The archive of working class autobiographies at Brunel University Library was gathered together by John Burnett, David Mayall and David Vincent during their compilation of their three volume annotated bibliography The autobiography of the working class (Harvester Press, Brighton, 1984-1989). The authors "sought to identify not only the large numbers of printed works scattered in various Local History Libraries and Record Offices, but also extant private memoirs, many of which remain hidden in family attics, known only to the author and a handful of relatives" (introduction to volume 1, p29). The criteria for inclusion in the autobiography were that the writers were "working class" for at least part of their lives, that they wrote in English and that they lived for some time in England, Scotland or Wales between 1790 and 1945. The autobiography indicates the location of unpublished items (over 230), which comprise the archive kept at Brunel. A few others of more marginal relevance are also available upon request.
The Honourable Artillery Company is the oldest regiment in the British Army, traditionally dating back to 1537 during the reign of Henry VIII. Throughout our history we have had strong connections with the City of London and have also played our part in the South African War (1899-1902) and the two World Wars, as well as more recent conflicts. We have an interesting history and a range of traditions, as well as important collections of archives and artefacts.
The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp's Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.
The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.
The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.
The Independent Force was established by the Royal Air Force on 6 June 1918 to conduct a strategic bombing campaign against Germany, concentrating on strategic industries, communications and the morale of the civilian population. The Independent Force was formed out of the Royal Flying Corp’s Forty-First Wing which commenced operations in October 1917. This initiative was partly in response to German airship and aeroplane raids on England but it also built upon earlier, small scale attempts at strategic bombing by the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps. As its name implied, it operated independently from the land battle and struck at targets in central Germany including Cologne, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Bonn, and Mannheim. It was also intended to operate independently of the control of the Allied Supreme Commander, Marshal Foch, although this was later changed.
The Independent Force was commanded, reluctantly at first, by Major-General Hugh Trenchard who was gradually converted to the idea of strategic bombing by the operations of the Independent Force. The squadrons were based on airfields in the Nancy region, well to the south of the British sector of the Front Line. Although the effort appears miniscule compared to later bombing campaigns, four day and five night bomber squadrons dropped just 550 tons of bombs during 239 raids between 6 June and 10 November 1918, the effect on the German war effort was remarkable. The main targets were railways, blast furnaces, chemical factories that produced poison gas, other factories, and barracks to which had to be added airfields in an effort to reduce attrition from enemy fighter aircraft.
The effect on morale was out of all proportion to the size of the bomber force or the material damage caused and the air raids resulted in the movement of German air defence units away from the Front Line. Trenchard ordered statistics and records to be kept to demonstrate the work of the Independent Force and the role of strategic bombing in modern war.
Robert Birley began his career as a history teacher at Eton in 1926 and was then appointed headmaster of Charterhouse in 1935. During this time, he authored the Fleming Report, 1944, on the relationship between public schools and mainstream education. After World War Two, he became, in 1947, Educational Advisor for the Control Commission in the British Zone in Germany responsible for educational reconstruction. On his return to the UK in 1949 he was appointed headmaster of Eton, where he remained until 1963. He subsequently became a visiting Professor at Witwatersrand University, South Africa from 1964-1967, and was Professor and Head of Department of Social Science and Humanities at City University from 1967-1971. He wrote and lectured extensively on education, apartheid and human rights issues.
Dr Robert Mullineux Walmsley, the first Principal of the Northampton Institute, was appointed in Sep 1895 at the age of 41, from some 94 applicants, and commenced work in Jan 1896. He had previously been First Senior Demonstrator at Finsbury Technical College, 1883-1887; Principal of the Sindh Arts College in Bombay, India, 1887-1888; on the staff of the City and Guilds (Engineering) College, 1888-1890; First Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics, Heriot-Watt University, 1890-1895.
At a meeting of academic staff in Nov 1922 it was proposed that `a committee be appointed to represent the staff'. Draft rules were drawn up in Jan 1923 for the organisation, which determined that it be called the Northampton Polytechnic Staff Association (subsequently known as the Academic Staff Association or ASA). The business of its early years was concerned with social activities, redundancies, workload and leave allowance for summer holidays. A Staff Social Committee was formed from the main committee in 1930 to supervise social activities. In 1962 the ASA became involved in the actual administration of the institution, and were closely involved in the change to university status. The ASA has its place in the university charter as the forum from which academic staff are elected to Senate.
A Social Committee was formed by students to improve the social life of the Northampton Institute in 1910, and the Union Society was instituted in Mar 1912. A number of Northampton students were also instrumental in the foundation of the University of London Union in the 1920s. The Northampton Polytechnic Institute Day Students Magazine commenced in Dec 1912 but ceased publication in 1915 due to wartime restrictions. Its successor (the newspaper of both the union and past students' society), the Northampton Gazette, commenced publication in Jul 1919. The Students' Union started its own newspaper, the Beacon, in 1948. The Union was appointed its first sabbatical president in 1968, and moved into new purpose built premises in 1970. The Engineering Society was formed in 1905, and the energy of its own social activities served to promote the foundation of the Students' Union Society in 1912. The name of the society was changed to the Northampton Engineering College Engineering Society in 1913. The Principal, Dr Robert Mullineux Walmsley, was first President, and after his death, the `Mullineux Walmsley' lectures on engineering were instituted by the Society. Two prizes were available from the foundation of the Society in 1905, namely for the best papers read by a current and a past student.
The N'Ions is the association of past students of the Northampton Institute and City University, founded in 1909 as the Northampton Past Day Students' Association, and serving to promote the interests of the City University and its past students. The first annual dinner of the N'Ions was held in 1922, and branches were organised in the midlands and north west of England. Its magazine, the Northampton Gazette commenced publication in 1910, and following a temporary cessation during World War One, resumed joint publication with the Union Society in 1919. Its title was changed to The N'Ion in 1935. Following World War Two, two means of commemorating those former students killed during the war were instituted. A plaque was erected and a fund was established to enable undergraduates and graduates to visit other countries to enable them to gain experience in their chosen field by the observation of other nationals engaged in the same sphere of industry or research. The first award was made in 1951.
The Welcome Charitable Institute was founded in 1882 to provide assistance to women and girls working in factories in the City. From 1967 to 1982 it was known as the Welcome Fellowship. It was dissolved in 1982. From 1882 to 1940 the Institute had premises in Jewin Street; after the destruction of these premises by enemy action in 1940, it worked from a number of addresses in the northern part of the City. The Institute maintained a holiday home at Littlehampton, Sussex, from 1911 to 1962.
Tothill Fields was the name given to an open area between Westminster Abbey and Millbank. Tournaments were held there by kings living in the Palace of Westminster. Later the fields were used for cattle, growing food, horse racing, military parades, and bear baiting. A fair was held there every year. Duels were often fought here, and public punishments and executions held. The area was also used for burial pits during the plague. The fields were not developed until the 1830s.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
Barnard's Inn was one of the Inns of Chancery, possibly originally established to train medieval Chancery Clerks. By the 15th century the Inns were taken over by students, solicitors and attorneys, functioning as preparatory schools for those wishing to be called to the Bar. Barnard's Inn was established in 1435. The Inn became defunct and the premises sold in 1892.
The extra-parochial place of Barnard's Inn was co-terminous with the Inn of Chancery of the same name (on the south side of Holborn in Farringdon Without Ward). It was constituted a civil parish in 1858.
Early Commissioners of Sewers were solely concerned with land drainage and the prevention of flooding, not with the removal of sewage in the modern sense. In 1531 an Act of Sewers was passed which set out in great detail the duties and powers of Commissioners and governed their work until the 19th century. Gradually a permanent pattern emerged in the London area of seven commissions, five north and two south of the Thames, with, after the Great Fire, a separate commission for the City of London. The London commissioners had more extensive powers than those in other parts of the country; they had control over all watercourses and ditches within two miles of the City of London as well as newly constructed drains and sewers. After 1800 the London commissioners also obtained powers to control the formation of new sewers and house drains.
Letters Patent for the Surrey and Kent Commissioners of Sewers were issued in 1554. Its minutes begin in 1570 and it was the earliest of the London Commissions to be established on an organised basis. The area of its jurisdiction ran from East Molesey in Surrey to the River Ravensbourne, and included Lambeth, Southwark, Bermondsey, Newington, Deptford, Rotherhithe, Clapham, Battersea, Camberwell, Vauxhall, Wandsworth, Putney, Barnes, Kew, Lewisham, Walworth, Kennington, Nine Elms, Peckham and New Cross. The area of jurisdiction remained the same throughout the three centuries during which it functioned. It is worth pointing out that the areas listed above are no longer in Surrey and Kent but are part of Greater London.
Serjeants' Inn was an extra-parochial place, constituted a civil parish in 1858. The civil parish was co-terminous with the inn of the same name in the City of London, south of Fleet Street. There was a separate and unrelated Serjeants Inn in Chancery Lane, which was not extra-parochial.
The Rolls Liberty constituted the Middlesex part of the parish of Saint Dunstan in the West (P69/DUN2), situated around Chancery Lane. A chapel is first recorded here in 1232, known as the Rolls Chapel from 1377. It was constituted as a separate ecclesiastical parish, known as Saint Thomas in the Liberty of the Rolls, in 1842; and as a civil parish, in 1866. The chapel became part of the Public Record Office building, now the library of King's College London. The chapel survives and includes some monuments.
Saint Martin's le Grand was a monastery and college, founded in 1068. The monks were granted the right to hold their own court by Henry II. The monastery was supressed in 1540. Nothing remains of the building.
Saint Saviour's Poor Law Union was formed in February, 1836. Its constituent parishes were Saint Saviour's and Christchurch, both in Southwark. Saint Saviour's Workhouse was situated on Marlborough Street.
The School Board for London was set up under the Public Elementary Education Act of 1870 for the whole of the 'metropolis', the latter being defined as the area coming within the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan Board of Works. The School Board was closed in 1903 and its powers passed to the London County Council.
The Church of the Holy Trinity in Siena served the local English speaking Protestant community. It was founded in the 1850s and closed in 1965 when the building was sold.
In 1556 the manor was held by Thomas Hyde. The court leet, which was held on Thursday in Whitsun week, belonged to the honour of Berkhampstead, and had jurisdiction over the tithings of Long Marston, Betlow, Dunsley Grove cum Pendley, Wigginton, Northcote cum Lyghe, Drayton Beauchamp, Gubblecote cum Cheddingdon, and Aldbury cum Helpusthorp. Each tithing had its own constable.
From: 'Parishes: Aldbury', A History of the County of Hertford: volume 2 (1908), pp. 143-148.
The manor of Lambeth was held by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The manor house is known as Lambeth Palace.
The manor of Sticklepath was in the parish of Sampford Courtenay, Devon.
In the Domesday book the manor of Stepney is described as part of the demense lands of the Bishop of London. In 1550 Bishop Ridley gave the manor to King Edward VI, who granted it to Lord Wentworth, and it subsequently passed to the Earls of Cleveland. The manor then passed to the Colebrooke family.
The manor of Worcesters was established in 1298 from land granted to the son of the Lord of Enfield. In 1550 it was granted to Princess Elizabeth, who, as Queen, granted it to Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury.
The Deputies were the elected representatives of every congregation of the Presbyterian, Independent and Baptist denominations of Protestant Dissenters, within a ten mile radius of London. They evolved as a formal body to press for the repeal of the Test and Corporations Acts and "to take care of the civil affairs of Dissenters".
The Deputies appear to have originated at a general meeting of Protestant Dissenters held on 9 November 1732 at which a committee was appointed to consider an appeal to Parliament for the repeal of the Test and Corporations Acts. A meeting on 29 November 1732 recommended that every congregation of the three denominations appoint two deputies to form an assembly, and in January 1736 it was proposed that the deputies should be elected annually. This resolution became fully effective in January 1737, when 21 of these elected representatives were chosen to form a committee to deal with the main business of the year.
German Lutherans worshipped in the City of London at the Church in Austin Friars 'of the Germans and other Strangers' from 1550, and in 1672 they obtained from Charles II letters patent enabling them to build their own church, with the power to appoint ministers and hold services according to their own customs, on the site of the Holy Trinity Church (destroyed during the Great Fire), Trinity Lane. The inaugural service was held in December 1673, although baptisms were registered from 1669, and a church, rebuilt and extended in 1773, remained there until 1871. In that year it was bought and demolished by the Metropolitan Railway Company who were then building Mansion House station close by. The congregation then built a new church on a site in Alma (later Ritson) Road, Dalston, installing fittings such as the altar-piece and organ taken from the old church.
The church was founded in 1648 by Rev George Cokayn. On his ejection from St Pancras Soper Lane in 1660, he moved with a number of the congregation to Redcross Street and again in 1692 to Hare Court. In 1857 the church merged with the St Paul's Congregational Church, Canonbury. It is now Harecourt United Reformed Church.
A Congregational church was founded in Nightingale Lane in about September 1662, under the ministry of the 'Rev Mr Slaughter'. It continued on the same site until at least the late 18th century.
The Order of Friars Minor was founded by Saint Francis in 1209 and is usually known as the Franciscan Order. The Order first came to England in 1224 and were known as the 'greyfriars'.
Syon Abbey was founded in 1415 by Henry V. It was a Brigittine monastery (the Order of the Most Holy Saviour was founded in 1370 by St Birgitta of Sweden and is usually known as the Brigittine order). The first site was in Twickenham but it moved to Isleworth in 1431. Henry VIII took over the monastery in 1534 and since 1594 it has been the site of Syon House, home of the Percys, Dukes of Northumberland.
The City and Guilds of London Institute was constituted in 1878 following negotiations between representatives of the City Corporation and of several of the livery companies of London who were called together by the Lord Mayor of London from as early as 1872 (for minutes of these meetings see Ms 22000) to consider the promotion and improvement of technical education both in London and nationally. However, although certain individual livery companies took unilateral action to promote specific technological projects, it was not until 1877 that a provisional general committee of livery company members was appointed, together with an executive committee, to prepare a scheme for a national system of technical education with the advice of men eminent in the fields of education and industry.
In 1878, the executive committee recommended the establishment of a central institution for advanced instruction and research in science and technology, the development of local trade schools, the provision of examinations in technical subjects to encourage the spread of technical instruction throughout the country and the grant of financial aid to existing institutions holding classes in relevant subjects.
These recommendations were implemented as follows:
1) TECHNICAL EXAMINATIONS: The examinations in technical subjects previously organised by the Society of Arts since 1873 were taken over and extended by the Institute under the aegis of the Examinations Department, renamed the Department of Technology in 1902.
2) FINSBURY TECHNICAL COLLEGE: In 1879 the Institute established evening classes in applied chemistry and physics in rooms rented from the Middle Class School in Cowper Street, Finsbury (also known as the Cowper Street schools). The success of these classes necessitated the erection of a new building, which was formally opened in 1883 as Finsbury Technical College. It acted as a prototype for technical institutes throughout the country, providing day and evening classes in technical subjects until its closure in 1926. From 1921 to 1926 it was managed by a delegacy appointed by the Institute.
3) SOUTH LONDON TECHNICAL ART SCHOOL: South London Technical Art School began as an extension of Lambeth Art School in Kennington Park Road, which had been founded in 1854. In 1878, the Institute leased nos. 122 and 124 Kennington Park Road, to which it added additional studios, and established classes in applied art. The art school was renamed the Kennington and Lambeth Art School in 1933 and the City and Guilds Art School in 1937. Additional premises were purchased at 118 and 120 Kennington Park Road in 1933. Administrative and financial control of the Art School was transferred to a charitable trust company, the City and Guilds of London Art School Ltd, in 1971.
4) THE CENTRAL INSTITUTION: The Central Institution was formally opened in 1884 in Exhibition Road, South Kensington, on land leased from the Commissioners of the exhibition of 1851, following considerable dispute concerning its possible location. It was renamed the Central Technical College in 1893 and the City and Guilds College in 1911. In 1907 a government departmental committee appointed by the Board of Education proposed the establishment at South Kensington of an institution or group of associated colleges of science and technology for the provision of highly specialised instruction, incorporating the Royal College of Science, the Royal School of Mines and the Institute's Central Technical College. The charter of incorporation of this new institution, named the Imperial College of Science and Technology, was granted in 1907. Provision was made for five representatives of the Institute to serve on the governing body of Imperial College, which was admitted as a school of the University of London in 1908. In 1911, a delegacy was appointed by the Institute to manage the City and Guilds College. Although incorporated under the name of City and Guilds College, the College was known as the City and Guilds (Engineering) College from 1911 until 1935 to emphasise its status as an engineering college.
5) LEATHER TRADES SCHOOL: In 1889 the Institute took over the running of the Leather Trades School, Bethnal Green and provided financial support for the school in conjunction with the Leathersellers' and Cordwainers' Companies and the Boot and Shoe Manufacturers Association. In 1909 the Leathersellers' Company withdrew its support and, after lengthy negotiations, the Cordwainers' Company assumed sole responsibility for the School which was renamed the Cordwainers' Technical College in 1913.
6) GRANTS: Financial aid was granted by the Institute to other institutions holding classes in technical subjects, for example the British Horological Institute, Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution and the Society for Promoting the Employment of Women.
7) HEAD OFFICE: The Head Office of the Institute was situated at Gresham College until 1958, when it moved to 76 Portland Place. Since 1996 it has been based at 1 Giltspur Street.
The school was established in 1806 by Rev. Richard Povah in St James Duke's Place, for the education, clothing and instruction in trades of both boys and girls. From at least 1817 the school was based at 5 Mitre Square, Aldgate, although until 1818 it was known as the St. James Duke's Place School of Instruction and Industry. The school was funded by voluntary susbscription, although the premises at Mitre Street were leased from the Corporation of London, who maintained the property. The school was wound up in 1845/6.
The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council. Coleman Street Ward adjoins Broad Street Ward on the east and south, Bassishaw Ward on the west and Cheap Ward on the south.
The school was established by subscription in 1718 for boys and girls, and used premises in Little Swan Alley and Copthall Avenue in the parish of St Stephen Coleman Street. In 1786 a school-house for girls was built by subscription in Crosskey Court, London Wall, on ground belonging to the parish of St Stephen Coleman Street. The schools for boys and girls were both subsequently administered by the National Society.
Sir John Cass was born in Rosemary Lane, in the parish of St Botolph Aldgate, on 20 February 1660/1, son of Thomas and Martha Cass. Thomas Cass was a master carpenter at the Tower of London, but in 1665 the Cass family moved to Grove Street in Hackney and where Thomas acquired considerable land. John Cass was involved in Hackney affairs, becoming a select vestryman in 1699, but became wealthy as a City of London merchant. He was a colonel in the Orange Regiment of the City militia by 1707 and was elected as an MP for the City in 1710 and served until 1715. He was knighted in 1712. Cass was elected as Alderman for the Portsoken Ward three times in 1710, but was rejected by the Court of Aldermen for his Jacobite tendencies until 1711. He remained Alderman until his death in 1718 and served as Sheriff in 1711-12. His father had been master of the Carpenter's Company and he used the Company to enter City politics; he bought his way to the mastership in 1711 by paying 11 years quarterage and fines for the three subordinate offices he had not filled. In 1713 he transferred to the Skinners' Company (one of the great twelve which perhaps suggests Mayoral ambitions) and was master of that company in 1714. He was married to Elizabeth (perhaps nee Franklin), but they had no children. In 1709 he made a will which mentioned his intention to build a school for the poor children of the ward. This school was built in a room over the passage between the porch and south gate of St Botolph Aldgate and opened in 1710.
When John Cass made his first will in 1709 he endowed his intended school with his property in Althorne and West Tilbury, Essex and Bromley by Bow and Hackney, Middlesex. Thereafter he bought land in Poplar Marsh and Stepney, Middlesex, but he died in 1718 while signing his second will which added this land to the endowment. The land in Poplar and Stepney went to his heirs-at-law, but his widow Elizabeth maintained the school until her death in 1732. Thereafter Valentine Brewis, deputy of Portsoken Ward, had Cass's second will proved and kept the school until he died in 1738. The vestry of St Botolph Aldgate started a suit in Chancery in 1742, but it was only in 1748 that a Chancery scheme emerged for the charity and 21 trustees were appointed. The school was then re-established, in rooms above Aldgate. The charity's income derived largely from the rents of the lands left by Sir John Cass. In 1847 its annual income was £2,300; in 1868 £5,300. The largest property holding was in South Hackney where in 1817 it was estimated to be c 87 acres around Grove Street, Well Street and Well Street Common. Another 13 acres at the south end of Grove Street lay in Bethnal Green and the trustees held c 50 acres in Hackney Marsh.
The income from estates increased in the later 19th century, particularly from the Hackney estate which was let on short building leases from 1846. The rising income led to pressure for reform of the charity, both from Hackney residents who wanted to establish another Cass school there, and from the Charity Commissioners. The trustees disliked the Commissioners' proposals and successfully resisted them until 1894 when a Charity Commission Scheme (approved in 1895) provided for the establishment of a Technical Institute. The Sir John Cass Technical Institute was built in Jewry Street and opened in 1902. The Charity Commissioners' scheme also reorganised the charity into a Foundation with governors replacing the trustees previously appointed for life. The scheme also led to the establishment of a Sir John Cass Hackney Technical Institute, at Cassland House, with three of the Foundation's governors on the Board. This institute was taken over by the London County Council in 1909. Various ward schools and St Botolph Aldgate Parochial School amalgamated with the Cass School at the beginning of the 20th century. The records of these schools prior to amalgamation were deposited with the Sir John Cass's Foundation archive.
The Charity Commissioners' Scheme of 1895 provided for a technical institute for the east of the City, to be managed by a committee of the Board of Governors of the Sir John Cass's Foundation and to be funded by the Foundation. Classes began in January 1902 and the Institute Building in Jewry Street (shared with the Cass School till 1908) was formally opened in June of that year. The building was extended in 1934.
Both day and evening classes were offered at the Institute; both full-time and part-time students could also become members of the Institute. Fees were reduced for ex-pupils of the Cass School. The Institute's name was changed in 1950 to Sir John Cass College, then in 1971 the College amalgamated with the City of London College and King Edward VII Nautical Institute to become the City of London Polytechnic and in 1990 the Polytechnic, with the London College of Furniture, became London Guildhall University. In 2002 this became London Metropolitan University.
The school was established in 1713 by voluntary subscription and minutes of trustees and subscribers survive from that date (Ms 31167). The school was held in Leg and Ball Alley, London Wall and was amalgamated with the Cass School in 1907.
The Red Coat School, Stepney, has had various names including Stepney Parish Day Schools, Stepney Church School and the Charity School in the Hamlet of Mile End Old Town. It was established in 1714 by voluntary subscription for the clothing and education of a limited number of boys born within Mile End Old Town. The school-house was built on Stepney Green (though the boys were separately housed in Mile End Road for some time). In 1944 the school merged with the secondary department of the Cass School to become the Sir John Cass's Foundation and Red Coat School in Stepney Way.
The charity was established in 1909 to pay apprenticeships of children of the parish and was administered by Sir John Cass's Foundation.
The Foundation was established by Charity Commissioners' Scheme in 1867 to use the income from the parish charities of St Dunstan in the East to maintain a school to be known as St Dunstan's College, Catford. The chairman of Sir John Cass's Foundation, Sir Owen Roberts, was also chairman of St Dunstan's Educational Foundation 1895-1915 and W H Davison was clerk to both Foundations. In 1901 the office of St Dunstan's moved from 10 Idol Lane to the new Sir John Cass's Foundation headquarters in Jewry Street.
The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council. Castle Baynard Ward is bounded on the north and west by Farringdon Ward Within, on the east by Queenhithe and Bread Street wards, and on the south by the River Thames.
The ward school is believed to have been established in the middle of the 18th century by subscription, and used a school-house on Sermon Lane. In 1875 it merged with the Vintry and Queenhithe Ward Schools, and the combined schools were administered by the National Society. The combined schools continued to use the Sermon Lane premises as the school-house for girls and infants and used the premises in Brickhill Lane, Upper Thames Street, formerly used by Vintry Ward School for boys.
The City of London was divided into wards for the purpose of government as early as Norman times. The wards had responsibility to keep the peace, supervise trade and oversee sanitation, and each ward has the right to elect an Alderman and Commoners to sit in the Court of Common Council.
Cornhill Ward lies north and south of Cornhill, one of the principal streets of the City. Lime Street Ward lies between Aldgate and Cornhill wards.
Tower Ward School was founded by voluntary subscription in 1707 for girls and in 1709 for boys. In 1808 the school bought a house in Great Tower Street; 9 Black Raven Court was purchased in 1846 for use as a school house. In 1874 the school was united with the Billingsgate Ward School and both properties were subsequently sold. The united school merged with the combined Bridge, Candlewick and Dowgate Wards School in 1891 and this school combined with St Botolph Parochial School in 1905 to form the Sir John Cass Junior School.
Greyfriars Franciscan monastery was situated in Farringdon on Newgate Street. It was suppressed during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538 and given to the Lord Mayor and citizens of London in December 1547. It was decided by Edward VI to convert the monastery into an orphanage and school for poor children. By November 1552 the building was ready and 340 fatherless children were admitted (at this date a child was considered orphaned if the father had died, even if the mother was still alive). In the early years of the school, those too young to receive full-time education were "put out to nurse" in the country, usually in Essex or Hertfordshire, or else remained with their parents, who received a weekly allowance. The school became known as the 'Blue Coat School' because the children were required to wear a uniform of blue gown, red belt and yellow stockings. In 1553 a Charter was signed to confirm the transformation of Greyfriars into Christ's Hospital; a hospital in the older sense of 'a charitable institution for the housing and maintenance of the needy' (Oxford English Dictionary).
Branches of the school existed at Hertford from at least 1653, at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, from 1666 to circa 1690, and at Ware, Hertfordshire, from about the same period until 1760. From 1778 the Hertford premises were used as the girls' school and as a preparatory school for boys. Christ's Hospital moved from the City of London to Horsham in 1902, and at the same time the boys' preparatory school also moved from Hertford to Horsham. The girls' school remained at Hertford until 1985, when it also moved to Horsham.
In 1442 John Carpenter, Town Clerk of London, bequeathed land to the Corporation of London intended to fund the maintenance and education of four boys born within the City, who would be called 'Carpenter's children'. Carpenter directed that that the boys should be schooled and clothed at the direction of the Chamberlain. The precise terms of the will were adhered to for about 2 centuries, after which time payments were made to friends of the children for them to provide the benefits. Prior to the foundation of the City of London School the Carpenter's Scholars were educated at Tonbridge School. Following an Act of Parliament of 1834 it was decided to charge the Carpenter Estates for the building and maintenance of a school, and the City of London School was opened in 1837. It was first built on the site of Honey Lane Market, Milk Street, Cheapside, but moved to Victoria Embankment in 1882. During the Second World War the school was temporarily moved to Marlborough. It moved again in 1986, when a new purpose-built building was opened in Queen Victoria Street, still within the City of London.
Frederick Teague Cansick was born in 1829. He published several volumes of monumental inscriptions, for example the three volume A collection of curious and interesting epitaphs, copied from the monuments of distinguished and noted characteres in the ancient church and burial grounds of Saint Pancras, Middlesex (1869) and a similar publication for Hornsey, Tottenham, Edmonton, Enfield, Friern Barnet and Hadley, Middlesex (1875).
William D'Oyley was a surveyor from Loughton, Essex. He was appointed as the first Superintendent of Epping Forest in 1876 (to oversee the forest lands which the City of London Corporation had begun to acquire in anticipation of the Epping Forest Act 1878). He was succeeded as Superintendent by Alexander McKenzie in 1878.
These papers were collected by J S Bumpus, antiquarian researcher, from a number of sources including the personal papers of Maria Hackett of 8 Crosby Square, Bishopsgate (1783-1874). Maria Hackett devoted much of her life to campaigning for various causes, notably the welfare and education of the choristers at St Paul's Cathedral and the preservation of Crosby Hall, Bishopsgate. Her interests and activities are described in "Miss Hackett of Crosby Square", by K I Garrett, in Guildhall Studies in London History, vol.1, no.3, (1974), pp.150-62.
Most of the letters were formerly in the possession of William Hawes, vicar choral, almoner and master of the choristers at St Paul's Cathedral, 1812-46, to whom some of the letters are addressed. The writers include Sir Andrew Barnard, Alfred Bunn, Lord Burghersh (John Fane), Joseph Grimaldi, Samuel Carter Hall, Rev Sydney Smith and many prominent organists and musicians of the late 18th and 19th centuries, including Adrien Boildieu, John Braham, G A P Bridgetower, Thomas Cooke, John Goss, William Jackson, Vincent Novello, Mary Paton, William Shield and Charles and Samuel Sebastian Wesley.
During excavations, the remains of a Roman house were found in the crypt of Saint Bride's, alongside the foundations of seven different churches dating from the 6th to the 17th centuries. It appears that the first church was founded by Saint Bridget, an Irish saint of the 6th century. This church was replaced by a Norman building which in turn was rebuilt in the 15th century. After Wynkyn de Worde established the first printing press in Fleet Street, the area attracted many writers who were parishioners of Saint Brides; including de Worde himself, John Dryden, John Milton, Richard Lovelace, and John Evelyn. Samuel Pepys was christened here.
The church was destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666, and was replaced by one of Wren's largest and most expensive churches. The famous spire was added in 1701-03. Mr Rich, a pastry cook in Fleet Street, became famous for his wedding cakes modelled on the tiered arcades of the spire. In 1940 the church was badly damaged by bombing (allowing the excavations mentioned above). It was restored to the original designs. The parish was united with Holy Trinity Gough Square.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
John Paul de Castro wrote The Gordon Riots (1926) and The law and practice of hall-marking gold and silver wares (1935).
Thomas Gosden was born in 1780 and died in 1843. He was an artist and book illustrator; and it seems he ran a shop called the 'Sportsman's Repository', 18, Bedford Street, Covent Garden.
These cards duplicate and augment the article published by Harrison in the Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, New Series, Vol.8 (1960), pp.53-74, under the title "The dispersion of furniture and fittings formerly belonging to the churches in the City of London."
John Wilkes was born in Clerkenwell in 1725. He was educated at the University of Leiden from 1744, where he developed life-long habits of vice and profligacy. In 1747 he returned to England to enter into an arranged marriage. The dowry was the manor of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. In London Wilkes was admitted to several clubs and moved in intellectual circles, while in Aylesbury he participated in local administration as a magistrate. In 1757 he stood for the Aylesbury Parliamentary seat in an uncontested by-election. In 1761 he again won the seat by bribing the voters. Wilkes began to write anonymous political pamphlets and in 1762 he established a political weekly, the North Briton which was highly critical of the Prime Minister Lord Bute and his successor, George Greville. In November 1763 the North Briton was declared to be seditious libel, leaving Wilkes exposed to punitive legal action. At the same time he was badly injured in a pistol duel with another MP. Wilkes fled to Paris to escape legal proceedings and was expelled from Parliament.
In January 1764 Wilkes was convicted for publishing the North Briton. He was summoned to appear at the court of the king's bench and when he failed to appear was outlawed. Wilkes therefore stayed abroad for four years as returning to England would mean imprisonment. In Paris he moved in intellectual circles and was praised as a champion of freedom, however, he was accruing serious debts. Between 1766 and 1767 he made brief return visits to London, hoping to be pardoned. In 1768 he returned permanently, living under a false name. He announced that he would attend the king's bench when the court next met, and declared his intention to run for Parliament. He contested for the Middlesex seat and ran a superbly organised campaign backed by popular enthusiasm, winning the seat in March by 1292 votes to 827.
Wilkes was immediately expelled from Parliament as it was assumed he would be imprisoned when he attended court in April. The decision was reversed as it was feared that Wilkes' supporters would riot. In June Wilkes was sentenced to two years imprisonment in the King's Bench Prison. On 3 February 1769 he was again expelled from Parliament, only to be re-elected on 16 February in a by-election. He was expelled again but again re-elected in March, only to be expelled. At the April by-election Parliament produced a rival candidate who was soundly defeated, but nevertheless was awarded the Parliamentary seat. The resulting controversy forced the Prime Minister to resign.
Released in 1770 Wilkes stood for election as alderman for the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. In 1771 he was elected Sheriff and in 1774 Lord Mayor. In the same year he was again elected to the Parliamentary seat for Middlesex. He held this seat until 1790. In 1779 he became the City of London Chamberlain and after leaving Parliament concentrated on this post until his death in 1797.
Revd. C Wilfred Howard was rector of Elston, Nottinghamshire, to 1932 and subsequently vicar of Torpenhow, Cumberland.
Bartholomew Howlett was born in Louth, Lincolnshire, and was baptized on 5 July 1767. He was apprenticed in London to the engraver James Heath, and afterwards lived in the Blackfriars area of London. His publications include A Selection of Views of the County of Lincoln (1801) and he contributed to John Britton's Architectural Antiquities of Great Britain and Robert Wilkinson's Londina illustrata. Howlett made over a thousand drawings of the original seals of monastic and religious houses for his friend and patron John Caley FRS FSA. Howlett died in 1827.
Source of information: L. H. Cust, 'Howlett, Bartholomew (1767-1827)', rev. Mary Guyatt, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
Leonard J Maguire was a historian who specialised particularly in transcriptions of Baptist church records.
William Smith was born in 1550 in Cheshire. He was apprenticed as a haberdasher. His earliest known work, A breffe discription of the royall citie of London, capitall citie of this realme of Englande dates to 1575 and is described in the Dictionary of National Biography as a "vividly written work, revised in 1588, contains a detailed description of the ceremonies surrounding the installation of the Lord Mayor, illustrating Smith's lifelong interest in pageantry, heraldry, and the London livery companies".
Smith moved to Nuremburg in Germany and managed a tavern, while still writing works on English genealogy and heraldry, and Cheshire topography. In 1595 he returned to London and was appointed to the College of Arms, in the position of Rouge Dragon pursuivant. He also began to write plays. Smith died in 1618.
Source of information: David Kathman, 'Smith, William (c.1550-1618)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2006.
The cartulary is from the collection of the antiquary Thomas Martin (1697-1771) of Palgrave, Suffolk.
Duties were payments to the public revenue levied upon the import, export, manufacture, or sale of certain commodities while metage was a duty paid for the official measuring of dry or liquid goods, such as coal, grain, salt. A meter was responsible for seeing that commodities such as grain were traded according to the proper measure. The City Chamberlain's Office of the Corporation of London had responsibility for overseeing the work of meters in checking incoming grain and other goods, especially in the Port of London.