Holy Trinity, Brompton

21 „

S. Mary’s, West Brompton

6½ „

S. John’s, Notting Hill

17 „

S. James, Norland

9½ „

Total

88 „

Such order, it is evident, must have embarrassed the actions of the trustees greatly, and considerably interfered with their judicious application of the charity funds.  I have not been able to refer to the evidence upon which the order was obtained, but if, on the ground of the distribution of the population of the parish in 1852 it had any shadow of justice then, it would be highly unjust now, when the population of the northern half of the parish, forming the Parliamentary district of North Kensington, and then comprised in the church districts of S. John’s, Notting Hill, arid S. James’, Norland, is greater than that of all the other districts put together.

Between 1853 and 1879 the income from the Campden Charities increased from the £667 7s. to about £3,500 a year.

Several leases of plots of ground had fallen in, and meanwhile the value of the land had been rising enormously.  Charecrofts, at Shepherd’s Bush, formerly a nursery ground, was in 1864 let on a building lease for a term of ninety-nine years at a ground rent of £870 per annum.  In 1865 the London and South Western Railway treated for and subsequently purchased a part of the estate, 5 acres 2 roods 5 perches in extent, for the sum of £10,000, which reduced the rent of the estate from £870 to £485 per annum.

This sum of £10,000 was for some time invested in consols, but in 1887 was reinvested in the purchase of ground rents in the city of London.

In 1874 a portion of Butt’s Fields was sold to the Duke of Bedford for the sum of £18,500 (a very good price you will think) for the site of Thorney House at the corner of Gloucester Road.  In 1875 a further portion of the estate, being 12 and 13, Hyde Park Gate, was sold to Mr. James Watney, M.P., for £22,500.  Both of these amounts were at first invested in consols, but have since been invested in the purchase of a freehold estate in the city called Thanet House, and in ground rents in the city.

In 1869 the Gravel Pits Estate was let on a building lease for ninety-nine years at a rent of £1,040 per annum, when Clanricarde Gardens, and Nos. 2, 4, 8, 10 and 12, High Street, Notting Hill, were erected thereon.  And advantageous leases of the remaining land were made at greatly increased rentals from time to time as opportunity occurred.

Such being the case, and the trustees being hampered by that curious order of the Court of December, 1852, it was clear that the time had arrived when the affairs of the charity should be placed upon a footing consonant with its increased income and the greater population of the parish.  Accordingly, application was made to the Charity Commissioners, who have been provided by the legislature with powers in that respect, and in 1879 that body made an order vesting the lands in the official trustee of charity lands, and approved a scheme prepared under their superintendence, altering the qualification for the office of trustee of the charity, defining the duties and powers of the trustees, and directing the application of the income of the charity.  That scheme, which has since been the subject of some further orders, is practically, but not without some important modifications, the same as the one now in force, which I will state at length presently.

But at the time it was objected to considerably, and at a meeting of ratepayers held on the 3rd August, 1879, at the Vestry Hall, it was resolved to petition the Court against it, on the grounds principally that it limited the amounts payable in pensions and to be applied for apprenticing poor boys, and that it abrogated the order of the Court of the 23rd December, 1852, apportioning the distribution of the funds among the districts of the various churches; and a petition against the scheme was presented to the Court.  Vice-Chancellor Hall was impressed by the arguments for the petitioners, and set aside the scheme, but the Charity Commissioners appealed, and the Court of Appeal, presided over by the late Master of the Rolls, confirmed the order of the Charity Commission, and, in his judgment, made some remarks of so generally interesting and important a character that I regret time does not permit me to read them to you.  You will, however, find them recorded in vol. 45 of the “Law Times Reports,” at page 158.

The decision was given on, the 27th May, 1881, and accordingly the affairs of the charity were, up to the 4th of March, 1890, regulated by that order.

But on the 4th March, 1890, the Charity Commissioners, on the application of the trustees of the charity, made another order, which is the one now in force.  It is practically the same, with some important additions, as that approved by the Court of Appeal in 1881.  I now state it fully, so that you all may learn how the affairs of the charity are regulated.

The charity is managed by eighteen competent persons as trustees, viz.:—Three ex-officio, six representative, nine co-optative.

The three ex-officio trustees are the Vicar and Churchwardens for the time being of the parish of Kensington.

The six representative trustees are elected—two by the Vestry of Kensington; two by the Board of Guardians of the poor of the parish; two by the members of the School Board for London for the Division of Chelsea.

The co-optative trustees must be persons residing or carrying on business in the parish of Kensington, and are to be provisionally appointed by the trustees, which appointment must be approved by the Charity Commissioners before it is valid.

The representative trustees are appointed for five years, and the co-optative trustees for seven years.

The income of the charity is to be applied as follows:—1st, in the payment of the pensions and apprenticeship fees granted before the 27th May, 1881.

The income is then divided into two portions.

One-half of the income, after providing for these old pensions, is to be applied in charitable or eleemosynary purposes as follows:—(1) An annual sum of not more than £900 nor less than £700 in the payment of pensions to deserving and necessitous inhabitants of the parish of Kensington, who shall have resided therein for not less than seven years next preceding the time of their appointment, who shall not during that period have received poor law relief, and who from age, ill-health, accident, or infirmity shall be unable to maintain themselves by their own exertions.

(2) The remainder of the half, after paying the £900 applicable to pensions, to the general benefit of the poor of Kensington, to such persons and in such way as the trustees shall consider most advantageous to the recipients and most conducive to the formation of provident habits, as follows:—

1. (a) Subscriptions in aid of the funds of any dispensary, infirmary, hospital, or convalescent home, upon such terms as to enable the trustees to secure the benefit of the institution for the objects of the charities.

(b) To provident clubs or societies in the parish of Kensington for the supply of coal, clothes, or other necessaries.

2.  Contributions towards

(a) The provision of nurses for the sick and infirm.

(b) The purchase of annuities for the augmentation of any income possessed by the recipients and produced by their own exertions.

(c) The cost of outfit, on entering into trade or service, of any one under 21 years of age.

(d) Passage money and outfit in aid of