river to Cologne, which however, had meanwhile fallen into the hands of an army of Hunnish invaders under the headship of a Chief, who although not named is plainly the Attila of history. Landing at Cologne in ignorant security, the pious Virgins fell into the hands of these barbarous heathens by whom they were all put to the sword with the exception of Ursula, who for her beauty sake was reserved as a prize for the chief. She too, however, as well as another maiden, who had at first concealed herself in terror, demanded to join her companions in Martyrdom and then the full number of 11,000 victims was made up. Heaven, however, interposed a host of Angel Warriors who smote the cruel Huns; Cologne was again set free; and in gratitude to their Martyred intercessors the citizens erected a church on the site still occupied by the Church now known under the name of St. Ursula." Soon after the Reformation this legend became the Subject of a most animated controversy "on one hand the Centuriators of Magdeburg exposed its weak points with unsparing severity, on the other a Jesuit father, Crombach devoted an entire folio volume to the vindication of the narrative." Secular writers deny that the Legend has any foundation in historical facts; they trace no reverencing of Virgins in the Martyrologies and missals till the latter half of the 9th Century. Many suggestions have been offered by way of explanation of its startling improbability viz., the alleged number of the Martyred victims 11,000. One of these is that the belief arose from the name of a Virgin who was really the companion of Ursula's Martyrdom called according to the legend and according to a Missal which belonged to the Sorbonne, Undecimilla for a number. The Roman Martyrology mentions the Saint and her Companion, without stating their number. St. Ursula was the Patroness of the Sorbonne. The record of the Martyrdom in the Calender thus begins. "_Ursula et Undecim Milla_ V. V." Ursula and Undecimilla Virgins was easily mistaken for "Ursula et _Undecim Millia_ V. V. Ursula and _Eleven thousand Virgins_." Respecting further remarks concerning this Legend, suffice it to say, "that while the most learned of the Catholic hagiographers, putting aside the idea of a directly and unintentionally invented narrative, have traced the origin of the legend to a real historical massacre of a very large number of Christian Maidens, which took place during the invasion of Attila, and soon after the celebrated battle of Chalons in 451, all the modern writers of that Church are agreed in regarding the details of the narrative, the number, the pilgrimages to Rome, the interposition of the heavenly host, etc, as legendary embellishments of the Medieval Chroniclers."

Young as Angela was she had been elected the first Superior of her Order and had ruled it well for the two or three years she lived.

At first the Ursulines practised charity and devoted themselves to the education of Children without being bound to the rules of Monastic Life. In 1571-2 Pope Gregory XIII. made the Society a religious order, subject to the rule of St. Augustine, at the solicitation of Charles Borromeo the additional privileges thus conferred were afterwards confirmed by Sextus V. and Paul V. "They add to three religious vows a fourth to occupy themselves gratuitously in the education of their own sex. The order is under the Superintendence of the Bishops. In the 18th Century, it had 350 Convents. Many governments which abolished Convents in general, protected the Ursulines on account of their useful labours, particularly in the practice of Christian Charity towards the sick. The _Dictionnaire de Theologie_ published in 1817, says that 300 Convents of these sisters existed at that time in France, their dress is black with a leather belt, and a rope for the purpose of self-scourging. Their congregations however did not universally accept the Monastic rule; and in France and Italy, there were Societies, the members of which only took the vow of Charity, and gave instruction like their sisters. Their dress was that commonly worn about 200 years ago by widows." In some countries however, their dress appears to have been white, and to have varied in other respects as well as colour. The Ursuline Sisters have several Educational Establishments in Ireland, in England and the United States.

BATTERSEA GRAMMAR SCHOOL, St. John's Hill. Founded under the Trust of Sir Walter St. John A.D. 1700. Scheme revised A.D. 1873. GOVERNORS:--William Evill, Jun., Esq., Robert Hudson, Esq., Rev. Evan Daniel, M.A., W. G. Baker, Esq., John Costeker, Esq., _Treasurer_, Rev. Canon Clarke, M.A., James H. T. Connor, Esq., Richard Hadfield, Esq., Thomas D. Tully, Esq., Charles Few, Esq., James Stiff, Esq. HEAD MASTER:--Rev. E. A. Richardson, M.A., late Scholar of Queen's College, Oxford. ASSISTANT MASTERS:--W. H. Bindley, B.A., late Scholar of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, M. Michael, Bachelier-es-Lettres, University of Paris, C. P. Martinnant, University of London, Mr. Badel, Writing Master, Serjeant Major Doberty, Drill Master.

_Scheme of Instruction._ RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION, (according to the principles of the Church of England) forms a regular part of the teaching of each class. Those boys are excepted from the teaching of the Church Catechism and Prayer Book, whose parents, (being Dissenters), express a desire to that effect, in writing to the Head Master. THE COURSE OF STUDY comprises the English, Latin, Greek, French and German Languages; Writing, Arithmetic, Book-keeping and Mathematics. History and Geography; Natural Science and Drawing. French is taught throughout the School; German in the three highest classes only. DRAWING, (Freehand, Model and Landscape), is taught in all classes. TECHNICAL DRAWING, (including Practical Geometry, and Perspective), and Painting are taught only in the two upper classes. SCIENCE, (comprising Physics, Chemistry and Botany), is taught only in the upper classes. Vocal Music is taught.

_School Term and Holidays._ The period of instruction is divided into three terms, as nearly equal as possible. The holidays are four weeks at Christmas, three weeks at Easter, and six weeks at Mid-summer, commencing about the 1st of August.

1st Term commences September 7th; ends December 7th. 2nd. do. January 8th; do. March 29th. 3rd. do. April 23rd; do. July 31st.

_Tuition Fees._ The annual payment for boys above 12 years of age, £12; for boys under 12, £10. The fees are to be paid terminally and in advance.

_Regulations for Admission._ Application for admission must be made either in person or by writing to the Head Master. No boy will be admitted, who shall be found on examination unable to read English, to write correctly and legibly from dictation and to work sums in the first four rules of arithmetic. The boys must attend at the school for examination on the first day of each term, at two o'clock p.m. The Governors require a term's notice to be given on the removal of a boy, or the payment of the terminal fee.

THE SOUTHLANDS PRACTISING MODEL SCHOOLS.--Girls' School, seven years and upwards, 6d. per week. Infants' Boys and Girls to seven years, 3d. per week.

ST. PETER'S SCHOOLS. Fee, 9d. per week.

ST. JOHN'S, Usk Road. Boys 1st, 2nd, and 3rd classes, 4d. per week, the rest 3d. Girls 1st class 3d., the rest 2d. Infants 2d. per week.

ST. SAVIOUR'S INFANT. Infants 2d. Girls 3d. over 10 years of age 4d. per week.

CHRIST CHURCH NATIONAL SCHOOLS, Grove Road, Falcon Lane, were erected from designs of Mr. C. E. Robins, selected in competition, and were built by Messrs. Lathey Brothers at a cost of £3,000. Accommodation is given for 200 boys, 200 girls and about the same number of infants. There are two residences, one for the Master and the other for the Mistress. The buildings form a picturesque group facing the roads on three sides with intermediate play-grounds for each sex. Mr. Robins was also the Architect for the British Schools at Wandsworth and other Educational Buildings in the Parish, as the Walter St. John's Upper Schools and the extension of the Training College, the Chapel of which was decorated by him some seven years since. The office of E. C. Robins, F.R.I.B.A., etc., is No. 14, John Street, Adelphi.

ST. GEORGE'S NATIONAL SCHOOLS, built in 1857 from designs furnished by Joseph Peacock, Architect, Bloomsbury Square. Cost about £4,500 including a Parliamentary Grant of £1,500. The Schools were enlarged in 1870. The Infant Schools were established in 1826. The following text of Scripture is engraved on a stone outside the buildings.

"From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto Salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus."--_II. Timothy iii._ 15.

Boys and Girls 4d. per week for one in a family, 6d. for two brothers or sisters, and 7d. for three in a family, Infants 2d.

Erected outside St. Mary's Schools, Green Lane, is a tablet bearing the following inscription:--"National Schools for Girls and Infants. These buildings were erected by Miss Champion on land granted by Earl Spencer, and opened April 10th, 1850, for the education of the children of the poor on Scriptural principles." This tablet is placed by order of the Parishioners in Vestry assembled in Grateful Remembrance of her Munificent Charities to the Parish of Battersea.--Rev. J. S. Jenkinson, M.A., _Vicar_. W. H. Wilson, John Hunt, _Churchwardens_, 1855.

Within the Parish of Battersea there were in the year 1879, Fourteen Voluntary Schools, viz.:-- SIR WALTER ST. JOHN'S Accommodation. Up-stairs Middle-class for Boys. Terms, 15s. to 25s. per quarter. Ditto Ground-floor Public Elementary School for Boys. Payments, 6d. and 9d. per week. Head Master, Mr. Taylor; Assistants, Mr. Jones, B.A., Mr. E. Mills, Mr. Oliver, and Mr. Blackman. 489

ST. MARY'S, Green Lane. Girls; Mistress, Miss Keene. Infants' Governess; Miss Paul. Boys: Master, Mr. T. Ryder. Fees, Boys and Girls 4d. a week, of which at the year's end 2d. a week will be returned to all who have attended more than 250 times. Infants 3d. a week, of which 1d. a week will be returned to regular attendants at the year's end. 606

CHRIST CHURCH, Grove Road. Master, Mr. Weston. Mistress, Miss Paton. Infants, Miss Kemp. 590

ST. JOHN'S, Usk Road. Head Master, Mr. Henry Smith. Mistress, Miss Hook. Infants' Governess, Mrs. Hughes. 658

ST. PETER'S, Plough Lane. Head Master W. F. Normon. Assistant, W. Beasley. 180

ST. MARK'S, Battersea Rise. Infant Schools, Miss E. Townsend. 4d. per week. 99

ST. GEORGE'S, New Road. Head Master, Mr. John Douthwaite. Mistress, Miss Salter. Infants' Governess, Miss Holding. 609

ST. GEORGE'S Girls and Infants' Schools, Ponton Road, Nine Elms. Mistress, Miss B. Smith. Infants' Governess, Miss A. E. Basnett. 184

ST. SAVIOUR'S, Orkney Street. Mistress, Miss Merrett. 201

WESLEYAN MODEL, High Street. 557

ST. MICHAEL'S, Bolingbroke Grove, (mixed). Mistress, Mrs. M. Watson. 3d. per week. 152

GROVE BOYS' BRITISH, York Road, Established 1799, Enlarged 1840. Master, Mr. James Hammond. 196

GIRLS' BRITISH, Plough Lane. Mistress, Miss Mansell. Assistant, Miss Willett. 297

ST. JOSEPH AND ST. MARY, Battersea Park Road. 466

Total 5284

In 1879 there were Nine Board Schools in Battersea:--[1]

Name of Builder. When Opened. Boys' Master. Girls' Infants' School. Mistress. Mistress.

Bolingbroke Mr. Spinks, Dec. 1, 1873 Mr. Pink. Miss Mrs. Road. Clapham Deacon. Pink. Junction.

Battersea Mr. Sheppard, April 14, 1874 Mr. Stokes. Mrs. Cox. Mrs. Park. Bermondsey. Parker.

Winstanley Jan. 6, 1874 Mr. Vince. Miss Gale. Miss Road. Blackburn.

Sleaford William Higgs, Aug. 10, 1874 Mr. Wheaton. Miss Pook. Miss Street. South Lambeth. Browett.

Gideon Wall, Bros., May 16, 1876 Mr. Lee. Miss Dunn. Mrs. Road. Kentish Town. Pyle.

Mantua Sept. 1876 Mr. Mansell. Miss Miss Street. Spalding. Spalding.

Holden Feb. 1877 Mr. Morris. Miss Miss Street. Macleod. Marshall.

Tennyson Mr. Tyerman. Feb. 1877 Mr. Philips. Miss Davis. Mrs. Road. Lower.

Belleville Mr. Thompson, Aug. 13, 1877 Mr. Barter. Mrs. Mrs. Road. Camberwell Christopher. Watson. Green

N.B.--There are Sunday Schools connected with the different places of Worship some of which are held in Board Schools.

LAMBETH DIVISION LONDON SCHOOL BOARD.--Accommodation Area and Cost of New Permanent Schools.

Name of School. Children Area Cost of Cost of
Accommodation. sq. feet. Site. Building.

Sleaford Street 1,055 23,000 £2543 1s. 4d. £8399 19s. 3d.

Tennyson Road 837 28,000 £2376 18s. 6d. £7590 9s. 1d.

Gideon Road 776 19,700 £3404 18s. 3d. £9921 7s. 5d.

Holden Street 1,101 26,887 £3074 14s. 1d. £10305 1s. 7d.

Battersea Park 1,334 32,670 £2378 5s. 5d. £7442 12s. 9d.

Bolingbroke Road 792 54,426 £768 5s. 5d. £5980 15s. 10d.

Mantua Street 1,105 32,670 £2334 5s. 4d. £11337 1s. 1d.

Winstanley Road 1,127 17,792 £3152 5s. 5d. £7948 4s. 7d.

Belleville Road 828 £1661 6s. 2d. £10165 19s. 11d.

8,955

[Footnote 1: Since the First Edition of this Work was published, Tennyson Road School has been enlarged in order to accommodate 400 Scholars. Landseer Street Board School is held in the large room under the Chapel and accommodates 200 boys. J. R. Ayris, Head Master. Ponton Road Board School, Nine Elms, opened for girls 9th June, 1879, and for boys August 18th, the same year, has accommodation for 350, Master, Mr. Chase. Mistress, Miss Nutcher. On the South side of Battersea Park Road, between Lockington Road and Havelock Terrace a large Board School has been built to hold about 1,400 children. Christ Church Schools, Falcon Grove, have passed for the present into the hands of the School Board for London. It is in contemplation to erect four more Board Schools in Battersea.]

The first building erected for the London School Board, situated in one of the most densely crowded localities of the East-end, was opened in July, 1873, and since that time no fewer than 152 large Schools have been completed with a total accommodation for about 182,000 children, and an average accommodation for 872 children each. In addition to these, between 30 and 40 schools are now in course of erection, and about 50 other schools have been determined upon, thus the Board is most active in providing for the educational requirements of the Metropolis. Mr. E. R. Robson, F.R.I.B.A., is the Architect of this Board.

The Board School in Winstanley Road accommodates about 1130 children, the site is the shape of a rhomboid, and the School has been skilfully planned to make the most of it.

Gideon Road Board Schools, the boys and girls' departments are built upon arches to form covered play-grounds underneath. As the site contains sufficient area, the infants' department has been erected as a separate building.

The Board Schools are elaborately fitted up. Books, slates, pencils, etc., for the scholars are provided. The terms for tuition at the Board Schools in Battersea are:--Bolingbroke Road, boys, girls, and infants 2d. each. Battersea Park, Mantua Street, Winstanley Road, Tennyson Road, and Sleaford Street, boys and girls 3d. each, infants 2d. Gideon Road and Holden Street on the Shaftesbury Park Estate, boys and girls 4d. each, infants 3d. each.

School Board Visitors in Battersea:--Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Dalton, Mr. Myland, Mr. Fane, Mr. Chamings and Miss Sydney.

London Ratepayers' School Board Association Established 8th October, 1870.

London or Metropolitan School Board elected 29th Nov., 1870.

Regulations for School Boards issued 21st December, 1870. First election of Metropolitan School Board (Lord Lawrence, Chairman). Arrangements for erecting or adapting buildings for New School Board, December, 1871.

London School Board Education Scheme proposed 23rd June, 1871.

The London School Board occupied their new buildings on Victoria Embankment, 30th September, 1874.

Second Metropolitan School Board elected; religious party strongest. Sir Charles Reed, M.P., Chairman, November, 1878.

Sir Charles Reed, Chairman of the School Board for London, died March 25, 1881. Was interred at Abney Park Cemetery, Wednesday, March 30, 1881.

Fourth Metropolitan School Board elected, 1879.

E. N. Buxton, Esq., Chairman of the London School Board.

LONDON SCHOOL BOARD, LAMBETH DIVISION.[1] MISS HEN. MULLER, T. E. HELLER, ESQ., CHAS. R. WHITE, ESQ., REV. G. M. MURPHY, JAMES STIFF, ESQ., STANLEY KEMP-WELSH, ESQ.

[Footnote 1: The Division of Lambeth is thus defined: The Division of Lambeth shall include the Parliamentary Borough of Lambeth, all the parts of the Parishes of Lambeth and Camberwell outside the Boundary of the said Borough and the Wandsworth District, as described in Schedule B. and Part I. of the Metropolitan Local Management Act, 1855, (that is to say) the Parishes of Clapham, Tooting Graveney, Streatham, St. Mary, Battersea, (excluding Penge), Wandsworth, and Putney, (including) Roehampton. There are 63 Board Schools in the whole of the Lambeth Division for the present year (1879), and 45,000 children on the rolls.]

The Elementary Education Act of 1870 aims at the compulsory supply of school accommodation in those districts in which there is a deficiency. The general survey under the Education Act of the School provision of every Parish in England did not commence till the 1st of May, 1871.

By virtue of the Elementary Education Act, 1876, and of the Bye-Laws of the School Board for London, the following will be, on and after the 1st January next, the state of the law as regards children, their parents and employers within the Metropolis.

I.--REGULATIONS AFFECTING PARENT AND CHILD. The term "parent" includes guardian, and every person who is liable to maintain, or has the actual custody of the child. The parent of every child between the ages of 5 and 14 must cause such child to receive efficient elementary instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic.[1] A.--By the Bye-Laws of the School Board, which continue in force, the parent of every child between the ages of 5 and 13 must cause such child to attend an efficient School during the whole time for which the School is open. The following cases are excepted:--(_a_) where a child is receiving efficient instruction in some other manner. (_b_) where a child is not less than 10 years of age has received a certificate that he has passed the 5th Standard of the Code of 1871: in which case he is wholly exempt from attendance at School. (_c_) where a child of not less than 10 years of age has obtained a certificate that he is beneficially and necessarily at work: in which case he is exempt from the obligation to attend School more than 10 hours a week. (_d_) where the child cannot attend School through sickness or other unavoidable cause. If a parent commits a breach of the Bye-Laws he may be summoned before a magistrate, and fined 5s.; and the child may be ordered to attend School. B.--By the Act of 1876, if either--(1) the parent of a child above the age of five years who is prohibited from being taken into full-time employment, habitually and without reasonable excuse, neglects to provide efficient elementary instruction for his child; or, (2) a child is found habitually wandering, or not under proper control, or in the company of rogues, vagabonds, disorderly persons, or reputed criminals; the parent may be summoned before a magistrate, and the child may be ordered to attend School. If the attendance order be not complied with, the parent, if in fault, may be fined 5s.; and in cases of continued non-compliance, the fine may be repeated at intervals not less than a fortnight. The child may also, under certain circumstances, be sent to a certified day industrial School, there to be detained during certain hours each day for a stated period; or to an ordinary certified industrial School, there to be wholly detained for a stated period, which, however, must not extend beyond the time when the child will reach the age of 16 years. In either case, the parent may be made to contribute to the maintenance, of the child. II.--REGULATIONS AFFECTING EMPLOYER AND CHILD. The term "employer" includes a "parent" who employs his child by way of trade or for the purposes of gain. A.--No person may employ, in the year 1877, any child who is under the age of nine years; or in subsequent years, any child who is under the age of 10 years. B.--No person may employ a child within certain limits of age, unless the child shall have obtained either a certificate of proficiency that he has reached the fourth Standard of the Code of 1876; or a certificate that he has previously made 250 attendances at least, in not more than two Schools, during each year for a certain number of years, whether consecutive or not, as follows:--

Unless they shall have
obtained a Certificate.

Age of Children, Either of Or; of
who may not be Proficiency, previous due
employed. according to the Attendance
undermentioned for the
Standard. undermentioned
number of years.

In
1877 Children between 9 and Fourth Two
12, with the exception Standard of
of those who were 11 1876
before the 1st January,
1877

1878 Children between 10 and Ditto. Two
13, with the exception
of those who were 11
before the 1st January,
1877

1879 Children between 10 and Ditto. Three
14, with the exception
of those who were 11
before the 1st January,
1877

1880 Children between 10 and Ditto. Four
14

1881* Children between 10 and Ditto. Five
14

* and subsequent years

The penalty incurred by an employer who acts in contravention of the above provisions is a sum not exceeding 40s. But no penalty will be incurred by the employer (_a_) if the child was lawfully employed on the 15th August, 1876. (_b_) If the child obtains efficient instruction by attendance at School for full time or in some other equally efficient manner. (_c_) If the employment be during a specified time allowed by the School Board for purposes of husbandry, &c. and if the child be over eight years of age and be so employed. (_d_) If the child be employed and be attending School in accordance with the provisions of the Factory Acts, or of the Bye-Laws of the School Board. (_e_) If the employer be _bona fide_ deceived as to the age of the child or as to his having obtained a certificate; or if some agent, without the knowledge of the employer, shall have employed the child--in which latter case the agent will be liable to the penalty. Although the employer be exempt from penalty, when the child is lawfully employed under the above regulations, the parent will still be liable for any breach of the Bye-Laws, where the latter are more stringent. III.--REGULATIONS AS TO THE PAYMENT OR REMISSION OF FEES. If a parent is unable, from poverty, to pay the School fee of his child, he may apply either to the Guardians of the Poor for the Parish where he lives, or to the School Board. The Guardians, if satisfied of the poverty of the parent, must pay the school fee, not exceeding 3d. a week, of the child, in any Public Elementary School which the parent may select. If the parent select a Board School, the School Board, on his application, may, if they think fit, remit the school fee. The payment or remission of the school fee will not subject the parent to any disability. IV.--FREE INSTRUCTION. Subject to conditions to be made by an order of the Education Department, a child under 11 years of age who obtains a certificate that he has attended a Public Elementary School 350 times a year, for two, three, four or five years according to circumstances, and, also, that he has attained a Standard (to be fixed by the Department) in Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, will be entitled to have his school fees paid for him by the Education Department at a public Elementary School for three years more.

BY ORDER OF THE BOARD.

15_th November_, 1876.

[Footnote 1: All Elementary Schools in the receipt of Government Grants are annually examined by H.M. Inspector of Schools, and a report of their condition forwarded to the Education Department. Board Schools are further visited and reported on by an Inspector specially employed by the Board itself for that purpose.]

In 1879 there were 63 Board Schools in the whole of the Lambeth Division and 45,000 children on the rolls.

In Battersea there are 68 taverns for the sale of spirits, etc., and 84 beer-houses, making a total of 152 public-houses. There are also 29 coffee-shops.

A COFFEE PALACE IN OLD BATTERSEA.--On Saturday afternoon, Dec. 13, 1879, a coffee palace, belonging to the Coffee Taverns Company, Limited, was opened at Lombard Market, York-road, Battersea. This is the 22nd tavern of the kind opened by the Company, and carried on, in regard to the business, on the same principle as others. A well furnished room is provided for public meetings and other gatherings.

LATCHMERE GROVE, which is almost encircled with Railway embankments, was noted for its piggeries. The lane once known as "Pig Hill," leading from Battersea Fields to Lavender Hill, is now a wide open road and forms the west boundary of the Shaftesbury Park Estate.

Somewhere near the foot of "Pig Hill" were two places called in olden time "_Plague Spots_" where many bodies of persons who had died of the Plague were buried.

THE SHAFTESBURY PARK ESTATE[1] formerly the site of Poupart's Market Ground, covers an area of 42 acres, contains about 1100 houses and 8000 inhabitants. The houses are built on the most improved sanitary principles, they are prettily and artistically constructed, having small gardens back and front; on either side of the streets are rows of lime and plane trees which in the course of a few years will give the "Work peoples' Town," a beautiful and pleasant aspect. The Houses are built in four classes, containing 5, 6, 7, and 8 rooms respectively, (the latter including a bath room), and the weekly rental (at first was) 6/6, 7/6, and 8/-, and the best class £26 and £30 per year, which sums, except the best class, includes rates and taxes, but if the tenant is buying the house under the repayment table, the rates, taxes, and ground rent have to be paid by him in addition to the purchase money.[2] The purchasing prices of the houses are £170, £210, £260, £310, and £360; and they are leased for a term of 99 years subject to annual ground rent of £3 10s., £4 4s., and £4 10s. according to the class of house. Each dwelling is thoroughly ventilated by means of improved ventilating valves, which are fixed to every room and connected with air shafts in all the external walls and the same are applied beneath the floors, the houses have concrete foundations and are considered dry and healthy. [3]It is intended to convert the premises used as the Estate Agency Office into a Club house, equal in accommodation to any at the West End, with Library, reading, smoking, and billiard rooms; a small hall to hold about 350 is being built which among other things is intended to be let to benefit clubs and such like societies. It is suggested that the present temporary hall be converted into Swimming and Washing Baths. Brassey Square a space about one and a quarter acres, the Estate Company are going to make into a garden like that on the Thames Embankment, in which seats are to be placed and it is intended to have a band to play there in summer months. Beside Co-operative Stores, there is a Social Review connected with the Estate, and a Newspaper has been started called "The South Western Advertiser."[4] The London Board School on the estate is situated in Holden Street. Between houses Nos. 21-23 in the Grayshott Road a stone may be seen bearing the following inscription "Healthy homes the first condition of Social progress." This stone was laid by the Right Honourable the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G., for the Artizans, Labourers and General Dwellings Company, Limited, on the 3rd of August, 1872. R. Austin, Architect.

[Footnote 1: The Artizans Labourers and General Dwellings Company (Limited). Capital £1,000,000 in 100,000 shares of £10 each (paid up capital, £583,000). Chief Office: 34, Great George Street, Westminster, S.W. Office hours:--10 till 5 Saturdays 10 till 1. Estate Offices 221 Eversleigh Road, Shaftesbury Park, S.W. 35, A Street, Queen's Park. W.

DIRECTORS.--The Hon. Evelyn Ashley, M.P., Chairman, H. R. Droop, Esq., R. E. Farrant, Esq., John Kempster, Esq., Rev. H. V. Le Bas, F. D. Mocatta, Esq., Samuel Morley, Esq. M.P., Ernest Noel, Esq. M.P., John Peace, Esq., W. H. Stone, Esq. Bankers.--The London and Westminster Bank, Lothbury, E.C. Solicitors.--Messrs. Ashurst, Morris, Crisp and Co., 6, Old Jewry, E.C., Manager J. V. Sigvald Muller, Esq. Secretary.--Samuel E. Platt.

The Company was established for the erection of improved dwellings near to the great centres of industry to carry out the objects of the Company in London, large estates have been secured near Clapham Junction and the Harrow Road, that near Clapham Junction called Shaftesbury Park.]

[Footnote 2: The present weekly rental, which includes rates and taxes, except in the case of the first-class Houses is as follows:--An ordinary fourth class House 7/6 third class 8/6 second class 10/- first class 10/- and 11/-. The shops, lower houses, those with larger gardens than ordinary, and some other exceptional houses are subject to special arrangements both as to Rental and purchase.]

[Footnote 3: The scheme thus proposed has been abandoned. The temporary Hall has been taken down and seven houses with shops erected on the site, also a Temperance Hall. The Shaftesbury Club and Institute, Eversleigh House, Lavender Hill, was opened on Saturday, Feb. 2nd, 1878, at 3 o'clock p.m. Previously a movement had been in progress to establish a Club and Institute for the benefit of those large classes of working men who live upon the Shaftesbury Park Estate, and in the crowded neighbourhoods in the immediate vicinity. Nothing of the kind was in existence, and, as a consequence, there was no efficient corrective to the growing evils of intemperance and wasted time among these classes of the people. The movement met with a great and increasing support from the working men themselves, and the Provisional Committee appointed has been busily engaged in the work of organising the Club. The objects of the Club and Institute are thus stated in the Draft Rules:--

"To afford to its members the means of social intercourse, mutual helpfulness, mental and moral improvement, industrial welfare, and rational recreation. The Club shall not identify itself with any political, social, or theological party. As funds permit, there shall be provided:--Library and Reading Rooms, supplied with Books, Periodicals, and Newspapers; Educational Classes; Conversation, Refreshment, and Smoking Rooms, in which various games may be played; Billiard and Bagatelle Rooms; Popular Lectures and Entertainments; Rooms for the Meetings of Benefit and Friendly Societies." Subscription 1s. a month 2s. 6d. a quarter, 10s. a year. Arthur George Thorne, Hon. Secretary. Mr. W. Swindlehurst was the Secretary to the Estate Company. The purchase of the Freehold Land (it is said) cost the Estate Company £28,000. Recently the house rents on the Estate have been raised.

The entrance to Shaftesbury Hall is in Ashbury Road.]

[Footnote 4: The following Newspapers, which are published weekly, contain (Battersea) Local Intelligence and District Board News. "The South London Press," 2d. "Battersea and Wandsworth District Times," 1d. "Mid-Surrey Gazette," 1d. "The Clapham Observer," 1d. "The South Western Star," 1d.]

No Beer-shop, Inn or Tavern is erected on the Estate but it must not be inferred from this, that all the inhabitants are Total Abstainers. However the ostensible and important objects of the Estate Company are to help the Working Classes to become owners of the House they occupy; to raise their position in the social scale; and to spread a moral influence over their class, tending to foster habits of Industry, Sobriety and Frugality. Obedience to moral and physical laws, the right and proper use of material appliances for sanitary purposes, have a tendency to prolong human life and to make life more enjoyable, and the Supreme Governor of the Universe hath so ordained that it should be so. According to the metropolitan average, the deaths should have been 194, but they only numbered 100. In 1877 the births on the Shaftesbury Park Estate were 284. Connected with the Estate is a Volunteer Rifle Corps known as the "26th Surrey." Mr. Samuel E. Platt, Secretary to the Estate Company; Mr. J. V. Muller, Manager. Office, 221, Eversleigh Road. The Missionary who visits in this district is Mr. Vost, who holds meetings in the Temperance Hall, Elsley Road.

Eastward of the Shaftesbury Park Estate is situated Beaufoy's Chemical Works. Entrance, Lavender Hill. Mr. Matthew Cannon, Manager.

This site was formerly a brickfield. When Mr. Henry Beaufoy purchased the land comprising some 17 acres he named it "Pays Bas," signifying in French a _low country_. Recently 7 acres have been let on Lease of 99 years for building purposes, it is proposed to erect thereon 230 houses. In this locality and that of Latchmere it is said the bricks were made for the construction of Chelsea Hospital.

THE METROPOLITAN ARTIZANS AND LABOURERS DWELLINGS ASSOCIATION have just erected three blocks of houses in the Battersea Park Road, designed by Charles Barry, Esq., President of the British Institute of Architects. Accommodation in A Block for 98 families with 3 and 4 rooms each. There are two B Blocks, 45 families in a block, having accommodation for 90 families with one or two rooms each for labourers. The whole of the front window-frames facing the main road are glazed with Plate Glass. Between the pathway and the Blocks is erected an iron palisade and some evergreens have been planted within the enclosure. There are underground Laundries at the north end of the Blocks with all necessary appliances. The B Blocks have three tiers of balconies supported by iron columns communicating with the dwellings on the upper storeys. The roofs are tiled by the Broomhall Tile Company. The Builders, are Messrs. Downs & Co., Southwark. Major-General Scott, Secretary, office, 9, Victoria Road, Westminster Abbey. It is intended to erect more Blocks on the land adjoining. Chairman, John Walter, Esq.

The buildings are intended as models of the dwellings for Artizans and Labourers, to replace the habitations condemned in various parts of the Metropolis under the Act of 1875. They are built in flats as nearly fire-proof as may be. Each tenement in the Artizans dwellings and each block of four rooms for those of the labourers are entirely separated from others by an open space, each tenement has a constant supply of fresh water, the use of a wash-house and a coal bunker, a dust shoot, and generally great care has been taken to insure to the tenants all the advantages of the best known sanitary appliances. Within the outer door which opens on to a general staircase, are all the conveniences except the wash-houses which are detached from the building. These tenements contain in most cases, three rooms, viz.: kitchen, bed-room, and sitting-room. The labourers blocks are so divided that they can be let singly, or in twos, threes, or fours. The dwellings were formally opened on Saturday Afternoon, June 23rd, 1877, by the Earl of Beaconsfield. The ceremony was graced by a select company, among whom were in addition to the Prime Minister, the Earl and Countess of Rosslyn, the Countess of Scarborough, the Earl and Countess Stanhope, the Lord Chancellor and Lady Cairns, Lady E. Drummond, the Marquis of Bristol, the Earl of Ilchester, the Earl of Verulam, the Bishop of Winchester, the Right Hon. R. A. Cross, M.P., Mrs. and Miss Walter, Mr. W. H. Smith, M.P., Mr. Roebuck, M.P., Mr. Montague Corrie, Mr. Algernon Turner, Major-General H. Y. D. Scott, Manager of the Association, and numerous Members of Parliament. Her Majesty who takes a deep interest in this movement for the improvement of the dwellings of her people, commanded Earl Beaconsfield to express Her wish that Her name may be associated with this institution and that in future these buildings will be called the Victoria Dwellings for Artizans.

On the North side of Battersea Park Road is the site for Messrs. Spiers and Pond's New Steam Laundry, contiguous to which (Propert's) Blacking Manufactory is now built. Mr George Ashby Lean, Architect; Mr. Waters, Builder, The Common, Ealing.

Up the centre of the meadow a new road is to be made 50 feet wide. About forty years ago this ground yielded as fine a crop of wheat as any in England. At that time certain Notice Boards were erected with the words "_Any person found plucking an ear of Corn will be fined one shilling._" An old parishioner, who is still living, told the writer that he had been fined three shillings because he had picked up three ears of corn which another man had thrown away.

BATTERSEA (LATCHMERE, formerly called Lechmore) ALLOTMENTS cover an area of 16¼ acres, and are let to the industrial poor of the parish to encourage habits of industry, the land was applied to the present purpose in the year 1835. Originally there were 74 allotments now there are 156. The Allotments let at 3/- a plot, each allotment being divided into 10 plots. Application must be made to the Churchwardens, William Evill and Joseph William Hiscox, Esqrs.

Pleasantly situated between the Albert and Bridge Roads, Battersea Park Road, is Dove Dale Place, founded by the late Mrs. Lightfoot of Balham, (Widow of the late Dr. Lightfoot) for persons in reduced circumstances professing godliness, whether in connection with the Church of England or members of other Christian Churches having small yearly private incomes of their own. There are twelve accommodations of two small rooms each, there are two four-room cottages one at each end with gardens. In the middle of the centre block is a Chapel and over the window is the representation of a Dove bearing an Olive Branch. There are some pecuniary advantages connected with the foundation. It is in the hands of Trustees.

On a plot of ground by the main road opposite Dove Dale Place stands an _old boiler_ that belonged to one Andrew Mann--it has stood (we are told) where it is for the last twenty five years. Before its removal to Battersea, it stood on a piece of land in Vauxhall Bridge Road.

LAMMAS HALL situated in Bridge Road West, is Licensed Pursuant to Act of Parliament of the 25th of King George 2nd, was erected in 1858. The Hall will seat about 400 persons and may be hired for lectures, concerts, and other public purposes. The front part of the building is used as a Vestry Hall and for the transaction of other parochial business. A more commodious Hall is urgently needed in a central part of the parish, so also are required Baths, Lavatory, and a Public Library. Lammas Hall owes its origin from a fund which was paid by the Battersea Park Commissioners for the extinguishment of the Lammas Rights to the Churchwardens, by resolution of the Vestry after several schemes had been brought forward they proposed to build a Hall and Vice Chancellor Stuart appointed the Trustees hence its name "Lammas Hall." Mr Thomas Harrap, _Vestry Clerk_.

THE UNION WORKHOUSE, erected in 1836 is situated within the boundary of Battersea parish at the junction of East Hill and St. John's Hill, it is an extensive brick building with accommodation for 833 inmates. The Infirmary adjoining was added in 1870 at a cost of £40,000. The Casual Ward in addition is constructed for 117 casual paupers. The Union comprises Battersea, Clapham, Putney, Streatham, Tooting, and Wandsworth with a population in 1871 of 125,000 and an area of 11,488 acres. John Sanders, _Solicitor and Clerk_; Edward H. Taylor, _Assistant Clerk_; Rev. William Armstrong, _Chaplain_; T. H. Cresswell, _Medical Officer_; John Hodge, _Master_; Mrs Martha Hodge, _Matron_; Mr. Pettman, _Missionary_.[1]

[Footnote 1: The poor of England till the time of Henry VIII. subsisted as the poor of Ireland until 1838 entirely upon private benevolence. Judge Blackstone observes that till the Statute 26, Henry VIII. cap. 26, he finds no compulsory method for providing for the poor, but upon the total dissolution of the Monasteries, abundance of Statutes were made in the reign of King Henry VIII., Edward VI. and Elizabeth which at last established the Poor's Rate, a legal assessment for the support of the poor. Before the Reformation immense sums of money were appropriated for charitable purposes, and notwithstanding many abuses the religious order of those days never so far lost sight of this original institution as ever to neglect the poor. The famous Statute of the 43rd of Elizabeth, 1601, by which Overseers were appointed for Parishes is the basis of all the poor laws in England. By Statute 23, Edward III., 1342, it was enacted that none should give alms to a beggar able to work. An Act was passed 1531, empowering Justices to grant licenses to poor and impotent persons to beg within certain limits of territory. By the Common Law, the poor were to be sustained by "parsons, rectors of the church and parishioners so that none should die for default of sustenance," and by 15 Richard II. impropriators were obliged to distribute a yearly sum to the poor. An act of 1601 directed that every parish shall provide for its own poor by an assessment to be levied by the Justices in General Sessions and embodied regulations as to how assessment should be made and applied. In 1782 Workhouse Unions were introduced by an Act called Gilbert's Act. The Act of 1834 among other changes established the system of Poor Law Unions. In Scotland the poor were really maintained by the private Alms of individuals and by certain funds under the management of the _Kirk Session_, which when regularly constituted consisted of the Minister, Elders, Session Clerk and Kirk Treasurer. The Presbytery was by law appointed Auditor of the Poor's Accounts of the several parishes. In the event of any difficult case arising in the discharge of this duty the Presbytery could lay it before the Synod for advice. "Scotland and Ireland have been legislated for separately, their poor laws are similar to the English in principle and practice; both are administered by a Central Board, which supervises the local bodies charged with relief, and in both the rate is levied on the annual value of real property. The present system in Scotland was instituted by the 8th and 9th Vic. c. 83 (1845). Scotland is divided into 883 parishes, some of them combined for Workhouse accommodation. The relief is administered by a parochial board, appointed by ratepayers, the Burgh Magistrate and the Kirk Session. They appoint Inspectors of the poor who act as relieving officers. The Scotch law differs from the English and Irish in allowing no relief to able bodied adults."]

Old Battersea Workhouse, which has long since been pulled down, was situated in the neighbourhood of Battersea Square. In the same neighbourhood is the "Priory," now the residence of Mr. Oakman. Not far from the Raven Tavern was the "Cage," in Surrey Lane, for the confinement of petty criminals. Near the Prince's Head Tavern was the Pound in which cattle were enclosed for trespass until replevied or redeemed. Also a wooden machine called the "Stocks" to put the legs of offenders in, for securing disorderly persons, and by way of punishment in divers cases, ordained by statute, &c., was erected without the gates of Battersea Churchyard, near the waterside.

In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, writes Robert Chambers in his "Book of Days," there flourished at the corner of the lane leading from the Wandsworth Road to Battersea Bridge a tavern yclept "The Falcon," kept by one Robert Death--a man whose figure is said to have ill comported with his name, seeing that it displayed the highest appearance of jollity and good condition. A merry-hearted artist, named John Nixon, passing the house one day, found an Undertaker's company regaling themselves at 'Death's door,' having just discharged their duty to a rich Nabob in a neighbouring churchyard, they had ... found an opportunity for refreshing exhausted nature; and well did they ply the joyful work before them. The artist, tickled at a festivity among such characters in such a place, sketched them on the spot. This sketch was soon after published, accompanied by a cantata from another hand of no great merit, in which the foreman of the company, Mr. Sable, is represented as singing as follows, to the tune of 'I've kissed and I've prattled with fifty fair maids':--

"Dukes, Lords, have I buried, and squires of fame,
And people of every degree;
But of all the fine jobs that ere came in my way,
A funeral like this for me.
This, this is the job
That fills the fob;
Oh! the burying of a Nabob for me!
Unfeather the hearse, put the pall in the bag,
Give the horses some oats and some hay;
Drink our next merry meeting and quackeries increase
With three times three and hurra!"

A portion of the Falcon Tavern erected about 275 years ago at the end of Falcon Lane still remains with the old witch elm tree in front, its hollow trunk, to which a door is attached, answers the purpose of a bin or cupboard where hay is put with which to feed horses, and the old wooden-cased pump, fastened with rusty holdfasts to the tree, may still be seen. On the 15th of January, 1811, a printed engraving was published representing "Undertakers regaling" by this road-side inn, a copy of which may now be seen within. At that time R. Death was the landlord, he had written outside the tavern in large characters, Robert Death, Dealer in Genuine Rum, Gin, Wine; an Ordinary on Sundays; Tea, Coffee and Hot Rolls; Syllabubs and Cheese-cakes in the highest perfection. The subjoined doggerel lines as a skit or burlesque on the publican's name is published with the engraving:--

"O stop not here ye sottish wights,
For purl nor ale nor gin,
For if you stop whoe'er alights
By Death is taken in.
When having eat and drank your fill
Should ye, O hapless case,
Neglect to pay your landlord's bill
Death stares you in the face.
With grief sincere I pity those
Who've drawn themselves this scrape in,
Since from this dreadful gripe, heaven knows,
Alas! there's no escaping.
This one advice my friend pursue
Whilst you have life and breath,
Ne'er pledge your host for if you do
You'll surely drink to Death."

The Falcon Tavern is now kept by Mr. J. G. Brown.