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HISTORIC     BATTERSEA 


His  autograph  from  the  Originalin.  the  PofsefsioTvof 

John  Thane. 


Historic  Battersea 


TOPOGRAPHICAL 
BIOGRAPHICAL 


BY 


SHERWOOD    RAMSEY. 


WITH    TWELVE    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


COPYRIGHT. 


G.    RANGECROFT    &    Co., 

ST.    JOHN'S     HILL,    BATTERSBA,    LONDON,    S.W. 

I9I3- 


PREFACE. 


THE    author  of   this    work,    in    placing    before    the 
public  the  fruits  of  over  three  years'  labour  and 
research,  has  presented  the  results  in  a  reliable, 
rather  than  a  showy  manner,  and  has  sacrificed  for  this, 
perhaps,  some  effects  of  literary  adornment. 

"Historic  Battersea"  will  arrest  general  attention — 
apart  from  sociological  interest — principally  because  it  is 
the  first  effort  to  place  before  readers  anything  approach- 
ing a  complete  history  of  Battersea. 

The  material  from  which  this  book  has  been  slowly 
upbuilt,  has  been  obtained  from  the  archives  of  West- 
minster Abbey,  the  Record  Office,  the  British  Museum, 
and  other  reference  libraries  containing  old  manuscripts 
and  books  relating  to  the  work  undertaken. 

Battersea  of  to-day,  with  a  rateable  value  of  over 
one  million  of  money,  can  here  be  compared  with  the 
11  Patricesey "  of  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  and 
it's  evolution  traced  from  that  period,  through  the  eras  of 
Bolingbroke  and  Wilberforce  to  the  present  day.  It  will 
be  noted  that  what  at  one  time,  in  the  late  eighteenth 
century,  was  one  of  the  most  desirable  suburban  residential 
districts  for  the  wealthy,  fell  from  its  high  repute,  until  it 
became  a  veritable  pandemonium  on  earth,  and  the  resort 
of  the  most  undesirable.  One  of  the  reasons  for  this  will 
probably  be  found  in  the  chapters  dealing  with  the  Red 
House  and  its  environments,  and  the  Sunday  orgies  per- 
mitted in  the  neighbourhood  of  Battersea  Fields. 


vi.  PREFACE. 

The  author  acknowledges  his  indebtedness,  and 
conveys  his  thanks  to  those  who  kindly  loaned  to  him 
some  of  the  engravings  reproduced  in  this  work,  forming 
the  most  complete  set  of  pictures  of  Old  Battersea  ever 
brought  together  in  one  volume. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  a  meed  of 
praise  is  due  to  the  publishers  for  the  whole-hearted 
manner  in  which  they  have  co-operated  with  the  author 
in  submitting  this  concise  and  handy  volume  of  historical 
reference  for  the  approval  of  the  public. 

c.w.o. 

April,  1913. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  Page 

List  of  Illustrations xi. 

I.    The  Antiquity  of  Battersea. 

The  Origin  of  the  Name— Ancient  Records — 
Old  Charters— Forest  Land— The  Manor  of 
Battersea  —  The  Stanley  Family  — The  St. 
John  Family  —  Ford  Across  the  River  — 
Ancient  Finds  1-4 

II.     EARLY    BATTERSEA. 

Marsh  Land— Old  Parish  Church— The  Plague 
— Windmills — Old  Battersea  Bridge — Water 
Supply— Falcon  Brook — Battersea  Creek — 
Market  Gardens — River  Watermen — Thames 
Regatta— First  Training  College— The  Hamlet 
of  Penge— Traders'  Tokens— Wages  in  1815— 
The  Stocks 5-15 

ill.    later  battersea. 

Falcon  Lane — Manor  House,  St.  John's  Hill — 
Turner — Battersea  Square — The  Priory — First 
Steamer  on  the  Thames  —  Carlyle — Surrey 
Lane — Stage  Coaches — First  Railway — Black 
Records — Dr.  Watson  and  Electricity     16-23 

IV.    The  Commons. 

Their  origin  —  Common  Rights  —  Common 
Fields  —  Latchmoor  Common  —  Enclosing 
Common  Land  —  Clapham  and  Battersea 
Boundary  Dispute  —  Free  Fights  —  Penge 
Common— Legal  Rights— The  Landgrabbers    24-27 


viii.  CONTENTS. 

Chapter  Page 

V.     BATTERSEA   FIELDS. 

Battersea  Fields,  1740— Highwaymen  and  Foot- 
pads— Sunday  Carnivals — Dog  Carts — The 
Balloon  Gardens — A  Historic  Duel — Mr.  Long 
— Battersea  Park 28-31 

VI.     BATTERSEA  WORTHIES. 

Owen  Ridley— Henry  Elsynge — Dr  Thomas 
Temple— Henry  St.  John,  Lord  Bolingbroke 
—Bishop  Patrick  — Dr.  Thomas  Church  — 
William  Wilberforce — John  Gardner — Thomas 
Astle — Theodore  Janssan — Joseph  Hughes — 
John  Cullum 32-51 

VII.     BATTERSEA  ENAMEL. 

The  Founder  of  the  Works — Hancock  and  his 
Assistants— The  Art  of  Enameling — Transfer 
Printing,  French  Enamels— Bilston  Enamels 

—  Birmingham  and  Liverpool  Enamels  — 
Famous  Collections 52-57 

viii.    Famous  Battersea  Houses. 

York  House — Bolingbroke  House — Sherwood 
Lodge  —  The  Red  House  —  Broomfield  — 
Lubbock  House 58-68 

IX.    Old  Time  Taverns. 

The  Falcon— The  White  Hart— The  Old  Swan 
—The  Old  House— The  Raven— Star  and 
Garter— Nine  Elms  Tavern— The  Old  House 
at  Home — The  Plough 69-73 

X.     BATTERSEA   INDUSTRIES. 

Lime  Works— Pottery  Works— Foundry— Sal- 
mon Fishing — Boat  and  Barge  Building — 
Silk  Factory — Wicker  Works — Bowley's  Oil 
and  Colour  Works— Fownes'  Glove  Factory 

—  Battersea  Soap  Works  — Brunei's  Saw 
Mills— Shoe  Factory— The  Starch  Works- 
Price's  Candle  Works— Nine  Elms  Gas  Works    74-86 


CONTENTS.  ix. 

Chapter  Page 

XL     BATTERSEA   AND    BOTANY. 

Indigenous  Plants  and  Flowers  —  Pamplin's 
Nurseries — Rural  Aspect  of  Battersea  in  1800    87-91 

XII.    BATTERSBA  bequests. 

John  Banks — Ann  Cooper — John  Edmonds — 
Mark  Bell — Rebecca  Wood — Anthony  Haldi- 
mand — John  Pavin — Thomas  Archer — Buck 
and  Purkins— John  Shewell — John  Rapps — 
Henry  Tritton  —  John  Constable  —  Edwin 
Thompson — Henry  Juer — Edward  Dagnall — 
Henry  Smith— The  Ely  Charity— Elizabeth 
Copeland— Emma  Webb— Lost  Charities 92-98 

XIII.  BATTERSEA   CHURCHES. 

St.  Mary's— Wesleyan  Church— St.  George's— 
Methodist  Free  Church  —  Christ  Church — 
Church  of  the  Sacred  Heart— The  Church  of 
Our  Lady— The  "New"  Baptist  Church— 
St.  John's  —  St.  Saviour's  —  Congregational 
Church — The  Old  Baptist  Meeting  House — 
St.  Mark's— St.  Matthew's— St.  Peter's 99-103 

Past  Vicars  of  Battersea   104-105 

XIV.  BATTERSEA   SCHOOL. 

National  Schools— Night  Schools— The  First 
Factory  School  — St.  John's  School  — The 
Grove  School  —  St.  Mary's  School  —  St. 
George's  School  —  Christ  Church  School  — 
The  Masonic  School — St  James'  School 106- no 

XV.    local  Government. 

The  Vestry— Highway  Board— Board  of  Works 
— The  Burial  Board — First  Elected  Vestry — 
The  Baths — Public  Library — Lammas  Hall — 
Incorporation — First  Ratepayers'  Association 
— Municipal  Buildings — Morden  Cemetery — 
Borough  Council 111-116 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS: 

HENRY    St.    JOHN,    LORD    BOLJNGBROKE,    1717- 

OLD    BATTERSEA    BRIDGE,    1771-1887. 

THAMES    REGATTA,    1775. 

BATTERSEA    REACH,    1778. 

THE    PARISH    CHURCH,    1780. 

WILLIAM   WILBERFORCE,    1780. 

BATTERSEA   ENAMELS,    1750-1762. 

"THE    RED   HOUSE,"   1830. 

"THE    FALCON   TAVERN,"    1789. 

"THE    PLOUGH,"    St.   JOHN'S    HILL,   1790. 

LUBBOCK    HOUSE,    BATTERSEA    RISE,    1794- 

BATTERSEA    RISE,    1798. 


HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 


CHAPTER    I. 
THE    ANTIQUITY    OF    BATTERSEA. 

THE  origin  of  the  name  Battersea  is  lost  in  antiquity, 
some  of  our  best  historians  give  various  surmises  as 
to  the  meaning  of  the  word,  but  their  reasoning  has 
not  much  support  in  matter-of-fact  evidence.  The  earliest 
records  of  Battersea  are  dated  693.  In  some  of  the  manu- 
scripts the  name  is  spelt  Baetrice,  and  many  of  these 
documents  were  in  the  archives  of  Westminster  Abbey; 
in  other  records  of  various  dates  the  name  is  spelt  as 
Batrichesia,  Battlesey,  Patricheseya,  Patricesie,  and 
Batricheseye,  down  to  the  sixteenth  century,  when  we  find 
the  spelling  evolved  to  Battersey,  and  in  the  seventeenth 
century  it  was  first  spelt  Battersea.  The  Domesday  Book, 
which  was  compiled  in  1086,  gives  the  name  as  Patricesey, 
which  was  said  to  mean  St.  Peter's  Isle. 

There  are  in  existence  several  charters  relating  to 
Battersea,  one  being  William  the  Conqueror's  original 
grant,  another  emanating  from  Henry  I.,  and  one  from 
King  Stephen.  In  some  of  these  early  documents  the 
name  is  spelt  Battlese,  but  these  records  do  not  show  how 
the  name  originated,  tradition  says  that  the  name  was 
derived  from  the  battles  which  were  fought  in  the  bed  of 
the  river  when  the  tide  was  low  and  the  river  fordable. 
Old  historians  say  that  after  the  Conqueror  had  failed  in 
his  attempt  to  enter   London,  he  encamped  at   Battersea 


2  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

Reach.  At  this  time  the  greater  part  of  Battersea  was 
forest  land,  and  was  valued  for  purpose  of  assessment  at 
nineteen  hides  ;  in  1080  William  held  right  for  hunting  in 
the  woods  near  Battersea;  and  in  1225  the  manor  of 
Battersea  was  assigned  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
monks  at  Westminster.     The  abbey  was  closed  in  1540. 

The  Westminster  records  shew  that  when  Cedwalla, 
King  of  the  West  Saxons,  won  Surrey  in  battle,  he  gave 
Battersea  to  Erconwald,  a  bishop,  by  whom  it  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  abbey  of  Barking. 

Domesday  Book  also  records  that  Battersea  was  held 
by  Karl  Harold  and  afterwards  by  William  the  Conqueror, 
who  claimed  the  crown  regalia  which  had  been  placed  in 
the  keeping  of  the  abbots  of  the  convent  of  Westminster  by 
King  Edward.  King  William  then  gave  the  manor  of 
Battersea  to  the  abbots  of  Westminster,  and  it  remained 
under  their  rule  four  hundred  and  sixty  years  until  the 
reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  when  the  manor  became  crown 
property. 

The  Stanley  family  owned  a  large  part  of  Battersea  up 
to  the  time  of  Edward  IV.,  when  the  property  was  alienated 
by  John  Stanley,  and  one  part  became  the  property  of 
Anne,  Duchess  of  Buckingham,  the  king's  aunt ;  the  other 
part,  nearly  four  hundred  acres  of  land,  was  purchased  by 
Lawrence  Booth,  who  annexed  it  to  the  see  of  York. 

In  1610  the  income  from  the  manor  was  applied  to  the 
maintenance  of  Henry,  Prince  of  Wales,  until  1627,  when 
Charles  I.  granted  the  reversion  in  fee,  of  the  manor  of 
Battersea  to  Oliver  St.  John,  Viscount  Granderson,  who 
died  in  1630.  After  his  death  it  came  to  William  Villiers, 
who  was  killed  at  Bristol  in  1644.  Sir  John  St.  John, 
nephew  of  the  first  Lord  Granderson,  then  inherited  the 
manor — he  was  connected  by  marriage  with  Anne  Boleyn's 
family — and  he  was  succeeded  by  Walter  St.  John,  his 
nephew,  and  on  his  death  it  went  to  his  son,  Henry,  Vis- 
count St.  John,  and  from  him  it  descended  to  his  grandson, 
Henry,    Viscount    Bolingbroke,    and  then   to   Frederick, 


/ 


THE    ANTIQUITY   OF   BATTRRSEA.  3 

nephew  of  the  first  Lord  Bolingbroke.  In  17 16  Henry 
St.  John  become  Baron  St.  John  of  Battersea ;  he  was  the 
father  of  Lord  Bolingbroke.  In  1763  the  estate  was  sold 
to  Earl  Spencer,  the  amount  paid  being  ^30,000.  Lord 
Spencer  retained  his  freehold  until  1835. 

In  1684  Henry  St.  John  pleaded  guilty  to  murdering 
Sir  William  Estcourt  in  a  quarrel  at  a  supper  party,  when 
swords  were  drawn.  He  was  reprieved  by  Charles  II.  upon 
the  payment  of  ,£16,000.  Bishop  Burnet,  in  his  history  of 
the  Court,  says  that  King  Charles  put  half  the  money  in 
his  own  pocket  and  gave  the  remainder  to  two  ladies  who 
were  then  in  his  favour. 

Oliver  St.  John  was  the  first  of  the  family  to  reside  in 
Battersea.  The  last  of  the  St.  John  family  to  be  buried  in 
Battetsea  was  a  daughter  of  Lord  Bolingbroke. 

Sir  Richard  Phillips,  writing  in  1810  on  historical 
events,  says  there  was  a  crossing-way  over  the  Thames 
near  Battersea,  where  Caesar  pursued  the  retreating  Britons. 
"  This  causeway,"  he  said,  "  may  yet  be  traced  from  the 
south  bank  of  the  river  at  low  water,  so  that  this  was  prob- 
ably a  ford  where  the  British  wing  retreated  before  the 
Romans,  and  across  which  they  were  doubtless  followed 
by  Caesar." 

Maitland,  the  historian,  also  says  that  Caesar  crossed 
the  Thames  in  pursuit  of  the  Britons  between  Chelsea  and 
Battersea,  where  an  old  ford  existed,  this  ford  was  broad 
enough  to  allow  ten  men  to  walk  abreast ;  some  warlike 
implements  have  been  found  near  where  this  ford  existed, 
these  were  of  the  Roman  period,  a  Celtic  shield  was  also 
found  on  the  Battersea  side  ot  the  river,  which  is  now  in 
the  British  Museum.  Many  finds  of  old  implements  and 
other  relics  of  the  past  ages  have  been  found  in  the  river 
bed,  and  in  and  about  Battersea ;  weapons  of  iron  and 
bronze,  human  skulls,  lead  coffins,  and  stone  implements. 
Some  of  these  were  found  during  the  making  of  the  park 
and  building  the  new  bridge.  Two  embossed  shields  and 
an  ancient  cauldron  were  dug  up  from  the  bed  of  the  river 


4  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

some  few  years  ago,  these  belong  to  the  bronze  age  and  are 
now  in  the  British  Museum,  there  is  in  the  same  museum  a 
flint  sickle  which  was  found  in  the  Thames  near  Battersea. 
Utensils  of  the  Roman  period,  mediaeval  pottery,  mammoth 
teeth  of  extinct  animals,  bronze  spears,  and  flint  axes  of 
early  man  have  been  found  in  the  river  banks  between 
Chelsea  and  Battersea. 

There  are  in  the  British  Museum  several  small  round 
pieces  of  tin  which  were  found  in  the  Thames  at  Battersea. 
They  are  remarkable  for  having  impressed  upon  them  the 
Christian  monogram  the  chirho  which  is  the  earliest 
mark  of  Christian  faith.  Many  of  these  tin  discs  were 
found  in  the  Roman  catacombs,  and  date  back  to  the 
fourth  century. 

In  the  Hilton- Price  collection  at  the  London  Museum 
can  be  seen  a  good  specimen  of  a  tenth  century  sword. 
Some  years  ago  a  part  of  this  sword  was  found  in  the  river 
bed  at  Battersea,  the  part  found  consisted  of  the  hilt  and 
about  three-quarters  of  the  blade,  on  the  blade  there  was 
an  inscription,  which  was  unfinished  on  account  of  the  mis- 
sing piece  broken  off.  Any  hope  of  finding  this  was  never 
thought  of,  yet,  when  the  Tower  Bridge  was  being  built 
this  very  fragment  was  found  deep  down  in  the  bed  of  the 
river  ;  the  fit  of  the  two  pieces  was  exact  and  the  inscrip- 
tion read  straight  on,  thus  completing  the  wording.  This 
sounds  incredible,  but  such  is  the  fact  of  the  finding  of  the 
tenth  century  sword  now  in  the  London  Museum. 

When  the  West  London  Railway  was  constructed  some 
fine  specimens  of  horns  belonging  to  the  red  deer  were  dug 
up  in  the  river  bed  near  Battersea  ;  these  relics  of  the  past 
belonged  to  a  time  when  the  wolf,  the  deer,  and  the  wild 
boar,  roamed  undisturbed  about  the  woods  which  lined  the 
river  bank. 

Battersea  is  in  the  hundred  of  Brixton,  and  it  is 
bounded  by  Lambeth  on  the  east,  by  Clapham,  Streatham 
and  Camberwell  on  the  south,  by  Wandsworth  on  the  west 
and  by  the  Thames  on  the  north. 


CHAPTER    II. 
EARLY    BATTERSEA. 

IN  ancient  times  the  river  Thames  covered  the  low- 
lying  land  around  Battersea  to  a  considerable  extent, 

and  in  some  parts  when  the  tide  was  at  full,  old 
historians  say  that  the  water  reached  as  far  as  Clapham, 
and  even  down  to  the  year  1570  the  greater  part  of  lower 
Battersea  was  under  water,  the  land  which  now  forms 
the  Park,  and  extending  nearly  as  far  as  Nine  Elms  was 
a  boggy  marsh,  as  the  river  reached  far  beyond  its 
present  limits;  when  the  tide  was  high  the  water  spread 
over  the  land  a  considerable  distance,  and  the  river  banks 
were  constantly  breaking  away  by  force  of  the  in-rush  of 
water.  To  prevent  this  a  wall  was  built  of  brick  and  stone 
along  the  river  bank,  which  was  known  as  "The  Marsh 
Wall,"  after  the  building  of  this  wall  much  of  the  land  was 
drained  and  reclaimed,  this  land  was  divided  into  plots 
and  known  as  Short  Marsh,  Middle  Marsh,  and  Long 
Marsh  land. 

No  mention  is  made  in  the  Domesday  Book  of  any 
church  at  Battersea,  yet  other  records  show  that  a  parish 
church  was  endowed  in  1152  by  the  abbot  of  Westminster, 
and  that  the  living  was  held  by  the  bishop  of  Winchester 
in  the  time  of  Philip  and  Mary.  In  1776  this  church  was 
found  to  be  in  a  decayed  condition,  past  all  repair,  and  was 
pulled  down.  It  was  a  building  of  great  antiquity  and 
had  some  claim  to  architectural  beauty  in  design,  the 
tower  was  massive  and  embattled.  The  church  is  men- 
tioned in  several  old  records  as  an  imposing  structure, 
which  had  some  fine  stained  glass  windows.  The  art  of 
glass  staining  was  flourishing  in  England  at  this  period. 


6  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

The  most  magnificent  stained  window  was  in  Canterbury 
Cathedral,  which  was  destroyed  by  a  madman  in  the  time 
of  Cromwell.  Westminster  Abbey  contains  some  very  fine 
specimens,  also  York  Minster. 

One  of  the  windows  in  Battersea  Church  was  said  to 
have  been  done  by  Jarvis  McAllister,  who  was  a  highly 
gifted  artist,  but  his  colours  were  not  entirely  fadeless. 
An  artist  named  Pearson  discovered  the  process  by  which 
the  colours  in  glass  staining  were  rendered  permanent, 
much  of  his  beautiful  work  in  churches  and  other  public 
buildings  is  scattered  throughout  Great  Britain.  In  the 
east  window  of  St.  Mary's  church  are  three  portraits,  one 
to  the  memory  of  Margaret  Beauchamp,  who  was  the  wife 
of  Sir  Oliver  St.  John,  her  second  husband  being  the  Duke 
of  Somerset  ;  she  was  the  grandmother  of  Henry  VII. 
The  second  portrait  is  of  Henry  VII.,  and  the  third  is  the 
portrait  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  was  the  granddaughter 
of  Thomas  Boleyn,  the  father  of  Anne  Boleyn.  The  parish 
register  dates  from  1559,  but  was  kept  in  a  most  irregular 
manner  in  the  old  days,  many  of  the  entries  must  have 
been  made  by  a  very  ignorant  person,  and  in  some  years 
no  entries  seem  to  have  been  made  at  all.  Many  of  the 
records  are  quaint  and  curious  reading. 

The  present  church,  which  was  built  upon  the  site 
of  the  old  one,  is  chiefly  known  for  its  copper  spire,  which 
was  much  praised  by  Sir  E.  Poynter,  R.A.  The  east 
window  contains  the  fine  stained  glass  removed  from 
the  old  church.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  out  of 
sixteen  plates  and  brasses  removed  from  the  old  church, 
only  seven  are  in  the  present  building,  the  rest  being  lost. 
Most  of  the  old  coffin  plates,  which  were  stolen,  were 
worked  in  silver,  and  some  of  the  oldest  monuments  were 
destroyed  or  allowed  to  fall  into  decay.  The  earliest 
monument  in  the  old  church  was  an  elaborate  brass  to 
the  memory  of  John  Rennold,  dated  1443.  Two  members 
of  Queen  Elizabeth's  household,  Henry  Huss  and  Hugh 
Morgan,  were  buried  in  the  old  church.     There  was  also  a 


EARLY  BATTERSEA.  7 

stately  monument  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  but  the  finest  monu- 
ment preserved  from  the  old  church  was  that  belonging  to 
the  Bolingbroke  family,  which  is  built  of  grey  and  white 
marble;  this  was  designed  by  that  famous  artist  Roubilliac, 
it  has  medallion  portraits  and  an  inscription  written  by 
L,ord  Bolingbroke.  There  is  a  memorial  stone  to  Sir  E. 
Wynter,  an  old  Battersea  worthy,  a  great  traveller  who  was 
in  the  service  of  the  East  India  Company  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  II.  History  records  that  when  in  India  he  was 
attacked  by  a  tiger,  which  he  seized  by  the  throat  as  it 
sprang  at  him,  and  forced  it  into  the  river,  where  it  was 
drowned.  An  inventory  taken  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI. 
shows  that  the  old  church  had  costly  fittings,  the  hangings 
consisted  of  damask,  silk,  satin  and  velvet.  Some  very 
old  documents  relating  to  past  vicars  are  still  preserved, 
one  of  them  refers  to  Owen  Ridley,  who  was  vicar  in  1575. 
The  church  records  shew  that  Battersea  suffered  severely 
during  the  plague,  the  deaths  were  so  numerous  that  two 
large  burial  pits  had  to  be  dug,  into  which  the  bodies  were 
put,  great  distress  prevailed  in  the  parish,  and  prayers 
were  said  daily  in  the  church  for  the  people's  deliverance 
from  the  scourge.  The  plague  visited  Battersea  in  1603, 
1625,  and  1665,  the  last  being  the  most  severe  visitation. 

Quaint  wooden  windmills  stood  all  along  the  Thames 
banks  in  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
several  of  those  windmills  were  picturesque  objects  about 
Battersea.  One  of  the  best  known  was  Randall's  mill  at 
Nine  Elms,  this  mill  is  shown  in  several  old  engravings. 
Another  noted  mili  was  in  Nine  Elms  Lane,  which  served 
as  a  beacon  for  boats  on  the  river,  this  mill  stood  near 
where  the  "Southampton  Arms"  is  now  situated,  not  far 
from  the  old  steamboat  pier.  Steele,  in  one  of  his  works, 
mentions  the  Battersea  mills ;  in  giving  an  account  of  a 
voyage  on  the  Thames,  he  tells  how  he  met  a  fleet  of 
Battersea  gardeners  going  to  market  with  their  produce, 
and  how  he  drew  up  at  the  Nine  Elms  pier  near  the  old 
windmill.     In  connection  with  these  mills  was  a  narrow 


8  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

footway  which  had  a  low  parapet  on  both  sides  known  as 
Mill-pond  Bridge,  it  crossed  a  reservoir  of  water  used  for 
driving  the  mill-wheel. 

The  most  famous  windmill  in  Battersea  was  one 
which  stood  near  the  old  Parish  Church,  this  mill  was 
built  upon  an  original  plan,  it  was  without  visible  sails, 
but  had  on  each  side  a  number  of  vertical  shutters.  The 
mill  was  built  in  1788  and  was  known  as  the  horizontal 
air  mill,  owned  by  a  Mr.  Hodgson,  maltster.  It  served 
as  a  land  mark  for  miles  around  Battersea.  The  following 
description  of  this  mill  is  from  an  old  news  sheet :  "  On  the 
site  of  the  venerable  family  mansion  of  Henry  St.  John, 
Viscount  Bolingbroke,  is  erected  a  horizontal  air-mill,  for 
grinding  malt  for  distillation,  originally  intended  for 
grinding  linseed  ;  it  is  one  hundred  and  forty  feet  high, 
and  the  average  diameter  of  the  cone  is  about  fifty  feet, 
having  ninety-six  shutters,  which,  though  only  nine  inches 
broad,  reach  to  the  height  of  eighty  feet :  these,  by  means 
of  a  rope,  open  and  shut  in  the  manner  of  Venetian  blinds. 
In  the  inside  the  main  shaft  of  the  mill  is  the  centre  of  a 
large  circle,  formed  by  the  sails,  which  consist  of  ninety- 
six  double  planks,  placed  perpendicularly,  and  the  same 
height  as  the  shutters;  through  these  shutters  the  wind 
passing  turns  the  mill  with  great  rapidity,  which  is  increased 
or  diminished  by  opening  or  shutting  the  apertures  ;  in  it 
are  six  pairs  of  stones.  Adjacent  are  extensive  bullock- 
houses  capable  of  holding  six  hundred  and  fifty  bullocks, 
to  be  fed  with  the  grains  from  the  distillery,  mixed  with 
meal ; "  the  mill  was  not  a  success,  and  no  more  mills 
were  built  upon  this  novel  plan.  Many  of  the  old  prints  of 
Battersea  show  this  mill.  Another  novelty  in  windmills 
was  the  windmill  pump,  which  was  erected  on  Wandsworth 
Common  by  a  gentleman  named  William  Watson,  in  1815, 
this  was  built  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  what  was 
known  as  the  "  black  sea "  pond  with  water,  the  ruins 
of  this  mill  are  still  standing  (19 13)  on  the  railway  siding 
near  Trinity  Road. 


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EARLY  BATTERSEA.  9 

Windmills  are  of  great  antiquity,  and  believed  to  be 
of  Roman  invention.  They  were  first  introduced  into 
England  by  the  Knights  of  St.  John,  who  copied  the  mode 
of  building  them  from  what  they  had  seen  during  the 
Crusades.  In  later  years  we  find  them  greatly  improved 
and  used  for  many  purposes,  a  wind  saw-mill  was  erected 
in  the  Strand  in  the  year  1633,  this  was  built  by  a  Dutch- 
man ;  a  great  many  of  the  early  windmills  were  built  by 
the  Dutch. 

A  writer  of  some  note  in  the  eighteenth  century  pro- 
tested against  the  unsightly  state  of  some  of  the  windmills  ; 
she  said,  "  How  is  it  that  modern  millers  are  the  most 
tasteless  mortals  in  the  world  ?  all  the  materials  of  an 
enchanting  place  are  ready  to  their  hands,  as  they  must, 
for  their  trade  have  a  lake,  a  river  and  a  waterfall,  which 
are  highly  picturesque  ;  the  mills  are  usually  located  in 
pretty  villages  rich  in  overhanging  woods  following  the 
windings  of  their  water  power ;  yet  how  seldom  does  one 
see  a  mill  that  is  not  offensive  to  the  eye  ?  like  a  drunken 
man  in  a  church,  outraging  the  propriety  of  the  place,  I 
can  see  no  reason  why  a  mill  in  the  midst  of  rural  scenery 
might  not  be  made  an  adjunct  to  the  landscape,  instead  of 
an  eyesore,  yet  how  often  do  we  find  a  four-square  white- 
washed, unadorned,  ugly  mill  by  the  banks  of  a  pastoral 
river  ?  " 

About  1760  an  agitation  was  commenced  for  a  bridge 
across  the  Thames  from  Battersea  to  Fulham ;  the  project 
was  opposed  by  the  Chelsea  and  Fulham  tradesmen  on  the 
assumption  that  it  would  be  the  means  of  taking  the  trade 
of  their  district  to  Battersea ;  the  projector  of  the  scheme 
won,  and  the  first  bridge  across  the  Thames  at  Battersea 
was  built  of  wood  in  1771,  and  had  sixteen  piers,  the  bridge 
was  seven  hundred  and  twenty-six  feet  long,  twenty-four 
feet  wide,  the  total  cost  of  building  was  ^20,000,  this 
money  was  contributed  by  the  land-owners  and  residents 
of  Battersea  and  Chelsea ;  and  Earl  Spencer,  who  con- 
tributed the  major  portion  of  the  money,  took  the  toll. 


io  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

Before  the  building  of  this  bridge  the  only  means  of 
crossing  the  river  was  by  a  ferry  which  had  been  in 
existence  many  centuries.  The  building  of  the  bridge 
was  quite  an  event  in  Battersea,  crowds  of  people  used  to 
congregate  on  the  banks  of  the  river  to  watch  the  building 
in  progress,  and  when  it  was  finished  the  opening  day  was 
given  up  to  rejoicing  and  merry-making  on  both  sides  of 
the  river,  the  bridge  being  gaily  decorated  with  bunting 
and  flags  intermingled  with  festoons  of  flowers.  Years 
afterwards,  when  the  Thames  regatta  was  an  annual  insti- 
tution, Battersea  Bridge  was  filled  with  sightseers  who 
paid  high  prices  for  their  seats  or  standing  room. 

At  this  time  the  water  supply  was  by  means  of  wells, 
some  of  which  were  on  the  common  laud,  the  water  carts 
used  to  get  their  supply  of  water  from  these  wells,  and 
supply  the  cottages  in  the  village.  One  of  those  wells  still 
exists  in  the  basement  of  the  old  Vestry  Hall  on  the 
Battersea  Rise,  it  was  discovered  about  five  years  ago 
during  some  building  alterations.  Another  well,  which 
has  since  been  filled  in,  was  on  Lavender  Hill  where  the 
Shakespeare  Theatre  now  stands.  Water  was  also  taken 
from  the  Falcon  brook,  which  took  its  rise  near  Balham, 
coming  down  through  what  is  now  Northcote  Road,  and 
forming  a  large  lake  on  the  site  of  St.  John's  Road,  and 
was  known  as  the  "  Washway,"  it  then  proceeded  under 
the  roadway  at  the  foot  of  St.  John's  Hill,  and  turning 
westward,  flowed  down  what  is  now  Lavender  Road  into 
the  creek.  In  the  eighteenth  century  an  ancient  bridge 
spanned  this  creek,  which  passed  down  York  Road ; 
persons  coming  from  Wandsworth  had  to  pay  toll.  There 
is  an  old  deed  in  existence  dating  back  to  1279,  which 
mentions  the  bridge  as  being  on  the  road  to  Wendlesworth 
(Wandsworth). 

At  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century 
Battersea  was  famous  for  its  market  gardens,  they  extended 
from  the  Lavender  Hill  down  to  Battersea  Park  Road, 
they  also  covered  much  of  the  land  near  the  river.     The 


EARLY  BATTERSEA.  n 

Battersea  gardeners  were  noted  for  their  fine  growth  of 
vegetables,  which  fetched  high  prices  in  the  London  mar- 
kets. The  gardeners  of  Battersea  were  the  first  growers  to 
cultivate  asparagus  and  introduce  it  in  the  fruit  and  vege- 
table markets.  The  Battersea  gardens  were  most  probably- 
improved  by  the  Huguenots  who  settled  in  Wandsworth 
in  1639.  Fuller,  writing  in  1660  on  the  gardens  of  Surrey, 
says,  "  Gardening  was  first  introduced  into  England  about 
1590,  before  this  time  we  obtained  our  fruit,  etc.,  mainly 
from  France  and  Holland.  The  gardeners  of  Battersea 
paid  7s.  6d.  per  acre  for  tithes  to  the  vicar.  In  1800  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  were  under  cultivation." 

Many  of  the  boatmen  who  plied  on  the  river  had  their 
homes  in  Battersea,  and  among  them  were  men  who 
gathered  the  flotsam  and  jetsam  of  the  river,  some  ot 
which  brought  rewards  from  the  coroner,  for  the  old 
wooden  bridge  was  responsible  for  detaining  many  a 
dead  body,  which  had  floated  with  the  tide  until  caught 
in  the  piles  of  the  bridge  and  captured  by  some  prowl- 
ing boatman.  The  police  galleys  had  to  keep  a  sharp  look 
out  when  there  were  heavy  laden  barges  moored,  for  many 
suspicious  looking  boats  were  about,  ready  to  snap  up  un- 
considered trifles. 

Some  of  the  Thames  watermen  also  lived  at  Battersea, 
the  Red  House  being  the  starting  point  for  the  river  car- 
nivals and  sports.  The  watermen  can  trace  their  occupa- 
tion back  to  a  remote  period,  when  the  river  was  the  great 
highway  of  commerce  and  pleasure.  In  a  Statute  of 
Henry  VIII.,  passed  in  1514,  for  regulating  their  fares,  it  is 
recorded  "  That  it  has  been  a  laudable  custume  and  usage 
tyme  out  of  mind  to  use  the  river  in  barge  or  whery  bote." 
And  the  annals  of  the  Watermen's  Company  give  an 
interesting  account  of  a  dispute  as  far  back  as  1293  con- 
cerning the  charge  for  the  conveyance  of  passengers  from 
Gravesend  to  London.  The  regular  fare  was  one  half- 
penny for  each  person,  but  some  unscrupulous  boatmen 
charged  passengers  a  penny.    So  the  offenders  were  taken 


12  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

by  the  sheriff  before  the  justices  of  assize,  who  admonished 
them,  and  made  each  waterman  give  a  bond  of  40s.  for 
future  good  behaviour. 

Stow,  the  historian,  computed  that  in  1600  there  were 
forty  thousand  boatmen  upon  the  rolls  of  the  Watermen's 
Company  ;  this  gives  an  idea  of  the  river  traffic  at  this  time. 
The  wealthy  class  kept  their  own  watermen,  there  were 
also  watermen  of  the  Court  who  attended  all  state  func- 
tions. The  Thames  at  this  date  was  the  great  highway  of 
London,  there  were  no  bridges  across  the  river  beyond 
London  Bridge  until  1750,  when  the  old  Westminster 
Bridge  was  opened. 

River  sports  were  introduced  into  England  from 
Venice  about  1774,  and  the  first  regatta  to  take  place  in 
this  country  was  on  the  Thames  at  Battersea  Reach  on  the 
23rd  June,  1775,  when  thousands  of  spectators  lined  the 
river  bank  on  both  sides  to  watch  the  racing  between  the 
rival  vessels.  Soon  after  its  introduction  the  regatta  be- 
came one  of  the  most  popular  of  river  sports.  A  regatta 
consists  of  a  series  of  races  between  sailing  vessels  or  row- 
ing boats,  the  prizes  contested  for  being  mostly  presenta- 
tions. The  races  were  managed  by  a  committee  of 
gentlemen  called  stewards,  who  appointed  two  officers  to 
decide  all  questions  in  dispute  during  the  races,  these  offi- 
cials were  termed  "  umpire"  and  "judge."  In  1839  Henley 
regatta  was  established,  and  in  1843  the  Thames  regatta 
started  from  Putney  Bridge ;  many  professional  oarsmen 
and  scullers  took  part  in  these  river  sports.  Another 
popular  pastime  in  these  days  was  the  musical  water 
party,  which  was  often  given  on  the  banks  of  the  river 
near  Battersea ;  well  appointed  pleasure  boats  assisted  at 
those  entertainments,  which  were  of  a  gay  and  picturesque 
character,  many  notabilities  being  present  dressed  in  fancy 
costumes.  Marlow,  the  artist,  depicts  one  of  these  river 
party  scenes  in  an  oil  painting,  now  valuable. 

The  first  training  college  for  teachers  in  England  was 
built  at  Battersea,  this  building  stood  near  the  river  on 


a 

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o 


EARLY  BATTERSEA.  13 

part  of  the  site  of  Bolingbroke  House,  and  was  known  as 
Battersea  Training  College,  for  the  training  of  elementary 
teachers.  This  college  was  instituted  in  1840  by  Sir  James 
Shuttleworth. 

In  1700  Penge  was  a  small  hamlet,  part  of  the  parish  of 
Battersea;  it  had  a  population  of  about  seventy  persons, 
and  the  number  of  houses  within  the  parish  was  onlj  four- 
teen. It  remained  part  of  the  parish  of  Battersea  down 
to  1900,  when  it  was  transferred  to  the  county  of  Kent. 
At  one  period  of  its  history  Penge  was  a  place  of  some 
importance. 

An  old  historian  records  that  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Mary,  Alexander  Nowell,  one  of  the  deans  of  St.  Paul's, 
and  headmaster  of  Westminster  School,  one  fine  summer's 
day  was  fishing  in  the  Thames  on  the  banks  near  Battersea, 
when  Bishop  Bonner,  who  hated  Nowell  for  his  support  of 
the  "New  Opinione,"  made  an  attempt  to  capture  him,  but 
after  a  severe  struggle  Nowell  escaped,  leaving  behind  him 
his  luncheon,  which  consisted  of  bread,  cheese  and  some 
beer  in  a  bottle,  this  he  had  placed  in  a  hollow  in  the  bank 
until  luncheon  time.  A  long  time  after  this  incident  hap- 
pened he  returned  to  Battersea,  and,  being  curious  to 
know  if  his  beer  was  still  in  the  bank,  he  went  in  search  of 
it,  and  found  it  just  as  he  had  left  it,  then  he  goes  on  to 
say  that  "  when  I  opened  the  bottle  the  stopper  flew  off 
like  a  gun,  but  I  found  the  flavour  of  the  beer  much 
improved,  being  richer  than  ever  I  have  known  beer  to 
be."  Sir  James  Fuller  was  of  opinion  that  this  was  the 
origin  of  bottled  beer. 

During  the  seventeenth  century  many  Battersea  traders 
issued  their  own  money  for  small  amounts,  these  coins 
were  made  of  a  mixture  of  lead  and  tin,  and  were  known 
as  traders'  tokens. 

In  Battersea  Square  stood  the  old  workhouse,  near 
"The  Priory,"  and  a  little  higher  up  the  road,  in  Surrey 
Lane,  was  the  "Cage"  for  the  confinement  of  persons 
guilty  of  petty  crimes.     The  "  Stocks,"  for  the  punishment 


14  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

of  disorderly  persons,  were  outside  the  parish  church  near 
the  river. 

In  1 8 15  the  wages  paid  for  labour  in  Battersea  seems 
to  have  been  below  the  amount  paid  during  the  period 
termed  "  the  hungry  forties."  A  writer  in  a  magazine  of 
that  time  says,  "  I  made  enquiries  in  Battersea  relative  to 
the  condition  of  the  workers,  and  I  was  grieved  to  find 
that  the  payment  of  dajr  labourers  varies  from  3s.  to  2s.  per 
day,  or  on  an  average  is  not  more  than  15s.  per  week  ;  of 
women  from  is.  to  is.  6d.,  or  about  7s.  per  week;  and  of 
children  from  6d.  to  qd.,  or  4s.  per  week ;  though  for  the 
last  two  classes  there  is  only  sufficient  employment  for  half 
the  year.  A  poor  man  who  had  a  wife  and  three  children 
to  maintain  on  14s.  per  week,  told  me  that  for  many 
months  he  and  his  family  had  been  strangers  to  meat, 
cheese,  butter  or  beer,  that  bread,  potatoes,  nettles,  turnips, 
carrots  and  onions,  with  a  little  salt,  constituted  the  whole 
of  their  food,  that  during  the  winter  months  he  was  obliged 
to  rely  on  the  parish,  and  in  case  of  sickness  he  and  his 
children  had  no  resource  besides  the  workhouse.  "  I 
don't  think,"  said  he,  "the  gentlefolk  save  much  by  run- 
ning down  the  poor  so  very  hard,  for  we  are  obligated  to 
get  it  on  the  parish,  which  they  pay,  so  it's  all  one, 
though  it  grieves  a  poor  man,  as  one  may  say,  to  apply  to 
the  overseers,  and  to  have  no  hope  but  the  workhouse 
at  last." 

"I  agree  with  this  humble  economist  that  it  seems  to 
be  as  ungenerous  as  impolitic  to  throw  on  the  poor  rates  a 
burthen  which  ought  to  be  borne  by  those  who  profit  from 
the  labour  thus  inadequately  remunerated.  It  could  not, 
and  ought  not,  to  be  difficult  to  fix  a  minimum  (not  a 
maximum)  rate  of  pay,  such  as  should  be  sufficient  to  sup- 
port an  average  sized  family.  With  inferior  means,  the 
labourer  must  suffer  the  obloquy  of  being  remunerated 
from  the  parish  rates,  to  which  all  are  forced  to  contribute 
as  fully  as  though  the  employer  paid  the  fair  value  of  the 
labour  in  the  first  instance,  and  assessed  it  on  the  price  of 


EARLY  BATTERSEA.  15 

his  commodity.  How  painful  the  condition  of  the  poor, 
contrasted  with  that  of  the  rich  ;  yet  how  closely  are  they 
allied,  and  how  adventitiously  separated !  The  latter 
solace  themselves  in  a  fancied  exemption  from  the  miseries 
and  ignominy  which  attach  to  the  former,  though  their 
daily  experience  of  the  caprice  of  fortune  ought  to  teach 
them,  while  they  have  the  power,  that  it  would  be  wiser 
to  diminish  the  contrast  by  ameliorating  the  condition  of 
poverty  !  How  glorious  the  spectacle  afforded  by  the  exhi- 
bition of  civilized  society,  though  that  justly  admired 
civilization  is  but  a  result  of  artifices  that  create  the  dis- 
tinctions of  rich  and  poor!  What  a  gulph  between  the 
ancient  Britons  in  the  social  equality  of  their  woods  and 
caverns,  and  the  favoured  English  in  their  luxurious  cities 
and  magnificent  palaces." 

This  sounds  like  present  day  socialism  !  yet  it  was 
written  one  hundred  years  ago  by  Sir  Richard  Phillips,  a 
sound  supporter  of  the  constitution. 


CHAPTER    III. 

LATER    BATTERSEA. 

FROM  the  seventeenth  century  to  the  early  nineteenth 
century  very  little  change  took  place  in  the  normal 
aspect  of  Battersea,  for  not  until  this  period  had 
London  commenced  to  extend  its  boundaries  far  beyond 
the  City  limits,  and  Battersea  was  one  of  the  many  parishes 
which  were  dotted  about  on  the  outskirts  of  the  big  city, 
being  connected  with  it  only  by  the  old  turnpike  roads ; 
and  up  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  Battersea 
had  a  very  rural  aspect. 

Falcon  Lane  (now  Falcon  Road),  had  hawthorne 
bushes  on  each  side  of  the  roadway,  which  enclosed 
meadow  land,  orchards,  and  gardens.  The  Falcon  Inn 
was  a  small  beer-house,  with  a  large  tree  in  front  of  it, 
and  a  water-trough  for  the  use  of  horses.  A  few  cottages 
with  long  front  gardens  were  dotted  about  the  lane,  and 
a  small  farmhouse  here  and  there  in  the  fields.  The 
general  aspect  was  very  rural ;  and  what  is  now  St.  John's 
Road  had  much  the  same  appearance.  St.  John's  Hill  was 
a  country  road  leading  to  the  village  of  Wandsworth,  each 
side  being  flanked  by  meadow  land  and  cornfields.  A  few 
houses  had  been  built  about  Plough  Lane  (now  Plough 
Road)  and  Union  Road  (Usk  Road),  and  two  or  three  large 
houses  and  mansions  stood  off  the  main  road.  The  most 
famous  house  on  the  hill  was  "  The  Manor  House,"  which 
stood  near  the  Alms  Houses,  not  tar  from  where  the 
Infirmary  now  stands.  The  grounds  were  very  extensive, 
and  most  beautifully  kept.  This  house  had  a  very  inter- 
esting history.     It  was  designed  by  Wren  and  built  by  a 


LATER    BATTERSEA.  17 

French  refugee,  Peter  Paggen.  It  was  a  handsome  and 
imposing  structure,  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  country 
around.  For  some  years  this  house  was  the  home  of  the 
Princess  who  afterwards  became  Queen  Anne,  and  many 
historic  scenes  were  enacted  here  during  her  residence. 
On  the  walls  were  decorative  paintings  and  other  speci- 
mens of  art  work,  by  the  foremost  artists  of  the  time ;  but 
as  they  were  worked  in  panels  on  the  walls,  they  were 
destroyed  when  the  house  was  demolished  in  1892. 

Peter  Paggen,  the  builder  of  the  Manor  House,  was  a 
Huguenot,  who  fled  to  England,  with  so  many  of  his 
countrymen,  on  the  Decree  of  Nantes.  He  died  about 
17 10,  and  lies  buried  with  his  confreres  in  Mount  Nod 
burial-ground,  East  Hill,  Wandsworth. 

At  this  time  Woolf's  pencil  works  in  the  York  Road, 
was  a  farm  kept  by  a  Mr.  Turk,  and  known  as  Turk's 
Farm.  Part  of  the  original  farmhouse  is  still  standing 
(19 13).  Near  this  farm  the  Falcon  brook  ran,  an  open 
waterway  in  which  boats  were  rowed  as  far  as  the  creek 
bridge  in  York  Road.  Near  to  Plough  Lane  stood  the 
Creek  flour  mills,  which  were  owned  by  a  Mr.  Denny. 
Most  of  the  land  about  this  part  of  Battersea  belonged  to 
the  Bishopric  of  York. 

Off  York  Road,  and  what  is  now  Battersea  Park  Road, 
were  orchards,  market  gardens,  and  meadow  fields,  which 
flanked  each  side  of  the  road.  The  east  end  of  York 
Road  was  known  as  Pickpocket  Lane,  and  the  "  Prince's 
Head  "  was  only  a  country  inn.  At  that  time  (1840) 
Battersea  was  much  in  evidence  as  a  residential  suburb, 
some  of  the  best  families  having  their  mansions  in  Batter- 
sea. On  the  site  of  Messrs.  Arding  &  Hobbs,  Ltd.,  stood 
the  home  of  Tom  Taylor,  the  dramatic  author,  and  on 
the  opposite  corner  where  Messrs.  Hastings,  Ltd.,  have 
their  premises,  the  old  house  known  as  "The  Chestnuts," 
was  occupied  by  Bogle  Smith,  Esq.,  banker,  and  trustee  of 
Sir  Walter  St.  John's  Schools ;  it  was  afterwards  the  resi- 
dence of  Mrs.  Sterling,  an  actress  of  note  in  her  time. 

B 


18  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

In  Falcon  Lane,  where  David  Thomas's  shops  are, 
was  Fowne's  glove  factory,  which  extended  nearly  as  far 
as  the  corner  of  York  Road.  Where  the  dispensary  now 
stands  at  the  corner  of  High  Street,  there  was  a  pound 
for  impounding  stray  cattle,  and  in  the  centre  of  the  road 
was  a  pond  of  stagnant  water.  From  the  corner  of  High 
Street  down  to  the  railway  station,  were  the  grounds  and 
gardens  belonging  to  the  old  "Manor  House,"  the  resi- 
dence of  Sir  Charles  and  Lady  Nugent,  which  stood  on  the 
site  of  the  station.  A  short  distance  from  the  "  Manor 
House"  stood  a  fine  old  mansion  known  as  "  The  Lapa- 
dary,"  occupied  by  Mr.  Stirling,  then  coroner  for  London, 
he  was  also  famed  as  a  breeder  of  race  horses.  The  next 
house  of  note  was  "  The  Priory,"  in  Battersea  Square, 
which  was  the  home  of  Captain  Clayton,  R.N.,  a  great 
friend  of  Sir  Charles  Napier,  who  was  a  frequent  visitor  to 
"  The  Priory." 

Several  imposing  mansions  stood  in  Battersea  Square, 
one  of  these  was  occupied  by  Miss  Ridley,  who  kept  a  staff 
of  liveried  servants,  another  was  the  residence  of  Dr. 
Conner,  a  well-known  surgeon  in  his  day.  Mr.  Miller,  the 
famous  barge  builder,  also  lived  in  the  square. 

In  1855  tne  original  Sir  Walter  St.  John's  Schools 
were  pulled  down,  before  this  it  had  been  a  boy  and  girl's 
school,  but  after  the  girls  had  been  transferred  to  the 
Green  Lane  School,  the  upper  part  of  the  building 
was  transformed  into  a  library  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Battersea  Library  and  Scientific  Institute ;  "  the  subscrip- 
tion was  2s.  6d.  per  quarter,  which  entitled  members  to 
have  books,  attend  lectures,  and  be  members  of  the  old 
Battersea  Cricket  Club. 

At  this  time  the  Principal  of  St.  John's  Training 
College  was  Mr.  Jackson,  who  afterwards  became  the  first 
Bishop  of  New  Zealand.  Sir  Samuel  Clark,  the  great 
linguist,  was  another  noted  principal  of  the  College. 

The  Southland  Training  College  was  a  very  fine  man- 
sion, known  as  "  The  Retreat,"  which  was  built  by  order  of 


LATER    BATTERSEA.  19 

the  Duchess  of  Angouleme,  as  a  refuge  for  the  people  oi 
her  country  during  the  French  Revolution.  Its  name  was 
changed  by  Sir  George  Pollock,  who  resided  there  in  the 
early  forties. 

What  is  now  Lombard  Road  was  then  a  rural  lane  full 
of  fine  houses,  and  was  known  as  Industrial  Grove,  Mr. 
Spiller  lived  here,  he  built  "  The  Rainbow,"  which  was  the 
first  steamer  to  carry  passengers  on  the  Thames,  his  house 
stood  where  Wiffin's  factory  now  stands.  Miss  McKeller 
also  lived  in  this  road,  she  was  a  wealthy  lady  who 
bequeathed  half  a  million  of  money  to  charities.  "Walnut 
Tree  Lodge  "  was  another  mansion  in  the  road,  it  was  the 
home  of  West,  the  artist,  and  close  by  stood  another  well- 
known  house,  "  The  Cane,"  which  was  the  residence  of  Mr. 
Long,  of  the  Bank  of  England,  who  took  an  active  part  in 
obtaining  the  grant  of  land  for  Battersea  Park. 

Surrey  Lane  was  a  cool  retreat  in  the  summer,  over- 
arching trees  formed  a  green  canopy  of  shelter  from  the 
sun's  heat,  wide  stretching  verdure  reached  as  far  as  the 
eye  could  travel,  near  by  stood  the  old  riverside  house 
where  Lord  Mornington  composed  "Here  in  cool  Grot," 
and  not  far  away  stood  "  Era  House."  An  ancient  man- 
sion stood  in  Surrey  Lane  which  was  said  by  some  old 
chroniclers  to  have  been  the  residence  of  Queen  Elizabeth, 
but  not  much  is  known  about  its  history.  It  was  demol- 
ished in  i860.  Battersea  Square  was  the  village  proper, 
cut  off  from  the  world  by  field  and  waste  land.  Bridge 
Road  West  was  pretty  with  its  numerous  trees  and  neat 
villas,  it  was  then  quite  in  the  suburbs.  Church  Street 
was  the  abode  of  the  poor.  Ford's  Folly  made  no  pretence 
of  respectability,  Bridge  Road  was  only  half  built,  the  first 
police  station  was  built  there  in  1859.  Ethelburga  Street 
was  then  known  as  Marsh  Lane  and  had  only  a  few  houses 
in  it.  Latchmere  Road  was  called  The  Piggery,  while 
Sheepcote  Lane  was  Sheepgut  Lane.  This  part  of  Batter- 
sea was  nearly  all  market  gardens.  One  gardener  had 
forty  acres  of  asparagus  under  cultivation,  and  at  one  time 


20  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

there  were  three  hundred  acres  of  market  gardens  within 
a  mile  of  the  parish  church.  There  was  no  railway  com- 
munications, the  nearest  stations  being  Vauxhall  and 
Wandsworth. 

The  only  churches  in  Battersea  prior  to  Christ  Church 
were  St.  Mary's  and  St.  George's,  near  the  Fields.  The 
vicar  at  this  time  was  the  Rev.  Eden,  afterwards  bishop  of 
Sodor-and-Man.  On  Sunday  mornings  the  road  was  lined 
with  carriages  waiting  to  take  their  owners  home  after  the 
service.  The  organist  was  Dr.  Wagstaff,  the  composer,  he 
was  succeeded  by  Mr.  John  Nicholson,  who  was  blind.  He 
used  to  walk,  always  unattended,  to  the  South  London 
Blind  School  to  teach  the  blind. 

Turner,  the  artist,  when  he  lived  at  Chelsea,  was  a 
great  admirer  of  the  scenery  around  Battersea  and  the 
river.  Thornbury  says  that  on  the  day  he  died  he  re- 
quested his  landlady  to  wheel  his  chair  to  the  window  that 
he  might  see  the  river  sunset  he  loved  so  well,  and  the 
sails  of  the  boats  glinting  with  the  passing  sunset  below 
Battersea  Reach. 

Carlyle,  the  Chelsea  sage,  was  a  frequent  visitor  to 
Battersea  in  the  fifties,  he  used  to  ride  an  old  nag,  and 
envelop  his  shoulders  in  a  cloak  of  antique  fashion  ;  with 
bent  head  and  stooping  form,  as  if  in  deep  thought,  he 
used  to  enjoy  the  fresh  Surrey  air,  and  he  could  be  seen  on 
Lavender  Hill,  or  on  his  way  round  the  Common,  several 
times  a  week  when  the  weather  was  fine. 

About  1840  saw  the  close  of  the  old  coach  service, 
which  had  been  commenced  early  in  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, when  two-horsed  coaches  took  passengers  to  and 
from  London  daily,  these  coaches  went  from  "The  Raven," 
in  the  High  Street,  and  in  1826  there  was  an  increased 
service  of  omnibusses  from  other  parts  of  Battersea.  The 
first  railway  into  Battersea  was  the  Southampton  line, 
which  was  opened  in  1838,  the  station  was  at  Nine  Elms. 
The  Battersea  station  in  Falcon  Lane  was  not  built  until 
1845,  and  became  Clapham  Junction  station  on  the  opening 


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LATER    BATTERSEA.  21 

of  the  Richmond  line  in  1846.     The  line  to  Waterloo  was 
opened  in  1848. 

The  following  description  of  a  railway  journey  from 
Battersea  to  Wimbledon  appeared  in  1846:  "  Leaving  the 
Nine  Elms  station  you  have  an  excellent  view  of  Battersea 
Fields  to  the  right,  and  of  Battersea  Rise,  Clapham  Com- 
mon, and  Wandsworth  Rise  to  the  left,  but  the  first  glimpse 
of  unequivocal  scenery  you  lay  your  eye  on  is  Garrett  Mill, 
near  Wandsworth,  for  as  you  whisk  past,  you  cannot  avoid 
remarking  what  a  sweet  little  spot  it  is !  the  mill  half  hid- 
den among  trees,  the  mill  pond  tastefully  planted,  with 
embowering  walks  meandering  through  the  emerald  turf; 
a  little  verdant  isle  in  the  midst,  with  its  straw  roofed 
hermitage,  convince  you  that  taste  has  evidently  formed 
and  preserved  that  little  spot.  The  river  Wandle  is  classic 
too,  it  is  the  "  blue  transparent  Vandalir,"  as  the  poet 
called  it,  the  favourite  haunt  of  Izaak  Walton,  and  is  well 
known  for  its  peculiar  variety  of  trout,  which  have  marbled 
vSpots  like  a  tortoise." 

A  project  was  brought  forward  in  1879  for  a  new  bridge 
across  the  Thames,  to  replace  the  old  timber  one  which 
had  become  dangerous  to  traffic,  and  a  Bill  was  brought  in 
Parliament,  and  after  some  opposition  as  to  the  position 
the  bridge  should  occupy,  the  foundation  of  the  present 
one  was  laid  in  1885. 

Battersea  has  been  much  disparaged  in  the  past;  in  the 
early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  "  Go  to  Battersea  "  was 
a  by-word  much  used  by  Londoners  who  wished  to  show 
contempt  for  their  fellows,  as  at  a  later  date  "Go  to 
Putney,"  and  "  Go  to  Bath,"  were  used  in  the  same  term. 

Battersea,  like  many  other  boroughs  and  towns,  has 
it's  dark  side,  but  it  is  not  darker  than  the  seamy  side  of 
Westminster  and  other  places  where  wealth  abounds.  Still, 
Battersea  had  some  black  spots  in  the  early  fifties,  one 
writer  about  that  time  described  it  as  "the  sink-hole  of 
Surrey,"  strong  language,  yet  not  without  some  reason  for 
it.    There  were  gambling,  drinking,  and  other  iniquities  of 


22  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

the  Red  House.  Stewarts  Lane  had  so  many  bad  charac- 
ters in  it  that  it  became  known  as  "  Hell's  Corner,"  while 
the  drinking  carnivals  on  Battersea  Fields  every  Sunday 
were  beyond  description.  Another  black  spot  was  Kuropa 
Place,  which  was  known  as  the  home  of  the  forty  thieves, 
and  designated  "Little  Hell,"  and  there  were  other  places 
in  Battersea  about  this  time  which  were  little  better  than 
dens  of  infamy.  We  have  improved  much  during  the  half- 
century  which  has  passed  ;  the  schoolmaster  has  been 
abroad,  and  other  influences  have  been  at  work  for  the 
betterment  of  humanity. 

About  sixty  years  ago  Dr.  Watson  exhibited,  near 
Battersea,  a  process  by  which  he  applied  the  power  of  elec- 
tricity to  produce  light;  he  also  obtained  colour  by  the 
same  process,  which  is  thus  described  in  the  papers  of  that 
date:  "The  great  feature  of  the  invention  is,  that  the 
materials  consumed  in  the  production  of  electricity  are 
employed  for  a  profitable  purpose  independent  of  that  ot 
illumination.  Thus,  while  a  most  brilliant  light  is  pro- 
duced by  galvanic  action,  materials  are  introduced  into  the 
battery  by  which  pigments  of  the  finest  quality  are 
obtained,  and  these  are  so  valuable  that  they  equal,  if  they 
do  not  exceed,  the  cost  of  the  operation.  The  pigments  are, 
of  course,  first  obtained  in  a  liquid  state,  but  they  pass 
through  a  filtering  and  drying  process,  which  not  only  ren- 
ders them  available  for  ordinary  purposes,  but  creates 
varieties  of  tint  when  the  colour  is  the  same.  If  the 
result  of  the  inventor's  discovery  answers  his  expectations, 
this  double  employment  of  electricity  will  be  a  valuable 
addition  to  practical  science,  since  we  may  literally  have 
light  for  nothing,  the  illuminator  being  paid  with  his 
own  pigments." 

Some  time  after  this  Dr.  Watson  fixed  two  of  his 
electric  lamps  on  a  steamboat,  one  on  each  side  by  the 
paddle-box;  the  vessel  made  a  journey  from  Battersea  to 
Gravesend,  leaving  Battersea  about  8.30  p.m.,  several 
pressmen  were  on  board,  who  thus  describe  the  journey : 


LATER    BATTERSEA.  23 

"The  lamps  intensely  illuminated  both  banks  of  the  river, 
shedding  a  flood  of  light  on  the  objects  and  edifices  in  the 
way,  including  the  Chelsea  College,  both  Houses  of  Par- 
liament, St.  Paul's,  and  Greenwich  Hospital.  The  effect 
as  seen  from  the  several  bridges  is  said  to  have  been 
remarkably  striking  and  beautiful.  The  shipping  in  the 
port  below  London  Bridge  was  as  conspicuously  seen  as 
in  the  light  of  day,  a  most  important  fact  in  relation  to  the 
subject  of  safety  to  life  at  sea,  and  the  national  question  of 
a  perfect  system  of  lighthouses  on  the  British  coast."  The 
steamer  returned  to  Battersea  about  3  a.m. 

Klectricity  has  marched  a  long  way  on  the  road  of 
science  since  the  days  of  Dr.  Watson,  who  was  one  of  that 
hopeful  little  band  of  scientists  who  never  lost  faith  in  the 
great  future  which  lay  before  the  power  of  electricity. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE     COMMONS. 

THE  commons  of  Great  Britain  are  pasture  or  waste 
lands,  which  have  never  been  appropriated,  but  have 
always  been  used  in  common  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  district  in  which  the  commons  were  situated.  In 
Battersea,  Clapham  and  Wandsworth,  extensive  common 
rights  existed.  The  chief  use  of  the  commons  in  by-gone 
times  was  for  feeding  cattle  belonging  to  the  people 
of  the  district,  who  reserved  some  parts  of  the  commons 
for  meadow  land,  for  the  purpose  of  making  hay,  by  which 
the  cattle  were  fed  in  the  winter.  By  this  means  the 
people  were  enabled  to  feed  their  cattle  and  increase  their 
stock  at  little  expense. 

One-sixteenth  part  of  all  commons  were  claimed  by 
the  lord  of  the  manor,  or,  where  one  did  not  exist,  it  was 
claimed  by  the  Crown,  the  remainder  belonged  to  the 
people  of  the  parish  or  district  in  which  the  land  was 
situated.  At  one  time  ditches  formed  the  dividing  line 
between  one  parish  and  another.  Until  the  passing  of  the 
Metropolitan  Board  of  Works  Act,  the  fund  for  keeping 
the  commons  was  collected  in  the  parish  annually. 

There  was  also  public  land  known  as  common  fields. 
These  were  small  tracts  of  land,  many  of  which  were  under 
cultivation.  These  common  fields  also  belonged  to  the 
parish  for  the  common  good. 

One  of  these  common  fields  was  in  Battersea,  a  large 
tract  of  waste  land  situated  between  the  Battersea  Fields 
and  Pig  Hill,  leading  to  what  is  now  Lavender  Hill,  and 
was  known  as  the  I,atchmoor  Common.    Under  the  power 


THE    COMMONS.  25 

of  an  old  Parliamentary  Act  dating  back  to  William  IV., 
the  overseer  of  any  parish  had  the  power  to  enclose 
waste  or  common  land  lying  in  or  near  the  parish 
the  land  enclosed  not  to  exceed  fifty  acres ;  they  had  to 
cultivate  and  improve  such  waste  land  for  the  use  and 
benefit  of  their  parish,  and  also  had  the  power  to  let  such 
enclosed  land  in  allotments  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
parish  to  be  cultivated  on  their  own  account.  Taking 
advantage  of  this  Act,  the  churchwardens  and  overseers 
of  Battersea  enclosed  about  sixteen  acres  of  Latchmoor 
Common  and  let  it  out  in  allotments,  at  a  low  rental,  to 
the  residents  of  the  parish,  for  the  cultivation  of  vege- 
tables, etc.  When  Pig  Hill  became  Latchmere  Road  this 
land  was  known  as  the  Latchmere  allotments.  The  site 
is  now  covered  with  property  belonging  to  the  Battersea 
Corporation.  Battersea  Fields  were  common  land,  and  it 
required  an  Act  of  Parliament  to  form  them  into  a  park. 

About  1796  Acts  of  Parliament  were  passed  for  the 
purpose  of  enclosing  land  belonging  to  the  commons  and 
the  common  fields.  By  this  means  many  of  the  com- 
mons have  been  much  curtailed,  and  the  land  taken  from 
the  people.  During  the  last  century  large  portions  of 
Battersea,  Clapham  and  Wandsworth  Commons  have  been 
taken  in,  nearly  sixty  enclosures,  comprising  over  five 
hundred  acres  of  land,  have  been  taken  from  the  commons 
without  payment,  leaving  only  about  one  hundred  and 
ninety  acres,  which  were  saved  after  a  severe  fight,  and  a 
cost  of  nearly  ^3,000.  Over  two  hundred  acres  of  this 
common  land  has  been  taken  by  railway  companies.  The 
builder  has  also  taken  large  slices  whenever  he  had  a 
chance.  In  1760  the  men  of  Battersea  formed  a  Land 
Defence  Association.  The  members  went  about  breaking 
down  illegal  fences  and  trespass  notices,  defending  cases  in 
the  Courts,  and  in  other  ways  frustrating  the  land  thief. 
The  public  of  to-day  can  judge  how  much  of  their  land  has 
been  stolen,  when  only  fifty  years  ago  a  portion  of  com- 
mon land  existed  at  the  junction   of  Falcon  Road   with 


26  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

Lavender  Hill,  showing    that  the   commons  had  reached 
down  to  this  point  at  one  time. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  land  abutting  on  Trinity 
Road,  Windmill  Road,  and  Earlsfield  Road  was  common 
land,  and  all  around  the  common  can  be  traced  the  hand 
of  the  land-grabber. 

One  of  the  most  ancient  commons  was  Penge  Com- 
mon, which  dated  from  the  time  of  the  Saxons.  It  is 
mentioned  in  Domesday  Book  as  a  common  having  accom- 
modation for  the  feeding  of  fifty  hogs  belonging  to  the 
people  of  the  parish.  Part  of  this  common  was  in  exist- 
ence down  to  1827,  when  an  Act  was  passed  to  enclose  it, 
but  nearly  four  hundred  acres  had  been  taken  before  that 
time,  and  since  that  date  it  has  entirely  disappeared,  like 
much  more  of  the  public  land  in  various  parts  of  the 
country. 

Among  old  records  dating  from  17 16,  the  following 
notes  show  that  some  rivalry  existed  between  Battersea 
and  Clapham,  regarding  the  boundary  of  the  commons 
which  at  an  earlier  date  had  existed,  showing  the  portions 
which  belonged  to  each  parish. 

The  men  of  Battersea,  finding  that  their  portion  of  the 
common  was  being  stocked  with  cattle  belonging  to  the 
inhabitants  of  Clapham,  separated  their  land  from  that 
which  belonged  to  Clapham,  by  digging  a  deep  ditch 
and  throwing  up  earth  works.  They  also  put  gates  across 
the  road  and  footpath  to  prevent  Clapham  parish  common- 
ing  with  Battersea.  They  contended  that  the  people  of 
Clapham  could  not  claim  any  right  to  use  the  Battersea 
part  of  the  common,  and  that  the  boundary  was  an  ancient 
ditch  which  divided  the  two  commons,  they  also  held  that 
the  copy  holders  of  the  Manor  of  Battersea  had  a  right  to 
separate  the  two  commons. 

After  much  wrangling  and  many  unseemly  scenes, 
which  took  place  between  the  rival  parishes,  legal  opinion 
was  taken  on  the  whole  question,  and  as  far  as  can  be 
gathered  from  the  old  records,  the  opinion  was  that  the 


THE    COMMONS.  27 

inhabitants  of  Clapham  had  no  legal  right  to  allow  cattle 
to  graze  upon  the  Battersea  portion  of  the  common,  also 
that  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Battersea  had  the  power  to 
enclose  that  portion  of  the  common,  and  exclude  the 
inhabitants  of  Clapham,  and  not  allow  their  cattle  to  feed 
there ;  for  the  usage  had  always  been  that  the  people  of 
Clapham  had  driven  their  cattle  upon  their  own  common 
land,  and  the  cattle  must  have  strayed  upon  the  common 
of  Battersea  where  the  boundaries  were  effaced. 

When  this  opinion  had  been  given,  the  Battersea  men 
annexed  what  they  considered  their  portion  of  the  com- 
mon by  digging  a  ditch  from  Wix's  lane  to  some  distance 
beyond  the  Mount  pond.  This  was  no  sooner  done  than 
the  men  of  Clapham  commenced  filling  the  ditch  in  again, 
more  disturbances  took  place,  and  the  common  was  the 
scene  of  many  free  fights  and  other  disorderly  scenes, 
until  the  Lord  of  the  Manor  of  Battersea  (Viscount  St. 
John)  brought  an  action  for  trespass  against  Clapham, 
the  case  was  tried  at  Kingston  in  1718,  when  the  plantift 
was  non-suited. 

A  certain  portion  of  this  common  land,  as  shown  in 
old  deeds,  has  always  been  held  on  lease  to  Earl  Spencer; 
how  this  came  about  is  not  very  clear. 

The  land-grabber  has  ever  been  an  active  individual 
around  Battersea  as  in  other  parts  of  Great  Britain,  hence 
we  find  that  only  a  comparatively  small  area  of  our  com- 
mons now  remain. 


CHAPTER    V. 

BATTERSEA    FIELDS. 

WHEN  Battersea  was  a  remote  and  isolated  village 
at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
Battersea  Fields  were  a  large  stretch  of  marsh}'', 
common  land  fronting  the  river.  Rocque's  map  of  London, 
published  in  1745,  shows  the  extent  of  this  land  to  cover  a 
very  much  wider  area  than  it  did  in  1853,  when  it  was  con- 
verted into  a  park.  At  this  date  the  Fields  were  a  despised 
oasis,  flanked  with  a  few  ramshackle  huts,  inhabited  by  a 
class  of  people  who  made  day  hideous  and  night  dan- 
gerous, for  it  was  not  safe  for  decent  people  to  pass  "  the 
dismal  swamp  "  after  dark,  as  highwaymen  and  footpads 
infested  the  roads,  and  many  an  incident  that  is  best  hid 
in  the  shadows  of  the  past  occurred  on  the  lonely  road 
between  Battersea  Fields  and  Nine  Elms. 

At  a  later  date  a  kind  of  carnival  of  folly  was  held 
every  Sunday  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Fields.  From  all  parts 
of  London  came  the  residuum  of  its  population,  bent  upon 
pleasure  of  the  most  objectionable  kind,  and  sport  of  the 
lowest  order:  dog  fighting,  badger  baiting,  rabbit  coursing, 
etc.,  and  the  general  conduct  of  the  persons  who  frequented 
these  meetings  was  beyond  description ;  it  made  right 
thinking  people  shudder  with  horror,  for  gambling  and 
drinking  to  excess  held  the  sway.  Few  of  the  Battersea 
people  attended  these  Sunday  fairs,  the  crowds  were 
mostly  composed  of  the  scum  of  London. 

A  curious  sight  on  Sunday  mornings  was  the  number 
of  small  carts,  drawn  by  dogs,  coming  from  all  parts  of 
London  to  the  sports  in  Battersea  Fields,  some  of  them 


BATTERSEA    FIELDS.  29 

having  come  a  distance  of  twenty  miles.  These  dogs  were 
very  strong  and  large,  something  like  a  mastiff,  but  of  a 
cross  breed.  The  owners  used  to  give  them  bread  soaked 
in  beer  when  on  a  journey,  to  keep  them  going.  During 
the  week  the  dogs  were  employed  to  take  the  produce  of 
the  market  gardens  to  the  various  markets,  and  were  used 
for  doing  all  sorts  of  light  work,  but  some  of  the  owners  of 
dog-carts  used  the  animals  so  cruelly  that  an  Act  was 
passed  about  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century  making 
it  illegal  to  use  dogs  as  beasts  of  burden.  Those  carts 
were  the  origin  of  the  term  "  dog-cart." 

Near  Battersea  Fields  stood  the  Balloon  Gardens,  a 
place  of  general  entertainment,  connected  with  which  was 
a  ball  room  and  a  bowling  green,  it  was  much  frequented 
by  the  young  bloods  of  that  time.  In  the  early  fifties  an 
ox  was  roasted  on  Battersea  Fields  to  commemorate  the 
success  of  James  Searle,  a  celebrated  walker,  who  was  the 
first  man  to  walk  one  thousand  miles  in  one  thousand 
hours. 

Many  duels  were  fought  during  the  early  part  of  the 
nineteenth  century  on  Battersea  Fields,  but  the  most 
famous  was  the  duel  between  Lord  Winchelsea  and  the 
Duke  of  Wellington  in  1829.  The  cause  of  the  duel  arose 
in  the  following  manner :  the  Karl  of  Winchelsea  was 
a  bitter  opponent  of  the  Catholic  Emancipation  Bill, 
which  was  being  discussed  by  the  Lords,  his  language  was 
most  violent  and  he  declared  that  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
who  was  piloting  the  Bill  through  the  House,  carried  on 
an  insidious  design  for  the  infringement  of  our  liberties 
and  the  introduction  of  Popery  into  every  department  oi 
the  State.  The  Duke  promptly  denied  this,  and  called 
upon  him  to  withdraw  the  aspersion,  and  upon  Winchelsea 
declining,  the  Duke  challenged  him,  the  result  was 
that  a  duel  was  arranged  to  be  fought  on  Battersea 
Fields.  Lord  Falmouth  attended  Lord  Winchelsea  as  his 
second.  A  large  concourse  of  people  assembled  to  see  the 
"sport"  ;  before  the  duel  commenced  Lord  Falmouth  rode 


3o  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

up  to  the  Duke  and  handed  him  a  paper,  which  the  Duke 
read,  after  which  he  returned  it,  saying,  "  No,  no !  that 
won't  do,  it  is  not  a  full  apology."  Upon  this  reply  Lord 
Falmouth  returned  to  where  Lord  Winchelsea  stood,  giving 
him  the  Duke's  message.  As  he  took  up  his  position  Lord 
Winchelsea,  who  was  quite  unnerved,  was  heard  to  say  to 
his  second,  "This  is  quite  a  mistake."  The  Duke  fired 
first  without  injury,  Lord  Winchelsea  then  elevated  his 
pistol  and  fired  in  the  air,  he  did  this,  as  he  afterwards 
explained,  because  he  believed  himself  to  be  in  the  wrong. 
Sir  Henry  Hardinge,  the  Duke's  second,  gave  Lord  Win- 
chelsea a  severe  rebuke.  "And  now  sir,"  he  said,  "without 
making  any  insidious  reflections,  I  cannot  help  remarking 
that,  whether  wisely  or  unwisely  the  world  will  judge,  you 
have  been  the  cause  of  bringing  this  man  into  the  field 
where,  during  the  whole  course  of  a  long  military  career, 
he  never  was  before."  Lord  Falmouth  here  turned  to  his 
unhappy  principal  and  declared  he  always  thought,  and 
had  told  him  that  he  was  completely  in  the  wrong. 
When  Lord  Winchelsea  attempted  to  vindicate  himself, 
the  Duke  haughtily  replied  :  "  My  Lord  Falmouth,  I  have 
nothing  to  do  with  these  matters."  He  then  touched  his 
hat  with  two  fingers,  saying,  "  Good  morning,  my  Lord 
Winchelsea ;  good  morning,  my  Lord  Falmouth,"  and 
rode  away. 

In  1843  Mr.  Thomas  Cubitt  suggested  to  the  Parlia- 
mentary Commissioners  the  laying  out  of  the  Fields  as  a 
Royal  Park,  in  this  he  was  ably  supported  by  Mr.  Long, 
a  high  official  in  the  Bank  of  Kngland,  and  resident 
in  Battersea.  These  gentlemen  made  a  strong  protest 
against  the  rowdy  and  indecent  conduct  which  was 
carried  on,  and  advocated  a  plan  for  reclaiming  the  land 
on  the  foreshore,  which  was  to  be  added  to  the  projected 
park.  They  met  with  much  opposition  from  a  section  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Battersea,  but  as  other  public  spirited 
men  came  to  their  support,  the  plans  for  the  formation  of 
the  park  were  agreed  to,  and  an  Act  was  passed  through 


BATTERSEA    FIELDS.  31 

Parliament  in  1846,  giving  powers  for  making  a  Royal 
Park  by  the  purchase  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  acres  of 
land  in  the  Fields,  two  hundred  of  which  were  allotted  for 
the  formation  of  the  park.  Some  very  ancient  oak  trees 
grew  in  the  Fields,  and  can  now  be  seen  in  the  park,  these 
are  almost  the  only  specimens  of  old  trees  in  the  park, 
nearly  all  the  others  were  planted  as  saplings  when  the 
park  was  made.  The  park  took  nearly  eleven  years  to 
complete,  a  large  portion  of  the  land  being  bog,  which  had 
to  be  made  up  and  converted  into  solid  ground.  As  the 
Surrey  Commercial  Docks  were  being  excavated  at  the 
same  time  as  the  park  was  being  made,  the  material  was 
used  for  filling  in  the  marsh  land  on  the  Fields. 

The  park  was  opened  in  1853.  ,£1,500  was  paid  to  the 
Battersea  parish  for  "  Lammas "  rights  over  the  Fields. 
Captain  Marryat,  in  his  novel  "Jacob  Faithful,"  refers  to 
Battersea  Fields  as  they  were  in  his  day. 


CHAPTER    VI. 
BATTERSEA    WORTHIES. 

Owen   Ridley. 

A  NOTABLE  vicar  of  Battersea  was  Owen  Ridle}',  who 
was  minister  of  the  parish  in  1570.  He  was  one  of 
those  unfortunate  men  who  live  before  their  time, 
and  as  a  result  are  constantly  being  misunderstood.  He 
was  not  popular  with  his  parishioners,  but  much  of  this 
may  be  put  down  to  the  superstitions  of  the  times  in  which 
he  lived,  he  was  a  man  of  much  breadth  of  mind  and 
thought,  and  this  led  some  of  the  ignorant  and  narrow 
minded  to  impute  all  kinds  of  wrong  motives  to  whatever 
he  did. 

He  was  brought  to  trial  on  two  occasions,  once  he  was 
charged  with  witchcraft,  it  being  alleged  that  he  had  had 
converse  with  witches,  this  was  a  very  protracted  trial,  but 
resulted  in  Ridley  being  acquitted.  Like  his  great  name- 
sake he  seems  to  have  had  strong  faith  in  the  triumph  of 
truth. 

Henry    Elsynge. 

A  man  of  some  note  in  his  day  was  Henry  Elsynge, 
who  was  born  at  Battersea  in  1598,  and  was  educated  at 
Christ  Church,  Oxford.  He  afterwards  became  a  famous 
traveller,  visiting  many  foreign  countries,  which  was  a 
great  undertaking  in  those  days  of  slow  locomotion. 
He  was  also  a  man  of  much  literary  ability,  and  had  other 
accomplishments.  The  notorious  Archbishop  Laud  took  a 
great  interest  in  his  welfare,  and  through  his   influence 


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BA  TTERSEA     WOR  THIES.  33 

Elsynge  obtained  an  appointment  as  clerk  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  a  post  of  great  importance  at  that  time.  While 
he  remained  in  the  House  he  had  the  confidence  of  all 
parties,  as  he  discharged  his  duties  with  integrity  and 
ability,  for  which  he  received  commendation  from  many 
ministers  of  the  crown.  He  held  this  position  for  some 
years,  and  only  resigned  his  post  when  a  junto  of  the 
House  attempted  to  seize  the  reigns  of  government,  for  he 
considered  it  his  duty  to  resign  his  position,  rather  than  to 
be  concerned  in  such  proceedings,  which  he  was  of  opinion 
would  be  subversive  to  the  Constitution. 

After  his  retirement  from  the  House  of  Commons  he 
lived  at  Huntslow,  where  he  occupied  his  time  in  literary 
work.  He  wrote  many  books,  but  his  best  known  works 
were,  "The  ancient  method  and  manner  of  holding  Parlia- 
ments in  England,"  which  is  of  an  historical  nature,  and 
another  book,  a  small  volume  dealing  with  proceedings  in 
the  Parliaments  of  his  day.  Both  these  works  were  well 
received  in  the  book  world  and  had  a  large  sale.  Elsynge 
died  in  1654. 


Dr.    Thomas   Temple. 

This  old  Battersea  worthy  was  vicar  in  1634.  Dr. 
Thomas  Temple  was  the  brother  of  Sir  John  Temple,  the 
Irish  Master  of  the  Rolls.  He  was  incumbent  of  the 
Parish  of  Battersea  during  the  tempestuous  times  of  the 
Civil  War;  Cromwell  had  a  high  opinion  of  him,  and 
appointed  him  to  assist  the  Committee  which  he  had 
formed  for  the  purpose  of  displacing  ignorant  and  in- 
efficient schoolmasters  and  ministers.  He  did  his  work 
without  bias  or  prejudice,  and  so  pleased  Cromwell  that 
he  gave  him  other  appointments.  He  often  preached 
before  the  Iyong  Parliament,  and  many  of  those  sermons 
were  published. 

C 


34  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

Henry  St.   John. 

Lord   Viscount   Boungbroke. 

Battersea  cannot  boast  of  being  the  home  of  many  men 
who  have  impressed  their  name  upon  the  pages  of  history, 
but  one  name  stands  out  clear  and  distinct — Lord  Boling- 
broke — who  was  one  of  Battersea's  greatest  citizens.  He 
was  born  at  Bolingbroke  House,  the  seat  of  his  grand- 
father, Sir  Henry  St.  John,  in  the  year  1678.  The  St.  John 
family  took  the  title  of  Bolingbroke  from  the  name  of  a 
town  of  great  antiquity  in  Lincolnshire. 

The  St.  John  family  was  distinguished  for  its  attach- 
ment to  popular  rights,  and  several  of  the  line  died  in  the 
cause  of  England's  liberties.  History  says  very  little  about 
the  early  life  of  Bolingbroke,  the  first  we  hear  of  him  is 
that  he  was  placed  under  the  tuition  of  Daniel  Burgess, 
who  was  a  celebrated  divine.  He  afterwards  went  to  Eton, 
where  he  became  acquainted  with  Sir  Robert  Walpole,  who 
afterwards  was  his  bitter  enemy  and  remained  so  to  the 
end  of  his  life.  From  Eton  he  went  to  Christ  Church, 
Oxford,  where  he  threw  off  all  the  puritan  teaching  in 
which  he  had  been  trained.  When  his  college  days  were 
finished,  he  led  a  gay  and  profligate  life,  remarkable  even 
for  the  age  in  which  he  lived ;  his  father,  in  order  to 
reclaim  him,  persuaded  him  to  marry  the  daughter  of  Sir 
Henry  Winchescomb,  a  lady  of  high  character.  For  some 
time  after  his  marriage  his  mode  of  living  was  much 
improved,  but  he  was  soon  back  again  into  his  old  habits, 
his  wife  charged  him  with  the  most  shameless  infidelity, 
and  in  the  year  1700  they  parted. 

At  this  time  Bolingbroke  had  been  returned  as  Mem- 
ber of  Parliament  for  Wootten  Basset,  and,  through  the 
influence  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough,  joined  the  Tory 
party  in  1704,  much  to  the  distress  of  his  family,  who  were 
strong  supporters  of  the  Whig  party.     In  1705  he  became 


BATTERSEA     WORTHIES.  35 

Secretary  of  War,  which  office  he  held  until  1707,  when  he 
lost  his  seat,  and  was  out  of  Parliament  till  1709,  when  he 
was  elected  for  Berkshire.  Although  his  family  were  in 
favour  of  the  Whig  policy  he  still  supported  the  Tory 
party,  and  was  one  of  the  chief  upholders  of  the  Treaty  of 
Utrecht,  and  a  Bill  by  which  dissenters  were  forbidden  to 
instruct  their  children  in  religion.  Extremely  active  in 
the  House  of  Commons,  he  impressed  on  all  men,  by  his 
readiness  both  to  speak  and  act,  a  high  respect  for  his 
talent  and  enterprise.  Though  sprung  from  a  Whig  family, 
he  was  himself  a  decided  Tory,  and,  as  such,  was  closely 
leagued  with  Harley  in  all  political  measures.  So  intimate 
was  the  alliance  between  them  that  when,  in  1707,  Harley 
was  dismissed  from  office,  in  consequence  of  the  discovery 
of  his  intrigues,  St.  John  chose  to  follow  his  fortunes,  and 
gave  in  his  resignation  on  the  day  following.  He  was  not 
elected  to  the  next  Parliament,  but  employed  the  two  years 
of  his  retirement  in  hard  study,  and  he  subsequently 
declared  this  to  have  been  the  most  serviceable  part  of 
his  life. 

When  the  Protestant  succession  was  firmly  established, 
Addison  was  appointed  to  the  foreign  secretaryship,  which 
had  been  held  by  Bolingbroke,  who  had  to  deliver  up  all 
papers  belonging  to  his  office.  Soon  after  giving  up  this 
office  he  had  to  flee  from  the  country,  to  prevent  himself 
being  charged  with  high  treason.  His  old  schoolfellow, 
Walpole,  moved  in  the  House  of  Commons  that  a  Bill  of 
Attainder  be  brought  against  him,  which  was  agreed  to. 
Bolingbroke  had  now  joined  the  forces  which  raised  the 
rebellion  of  17 15,  but  with  no  success,  and  it  was  with  no 
little  pleasure  that  he  received  from  the  Earl  of  Stair,  the 
English  ambassador  at  Paris,  an  intimation  of  the  king's 
favourable  disposition  to  him,  and  he  now  turned  all  his 
thoughts  to  effecting  a  reconciliation  with  his  enemies,  the 
Whigs.  We  learn  from  Horace  Walpole's  letters  that  he 
made  professions  of  the  most  implicit  submission  and  sup- 
port to  the  Whig  government ;  and  as  an  earnest  of  his 


36  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

anxiety  to  serve  them,  published  in  17 17  his  celebrated 
letter  to  Sir  W.  Wyndham,  in  which  he  displayed,  with 
great  effect,  the  insignificance  and  folly  of  the  pretender's 
party.  Though  it  is  confessed  that  this  production  gave  a 
death-blow  to  the  Jacobite  cause,  it  does  not  appear  that 
it  effected  Bolingbroke's  real  object,  for  he  was  still  unable 
to  return  to  England.  During  the  early  part  of  his  exile 
his  first  wife  had  died,  and  he  married  the  widow  of  the 
Marquis  de  Villette,  and  niece  of  the  celebrated  Madam 
Maintenon,  a  woman  of  great  beauty  and  talent,  in  whose 
society,  aided  by  the  philosophical  spirit  which  circum- 
stances had  forced  upon  him,  and  by  the  glittering  gaieties 
of  the  French  capital,  he  passed  his  time  as  happily  as 
could  be  expected  for  a  spirit  burning  with  the  desire 
for  action,  and  yet  pent  up  in  an  inglorious  idleness.  In 
1723  he  obtained  from  England  a  pardon  as  to  his  per- 
sonal safety,  but  which  restored  him  neither  to  his  title, 
inheritance,  or  to  his  seat  in  Parliament.  In  consequence 
of  this  act  of  favour  he  returned  to  England.  Just  as  he 
was  about  to  embark  on  the  packet-boat  at  Calais,  he  met 
with  his  ancient  ally  Atterbury,  who,  after  weathering  the 
storm  which  had  burst  on  the  head  of  Bolingbroke,  was 
now  setting  out  on  a  banishment  for  new  offences,  at  the 
very  time  that  his  former  coadjutor  was  returning.  As 
soon  as  Bolingbroke  arrived  in  England,  he  used  all  his 
arts  and  energy  to  obtain  the  reversal  of  his  attainder,  not 
scrupling  to  humble  himself  to  degradation  before  his 
enemy  Walpole,  that  he  might  accomplish  his  object ;  and 
his  efforts  were  so  far  successful  that  in  two  years  after  his 
return  from  banishment  his  family  estate  was  restored  to 
him,  and  he  was  allowed  to  possess  any  other  estate  in  the 
kingdom  which  he  might  think  proper  to  purchase.  This 
remission  of  his  sentence  has  always  been  charged  upon 
Walpole  as  one  of  the  most  unwise  acts  of  his  administra- 
tion ;  but  Coke,  in  his  life  of  that  statesman,  shows  pretty 
clearly  that  it  was  a  measure  unwillingly  brought  forward 
by  Walpole,  in  obedience  to  the  express  commands  of  his 


BATTERSEA     WORTHIES.  37 

sovereign,  whose  ear  Bolingbroke  had  contrived  in  some 
way  to  gain. 

For  ten  years  Bolingbroke  remained  in  political  shade, 
during  which  time  he  wrote  many  of  his  best  works,  he 
also  wrote  some  bitter  letters  to  The  Craftsman,  attacking 
his  old  enemy  Walpole,  who  was  then  premier.  Finding 
that  his  influence  and  power  had  left  him,  he  wrote  to  his 
friend  Wyndham  as  follows : — "  I  am  a  proscribed  man 
surrounded  with  difficulties,  my  part  is  over,  and  he  who 
remains  upon  the  stage  when  his  part  is  finished  deserves 
to  be  hissed  off?'  Before  retiring  from  public  life  he  wrote 
his  great  book,  "  Dissertations  on  Parties,"  which  has  been 
pronounced  the  best  of  all  his  political  writings. 

He  again  went  to  France  in  1736,  where  he  devoted 
himself  to  study  and  writing  his  book  on  "The  Study  and 
Use  of  History,"  which  created  a  storm  of  abuse.  About 
this  time  he  became  acquainted  with  Voltaire,  whose  in- 
fluence had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  changing  Bolingbroke's 
views  on  the  Christian  faith.  After  remaining  a  few  years 
at  Fontainebleau,  he  returned  to  England  on  the  death  of 
his  father,  and  took  up  his  residence  at  the  family  seat  in 
Battersea,  where  he  wrote  his  letters  on  "  Patriotism,"  and 
other  works,  his  last  work  being  an  essay  on  "  The  State  of 
the  Nation  "  which  was  not  completed  when  he  died.  At 
this  time  Pope,  Chatham  and  Pitt  were  constant  visitors  to 
Bolingbroke  House. 

Early  in  1751  Bolingbroke  had  a  severe  illness,  from 
which  he  died  on  November  15th  in  the  same  year,  and 
was  buried  in  the  parish  church  of  St.  Mary,  in  a  tomb 
of  white  and  grey  marble  designed  by  Roubilliac,  who 
designed  the  famous  statue  of  Sir  Isaac  Newton,  which 
stands  in  Trinity  College,  Cambridge.  This  monument 
bears  the  following  inscription :  "  Here  lies  Henry  St.  John, 
in  the  reign  of  Queen  Anne,  Secretary  of  War,  Secretary 
of  State  and  Viscount  Bolingbroke ;  in  the  days  of  King 
George  I.,  and  King  George  II.  something  more  and  better. 
His  attachment  to  Queen  Anne  exposed  him  to  a  long  and 


38  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

severe  persecution  ;  he  bore  it  with  firmness  of  mind.  He 
passed  the  latter  part  of  his  life  at  home,  the  enemy  of  no 
national  party,  the  friend  of  no  faction  ;  distinguished 
under  the  cloud  of  proscription,  which  had  not  been 
entirely  taken  off,  by  zeal  to  maintain  the  liberty  and  to 
restore  the  ancient  prosperity  of  Great  Britain."  To  the 
end  he  maintained  his  infidelity,  his  last  orders  were 
that  no  clergymen  should  be  admitted  to  his  chamber. 
Among  the  unpublished  productions  of  his  pen  was  found 
manuscripts  of  one  of  his  best  essays  on  "  Human 
Knowledge." 

A  writer  in  the  last  century  thus  sums  up  the  character 
of  Bolingbroke : 

"  Bolingbroke's  abilities  were  exactly  of  that  stamp 
which  astonish  and  fascinate  those  who  come  into  personal 
contact  with  their  possessor, — more  brilliant  than  solid, — 
more  showy  than  substantial.  His  mind  was  not  a  pro- 
found one  ;  but  what  it  wanted  in  this  respect  was  atoned 
for  by  its  readiness  and  acuteness.  He  seemed  to  grasp 
everything  by  intuition,  and  no  sooner  had  he  made  him- 
self master  of  a  proposition  or  an  argument,  than  his 
astonishing  memory  enabled  him  to  bring  forth  vast  stores 
of  information  and  illustration  at  a  moment's  warning. 
Endowed  with  a  brilliant  imagination, — a  prodigious  flow 
of  words, — a  style  which  fascinates  the  hearer  by  the 
incomparable  beauty  of  the  language  and  the  bounding 
elasticity  of  the  sentences, — and  an  extraordinary  power 
of  presenting  his  conceptions  in  the  clearest  possible  light, 
his  contemporaries  looked  upon  him  as  one  of  those  rare 
beings  who  seemed  to  be  endowed  with  a  nature  superior 
to  that  of  common  mortality,  and  who  stoop  down  to  the 
world  only  to  evince  their  mastery  of  all  its  lore,  and  their 
superiority  to  its  inhabitants.  But,  dazzled  as  they  were 
by  the  vast  surface  of  the  stream,  they  forgot  to  enquire 
into  its  depth.  We,  in  modern  times,  who  know  nothing 
of  the  artificial  splendour  with  which  a  "  form  excelling 
human," — a  manner  that  seemed  given  to  sway  mankind, 


BATTERSEA     WORTHIES.  39 

— and  a  most  dazzling  style  of  conversation,  invested  the 
name  of  Boliugbroke,  are  perhaps  inclined,  by  the  exag- 
geration of  the  praise  once  lavished  on  him,  to  do  him 
but  scanty  justice.  Nevertheless,  it  must  strike  the  reader 
of  his  works,  that  he  nowhere  exhibits  a  power  of  carrying 
on  a  continuous  train  of  thought ;  that  he  never  fairly 
grapples  with  any  subject,  but  contents  himself  with  point- 
ing out  its  weaknesses  and  illustrating  its  minor  features ; 
that  no  lofty  thought,  or  original  reflection  escapes  from 
him  :  that  he  is  an  acute  observer  but  a  shallow  thinker, — 
a  clever  rhetorician,  but  an  illogical  reasoner.  His  politi- 
cal writings  are  indeed  occasionally  distinguished  by  a 
vigorous  and  well-conducted  style  of  argumentation  ;  but 
we  know  no  more  tame  and  impotent  specimens  of  deduc- 
tion than  his  "  Philosophical  Essays."  The  boasted  First 
Philosophy  is  founded  on  a  congeries  of  confuted  fallacies 
and  shallow  sophistries,  on  which  it  would  be  impossible 
to  build  any  edifice  more  substantial  than  a  limbo  oi 
vanity. 

The  unabashed  assurance  with  which  he  pronounces 
his  dictum  on  the  merits  of  his  predecessors  and  contemp- 
oraries,— the  tacit  assumption  which  he  makes  of  his  own 
superiority, — the  various  character  and  prodigious  extent 
of  his  erudition,  superficial  as  it  unquestionably  was, — the 
variety  and  happiness  of  his  illustrations, — the  brilliancy 
of  his  metaphors, — and  above  all  the  inimitable  graces  of 
his  style,  combining  with  the  form  of  an  essay  the  spirit 
fire  of  an  oration,  have  imposed  upon  the  vulgar  ;  aud 
but  those  who  can  look  beneath  the  surface  will  discover, 
without  much  difficulty,  that  the  inside  of  the  cup  and 
the  platter  is  scarcely  answerable  to  the  splendour  of 
the  external  show. 

Nothing  can  be  more  absurd  than  the  attempt  which 
has  been  made  to  represent  Bolingbroke  as  a  man  more 
sinned  against  than  sinning,  and  animated  at  heart  by  a 
sincere  desire  to  serve  his  country,  though  occasionally  the 
ardour  of  his  passions  drove  him  into  perilous  errors,     li 


40  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

there  be  one  feature  of  his  character  which  stands  out  more 
prominently  than  another,  it  is  an  utter  and  heartless  want 
of  principle.  From  the  commencement  of  his  career  down 
to  the  day  of  his  death,  personal  ambition,  or  the  spleen  of 
the  moment,  was  the  mainspring  of  his  actions.  Signal- 
izing his  entrance  upon  public  life  by  a  desertion  of  the 
principles  in  which  he  had  been  educated, — voluntarily 
becoming  the  most  active  persecutor  of  his  earliest  friends 
and  connections, — professing  to  forward  his  own  ambitious 
views,  devoted  attachment  to  a  religion  whose  ministers  he 
insulted,  and  whose  altars  he  despised, — intriguing  with  a 
favourite,  and  corresponding  with  an  exiled  tyrant  to  sup- 
plant his  colleague, — solemnly  protesting  his  adherence 
to  the  Hanoverian  succession,  at  the  very  time  he  was 
filling  his  projected  cabinet  with  zealous  Jacobites, — cring- 
ing to  the  minister  by  whom  he  had  been  impeached  and 
exiled, — assuring  that  minister  of  his  friendship  and  sup- 
port until  he  had  obtained  all  the  favours  that  could  be 
granted,  and  then,  with  shameless  ingratitude,  organizing 
against  him  the  most  deadly  opposition, — inveighing 
against  parties,  and  himself  the  ringleader  of  the  bitterest 
of  factions,  lauding  the  prerogative  to  flatter  a  sovereign, 
and  declaiming  for  a  liberty  bordering  upon  licentiousness, 
to  embarrass  a  ministry, — are  traits  in  the  character  of  this 
"  ingrate  and  cankered  Bolingbroke,"  which  it  would  be 
cant  and  not  candour,  weakness  and  not  wisdom,  to  forget 
or  to  forgive.  Nothing  could  be  more  ludicrously  incon- 
sistent than  his  professions  of  adherence  to  a  family  which 
had  been  driven  from  the  throne  for  its  attacks  on  popular 
rights,  contrasted  with  the  fiery  vehemence  of  his  tirades 
against  the  Whigs  for  attempting  to  enslave  the  nation. 
We  defy  any  one  to  point  out  writings  more  deeply  imbued 
with  Whig  principles,  or  more  opposed  to  the  political 
principles  of  Mr.  St.  John,  than  the  letters  in  The  Crafts- 
man, those  on  the  "  History  of  England,"  and  the  "  Dis- 
sertation on  Parties,"  by  My  L,ord  Bolingbroke.  Yet,  in 
spite  of  this  want  of  consistency,  Bolingbroke  never  fell 


BATTERSEA     WORTHIES.  41 

into  the  contempt  which  overtook  his  colleague  and  rival 
Harley,  and  which  seldom  fails  to  overtake  all  those  who 
embark  on  the  voyage  of  life  without  the  ballast  of 
honesty.  Perhaps  no  two  men  actuated  in  the  main  by 
similar  motives,  and  presenting  certain  general  points  of 
resemblance,  ever  differed  more  widely  than  Harley  and 
Bolingbroke.  Each  was  actuated  chiefly  by  a  love  of 
power, — each  was  ready  to  stoop  to  any  device  for  the  in- 
crease or  preservation  of  that  power, — each  acknowledged 
no  ties  of  gratitude,  and  no  laws  of  honour." 

Bolingbroke,  however,  left  his  mark  on  literature  and 
the  history  of  his  time.  He  was  the  companion  and  some- 
times the  friend  of  many  of  the  foremost  men  of  his  day. 
Lord  Chesterfield  said  that  until  he  had  read  Bolingbroke's 
works  he  did  not  know  the  extent  and  power  of  the 
English  language.  Pitt,  the  younger,  always  gave  great 
credit  to  the  speeches  and  writings  of  Bolingbroke.  Pope 
also  praised  his  writings  as  being  of  a  very  high  order  of 
merit.  There  were  about  him  some  elements  to  admire, 
his  indomitable  energy,  high  intellect,  and  invincible 
spirit  under  difficulties. 

Bolingbroke's  works  were  published  in  five  volumes 
by  Mallett  in  1755.  His  Letters  and  Correspondence  were 
published  by  G.  Parke  in  two  volumes  (1798),  and  his 
"  Life  and  Works  "  by  Goldsmith  in  eight  volumes  (1809). 


Bishop    Patrick. 

This  learned  bishop  was  vicar  of  Battersea  in  1657,  ne 
was  also  domestic  chaplain  to  Sir  Walter  St.  John.  He 
published  several  pamphlets  dealing  with  religious  sub- 
jects, all  of  which  he  dedicated  to  his  patron  Sir  Walter 
St.  John.  He  was  a  firm  Protestant  with  strong  con- 
victions. He  once  entered  into  a  controversy  with  two 
Roman  Catholic  priests  before  King  James  II.,  who  at  the 
conclusion  said,  "I  never  heard  so  good  a  cause  so  ill 


42  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

defended,  or  a  bad  one  so  well."  Patrick  was  afterwards 
appointed  Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  later  of  Ely.  When 
he  died  in  1707  he  left  a  collection  of  printed  works, 
mostly  on  religious  subjects,  devotional  and  controversial, 
to  William  Lowth,  father  of  the  then  Bishop  of  London. 


Dr.    Thomas    Church. 

This  divine  became  notorious  in  his  day  for  his  con- 
troversial attacks  upon  the  Revs.  John  Wesley  and  Whit- 
field, the  great  dissenters,  and  his  defence  of  the  early  ages 
of  Christianity.  Iyord  Bolingbroke,  at  one  time  was  his 
patron,  but  in  1755  Doctor  Church  made  some  scathing 
comments  on  Bolingbroke's  life  and  works  in  a  book  which 
he  published  anonymously,  entitled,  "An  Analysis  of  the 
Works  of  Lord  Bolingbroke."  This  work  was  very  severe 
and  created  a  deal  of  comment.  He  died  vicar  of  Batter- 
sea  in  1756,  at  the  age  of  forty-nine. 


William   Wilberforce. 

Although  Battersea  cannot  claim  Wilberforce  as  a 
native,  it  can  rightfully  claim  him  as  a  citizen,  for  it  was 
in  Battersea  the  best  part  of  his  life  was  spent,  and  much 
of  his  Parliamentary  work  was  planned  in  his  house  in 
Broomwood  Road,  and  that  of  Mr.  Henry  Thornton,  on 
Battersea  Rise  (afterwards  the  residence  of  Mr.  Percy 
Thornton,  M.P.),  where  he  met  some  of  the  foremost  poli- 
ticians of  his  time.  In  his  house  "  Broomfield,"  he  often 
conferred  with  Clarkson,  Burton,  Macaulay,  Granville 
Sharp,  and  Ramsey  ;  when  they  were  carrying  on  their 
great  work  against  slavery,  their  plans  and  projects  were 
nearly  all  arranged  in  this  historic  house. 

In  many  of  his  letters  written  to  friends  in  Yorkshire, 
he  refers  to  Battersea  and  the  beautiful  county  of  Surrey, 


WILLIAM      WILRKRFORCE,     1780. 


BATTERSEA     WORTHIES.  43 

for  which  he  has  nothing  but  praise  ;    frequent  passages  in 
his  diary  also  refer  to  Battersea. 

Wilberforce  was  born  at  Hull,  August  24th,  1759,  and 
at  nine  years  of  age  was  sent  to  live  with  an  uncle  at 
Wimbledon.  His  first  school  was  at  Putney  where,  he 
once  said,  "  they  taught  everything,  but  I  learnt  nothing." 
He  remained  at  this  school  for  two  years,  after  which  he 
was  sent  to  the  Hull  Grammar  School,  and  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  was  transferred  to  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
to  complete  his  education.  While  at  college  he  met  Pitt, 
with  whom  he  formed  a  life-long  friendship.  When  his 
college  days  were  over  he  inherited  a  large  fortune  and 
entered  public  life ;  he  sought  a  seat  in  Parliament  in  his 
native  city,  and  was  returned  as  member  for  Hull  in  1780. 
It  was  at  one  of  his  political  meetings  during  this  election 
that  his  sister  made  a  clever  don  mot.  As  she  came  upon 
the  platform  the  audience  with  loud  cheers  shouted,  "  Miss 
Wilberforce  for  ever,"  when  the  cheers  had  subsided  she 
came  forward  and  thanked  them  for  their  kind  reception, 
then,  with  a  smile,  said,  "  But  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  do 
not  wish  to  be  Miss  Wilberforce  for  ever." 

His  maiden  speech  in  the  House  made  a  good  impres- 
sion, and  L,ord  North  complimented  him,  but  his  work  in 
Parliament  was  not  of  much  note  until  he  took  up  the 
slave  question,  and  he  was  induced  to  do  this  by  reading  a 
book  written  by  the  Rev.  James  Ramsey  on  the  "  Slave 
Trade."  Ramsey  was  the  pioneer  and  first  mover  in  the 
agitation  against  the  traffic  in  human  beings ;  Clarksou, 
Sharpe,  and  others  took  up  the  work,  but  it  was  Ramsey 
who  bore  the  first  brunt  of  the  battle.  Years  after  the 
victory  was  won,  Wilberforce  paid  a  high  tribute  to  his 
memory,  in  which  he  said  that  Ramsey  for  years  had 
fought  in  the  great  cause  almost  alone,  until  he  sank  under 
the  burden  of  the  strife,  killed  by  the  virulence  of  those 
who  upheld  the  slave-owners.  Again  in  1789,  Wilberforce, 
writing  to  a  friend,  says,  "  Poor  Ramsey  is  dead,  his 
wounded  spirit  has  bowed  before  the  storm  and  the  malig- 


44  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

nant  calumnies  heaped  upon  him."  Few  historians  men- 
tion James  Ramsey  as  the  pioneer  of  slave  emancipation 
for  he  fell  too  early  in  the  battle,  but  Wilberforce  always 
remembered  him  as  the  great  influence  which  decided  him 
to  take  up  the  cause  of  the  slaves. 

In  November,  1792,  writing  to  a  friend,  Wilberforce 
says,  "  Henry  Thornton  has  bought  L,ubbock  House  at 
Battersea  Rise,  and  I  am  to  share  it  with  him,  and  pay  so 
much  per  annum.  Last  night,  with  Grant  and  Thornton, 
I  went  over  the  grounds,  they  are  in  lovely  condition, 
and  the  house  is  well  situated,  surrounded  by  Clapham 
Common." 

Wilberforce  now  took  up  his  work  for  the  suppression 
of  the  slave-trade  in  the  belief  that  God  had  called  him  to 
the  strife,  and  armed  him  to  fight  for  the  liberty  of  the 
oppressed.  He  made  every  other  interest  subservient  to 
the  abolition  cause,  working  almost  night  and  day  with 
Clarkson  and  his  committee,  of  which  Granville  Sharp  was 
chairman.  Two  days  before  the  debate  in  the  House,  he 
met  Fox,  Pitt,  and  Grey  at  his  house  on  Battersea  Rise, 
where  they  debated  the  Slave  Bill.  When  the  question 
was  before  the  House,  Wilberforce  spoke  for  three  hours 
with  immense  effect.  Burke  said  "  that  the  nation  and  the 
whole  of  Europe  were  under  obligation  to  the  hon.  member 
for  one  of  the  finest  speeches  ever  heard  in  that  House, 
which  was  not  surpassed  by  the  Grecian  eloquence."  But 
the  time  for  emancipation  had  not  yet  come,  the  public 
conscience  had  not  been  awakened.  Those  in  the  slave- 
trade  who  were  amassing  their  gold  in  the  unholy  traffic 
were  not  going  to  give  it  up  without  a  severe  struggle. 
The  voices  of  Buxton,  Sharpe,  Clarkson,  Stephens,  and 
Macaulay  were  sending  their  clarion  notes  throughout  the 
land  on  behalf  of  the  helpless  black. 

In  the  first  session  of  the  1796  Parliament,  Wilberforce 
again  brought  up  his  Slave  Bill,  and  was  again  defeated. 
He  had  now  given  up  his  fortune  to  the  cause,  the  large 
expenditure  of  money  which  was  required  to  carry  on  the 


BATTERSEA     WORTHIES.  45 

work  caused  a  great  strain  upon  his  purse,  and  his  heart 
often  sickened  at  seeing  his  energy  and  money  sacrificed 
through  the  apathy  of  luke-warm  friends,  and  the  intrigues 
of  interested  enemies  ;  yet  he  was  cheered  in  his  work  by 
many  true  friends  who  recognised  the  great  battle  he  was 
fighting  in  the  cause  of  humanity.  John  Wesley,  during 
his  last  illness,  wrote  to  Wilberforce  a  letter  of  great 
encouragement,  "God  be  with  you,"  he  said,  "may  you 
succeed  in  your  glorious  work  against  this  scandal  of 
religion,  of  Kngland,  and  of  human  nature.  Unless  God 
has  raised  you  up  for  this  work  you  will  be  worn  out  by 
the  opposition  of  men  and  devils.  Go  on  in  the  name  of 
God  is  the  prayer  of  your  servant,  John  Wesley."  This 
was  the  last  letter  Wesley  wrote. 

Wilberforce  spent  nearly  all  of  his  leisure  time  at 
Battersea  Rise,  where  he  was  visited  by  the  foremost  men 
engaged  in  the  anti-slave  crusade,  his  constant  friend  was 
Henry  Thornton,  who  did  much  to  encourage  him  in  his 
work.  Here  he  met  Southey  the  poet,  and  Dr.  Chalmers, 
whom  he  found  delightful  company.  In  ]  793  he  wrote  his 
best  known  work,  "  Practical  Christianity,"  which  has 
gone  through  many  editions. 

On  May  30th,  1804,  Wilberforce  got  the  first  reading 
of  his  Bill  passed  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  four  votes 
to  forty-nine.  This  was  a  great  victory,  and  from  that  day 
the  issue  of  the  question  was  clear,  for  three  years  later,  in 
1807,  the  first  Bill  for  the  Abolition  of  the  Slave  Trade 
passed  the  House,  but  this  was  only  one  step  towards  total 
abolition,  which  did  not  come  until  many  years  after. 

Wilberforce  had  now  left  Battersea  Rise  and  taken 
"  Broomfield,"  in  what  is  now  Broomwood  Road.  The 
Rev.  Hughes,  an  eminent  Battersea  divine,  often  visited 
here.  On  May  15th,  1830,  Wilberforce,  now  feeble  and  old, 
took  the  chair  at  a  great  Anti-Slave  Meeting  held  in  the 
old  Freemason's  Hall ;  this  was  his  last  public  meeting. 
Shortly  after  this  he  left  Battersea  to  live  at  Kensington 
Gore.     Writing  to  a  friend  at  the  time  he  says  :    "  It  is  not 


46  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

without  great  regret  I  give  up  my  house  at  Battersea,  a 
place  endeared  to  me  by  much  happiness,  both  at  Battersea 
Rise  and  '  Broomfield.'  The  memory  of  the  pleasant  hours 
I  have  spent  there  will  never  fade." 

In  July,  1833,  when  his  life  was  drawing  to  a  close, 
news  was  brought  to  him  that  Parliament  had  passed 
another  Bill  against  slavery.  This  Bill  imposed  a  payment 
of  twenty  millions  sterling  in  compensation  to  the  slave- 
owners. "Thank  God,"  he  exclaimed,  "that  I  have  lived 
to  see  Kngland  willing  to  make  such  a  sacrifice  for  the 
abolition  of  the  traffic  in  human  beings."  A  few  days 
after  receiving  this  information,  July  29th,  he  passed  away 
at  the  age  of  seventy-four.  He  had  wished  to  be  buried  at 
Stoke  Newington,  where  his  daughter  and  a  sister  are 
buried,  but  the  Members  of  both  Houses  of  Parliament  ex- 
pressed a  strong  desire  that  he  should  lie  in  Westminster 
Abbey,  which  the  family  agreed  to.  The  public  funeral 
took  place  on  August  5th,  when  all  business  was  suspended. 
The  Speaker  of  the  Commons,  the  L,ord  Chancellor,  and  a 
prince  of  the  Royal  House  were  pall-bearers.  Inside  the 
Abbey  were  assembled  those  most  renowned  for  talent  and 
greatness.  Wilberforce  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  north 
transept  near  his  life-long  friends,  Fox,  Canning  and  Pitt. 

The  press  and  the  platform  were  loud  in  their  praise 
of  the  life  and  work  of  this  man,  who  had  devoted  his  life 
to  the  welfare  of  his  fellows.  The  edition  of  The  Age 
said  :  "  The  nations  are  indebted  to  Wilberforce  for  a  phil- 
anthropy which  has  humanized  mankind,  and  illustrious 
deeds  and  words  which  show  him  as  the  best  benefactor 
of  his  time." 

His  townsmen  of  Hull  raised  a  Doric  column  to  his 
memory  ;  this  memorial  is  one  hundred  and  two  feet  high, 
surmounted  with  a  statue  of  the  great  philanthropist  and 
statesman.  The  house  where  he  was  born  in  the  High 
Street  has  been  bought  by  the  Hull  Corporation,  and  is 
now  open  as  a  museum  of  Wilberforce  relics. 

Wilberforce  was  not  one  of  the  most  brilliant  men  of 


BATTERSEA     WORTHIES.  47 

his  time.  His  education,  training,  and  wealth  were  the 
dominating  factors  by  which  he  reached  his  position  in  the 
history  of  his  time ;  he  concentrated  his  life-work  to  the 
achievement  of  one  object,  which  he  attained.  His  char- 
acter was  cast  in  a  religious  mould,  he  had  strong  faith  in 
the  existence  of  a  supreme  power,  deep  rooted,  which 
governed  the  whole  of  his  life. 


John    Gardner,    m.a. 

In  1778  John  Gardner  was  installed  vicar  of  Battersea. 
He  was  a  man  of  fine  artistic  taste,  and  a  constant 
exhibitor  at  the  Royal  Academy,  where  many  of  his 
pictures  gained  high  commendation.  In  1778  he  pub- 
lished a  portfolio  entitled,  "  Views  on  the  Rhine,"  but  some 
of  his  best  work  was  put  into  the  views  which  he  con- 
tributed to  Williams'  "  History  of  Monmouthshire " ; 
very  little  of  his  work  has  come  down  to  the  present  time. 
He  died  in  1808  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine  and  is  buried 
in  Battersea  Parish  Church. 


Thomas    Asti,b,    f.s.a. 

Thomas  Astle,  the  antiquary,  resided  in  Battersea  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  is  buried  in  St. 
Mary's  Churchyard.  He  was  the  keeper  of  His  Majesty's 
records  in  the  Tower  of  London,  also  a  member  of  the 
Antiquarian  Society,  and  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  British 
Museum.  He  was  the  author  of  many  articles  on  Archseo- 
logia,  and  wrote  a  book  on  the  origin  of  writing.  He 
had  one  of  the  finest  collections  of  manuscripts  then 
known,  which  comprised  several  other  collections  ;  on 
his  death  he  left  them  in  charge  of  the  Marquis  of 
Buckingham. 


48  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 


Theodore    Janssan. 

Another  Battersea  worthy,  although  not  a  native,  was 
Theodore  Janssan,  the  founder  of  the  famous  enamel 
works.  His  father  was  one  of  the  Huguenots  who  came 
to  England  when  the  French  Protestants  were  persecuted 
beyond  endurance.  He  was  wealthy  and  invested  large 
sums  of  money  in  various  companies.  He  was  one  of  the 
directors  of  what  was  known  as  the  "  South  Sea  Bubble," 
by  which  he  lost  a  large  amount  of  money.  In  1730  he 
invested  money  in  property  at  Battersea,  he  died  at 
Wimbledon  in  1748  at  the  age  of  ninety,  leaving  a  family 
of  three  daughters  and  five  sons.  Theodore,  his  third  son, 
was  in  business  as  a  bookseller  at  St.  Paul's  Churchyard, 
he  afterwards  became  an  alderman  of  the  City,  and  was 
elected  sheriff  in  1749,  and  Lord  Mayor  in  1754. 

At  this  time  Lord  Stanley  owned  some  property  in 
Battersea,  and  was  on  friendly  terms  with  Theodore 
Janssan,  who  had  a  few  years  previously  commenced  the 
enamel  works  at  York  House,  in  which  Lord  Stanley 
became  interested.  Robert  Hancock,  the  famous  line 
engraver,  had  been  appointed  in  charge  of  the  works. 
Janssan  succeeded  his  brother,  Sir  Henry,  in  1767,  and 
became  Sir  Stephen  Theodore  Janssan.  An  article  in  The 
Gentleman' s  Magazine,  published  in  1768,  speaks  in  high 
terms  of  Sir  Stephen,  for  whom  there  was  much  respect  on 
account  of  his  many  virtues,  both  public  and  private. 
Janssan  fell  upon  bad  times  and  became  bankrupt  in  1756, 
his  furniture  and  other  effects  were  advertised  for  sale  in 
The  Public  Advertiser,  in  the  list  of  articles  advertised 
were  the  following:  "A  quantity  of  beautiful  enamels, 
coloured  and  uncoloured,  of  the  new  manufactory,  York 
House,  Battersea,  and  never  yet  exhibited  to  public  view." 
The  advertisement  described  the  enamels  in  detail,  con- 
sisting of  candlesticks,  patch  boxes,  snuff  boxes,  watch 
cases,  toothpick  cases,  bottle  tickets,  and  many  others  in 


BATTERSEA     WORTHIES.  49 

a  variety  of  patterns,  round,  square  and  oval,  all  fit  for 
the  cabinets,  mounted  on  metal  in  fine  gilt.  A  sale  took 
place  on  Janssan's  premises  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard, 
which  did  not  realize  the  amount  expected,  so  another 
sale  took  place  in  June,  1756,  when  more  Battersea  enamels 
were  sold,  some  of  which  were  described  as  consisting 
of  fine  drawn  pictures  on  watch  cases,  boxes,  and  oval 
plaques,  also  black  enamels,  and  a  quantity  of  stove  plates 
and  Dutch  tiles.  This  was  the  last  of  the  enamel  works, 
for  the  advertisement  goes  on  to  announce  that  "  all  the 
tools  and  utensils  belonging  to  the  factory  will  be  sold, 
also  a  quantity  of  frames  and  unfinished  enamels."  The 
factory  was  also  offered  for  sale  but  did  not  find  a  pur- 
chaser, and  a  few  years  later  was  finally  closed.  This  was 
the  end  of  Janssans'  connection  with  Battersea. 

Rev.    Joseph    Hughes,   m.a. 

The  name  of  Joseph  Hughes  will  ever  be  connected 
with  Battersea  as  one  of  its  foremost  citizens ;  he  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Religious  Tract  Society  and  the 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  in  conjunction  with  Wilberforce, 
John,  L,ord  Teignmouth  and  Henry  Thornton.  He  was 
also  one  of  the  pioneers  of  education. 

He  came  to  Battersea  about  1797,  and  was  the  first 
pastor  at  the  York  Road  Baptist  Chapel ;  he  found  the 
system  of  educating  the  poorer  class  in  a  most  unsatisfac- 
tory condition,  many  of  the  children  being  allowed  to  grow 
up  in  perfect  ignorance  of  the  rudiments  of  learning. 
Being  a  strong  advocate  of  secular  education  he  set  to 
work  to  remedy  this,  got  others  interested  in  the  work, 
and  raised  funds  sufficient  to  make  a  commencement. 
Trustees  were  appointed  to  manage  the  funds,  a  large 
house  in  the  York  Road  was  then  in  the  market,  the 
trustees  secured  this,  and  after  alterations,  it  was  opened 
for  twenty  poor  boys.  The  house  had  been  known  as 
Grove  House,  and  the  school  was  known  by  the  same  name. 

D 


50  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

This  house  soon  became  too  small  in  accommodation,  and 
another  house  was  taken,  which  met  the  requirements  for 
some  years,  when  the  trustees  decided  to  build  a  school, 
and  what  was  later  known  as  the  Old  Grove  School  in  the 
York  Road  was  built,  this  was  pulled  down  in  191 1  and  a 
new  school  erected  on  the  site.  When  the  old  school  was 
built,  open  fields,  orchards  and  gardens,  extended  down 
beyond  St.  John's  College,  and  about  the  school  were  a 
few  old  fashioned  wooden  cottages  with  red  tiled  roofs, 
the  remnants  of  Battersea  village.  The  school  was  for 
boys  only,  so  when  it  had  gained  a  firm  footing  in  the  good 
work  of  education,  Mr.  Hughes  turned  his  attention  to 
making  the  same  provision  for  girls,  which,  after  many 
difficulties  had  been  overcome,  he  succeeded  in  doing, 
and  a  school  was  erected  in  Plough  Lane  (now  Plough 
Road). 

At  this  time  Plough  Lane  was  very  rural,  with  hedges 
and  meadow  land  stretching  as  far  as  Wandsworth  Com- 
mon, with  a  few  houses  dotted  here  and  there,  and  some 
Almshouses  for  eight  poor  widows,  which  were  supported 
by  Mrs.  H.  Tritton.  At  the  top  of  the  lane  were  two 
mansions  facing  St.  John's  Hill,  one  of  them  stood  where 
the  London  County  Council  Board  School  is  built,  and 
was  the  house  of  Mr.  Joseph  Tritton,  who  gave  the  site 
for  the  girls'  school,  he  was  a  great  help  to  Mr.  Hughes 
in  his  education  work.  Tritton  Street  is  named  after  him. 
Part  of  the  other  mansion  still  remains  and  is  now  the 
Battersea  Grammar  School.  The  Rev.  May-Soule  was 
another  and  later  worker  for  the  education  of  the  poor, 
he  is  also  kept  in  memory  by  the  naming  of  a  road,  but 
the  best  memorial  to  these  past  worthies  is  the  good  work 
they  did,  and  its  effect  upon  those  who  came  after  them  to 
carry  on  the  work.  The  Plough  Lane  Girls'  School  was 
pulled  down  in  1905  when  the  Borough  Council  built  the 
Plough  Road  Institute  on  the  site. 

Mr.  Hughes  died  in  1833,  and  is  buried  in  Bunhill 
Fields. 


BATTERS  E  A     WORTHIES.  51 


John    Cullum. 

John  Cullum  was  an  artist  of  some  local  reputation. 
He  was  born  in  Battersea  in  1801 ;  he  was  an  earnest  worker 
for  the  uplifting  of  public  morals,  and  the  general  good  of 
the  people,  and  was  the  first  person  to  introduce  the 
teetotal  pledge  into  Battersea.  But  he  is  most  interesting 
as  having  kept  a  record  of  events  regarding  Battersea, 
before  and  during  his  time.  The  following  extracts  are  of 
interest : 

"  The  Rev.  John  Wesley  preached  in  Battersea,  Nov- 
ember 4th,  1766,  and  on  several  other  occasions.  The  first 
Wesleyan  chapel  was  built  in  1846  in  the  Bridge  Road 
West ;  in  connection  with  this  chapel  was  a  Stranger's 
Friend  Society,  doing  good  work  amongst  "  outcasts." 
The  Priory,  in  Battersea  Square,  was  built  for  religious 
instruction.  Prior  was  the  ecclesiastical  title  formerly 
given  to  the  chief  of  a  small  monastry  which  was  desig- 
nated a  '  priory,'  and  was  under  the  management  of  various 
officers.  Many  of  these  priories  belonged  to  foreign  mon- 
asteries of  several  religious  orders.  During  the  years  from 
1400  to  1520  several  of  these  priories  were  dissolved  and 
the  revenues  taken  over  by  different  colleges  in  Oxford 
and  Cambridge.  Henry  VIII.  closed  many  of  these  houses 
and  some  of  the  revenue  went  to  found  new  bishoprics  of 
which  Westminster  was  one."    John  Cullum  died  in  1852. 


CHAPTER    VII. 
BATTERSEA    ENAMELS. 

IN  1750  an  industry  was  commenced  in  Battersea  by 
Stephen  Theodore  Janssan,  the  son  of  a  French 
refugee,  which  was  destined  to  become  famous  in  the 
art  world.  The  product  of  this  industry  was  enamel  work 
upon  a  copper  basis,  in  various  designs  and  shapes,  which 
were  used  for  many  purposes,  useful  and  ornamental. 
These  enamels  have  attained  a  universal  reputation,  and 
are  now  sought  after  by  all  experts  in  enamel  work,  they 
are  given  the  first  place  in  the  museums  of  Europe  in 
their  class  of  art  work,  and  such  is  their  reputation  that 
no  collection  is  complete  without  them,  as  among  all 
old  enamels  they  stand  alone  in  beauty  of  colour,  clear 
decorations  and  exquisite  workmanship.  No  other  enamels 
have  been  fired  so  perfectly,  or  finely,  as  the  "  Battersea." 
Not  even  the  beautiful  work  of  the  Geneva  enamels, 
or  the  dainty  work  of  L,imoges,  can  compare  with  the 
work  of  Robert  Hancock  and  his  assistants,  done  at 
York  House.  Many  and  varied  were  those  enamels 
in  their  make  and  use,  they  chiefly  consisted  of  oval 
medallions,  work  boxes,  needle  boxes.  Exquisite  etui 
cases,  fitted  with  scissors,  bodkin  and  thimble.  Tiny 
scent  cases,  with  small  cut  bottle  enclosed,  coat  and 
sleeve  buttons,  door  and  chest  handles,  card  trays,  knife 
handles,  candle  sticks,  snuff  boxes,  salt  cellars,  patch 
boxes,  ink  stands,  portraits  of  celebrities,  wine  bottle 
labels,  jewel  caskets,  landscape  views,  scent  bottles,  writing 
cases,  tea  caddies,  glove  boxes,  enamel  boxes  decorated 
with  heads  of  women,  negroes,  dogs,  boars,  doves,  gold- 


O 


►4 

W 

S 

< 

x 


BATTERSEA    ENAMELS.  53 

finches,  bullfinches,  the  fruit  of  lemons,  and  peaches, 
red  moss  roses,  and  full  blown  pinks,  portrait  plaques, 
flower  plaques,  and  plaques  painted  with  all  kinds  of 
subjects.  Most  of  these  articles  were  worked  in  colours 
of  purple,  grassy  green,  rose,  green,  grey,  turquoise  or 
orange,  the  candle  sticks  in  white  or  pink  dotted  with 
small  flowers. 

Janssan  engaged  French  artists  to  paint  the  dainty 
little  love  scenes,  and  the  exquisite  landscapes  which  orna- 
mented the  beautifully  finished  work  boxes.  During  the 
first  period  of  the  manufacture,  the  decoration  was  done 
by  hand,  these  are  real  works  of  art.  A  French  engraver 
named  Revenet  evolved  the  idea  of  transfer  printing,  then 
an  unknown  art  in  England,  and  he  produced  some  of  the 
most  interesting  products  of  the  Battersea  factory,  such 
as  the  well-known  portrait  enamels,  which  were  transfer 
printed  entirely.  King  George  II.,  George  III.,  Queen 
Charlotte,  Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  the  Duke  of  Cum- 
berland, Peter  the  Great,  Frederick,  King  of  Prussia,  the 
Young  Pretender,  the  beautiful  Miss  Gunnings,  Pitt,  and 
Horace  Walpole  are  among  the  notable  portraits.  Revenet 
was  noted  for  the  refinement  of  his  work  as  a  copper  plate 
engraver,  he  also  worked  in  the  Chelsea  pottery,  where 
Janssan  had  some  interest.     Revenet  died  in  1774. 

Robert  Hancock  was  the  chief  in  charge  of  the  works, 
but  he  had  some  able  men  under  him.  John  Hall  was  a 
skilful  painter  upon  china,  who  was  in  the  Battersea  works 
till  they  closed,  when  he  went  to  the  Chelsea  pottery,  where 
some  enamel  work  was  being  done.  Another  clever  work- 
man was  a  man  named  Brooke,  who  worked  at  the  Bow 
pottery  at  a  later  date.  The  best  transfer  printer  engaged 
at  York  House  was  George  Lewis,  who  left  Battersea  to  go 
to  Worcester,  where  he  worked  in  the  china  factory.  He 
died  in  1790. 

Parquin,  in  his  "Artists  of  Ireland,"  mentions  that 
James  Gwinn,  a  native  of  Kildare,  came  to  England  in 
1755,   and  was  employed  near  London  at  the    Battersea 


54  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

enamel  works,  where  he  made  designs  for  box-lids.     He 
died  in  1776. 

The  art  of  enamelling  is  very  ancient,  metals  were 
enamelled  by  the  Chinese  and  Egyptians  at  a  time  when 
our  ancestors  were  in  a  very  primitive  state ;  at  a  much 
more  recent  date  the  art  of  enamelling  upon  copper  was 
practised  in  France,  and  probably  was  brought  to  England 
by  the  Huguenots.  The  founder  of  the  Battersea  works 
was  the  son  of  one  of  these  refugees.  Similar  work  was 
also  done  in  Prussia,  but  in  a  more  crude  form,  yet  the 
process  was  much  the  same,  the  melting  of  glassy  sub- 
stances of  various  qualities  and  colours  on  to  a  metal 
foundation. 

Geneva  enamels  had  also  been  made,  Limoges  pro- 
duced Gothic  pictures  and  altar  ware  in  enamels,  but 
none  were  equal  to  the  best  work  done  at  York  House. 
M.  Roquet,  who  had  painted  enamels  at  Geneva,  published 
a  book  in  1775,  entitled,  "The  State  of  the  Arts  in 
England,"  and  in  a  chapter  on  English  porcelain  he  says, 
"  There  are  three  or  four  china  works  in  the  London 
suburbs,  the  chief  being  at  Chelsea,"  he  then  goes  on  to  say 
that  "  in  the  village  of  Battersea  some  very  fine  enamels 
are  being  made,"  and  gives  the  following  account  of  their 
manufacture :  "  These  enamels  are  made  upon  a  copper 
basis  which  is  coated  with  a  mixture  of  liquid  glass  and 
tin,  the  transfer-printing  being  done  from  paper  impres- 
sions which  had  been  taken  from  engraved  copper  plates, 
the  still  wet  ink  of  the  impression  being  carefully  pressed 
and  set  off  upon  the  enamel,  then  came  the  brush  work, 
the  colours  and  the  gold."  Another  authority  gives  the 
following  as  the  mode  of  transfer-printing :  "  The  cut  of 
the  engraving  must  be  so  open  as  to  contain  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  a  substance,  which  should  be  the  calx  or  lime 
and  metal  mixed  with  a  small  quantity  of  liquid  glass. 
The  impression  is  made  on  paper,  the  printed  side  of  which 
is  afterwards  applied  to  the  part  of  the  porcelain  intended 
to  be  printed,  having  first  rubbed  it  with  thick  oil  of  tur- 


BATTERSEA    ENAMELS.  55 

pentine;  the  paper  is  then  taken  off  carefully,  and  the  work 
is  put  to  the  fire.  When  once  a  subject  is  designed  and 
engraved,  it  becomes  a  considerable  saving  to  the  manu- 
facturer by  the  repetition  of  its  applications." 

Collectors  regard  the  transfer-printed  enamels  as  the 
most  valuable,  as  they  are  now  very  rare;  some  of  the 
plates  engraved  by  Hancock  are  still  in  existence  (1913). 
The  raised  work  upon  many  of  the  enamels  consisted  of 
enamel  itself,  which  was  put  on  with  a  brush. 

Horace  Walpole  was  a  great  admirer  of  these  enamels, 
writing  to  his  friend  Richard  Bentley  in  1755,  he  says,  "  I 
am  sending  a  snuff  box  as  a  sample  of  the  new  manu- 
facture at  Battersea  which  is  done  on  copper  plates." 
Chaffer,  who  was  an  authority  on  this  class  of  art  work, 
gave  high  praise  to  Battersea  enamels.  Walpole  was  the 
first  collector  of  Battersea  enamels,  some  other  famous 
collectors  were  Lady  Schreiber,  Octavius  Morgan,  Dudley 
McDonald,  Charles  Kennedy,  Mr.  Franks,  Mrs.  Halburtou 
and  Charles  Burradaile.  The  Schreiber  collection  is  now 
in  the  South  Kensington  Museum,  and  the  Franks  collec- 
tion was  bequeathed  to  the  British  Museum.  Franks  was 
an  authority  on  enamels,  and  was  employed  as  keeper  for 
many  years  at  the  British  Museum.  There  is  also  a  collec- 
tion in  the  Battersea  Municipal  Museum. 

The  largest  collection  of  Battersea  enamels  was  made 
by  Mr.  Charles  Storr  Kennedy,  which  was  exhibited  at  the 
Guelp  Exhibition  in  1891,  some  of  these  enamels  were 
dated  1762  and  later,  which  was  after  the  works  were  closed 
by  Janssan  ;  there  is  some  evidence  that  the  work  was 
continued  after  Janssan  left,  by  Brooks,  who  worked  under 
Janssan,  and  these  dates  go  to  support  this.  Some  of  the 
portraits  are  of  George  III.  and  Queen  Charlotte,  and  as 
George  III.  did  not  commence  his  reign  until  1760,  this 
enamel  must  have  been  made  after  that  date,  one  of  these 
enamels  is  now  in  the  Battersea  Museum. 

The  enamel  works  were  not  a  commercial  success,  and 
after    passing  through  various  vicissitudes,   were  finally 


56  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

closed  about  1760.  At  the  sale,  when  the  works  closed 
down,  a  number  of  Dutch  decorated  tiles  and  stove  plates 
were  included  in  the  catalogue,  from  this  some  writers 
assume  that  they  were  made  at  the  enamel  works,  but  it  is 
more  likely  that  the  tiles,  which  were  delf-ware,  had  been 
made  at  the  L,ambeth  pottery  works,  which  were  then  in 
existence,  and  sent  to  the  Battersea  enamel  works  for  the 
printing  and  burning  of  the  decorations. 

Battersea  enamels  are  now  very  rare,  the  earliest  dated 
piece  is  1753,  the  greater  number  being  in  the  cabinets  of 
collectors  and  in  public  museums.  The  few  that  come  into 
the  market  fetch  high  prices,  and  their  value  is  constantly 
increasing ;  this  has  caused  many  forgeries  to  be  placed  on 
the  market,  these  come  mostly  from  France  and  Germany, 
some  of  them  are  remarkably  good  imitations,  but  they 
lack  the  daintiness  and  grace  of  the  originals,  the 
colouring  is  crude,  and  the  absence  of  "hair"  cracks  in 
the  enamel  is  a  sure  sign  of  the  fraud,  for  hardly  a  piece 
of  "Battersea"  now  exists  which  is  perfect,  there  is  a 
freshness  about  the  colours  of  the  imitation  which  should 
warn  the  collector. 

The  value  of  Battersea  enamels  has  a  wide  range. 
The  highest  amount  paid  for  a  single  piece  was  ^250,  which 
was  given  for  a  large  box  beautifully  finished  and  of  the 
best  period.  ^15  was  given  for  a  small  box  with  transfer- 
printed  picture  of  King  George  and  Queen  Charlotte,  and 
^22  for  a  pair  of  candlesticks,  in  perfect  condition.  Small 
patch  boxes  and  trinket  boxes  in  good  condition  have 
fetched  £3  to  ^5  each.  Two  needle  cases  for  twenty- four 
guineas  was  a  recent  price,  thirty-seven  guineas  for  three 
others,  and  twelve  and  a  half  guineas  for  another  (1912). 
An  oblong  casket,  painted  with  landscapes  and  figures  in 
colours,  with  richly  gilt  borders  on  a  white  ground,  sold 
for  eighty-six  guineas,  another  made  sixty-eight  guineas, 
and  a  third,  with  a  pair  of  smaller  boxes  en  suite,  seventy- 
two  guineas. 

At  the  sale  of  the  "  Halburton"  collection  of  Battersea 


BATTERSEA    ENAMELS.  57 

and  Bilston  enamels,  a  pink  enamel  box  seven  and  three 
quarter  inches  by  eight  and  a  quarter  inches,  painted  with 
landscapes  and  gilt  scroll  work,  sold  for  ^240,  and  a 
similar  box  less  in  size  made  ^115.  Two  other  Battersea 
boxes  sold  for  £iqo  each. 

About  the  same  time  as  the  Battersea  enamels  were 
made,  similar  work  was  being  done  in  France.  During  the 
reign  of  Louis  XVI.,  Petitot,  the  famous  enameller,  was 
producing  some  of  his  best  work,  which  was  done  on  fine 
gold,  hence  the  high  price  these  enamels  command,  a  single 
specimen  having  fetched  ^800.  Other  enamel  works  at  this 
date  were  at  Bilston,  Birmingham  and  Liverpool.  The 
Bilston  enamels  were  made  by  George  Brett,  between 
1760  and  1780.  The  Birmingham  works  did  ornamental 
and  transfer  decorations  in  enamel.  The  Liverpool  pot- 
ters, Sadler  and  Green,  did  enamel  work  chiefly  upon  tiles, 
etc.,  and  they  claimed  to  be  the  original  inventors  of 
transfer-printing,  but  their  transfer-printed  tiles  were  not 
produced  until  1756,  and  the  first  dated  piece  of  Battersea 
enamel  is  1753.  Sadler  claimed  the  invention  from  1749, 
the  date  when  he  first  commenced  to  experiment  in  trans- 
fer work.  Henry  Bone,  R.A.,  who  died  in  1834,  was  a 
painter  of  pictures  on  enamel,  and  he  did  some  fine  work 
for  the  Bristol  China  Company.  Hancock  was  the  first 
engraver  at  Battersea,  some  of  his  early  work  bearing  his 
mark,  R.H.F. 

Dr.  Richard  Pocock,  author  of  "Travels  through 
England,"  visited  the  Battersea  enamel  works,  and  the 
beautiful  workmanship  received  his  high  commendation. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

FAMOUS    BATTERSEA    HOUSES. 

Yore   House. 

THIS  house  stood  on  part  of  the  site  of  Price's  candle 
works,  the  massive  iron  entrance  gates  were  near 
the  old  creek,  which  flowed  down  from  Clapham 
Common  to  the  river ;  the  pumping  station  stands  on  the 
site  of  the  entrance  to  York  House,  in  front  of  which,  in 
old  days,  was  a  fine  lawn  with  a  magnificent  cedar  tree  in 
the  centre,  and  round  the  lawn  was  a  broad  carriage  drive. 
The  mansion  was  built  in  1480,  by  Lawrence  Booth,  a 
bishop  of  Durham  and  York,  as  a  residence  for  himself  and 
his  successors,  when  called  to  London  on  any  business 
connected  with  the  church.  The  house  and  grounds  were 
annexed  to  the  see  of  York ;  they  were  enclosed  with  a 
wall  of  great  strength.  When  Booth  died  he  bequeathed  his 
estate  in  Battersea  to  the  see  of  York,  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  charity.  History  records  that  a  royal  barge  landed  its 
occupants  at  York  Creek,  and  we  find  that  Queen  Elizabeth 
went  from  Greenwich  to  York  House  in  the  state  barge ; 
and  that  Archbishop  Hulgate  lived  here  when  he  was 
committed  to  the  Tower  by  order  of  Queen  Mary,  in  1553. 
Old  records  go  to  prove  that  his  captors  rifled  the  house  of 
all  its  valuables,  including  over  ^"300  in  coin,  sixteen 
thousand  ounces  of  plate,  a  mitre  of  pure  gold,  some  very 
fine  diamonds,  sapphires,  and  other  precious  stones,  also 
pearls  and  rings  of  great  value  were  taken.  These  valu- 
ables were  never  returned,  and  Hulgate  ultimately  lost  his 
archbishopric,  in  addition  to  his  valuables. 


FAMOUS    BATTERSEA    HOUSES.  59 

There  is  a  letter  among  the  State  papers,  dated  August 
22nd,  1580,  from  Archbishop  Sandys  to  John  Wicklifie, 
keeper  of  the  York  House  at  Battersea,  in  which  he  directs 
Wicklifie  to  deliver  up  the  house  to  the  Lords  of  the 
Council,  so  that  it  might  be  turned  into  a  prison  for 
obstinate  Papists.  During  the  Commonwealth,  York 
House  was  sold  to  Sir  Allan  Apsley  for  ^1,800,  but  it  was 
retained  by  the  See  after  the  Restoration. 

It  was  in  this  house  that  Henry  VIII.  met  Anne 
Boleyn,  and  here  the  scene  took  place  described  in  Shake- 
speare's play  "  Henry  VIII.,"  which  was  written  from 
information  given  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  within  fitty  years 
of  the  event.  Anne  Boleyn  was  related  to  the  St.  John's, 
and  her  father,  Sir  Thomas  Boleyn,  resided  near  York 
House.  Anne  was  one  of  the  guests  at  a  reception 
when  the  king  was  present.  Some  writers  contend  that 
this  interview  between  Anne  Boleyn  and  Henry  VIII.  took 
place  at  York  House,  Whitehall,  but  there  is  much 
tangible  evidence  to  show  that  it  took  place  at  York 
House,  Battersea. 

In  1814,  Sir  Richard  Phillips  visited  York  House  and 
thus  describes  his  visit:  "I  visited  York  House  at  Battersea 
and  was  much  interested,  as  it  has  many  historical  associa- 
tions. It  is  now  used  as  a  distillery,  and  is  in  the  charge 
of  a  Mr.  Benwell,  who  takes  a  great  deal  of  interest  in  the 
house,  and  he  fully  believes  that  this  is  the  house  referred 
to  by  Shakespeare.  He  informed  me  that  a  few  years  since 
he  had  pulled  down  a  superb  room,  called  the  ball-room,  the 
panels  of  which  were  curiously  painted,  and  the  divisions 
silvered.  He  says,  too,  that  the  room  had  a  dome  and  a 
richly  ornamented  ceiling,  and  that  he  once  saw  an  ancient 
print,  representing  the  first  interview  of  Henry  VIII.  with 
Anne  Boleyn,  in  which  the  room  was  portrayed  exactly 
like  the  one  that,  in  modernizing  his  house,  he  had  found 
it  necessary  to  destroy — though,  as  relics,  he  had  pre- 
served several  of  the  painted  panels.  The  house  is  now  in 
a  modern  style,  and  of  good  size,  yet  he  told  me,  in  digging 


60  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

in  the  adjoining  grounds,  they  constantly  met  with  consid- 
erable foundations,  thus  showing  that  the  house  had  been 
much  larger  at  one  time." 

There  was  also  a  York  House  of  some  note  at  Twick- 
enham, which  was  confounded  with  the  York  House  at 
Battersea,  as  it  was  much  frequented  by  high  personages 
and  royalty.  Queen  Anne  was  born  there  on  February  6th, 
1665.  Lord  Clarendon  resided  there  and  entertained  on  a 
large  scale ;  it  was  afterwards  the  home  of  Karl  Lonsdale 
down  to  1844. 

Sir  Edward  Winter,  the  African  traveller,  lived  and 
died  at  York  House.  Theodore  Janssan,  a  French  refugee, 
purchased  York  House  estate  about  1745,  and  lived  there 
some  years;  in  1750  his  son  Stephen  Theodore  Janssan 
commenced  the  manufacture  of  the  world-famed  Battersea 
enamels,  which  were  made  at  this  house  until  the  works 
closed  in  1762.  For  many  years  it  remained  a  private 
residence.  Mrs.  Fitzherbert  was  once  in  residence,  and 
George  IV.,  when  Prince  of  Wales,  was  a  visitor,  and 
many  other  notabilities  of  that  time  visited  the  house. 
Before  its  demolition  it  was  a  home  for  the  mentally 
afflicted. 

BOLINGBROKE     HOUSE. 

This  mansion  was  the  manor  house  of  Battersea,  and 
stood  on  the  river  front  in  its  own  grounds.  Some  idea  of 
its  size  can  be  gained  from  the  fact  that  it  contained  forty 
rooms  on  one  floor ;  and  here  Lord  Bolingbroke,  in  the 
heyday  of  his  power,  entertained  some  of  the  most  fore- 
most men  of  his  day.  Alexander  Pope  was  a  constant 
visitor,  and  had  a  room  wherein  he  wrote  much  of  his 
poetry,  including  part  of  his  "Kssay  on  Man."  This  room 
was  known  as  the  Cedar  Room,  being  lined  with  cedar 
wood. 

In  the  summer  of  1729  Pope  paid  one  of  his  visits  to 
Bolingbroke  House,  when,  in  conversation,  Lord  Boling- 


FAMOUS    BATTERSEA    HOUSES.  61 

broke  suggested  that  Pope  should  write  a  poem  on  the 
hopes,  fears,  aspirations,  and  moods  of  man.  Pope  was 
pleased  with  the  suggestion,  and  during  his  stay  wrote  the 
greater  part  of  his  "  Essay  on  Man,"  an  ethical  poem, 
which  he  dedicated  to  Bolingbroke,  this  is  shewn  in  the 
opening  lines  of  the  poem : — 

"  Awake,  my  St.  John  !  leave  all  meaner  things 
To  low  ambition,  and  the  pride  of  kings." 

Lord  Chesterfield  met  here  some  of  his  best  friends,  as 
also  did  Dean  Swift  and  Chatham.  The  house  stood  near 
the  old  church,  the  grounds  and  out-houses  reaching  down 
to  what  is  now  Church  Street.  This  fine  mansion  was 
pulled  down  in  1793,  and,  when  the  estate  was  alienated, 
the  whole  building  was  razed  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
rooms  which  now  form  part  of  Mayhew's  flour  mills  in 
Church  Street.  This  wreck  of  the  great  house  is  interest- 
ing, for  it  contains  the  historic  cedar  room  already  referred 
to,  and  the  visitor  will  see  on  some  of  the  walls,  traces  of 
the  paintings  in  panel,  by  Verrio  and  Tagorre. 

A  traveller  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  thus 
describes  a  visit  to  Bolingbroke  House  : — 

"  On  inquiring  for  an  ancient  inhabitant  of  Battersea, 
I  was  introduced  to  a  Mrs.  Gilliard,  a  very  pleasant  and 
intelligent  lady,  who  told  me  she  well  remembered  Lord 
Bolingbroke.  He  used  to  ride  out  a  good  deal  in  his 
chariot,  and  had  a  black  patch  on  his  cheek,  with  a  large 
wart  over  his  eyebrows.  She  was  then  but  a  girl,  and  she 
was  taught  to  look  upon  him  with  veneration,  as  a  great 
man.  He  spent  little  in  Battersea  and  gave  nothing  away, 
and  he  was  not  much  liked  among  the  people  of  the  village. 
I  then  went  to  visit  the  site  of  Bolingbroke  House,  and 
found  Mr.  Hodgson,  a  maltster  and  distiller,  and  the 
proprietor  of  the  elevated  horizontal  air  mill,  which  serves 
as  a  landmark  for  many  miles  round.  But,  in  his  employ- 
ments, there  is  nothing  novel  or  uncommon  to  describe, 
and  his  mill,  its  elevated  shaft,  its  vanes,  and  its  weather 
or  wind  boards,  curious  as  they  would  have  been  on  any 


62  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

other  site,  lost  all  their  interest  on  this  !  By  what  caprice 
of  fate,  I  exclaimed,  is  the  dwelling  of  Bolingbroke  con- 
verted into  a  malthouse  and  mill  ?  This  house,  once 
sacred  to  philosophy  and  poetry,  long  sanctified  by  the 
residence  of  the  noblest  genius  of  his  age,  honoured  by  the 
frequent  visits  of  Pope,  and  the  birth-place  of  the  immortal 
*  Kssay  on  Man,'  is  now  appropriated  to  the  basest  uses ! 
The  house  of  Bolingbroke  become  a  windmill — the  spot  on 
which  the  "  Essay  on  Man  "  was  concocted  and  produced, 
converted  into  a  distillery  of  pernicious  spirits !  Are  these 
the  sports  of  fortune  ?  Are  such  the  means  by  which  an 
eternal  agency  sets  at  nought  the  ephemeral  consequence 
of  man  ?  But  yesterday,  this  spot  was  the  resort,  the  hope, 
and  the  seat  of  happiness  of  Bolingbroke,  Pope,  Swift, 
Arbuthnot,  Thomson,  Mallet,  and  all  the  contemporary 
genius  of  England — yet  a  few  whirls  of  the  earth  round  the 
sun,  the  change  of  a  figure  in  the  date  of  the  year,  and  the 
group  has  vanished,  while  in  its  place  I  behold  hogs  and 
horses,  malt-bags  and  barrels,  stills  and  machinery! 
"  Alas,"  said  I,  to  the  worthy  occupier,  "  and  are  these  the 
representatives  of  more  human  genius  than  England  may 
ever  witness  on  one  spot  again  ?  "  "  No,  sir,"  he  rejoined, 
"I  love  the  name  of  Bolingbroke,  and  I  preserve  the  house 
as  well  as  I  can,  with  religious  veneration.  I  often  smoke 
my  pipe  in  Mr.  Pope's  parlour,  and  think  of  him  as  I  walk 
the  part  of  the  terrace  opposite  his  room  and  next  the 
water."  He  then  conducted  me  to  this  interesting  parlour, 
which  is  of  brown  polished  oak,  with  a  grate,  and  orna- 
ments of  the  age  of  George  I. ;  and  before  its  window  stood 
the  portion  of  the  terrace  upon  which  the  malthouse  had 
not  encroached,  with  the  Thames  moving  majestically 
under  its  wall.  I  was  on  holy  ground — I  did  not  take  off 
my  shoes — but  I  doubtless  felt  what  pilgrims  feel  as  they 
approach  the  temples  of  Jerusalem,  Mecca,  or  Jaggernaut ! 
Of  all  poems,  and  of  all  codes  of  wisdom,  I  admire  the 
'Essay  on  Man'  and  its  doctrines  the  most,  and  in  this 
room  it  was  probably  planned,  discussed,  and  written ! 


r 


o 

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«  E 


a 


FAMOUS   BATTERSEA    HOUSES.  63 

Mr.  Hodgson  told  me  this  had  always  been  called  Pope's 
room,  and  he  had  no  doubt  it  was  the  apartment  usually 
occupied  by  that  great  poet  in  his  visits  to  his  friend 
Bolingbroke. 

Besides  this  room,  several  other  parts  of  the  original 
house  remain,  and  are  occupied  and  kept  in  good  order. 
Mr.  Hodgson  told  me,  however,  that  this  is  but  a  wing  of 
the  mansion,  which  extended  in  L,ord  Bolingbroke's  time 
to  the  churchyard  of  St.  Mary,  the  land  is  now  occupied 
by  the  malthouse  and  its  warehouses." 


The   Red   House. 

A  famous  house,  which  stood  on  the  river  bank  near 
Chelsea  Bridge,  on  the  Vauxhall  side,  dating  from  the  time 
of  Queen  Elizabeth.  It  was  built  of  red  brick  with  white 
pointings,  and  only  had  one  storey  above  the  ground  floor. 
The  house  contained  fourteen  rooms  ;  the  windows  on 
the  lower  floor  had  wood  shutters  painted  green ;  these 
shutters  had  large  bolts  which  fastened  on  the  inside. 
The  roof  was  slated. 

In  the  gardens  were  a  number  of  small  arbours,  which 
were  decorated  with  Flemish  and  other  paintings,  and  in 
the  centre  of  the  grounds  was  a  well-stocked  fish  pond, 
which  was  always  an  attraction.  Behind  the  house  was  a 
large  shooting  ground,  where  pigeon  shooting  matches, 
and  other  sports  and  games  took  place  during  the  summer 
months.  These  matches  brought  much  discredit  upon  the 
house,  as  most  of  them  took  place  on  Sunday  mornings, 
and  attracted  some  of  the  worst  characters  in  London. 
The  gardens  were  illuminated  every  night  with  oil  lamps, 
which  were  hung  about  the  grounds.  Seats  and  benches 
were  placed  in  the  gardens  among  the  trees  for  the 
accommodation  of  visitors.  From  each  end  of  the  grounds 
a  flight  of  steps  led  down  to  the  river  for  the  purpose  of 
landing  passengers  and  watermen. 


64  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

Charles  Dickens  mentions  "  The  Red  House "  in 
"Sketches  by  Boz,"  when  the  "swells"  of  society  used  to 
meet  here  to  engage  in  pigeon  shooting  and  other  amuse- 
ments. This  was  prior  to  the  time  when  Hurlingham 
became  the  fashionable  resort.  The  Red  House  was  the 
winning  post  for  most  of  the  boat  races  which  took  place 
on  the  river,  some  of  which  were  of  importance  in  their 
day.  In  1825  a  prize  wherry  was  rowed  for  by  seven 
pairs  of  oars,  the  course  being  from  Westminster  Bridge  to 
the  Red  House.  The  prize  was  given  by  the  actor, 
Edmund  Kean.  At  this  time  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge 
boat  race  was  rowed  from  Westminster  Bridge  to  Putney, 
and  the  Red  House  was  considered  the  best  point  of  view 
on  the  river. 

Calburn,  in  his  "Kalendar  of  Amusements"  (1840), 
says.  "  The  Red  House  at  Battersea  takes  the  lead  for 
pigeon  shooting,  as  all  the  crack  shots  assemble  there  tor 
matches  of  importance,  and  the  shooting  is  so  good  that 
it  seldom  occurs  that  a  single  bird  escapes."  Col.  Saxby, 
in  his  book  on  "  The  Municipal  Parks  of  London,"  says 
that  the  Red  House  was  celebrated  for  its  flounder  break- 
fasts, the  fish  being  plentiful  in  the  Thames  at  that  date. 
In  the  month  of  August  a  great  sucking-pig  dinner 
was  held,  at  which  many  noblemen  assembled ;  and  the 
officers  from  Whitehall  used  to  make  the  trip  to  the  Red 
House  on  account  of  the  novelty  of  the  meals,  and  the 
fresh  air.  Charles  Dickens  was  a  visitor  to  the  Red  House 
about  this  time,  and  took  much  interest  in  a  raven  which 
was  kept  there,  named  "  Gyp,"  which  greatly  amused 
Dickens  by  his  cunning  tricks,  and  funny,  artful  ways,  and 
may  have  given  him  some  inspiration  for  creating  his 
raven  "Grip"  in  "  Barnaby  Rudge." 

In  the  nineteenth  century  fairs  were  held  in  the  grounds 
of  the  Red  House,  but  became  so  rowdy  that  they  had 
to  be  discontinued.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Kirk,  a  well-known 
divine  in  his  day,  made  a  strong  protest  against  the  scandal 
of  the  Red  House,  as  follows:  "  If  ever  there  was  a  place 


FAMOUS   BATTERSEA    HOUSES.  65 

out  of  hell,  which  surpassed  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in 
ungodliness  and  abomination,  this  was  it.  I  have  gone  to 
this  sad  spot  on  the  Lord's  Day,  when  there  have  been 
horse  and  donkey  races,  foot  racing,  walking  matches, 
comic  actors,  shameless  dancers,  gamblers,  drinking 
booths,  and  fortune-tellers,  but  it  would  be  impossible 
to  describe  the  unmentionable  doings  of  this  pandemonium 
on  earth."  He  then  goes  on  to  say,  "  I  asked  a  pier-man 
how  many  people  were  landed  on  Sundays  at  the  pier, 
and  he  said,  when  the  weather  was  fine,  from  ten  to  fifteen 
thousand."  This  influx  was  in  addition  to  the  arrivals 
by  road,  the  total  number  of  visitors  on  a  Sunday  being 
computed  at  fifty  to  sixty  thousand. 

In  its  early  history,  the  Red  House  had  a  good  reputa- 
tion as  a  popular  resort  for  pleasure-seekers,  aquatic 
sportsmen,  and  watermen,  but  in  later  years  fell  into  bad 
repute.  It  was  well  known  for  many  a  debauch,  many 
an  assignation,  and  many  other  things  besides  pigeon 
shooting.  Some  of  the  incidents  which  happened  there 
are  best  hidden  in  the  blur  of  the  past. 

When  Battersea  Park  was  in  course  of  construction  in 
1844,  the  Red  House,  with  all  its  shooting  ground  and 
adjacent  premises,  was  purchased  by  the  Commissioners, 
the  sum  paid  being  ^10,000.  The  buildings  were  then 
demolished,  and  so  ended  the  once  famous  Red  House, 
with  all  its  reputations  and  traditions. 


Sherwood   Lodge. 

An  old-time  mansion,  near  the  corner  of  Lombard 
Road,  facing  York  Road.  A  small  portion  of  this  building 
still  exists,  being  part  of  Price's  Candle  Works.  It 
was  one  of  the  finest  residences  on  the  river  front,  and  was 
shaded  with  lime,  sycamore,  and  poplar  trees.  Many 
celebrated  families  lived  here,  the  first  being  Jens  Wolfe, 
who  was  the  Danish  consul ;  he  was  a  collector  of  works 

E 


66  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

of  art,  and  had  a  valuable  collection  of  antique  statues  and 
plaster  casts,  the  most  valuable  being  those  from  the 
"  Fighting  Gladiators,"  the  "  Barberini  Faun,"  the  "  Dying 
Gladiator,"  and  "  Hercules."  Another  occupier  was  Sir 
Edward  East,  who  lived  there  many  years ;  a  later  tenant 
was  Sir  George  Wombwell,  who,  with  Lady  Wombwell, 
entertained  on  a  grand  scale.  Sir  George's  son  was 
aide-de-camp  to  Earl  Cardigan,  and  rode  with  him  "into 
the  Valley  of  Death"  at  Balaclava.  The  Wombwells 
were  the  last  family  of  note  to  reside  at  Sherwood  Lodge. 
The  old  Falcon  Brook  ran  down  from  Lavender  Hill  by 
the  side  of  the  Lodge  to  the  river. 


Broomfibud. 

Broomfield,  a  large  house,  which  stood  in  its  own 
grounds,  about  the  centre  of  what  is  now  Broomwood 
Road,  takes  its  place  in  history  as  being  the  home  of 
William  Wilberforce,  and  the  house  in  which  was  founded 
the  British  Bible  Society,  and  the  Church  Missionary 
Society ;  and  as  the  birthplace  of  Canon  Wilberforce,  once 
Bishop  of  Winchester.  Many  eminent  men  have  met  in 
this  house  to  confer  with  Wilberforce,  when  he  was  fighting 
for  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.  Among  those  men  of 
the  time  who  visited  at  Broomfield  were  Burke,  Fox,  Gran- 
ville Sharp,  Clarkson,  Lord  Castlereagh,  Lord  Macaulay, 
and  the  Rev.  Hughes,  a  noted  Battersea  Divine,  whom 
Wilberforce  had  a  great  respect  for. 

That  earnest  band  of  Christian  men,  known  as  the 
Clapham  Sect,  also  met  in  this  house  for  some  time,  and 
did  much  of  their  work  there. 

A  memorial  meeting  was  held  in  the  grounds  of 
Broomfield  House,  those  who  had  worked  in  the  anti- 
slave  crusade  meeting  for  thanksgiving,  when  the  first 
Slave  Emancipation  Bill  passed  into  law.  On  this 
occasion   Wilberforce    received    congratulations   from  all 


FAMOUS    BATTERSEA    HOUSES.  67 

parts  of  the  civilised  world.  Modern  villas  now  stand 
upon  the  site  of  this  historic  house.  The  London  County 
Council  have  affixed  a  tablet  to  one  of  the  villas,  which 
notifies  that  Broomfield,  the  home  of  Wilberforce,  stood 
on  that  site. 


Lubbock  House,  Battersea  Rise. 

Standing  in  its  own  spacious  grounds,  Lubbock  House 
was  an  old-fashioned  mansion,  built  in  the  early  eighteenth 
century,  and,  as  a  building,  calls  for  no  special  note.  Its 
historical  interest  rests  in  its  connection  with  the  men  of 
note,  who  lived,  or  visited  there,  during  the  first  fifty  years 
of  its  existence. 

The  house  was  built  by  a  Mr.  Lubbock,  who  was  a 
banker  of  repute,  and  an  ancestor  of  Lord  Avebury. 
In  1792  it  was  purchased  by  Henry  Thornton,  a  prominent 
citizen  of  Clapham,  whose  family  has  always  been  held  in 
high  esteem.  It  remained  the  ancestral  home  of  the 
Thornton  family,  until  it  was  demolished  to  make  room  for 
modern  villas.  The  last  tenant  was  Mr.  Percy  Thornton, 
who  was  the  Member  of  Parliament  for  Clapham. 

Soon  after  Henry  Thornton  purchased  Lubbock 
House,  William  Wilberforce  went  to  live  with  him,  and 
they  resided  there,  in  bachelor  estate,  until  Thornton 
married,  when  Wilberforce  took  "  Broomfield  "  as  his  new 
residence. 

One  of  the  chief  attractions  in  this  old  house  was  the 
oval  library,  which  was  designed  by  William  Pitt.  In  this 
room  Wilberforce  met  and  conferred  with  some  of  the 
foremost  men  of  his  day,  including  Fox,  Clarkson,  Gran- 
ville Sharp,  Macaulay,  Buxton,  and  Pitt,  and  planned 
much  of  the  work  for  carrying  on  the  anti-slave  crusade. 
Lubbock  House  is  also  memorable  as  being  the  home 
of  the  "  Clapham  Sect,"  a  Christian  body  of  men  who 
were   given  that  name  by  Sydney   Smith.     The   grounds 


68  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

of  Lubbock  House  were  very  fine,  studded  with  fine  elms, 
cedars,  and  Scotch  firs,  and  bright  with  tulips  and  other 
flowers ;  in  these  grounds  Sir  Walter  Scott  used  to  stroll, 
and  Hannah  More  roamed;  Robert  Southey  rested  under 
the  shady  elms,  and  Zachary  Macaulay  stood  listening  to 
the  singing  of  the  birds.  These  celebrities  were  visitors 
at  Ivubbock  House,  in  their  day. 


There  were  other  old-time  houses  in  and  around 
Battersea,  but  their  history  does  not  call  for  any  special 
note. 


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CHAPTER    IX. 
OLD    TIME    TAVERNS. 

BATTERSEA,  like  most  places  with  a  historic  past, 
can  claim  to  have  several  noted  taverns,  or  inns, 
some  of  which  have  their  place  in  histoiy.  There 
is  a  quaint  charm  about  an  old-time  inn,  which  sets  the 
imagination  to  work  and  claims  attention.  We  picture 
the  old  merry  group  gathered  by  the  ingle  nook,  passing 
away  the  time  with  jest  and  joke.  There  were  rare  good 
times  in  those  days  for  the  host  and  his  guests, — the  time 
when  the  Georges  were  on  the  throne.  The  inns  were 
cosy  and  comfortable,  with  spacious  rooms  and  old- 
fashioned  home  comforts.  The  little  diamond-shaped 
windows,  out  of  which  the  traveller  watched  the  approach 
of  the  stage-coach,  or  the  passing  of  the  flying  mail  coach, 
which  was  then  looked  upon  as  the  consummation  of  quick 
transit.  An  old-time  book,  now  as  rare  as  it  is  curious, 
called  "The  London  Spy,"  conducted  by  Ned  Ward,  gives 
some  amusing  tales  of  the  doings  in  those  old-time  taverns 
when  Swift,  Addison,  Johnson,  Steele,  and  many  other 
worthies  of  that  time,  cracked  their  jokes  over  steaming 
bowls  of  punch. 

One  of  the  most  ancient  taverns  in  Battersea  was  the 
old  "  Falcon,"  which  was  built  nearly  300  years  ago.  The 
original  house  stood  near  where  the  present  "Falcon" 
stands,  it  was  surrounded  by  orchards  and  floral  gardens, 
flanking  on  country  lanes,  with  few  houses  until  the  village 
of  Wandsworth  was  reached.  A  later  house,  built  about 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  was  kept  by  a 
man  named  Robert  Death,  and  at  this  time  the  house  was 


70  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

a  place  of  call  for  undertakers  on  their  return  from  the 
burial  ground ;  some  of  these  men  and  their  friends  often 
got  merry  in  their  cups,  and  it  was  not  an  uncommon 
sight  to  see  a  funeral-party  dancing  on  the  green  in  front 
of  the  inn.  The  artist,  John  Nixon,  was  so  much  amused 
by  the  landlord's  name  that  he  painted  a  picture  of  the 
tavern  entitled  "  Drinking  at  Death's  door,"  in  which  he 
depicted  a  merry  lot  of  undertakers  disporting  themselves 
in  front  of  the  inn.  This  satire  has  many  times  been 
copied,  the  original  is  in  the  British  Museum. 

About  a  century  ago,  when  Mr.  Robert   Death  was 
landlord  of  the  "  Falcon,"  the  following  lines  were  written: 

"Oh  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 

Whove  drawn  themselves  this  scrape  in, 

Since  from  his  dreadful  grip,  Heaven  knows, 
Alas !  there's  no  escaping. 

This  one  advice,  my  friends  pursue, 

Whilst  you  have  life  and  breath, 
Ne'er  pledge  your  host,  for  if  you  do, 

You'll  surely  drink  to  Death." 

The  "  White  Hart,"  in  Lombard  Road,  dates  back 
to  1600.  Charles  II.  was  a  frequent  visitor  to  this  house 
when  he  was  in  his  merry  moods,  and  it  was  while 
staying  here  that  he  almost  lost  his  life.  Colonel  Blood, 
who  some  time  afterwards  attempted  to  steal  the  crown 
jewels,  confessed  to  having  had  designs  upon  the  king's 


OLD    TIME    TAVERNS.  71 

liie.  Blood  hid  near  Battersea  Priory,  where  a  sub- 
terranean passage  led  to  the  river  bank  close  to  the  place 
where  the  king  came  to  bathe.  He  had  been  chosen  to 
kill  the  king  by  a  body  of  men  who  resented  the  king's 
interference  with  their  religious  opinions.  Blood  relented 
at  the  last  moment,  and  the  king  returned  to  the  inn. 
Rapier,  in  his  history  of  England,  says  that  Charles  II. 
not  only  forgave  him,  but  settled  a  pension  of  ^500  per 
annum  upon  him  for  life. 

The  "Old  Swan,"  near  the  Parish  Church,  is  an 
historic  house,  and  has  been  immortalised  in  song  by 
Dibdin  in  one  of  his  operettas.  This  tavern  was  the  resort 
of  the  old  river  watermen,  who  were  an  important  class 
at  that  time  ;  it  was  also  the  headquarters  of  some  of  the 
boating  crews  when  the  Thames  Regatta  was  an  institu- 
tion. For  many  years  the  "Old  Swan"  was  the  most 
popular  tavern  on  the  river  front. 

In  the  Plough  Lane  (Plough  Road)  was  an  inn  of  some 
repute  in  its  day,  known  as  the  "  Old  House,"  famous  for 
its  home-brewed  ales.  It  was  a  favourite  house  with  the 
market  gardeners  and  Sunday  morning  travellers,  who 
used  to  disport  themselves  on  the  grass  and  under  the 
oak  trees  which  stood  near  the  house. 

The  "  Raven,"  in  the  High  Street,  is  another  old  inn 
with  a  past,  for  old  records  show  that  the  "  Merry 
Monarch "  often  visited  this  house,  and  many  scenes  of 
revelry  took  place  within  its  walls. 

The  "Star  and  Garter,"  and  the  "Castle,"  are  both 
taverns  which  have  an  interesting  past,  dating  from  the 
seventeenth  century ;  the  hey-day  of  their  prosperity  were 
in  the  old  coaching  days,  before  the  advent  of  railways, 
but  their  days  of  interest  have  long  passed  away. 

Past  Battersea  Fields,  towards  the  end  of  the  parish, 
stood  the  "Nine  Elms  Tavern,"  which  was  built  in  the 
days  when  all  this  part  of  Battersea  was  a  wild  open  space, 
with  here  and  there  a  cornfield,  and  a  few  market  gardens, 
hedged  in  with  hawthorn  and  May  blossom  in  the  summer 


72  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

months  ;  there  were  neatly  kept  pleasure  grounds  and  tea 
gardens  attached,  and  at  a  later  date  it  was  known  for  all 
kinds  of  "sports,"  which  were  carried  on.  The  nine  elms, 
from  which  the  lane  derived  its  name,  stood  near  this 
tavern. 

The  "Old  House  at  Home"  stood  near  Battersea 
Fields,  not  far  from  the  Red  House ;  it  was  a  small 
thatched  building,  which  answered  the  double  purpose 
of  beerhouse  and  farmhouse  combined,  it  had  a  reputation 
for  the  excellence  of  its  egg  flip,  which  consisted  of  hot 
ale  or  stout,  into  which  new-laid  eggs  were  beaten,  after 
being  well  mixed,  it  was  sweetened  with  sugar.  This  was 
a  popular  Sunday  morning  drink  of  many  who  were  on 
their  way  to  the  Red  House  sports.  All  beers  sold  at 
this  house  were  drawn  direct  from  the  casks,  which  were 
in  full  view  of  the  customers.  Near  this  house,  in  the 
summer  time,  gipsies  and  other  old-time  tent-dwellers 
pitched  their  encampments.  When  the  Red  House 
festivities  were  at  their  height,  a  barge,  richly  gilded, 
called  "  The  Folly,"  was  moored  in  the  river,  where  the 
bloods  of  the  period,  with  their  ladies,  assembled  for 
dancing  and  card-playing.  On  their  way  home  many 
of  these  revellers  called  at  the  "  Old  House  at  Home " 
for  an  egg  flip. 

Another  tavern  of  note  was  "  Ye  Old  Plough  Inn," 
on  St.  John's  Hill,  which  was  built  a.d.  1701,  and  was 
pulled  down  in  1874,  the  present  "  Plough  "  being  erected 
upon  the  site.  In  front  of  the  old  inn  grew  an  oak  tree, 
beneath  its  shade  travellers  used  to  sit  and  enjoy  their 
refreshments.  There  is  some  grounds  for  the  belief 
that  the  notorious  Dick  Turpin  once  stayed  at  this  house 
for  some  time,  when  he  was  nightly  visiting  the  Garrett 
Lane  district,  the  lane  was  then  a  lonely  Surrey  high  road, 
leading  to  Tooting  and  Merton,  where  many  of  the  gentry 
resided  whom  Turpin  used  to  intercept  on  their  way  home, 
and  demand  his  toll.  Tradition  says  that  he  was  often 
in  hiding  at  the  "  Plough,"  when  he  was  hard  pressed 


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OLD    TIME    TAVERNS.  73 

by  the  men  of  law.  The  house  was  very  picturesque  in 
its  surroundings,  with  seats  and  benches  beneath  the 
overhanging  trees,  and  the  old-time  lattice  windows  of 
the  inn.  A  rhymster  of  the  time  wrote  the  following  lines 
in  memory  of  the  old  oak  tree  which  grew  in  front  of  the 
"  Plough  "— 

"  Here  stands  the  remains  of  the  old  oak  tree, 
That  flourished  when  knights  of  the  road  roamed  free, 
When  bands  of  lawless,  yet  chivalrous  wights, 
Struck  fear  to  the  hearts  of  purse-proud  knights. 
This  gay  old  king  of  the  forest  wild, 
His  proud  head  bowed  to  the  sun's  bright  smile ; 
His  leaves  to  the  murmuring  breeze  did  fling 
In  the  cool  shade  of  the  old  Plough  Inn. 
When  the  knights  of  the  road  of  their  deeds  did  sing, 
As  the  chorus  loud  made  the  rafters  ring, 
They  drank  to  the  health  of  Turpin  the  bold, 
When  he  brought  to  the  '  Plough  '  his  ill-gotten  gold. 
So  here's  to  the  memory  of  the  old  Plough  Inn, 
And  all  the  past  memories  of  things  that  have  been." 


CHAPTER    X. 
BATTERSEA    INDUSTRIES. 

DOMESDAY  Book  says  that  Battersea  had  many  mills 
for  grinding  corn  and  for  other  purposes.  Whiting 
works  and  lime  kilns  were  in  the  parish  as  far  back 
as  1650.  Pottery  works  were  established  in  1700,  and  a 
turnery  stood  near  Nine  Elms  L,ane ;  at  a  later  date  cement 
works  and  breweries  were  in  operation.  Brickmaking 
was  carried  on  in  some  fields  on  Pig  Hill  (Latchmere 
Road).  Cattle  breeding  flourished  to  some  extent,  sheds 
and  outbuildings  were  erected  on  part  of  the  site  of 
Bolingbroke  House.  These  buildings  had  accommodation 
for  six  hundred  head  of  cattle,  the  animals  were  fattened 
by  meal  which  was  ground  and  prepared  in  a  mill  built 
on  the  same  site.  Another  industry  at  this  time  (1700) 
was  salmon  fishing,  salmon  being  very  plentiful  in  the 
river  at  certain  times  of  the  year.  A  good  trade  was 
done  by  the  Battersea  and  Chelsea  boatmen. 

There  was  a  foundry  in  Battersea,  about  1660,  for 
casting  shot  for  the  Tower  of  London.  Along  the  river 
front  there  were  several  factories  and  works,  some  of 
which  are  still  carried  on,  and  have  grown  into  important 
industries.  Not  far  from  Price's  factory,  Freeman's  colour 
and  varnish  works  were  established ;  then  came  Whiffin's 
chemical  factory,  and  near  to  the  old  creek  was  Nash 
and  Miller's  barge  building  yard  ;  another  boat  and  barge 
building  yard  was  one  owned  by  A.  B.  Cox,  who  had  a 
good  reputation  as  a  boat  builder.  Mr.  H.  B.  Condy,  the 
inventor  of  Condy's  Fluid,  and  antiseptic  aromatic  vinegar, 
had  his  first  manufactory  on  the  river  side,  near  Nine 


BATTERSEA    INDUSTRIES.  75 

Elms.  The  Silicated  Carbon  Filter  Co.,  which  employed  a 
number  of  hands,  also  had  their  works  contiguous  to 
Condy's.  An  important  factory  on  the  river  front  is 
Morgan's  crucible  and  plumbago  works.  This  firm  is 
now  the  largest  crucible  makers  in  the  world,  doing  an 
immense  business  in  all  kinds  of  crucibles  for  melting  and 
refining  various  kinds  of  metals,  which  are  sent  to  all 
parts  of  the  world.  Crucible  making  is  a  very  old  art,  we 
know  that  crucibles  were  used  in  the  twelfth  century  by 
the  old  alchemists  when  they  tried  to  transmute  into  gold 
the  six  other  metals  which  were  then  known  to  philoso- 
phers. For  scientific  research  the  crucible  has  occupied  an 
important  place  in  history,  and  it  has  been  aptly  termed 
the  cradle  of  experimental  chemistry.  In  1832  Dr.  Kyan 
established  in  Battersea  his  works  for  preserving  wood 
from  dry  rot  by  a  process  known  as  Kyanizing. 

The  Old  Silk  Factory. 

The  silk  industry  was  brought  to  England  from 
France  by  the  Hugenots  in  1639,  who  settled  in  Wands- 
worth and  Spitalfields,  some  of  those  who  settled  at 
Wandsworth  found  their  way  to  Battersea,  where,  among 
other  industries,  they  set  up  a  silk  factory,  and  some  of 
their  descendants  had  a  factory  at  the  commencement  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  near  the  river,  on  the  site  where 
now  stands  Garton  Hill's  works,  in  York  Road.  At  this 
time  a  large  number  of  hauds  were  employed,  as  it  was 
one  of  the  staple  trades  of  the  district.  The  business  was 
carried  on  by  Messrs.  Curnell,  Tyell  &  Webster.  The 
road  which  runs  down  to  the  river  by  the  side  of  Garton 
Hill's  works  was  known  as  Silk  Factory  Lane  (now  York 
Place).  The  factory  fell  into  decay  on  the  decline  of  the 
silk  trade,  but  down  to  1840  some  of  the  old  looms  and 
silk  weaving  machinery  were  still  intact. 

About  this  date  the  building  was  taken  over  by  Mr. 
Fownes,  and  converted  into  a  glove  factory. 


76  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 


The  Wellington  Works,  Battersea  Bridge. 

In  the  year  1744,  Joseph  Bowley  came  from  Notting- 
ham to  London  and  commenced  the  business  of  soap  and 
candle  making.  London  then,  as  now,  was  looked  upon 
by  men  with  business  aspiration  as  the  Mecca  for  trade 
and  commerce,  so  Joseph  Bowley  set  up  a  factory  at 
Westminster  for  the  purpose  of  manufacturing  soap  and 
candles,  and  for  refining  oil.  After  passing  through  the 
usual  vicissitudes  of  a  new  business,  success  began  to 
loom  ahead,  and  from  a  small  beginning  a  large  business 
grew,  and  continued  to  grow  until  about  1868,  when  the 
works  were  removed  to  Battersea,  as  much  larger  premises 
were  required  for  their  increasing  trade,  the  Wellington 
Works  were  established  near  Battersea  Bridge.  The 
business  has  grown  so  rapidly  during  the  past  forty  years 
that  the  works  now  occupy  nearly  the  whole  of  Wellington 
Road,  and  a  large  river  frontage,  with  all  facilities  for 
loading  and  landing  goods.  The  soap  and  candle  making 
departments  have  been  closed  owing  to  the  rapid  growth 
of  other  departments,  which  now  comprise  oil  refining, 
varnish  making,  motor  spirit  and  naptha  distilling,  also 
colour  and  paint  manufacturing.  The  factory  is  equipped 
with  all  modern  appliances  for  the  blending  and  mixing 
of  all  kinds  of  lubricating  oils  and  paints,  and  the  pro- 
duction of  motor  spirit. 

The  firm  has  a  wide  business  connection,  not  only 
at  home,  but  in  the  Colonies  and  foreign  countries. 

The  present  head  of  the  firm,  Joseph  John  Bowley, 
F.C.S.,  is  a  direct  descendant  of  the  founder,  he  is  an 
associate  member  of  the  Society  of  Chemical  Industry, 
also  a  member  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  ;  he  is  ably 
assisted  in  the  business  by  his  son. 

The  Wellington  Works,  like  many  other  works  where 
inflammable  products  are  used,  has  had  its  "fires,"  the 
two  most  severe  were    in    1883  and  *n    1906,   the  latter 


BATTER  SEA    INDUS  TRIES.  77 

destroyed  nearly  half  the  entire  works  on  the  north  side 
of  Wellington  Road,  and  before  the  fire  was  got  under 
all  the  petroleum  spirit  storage  was  destroyed.  The  fire, 
when  at  its  height,  was  visible  for  many  miles,  as  the  huge 
flames  shot  upwards  from  the  spirit  storage;  the  oils  and 
spirit  also  ran  into  the  river,  making  vast  sheets  of  flame 
upon  the  surface  of  the  water,  and,  as  the  reporters  said, 
Messrs.  Bowley  had  the  distinction  of  having  set  the 
Thames  on  fire. 

Wicker  Work. 

At  one  time  considerable  trade  was  done  in  Battersea 
in  wicker  work,  osiers  grew  plentifully  on  the  river  banks, 
which  were  known  as  the  osier  grounds.  Many  of  these 
osiers  were  sold,  in  the  by-gone  time,  for  church  purposes, 
and  were  called  church  osiers. 


Fownes'  Glove  Factory. 

This  industry  was  established  at  Battersea  in  1777  by 
Mr.  John  Fownes,  who  was  a  prominent  citizen  of  Battersea 
during  the  eighteenth  century,  he  lived  at  Poplar  House, 
which  stood  in  Falcon  L,ane,  near  to  where  Hunt  and 
Cole's  shop  now  stands.  The  factory  and  grounds 
occupied  the  greater  portion  of  one  side  of  the  lane. 
The  importance  of  these  works  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
in  the  busy  season  upwards  of  six  hundred  hands  were 
employed.  When  the  land  in  Falcon  Lane  became 
valuable  for  building  purposes  the  works  were  removed 
to  the  old  silk  factory  in  York  Road,  and  some  years  later 
the  business  left  Battersea,  being  transferred  to  Worcester. 
A  small  branch  of  the  business  is  still  carried  on  (1913) 
in  Battersea,  where  many  hands  are  employed.  Fownes 
have  a  large  warehouse  at  71  Gresham  Street,  from  which 
their  gloves  are  exported  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  for  the 
name  "  Fownes  "  stands  high  in  the  glove  trade. 


78  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

In   1847  Mr.  Fownes  gave  the  freehold  site  for  the 
building  of  Christ  Church. 


Brunei/s  Saw  Miu,. 

Sir  Mark  Brunei  had  his  veneer  works  and  saw  mills 
near  the  old  Battersea  Bridge;  early  in  the  nineteenth 
century  these  works  are  thus  described  by  a  writer  in 
the  British  Register: — 

"  But  a  few  yards  from  the  toll-gate  of  the  bridge,  on 
the  western  side  of  the  road,  stand  the  work-shops  of  that 
eminent  mechanic,  Mr.  Brunei,  who  has  effected  as  much 
for  the  mechanic  arts  as  any  man  of  his  time.  The 
wonderful  apparatus  in  the  Dockyard  at  Portsmouth,  by 
which  he  cuts  blocks  for  the  Navy  with  a  precision  and 
expedition  that  astonish  every  beholder,  secures  him  a 
monument  of  fame,  and  eclipses  all  rivalry.  His  work- 
shops are  free  from  ostentation.  In  a  small  building  on 
the  left,  I  was  attracted  by  the  action  of  a  steam-engine 
of  a  sixteen-horse,  or  eighty  men,  power,  and  was  ushered 
into  a  room  where  it  turned,  by  means  of  bands,  four 
wheels  fringed  with  fine  saws,  two  of  them  eighteen  feet 
in  diameter,  and  two  of  nine  feet.  These  circular  saws 
were  used  for  the  purpose  of  separating  veneers,  and  a 
more  perfect  operation  was  never  performed.  I  beheld 
planks  of  mahogany  and  rosewood  sawed  into  veneers 
the  sixteenth  of  an  inch  thick,  with  a  precision  and 
grandeur  of  action  which  really  was  sublime !  The  same 
power  at  once  turned  these  tremendous  saws,  and  drew 
their  work  upon  them.  A  large  sheet  of  veneer,  nine  or 
ten  feet  long  by  two  feet  broad,  was  thus  separated  in 
about  ten  minutes ;  so  even,  and  so  uniform,  that  it 
appeared  more  like  a  perfect  work  of  nature  than  one  of 
human  art!  The  force  of  these  saws  may  be  conceived 
when  it  is  known  that  the  large  ones  revolve  sixty-five 
times  in  a  minute." 


BATTERSEA    INDUSTRIES.  79 

The  saw  mills  and  works  were  destroyed  by  fire 
in  1814. 

Shoe   Factory. 

In  1 81 2  a  shoe  factory  stood  on  the  banks  of  the  river, 
near  Battersea  creek,  where  discharged  soldiers  and  others 
were  taught  the  trade  of  shoe  making.  The  factory  is 
thus  described  by  a  writer  in  the  Monthly  Magazine  : — 

"  At  Battersea  there  is  a  manufactory  of  shoes,  full  of 
ingenuity,  and  which,  in  regard  to  the  subdivision  of 
labour,  brings  this  fabric  on  a  level  with  the  oft-admired 
manufactory  of  pins.  Every  step  in  it  is  effected  by  the 
most  elegant  and  precise  machinery  ;  while  as  each  opera- 
tion is  performed  by  one  hand,  so  each  shoe  passes  through 
twenty-five  hands,  who  finish  from  the  hide,  as  supplied 
by  the  currier,  a  hundred  pair  of  strong  and  well-finished 
shoes  per  day.  All  the  details  are  performed  by  ingenious 
applications  of  the  mechanic  powers,  and  all  the  parts 
are  characterised  by  precision,  uniformity,  and  accuracy. 
As  each  man  performs  but  one  step  in  the  process,  which 
implies  no  knowledge  of  what  is  done  by  those  who  go 
before  or  follow  him,  so  the  persons  employed  are  not 
shoemakers,  but  wounded  soldiers,  who  are  able  to  learn 
their  respective  duties  in  a  few  hours." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  system  of  each  work- 
man making  one  part  of  a  shoe  only,  which  was  com- 
menced in  the  American  shoe  factories  a  few  years  ago, 
and  has  been  adopted  in  the  British  manufactories,  was 
carried  out  in  the  Battersea  shoe  factory  one  hundred 
years  ago. 

Battersea  Soap  Works. 

In  1 8 13  an  extensive  soap  factory  was  built  at  a  cost 
of  ^60,000.  It  stood  near  the  bridge,  facing  the  river, 
the  factory  was    fitted  with    the    latest    machinery    and 


80  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

appliances  for  soap  making,  but  had  not  been  working 
long  before  great  objection  was  taken  by  many  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Battersea  and  Chelsea  to  the  noxious  fumes 
and  gases  arising  from  the  works,  and  an  indictment 
against  the  continuance  of  the  manufactory  was  brought 
in  the  Law  Courts.  The  Judge,  in  summing  up  the  case, 
said, "It  was  to  be  regretted  that  a  less  polite  and  populous 
site  had  not  been  chosen  for  such  a  factory,  useful  manu- 
factories should  be  fostered,  but  it  would  be  sacrificing 
the  end  of  living  to  the  means,  if  they  were  allowed  to 
annoy  whole  districts  by  their  smoke,  noise  or  effluvia." 
The  verdict  went  against  the  owner,  and  the  works 
were  closed  down.  Shortly  after  the  proprietor  became 
bankrupt. 


Price's  Candle  Works. 
The  Growth  of  a  Great  Industry. 

Battersea  is  the  home  of  the  candle  industry,  for 
although  Price's  Candle  Co.,  che  pioneers  of  the  candle 
trade,  commenced  their  business  at  Vauxhall  nearly  one 
hundred  years  ago,  the  great  development  of  the  business 
has  taken  place  since  the  transfer  of  the  works  to  Battersea 
nearly  seventy  years  ago,  and  its  growth  has  been  on  a 
par  with  the  progress  of  the  science  and  art  of  candle 
making,  until  at  the  present  day  their  goods  are  exported 
to  all  parts  of  the  globe,  and  "Price's"  have  established 
oversea  branches  in  South  Africa  and  China,  and  are 
now  the  largest  candle  makers  in  the  world. 

It  was  in  1833  that  the  first  "stearic"  candles  were 
made.  The  inventor,  a  Frenchman,  did  not  attain  much 
success,  and  it  was  not  until  some  years  later  that  they 
became  of  commercial  value,  when  M.  de  Milly  founded 
his  "  Stearic  Candle  Works  "  in  Paris.  Mr.  James  Soames 
invented  a  device  for  separating  cocoa-nut  oil  into  its 
solid    and    liquid    components.      This    patent   was    pur- 


BATTER  SEA    INDUSTRIES.  81 

chased  by  Mr.  William  Wilson  and  his  partner,  candle 
makers,  trading  as  E.  Price  &  Co.,  and  it  was  first  used 
by  this  firm  for  the  production  of  candles  and  lamp  oil. 
The  plaited  wick  was  patented  in  France  in  1825  by 
Cambaceres.  By  the  use  of  this  wick  the  need  for  snuffing 
candles  is  obviated,  for  during  combustion  the  wick 
becomes  untwisted  so  that  the  lighted  end  is  bent  outside 
the  flame,  and,  meeting  the  air,  is  completely  consumed. 
In  1840,  Mr.  J.  P.  Wilson,  of  Price's,  invented  an  improved 
self-snuffing  candle,  which  was  known  as  the  "Composite," 
so  called  because  of  the  mixture  of  material  in  its  manu- 
facture. At  this  time  Price's  had  established  steam  mills 
at  Ceylon  for  crushing  cocoa-nuts  to  extract  the  oil  for 
their  London  factory,  and  a  great  impetus  had  been  given 
to  the  candle  trade  by  a  change  in  the  tariffs,  improved 
machinery,  and  the  advent  of  steam  navigation.  Another 
advance  in  the  making  of  candles  was  made  by  Messrs. 
Blundell,  Spence  &  Co.,  of  Hull,  but  as  the  candles  made 
by  this  new  process  were  of  a  dark  colour,  they  did  not 
come  into  general  use. 

In  1842  a  discovery  was  patented  by  Price's,  in  the 
names  of  W.  C.  Jones  and  G.  F.  Wilson,  which  allowed 
palm  oil  and  greases  to  be  made  into  a  white  and  inodorous 
material  for  candles. 

The  manufacture  of  night  lights  (or  "  mortars,"  as 
they  were  originally  called)  was  begun  in  1843,  and  in 
1848  the  Company  acquired  a  patent  held  by  Mr.  G.  M. 
Clarke,  and  in  1849  the  night-light  business  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Child— hence  the  well-known  name  "Child's  Night 
Lights."  This  branch  of  the  business,  like  that  of  candle- 
making,  has  seen  many  changes  since  its  introduction. 
Beginning  with  the  poured  lights,  consisting  of  mixed 
fats,  and  passing  on  to  the  moulded  coco-stearin  lights, 
introduced  as  "New  Patent  Night  Lights"  in  1853,  by 
Mr.  George  F.  Wilson,  they  then  reached  a  paraffin 
period,  in  which  the  "  Royal  Castle"  and  "  Palmitine  Star" 
night  lights  made  their  appearance. 


82  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

The  Belmont  Works,  which  had  been  established  at 
Vauxhall  under  the  name  of  Edward  Price  &  Co.,  con- 
tinued to  prosper  to  such  an  extent  that  in  1847  the 
business  was  formed  into  a  company  with  a  capital  of 
^500,000.  In  1850  James  Young  invented  what  was 
known  as  paraffin  wax,  and  Price's  was  the  first  firm  to 
use  it  in  the  manufacture  of  candles,  these  candles  were  of 
a  much  superior  quality  to  any  others  then  on  the  market. 
The  total  imports  of  palm  oil  into  England,  which  amount- 
ed to  nineteen  thousand  eight  hundred  tons  in  1840,  rose 
to  about  fifty  thousand  tons  in  1871,  and  are  now  in  the 
region  of  seventy-five  thousand  tons.  This  increase  of 
importation  was  undoubtedly  due  in  very  great  part  to  the 
use  of  the  oil  for  the  manufacture  of  candles,  and  it  is  this 
trade  which  presents  to  the  African  chiefs  and  kings  along 
the  West  Coast  the  motive  that  they  can  best  understand 
for  the  abandonment  of  the  slave  trade.  The  lesson  is 
learnt  that  subjects  are  of  more  value  to  their  rulers  when 
collecting  palm  oil  than  when  sold  into  slavery.  In  1843 
Messrs.  Price's  opened  a  small  factory  in  Battersea,  which 
was  run  in  conjunction  with  the  one  at  Vauxhall  until 
the  end  of  1864,  when  the  Vauxhall  works  were  closed, 
a  freehold  was  purchased  at  York  Place,  and  the  present 
Battersea  factory  erected. 

In  the  year  1854  the  Company  entered  upon  the 
manufacture  of  household  soap,  and  they  have  gradually 
developed  this  branch  of  their  business  until  they  have 
now  become  makers  of  all  kinds  of  household,  mill, 
laundry,  soft,  and  disinfecting  (carbolic)  soaps. 

In  motor  oils  they  also  do  an  extensive  business.  In 
1912  the  Company  acquired  the  large,  and  very  old  estab- 
lished business  of  Charles  Price  &  Co.,  and  their  extensive 
works  at  Belvedere,  in  order  to  secure  greater  accommoda- 
tion to  meet  the  demands  of  increasing  business  in  lubri- 
cating oils,  etc. 

Several  inventions  of  an  important  character  in 
machinery  and  the  method  of  making  candles  have  been 


BATTERSEA    INDUSTRIES.  83 

patented  by  Messrs.  Price  during  the  past  forty  years, 
which  have  not  only  resulted  in  large  increases  in  their 
own  business,  but  have  contributed  to  the  advancement 
of  the  candle-making  trade  in  general. 

By  Act  of  Parliament,  in  1857,  the  capital  of  the 
Company  had  been  increased  to  ;£i, 000,000.  The  premises 
have  been  enlarged  and  additions  built  from  time  to  time 
as  the  business  grew,  until  now  (1913)  the  ground  area  is 
over  fourteen  acres,  and  the  firm  employs  close  upon  one 
thousand  seven  hundred  hands,  while  the  total  number  of 
employees  at  Liverpool,  Manchester,  and  Battersea,  is 
over  three  thousand. 

In  1 87 1  Mr.  John  Hodges,  foreman  of  the  paraffin 
department,  discovered  a  method  for  producing  white 
paraffin  from  paraffin  scale,  without  using  spirit  of  any 
kind. 

Price's  Company  look  after  the  welfare  of  their  work- 
people ;  at  Vauxhall,  in  the  early  forties,  they  established 
a  night  school  for  the  improvement  of  their  workers. 
This  was  the  first  factory  school  in  England,  and  did 
some  good  work  at  a  time  when  the  education  of  the 
people  was  being  neglected.  At  the  present  day  they 
are  doing  much  in  the  interest  of  their  employees  at 
their  works  near  Liverpool,  which  were  opened  in  1853. 
Here  the  company  built  one  hundred  and  forty  cottages 
and  a  school,  they  also  built  a  church  and  a  lecture  hall, 
and  have  recently  added  a  library  and  a  cottage  hospital. 
At  Battersea  they  established  the  "  Workers'  Pension 
Fund,"  the  money  being  provided  by  the  Company.  They 
also  inaugurated  the  Belmont  Institute,  which  provides 
classes,  library,  and  recreation  clubs,  also  sewing  and 
singing  classes  lor  girls,  all  of  which  have  been  a  source 
of  pleasure  and  profit  to  their  workers. 

From  such  a  small  beginning  nearly  a  century  ago, 
this  marvellous  progress  has  been  made  in  a  great  indus- 
try, from  the  primitive  "dip"  to  the  beautifully  finished 
candle  of  th«  present  day. 


84  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 


The  Starch  Factory. 

In  1840  Orlando  Jones  invented  a  process  by  which 
starch  could  be  manufactured  from  rice.  By  this  process 
a  much  better  starch  was  obtained,  both  as  to  colour  and 
purity,  and  at  less  cost  than  by  the  old  method.  Before 
this  invention,  starch  had  been  made  from  potatoes,  maize, 
and  wheat ;  starch  made  from  wheat  is  the  oldest  known 
process,  for  Pliny  mentions  it  in  his  Natural  History  two 
centuries  ago.  When  ruffles  and  frills  and  full-bottomed 
wigs  were  the  fashion,  large  quantities  of  wheat  starch 
were  used.  There  are  about  forty-five  varieties  of  rice. 
Most  of  these  rice  plants  originated  in  India,  and  from  that 
country  have  spread  over  the  whole  of  Asia,  and  to  other 
parts  of  the  world.  Orlando  Jones'  invention  consisted  of 
the  treatment  of  rice  by  an  alkaline  solution,  the  alkali 
being  used  in  such  a  way  as  to  dissolve  the  gluten  without 
in  any  way  destroying  the  property  of  the  starch.  In  1848 
the  firm  of  Orlando  Jones  &  Co.  removed  from  their  works 
at  Whitechapel  and  built  a  factory  in  the  York  Road,  with 
a  frontage  to  the  river.  The  site  is  now  occupied  by 
Dawney's  iron  and  steel  works. 

The  starch  business  became  an  extensive  one,  employ- 
ing between  two  hundred  and  three  hundred  hands.  The 
manufacture  of  a  new  laundry  blue,  by  a  process  invented 
by  one  of  the  managers,  was  added  to  the  business  in  1896, 
and  attained  a  large  sale.  The  business  was  sold  to 
Messrs.  Coleman,  mustard  manufacturers,  and  transferred 
to  their  works  at  Norwich  in  1901,  when  the  Battersea 
works  were  closed  down. 


The  Nine  Elms  Gas  Works. 

Battersea  had  some  connection  with  the  early  intro- 
duction of  gas  for  general  lighting,  for  it  was  in  1857  that 


BATTERSEA    INDUSTRIES.  85 

the  old  London  Gas  Light  Company  began  the  making  of 
gas  at  Nine  Elms  Lane,  in  some  new  works  they  had 
erected.  The  Company  had  been  formed  in  1833,  and  had 
made  gas  in  their  works  at  Vauxhail ;  the  new  works  at 
Battersea,  the  largest  in  England  at  that  date,  marked  a 
great  advance  in  gas  manufacture.  There  were  five  retort 
houses  and  eight  purifiers,  with  four  gas  holders,  which 
would  receive  six  million  feet  of  gas.  The  main  entrance 
gate  was  near  the  old  mill-pond  bridge,  there  were  also 
three  other  entrances.  The  number  of  men  employed 
during  the  winter  season  was  upwards  of  four  hundred. 
This  number  was  increased  in  later  years,  when  the 
extension  of  the  works,  and  improved  machinery,  greatly 
increased  the  output  of  gas. 

In  1865  an  explosion  of  gas  took  place  at  the  works, 
by  which  ten  men  lost  their  lives,  and  a  great  many  of 
the  workmen  were  injured,  much  damage  being  done  to 
the  adjacent  property.  John  Timbs,  in  his  "  History  of 
Inventions,"  thus  describes  the  accident:  "On  October 
31st,  1865,  at  the  London  Gas-light  Works,  Battersea,  a 
gas  holder  exploded,  killing  many  workmen.  This  holder 
was  one  of  the  largest  in  London,  being  one  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  in  diameter,  sixty  feet  high,  and  as  the  side 
plates  were  very  thick  the  force  of  the  explosion  must 
have  been  great,  for  when  the  holder  burst,  there  was 
an  immense  rush  of  gas,  which  instantly  caught  fire,  and 
shot  up  in  a  vast  column  of  flame.  The  concussion  ripped 
open  another  gas-holder,  when  the  escaping  gas  caught 
fire,  and  meeting  the  flames  of  the  first  gas-holder,  the 
fire  rolled  away  in  one  vast  expansive  flame ;  many  of  the 
houses  in  the  vicinity  were  shattered  to  pieces." 

Street  gas-lighting  does  not  date  very  far  back,  being 
first  used  for  lighting  the  streets  of  London  in  1807,  and  as 
late  as  1826  it  was  not  in  general  use,  for  it  was  strongly 
opposed,  as  a  great  public  danger.  When  it  was  proposed 
to  light  the  House  of  Commons  with  gas,  a  member 
gravely  moved  that  the  pipe  which  conveyed  the  gas  to 


86  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

the  burners  should  be  fixed  three  inches  from  the  walls, 
as  a  precaution  against  fire.  In  1859,  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment was  passed  to  prevent  gas  works  being  erected 
within  ten  miles  of  London. 


There  are  other  industries  of  note  in  Battersea,  but 
as  they  are,  comparatively,  of  modern  growth,  they  have 
not  been  included  in  this  history. 


CHAPTER    XI. 
BATTERSEA    AND    BOTANY. 

BOOKS  on  botany,  published  in  the  eighteenth  and 
early  nineteenth  centuries,  show  that  many  varieties 
of  indigenous  plants  and  flowers  grew  in  Battersea 
about  the  fields,  hedges,  and  highways.  In  1820  William 
Pamplin,  who  was  a  noted  florist  in  his  day,  had  his 
nurseries  and  planting  grounds  on  Lavender  Hill,  where  he 
kept  a  collection  of  specimens  of  plants  and  flowers  which 
grew  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Battersea,  many  of  which  he 
supplied  to  some  of  the  best  families  about  London.  The 
following  list  of  local  plants  and  flowers  and  their  locality, 
shows  an  interesting  aspect  of  Battersea  in  by-gone 
times. 

This  list  of  indigenous  plants  is  largely  compiled  from 
the  works  of  Sir  J.  E.  Smith,  who  published  his  work  on 
"English  Botany"  in  thirty-six  volumes,  about  1819. 
The  technical  and  Latin  terms  and  names  are  omitted. 

Annual  Yellow  Cress. — Grew  in  damp  low  ground  near 
Vauxhall,  very  rare. 

Arrow  Head. — Grew  by  the  Thames  and  in  the  ditches 
near  Battersea  Fields. 

Blood-veined  Dock. — Though  rare,  this  was  found  on 
the  bank  of  a  ditch  between  the  nursery  and  the  footpath 
on  Lavender  Hill. 

Broad  Hedge  Mustard. — Was  found  in  waste  ground 
about  Battersea.  Ray  says  "  It  came  up  abundantly  after 
the  Great  Fire  of  London,  in  the  years  1667  and  1668." 

Broad-leaved  Helleborine. — Rather  rare,  but  was  found 
on  the  banks  of  Lord  Spencer's  Park. 


88  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

Brookweed  or  Water  Pimpernel. — Rare,  but  has  been 
found  in  a  marshy  piece  of  land  near  the  footpath  leading 
from  the  Red  House  to  Battersea. 

Bur  Mary  gold. — This  grew  in  great  profusion  in  Batter- 
sea  Fields. 

Butter  Bur. — Grew  in  the  marshes  by  the  Thames  side 
at  Battersea. 

Cat  Mint. — Not  common,  was  found  on  the  banks  of  a 
field  adjoining  a  nursery  on  Lavender  Hill. 

Celandine. — Was  found  in  hedge  banks  near  Lavender 
Hill  and  Battersea  Fields. 

Common  Bank  Carex.—Was  found  growing  abundantly 
in  Battersea  Fields. 

Common  Carex. — This  was  found  growing  in  a  brook 
at  the  foot  of  Lavender  Hill. 

Common  Hemlock. — Was  found  in  the  lane  running 
from  Clapham  Common  to  Lavender  Hill,  also  by  the 
footpath  from  Battersea  Bridge  to  the  Red  House. 

Common  Skull  Cap. — Was  found  by  the  side  of  ditches 
in  Battersea  Fields. 

Common  Tway-blade. — Was  found  in  the  meadows  at 
foot  of  Lavender  Hill,  near  a  footpath  leading  to  Balham. 

Corn  Gromwell. — Not  common,  at  times  was  seen  in 
the  Battersea  cornfields. 

Corn  Salad.— -Was  found  on  dry  banks  near  Lavender 
Sweep. 

Cowslip. — Plentiful  in  fields  on  Lavender  Hill. 

Cut-leaved  Nettle. — Very  rare,  was  found  in  cultivated 
fields  about  Lavender  Hill. 

English  Mercury. — Could  be  found  in  hedgebanks  and 
in  cultivated  ground  about  Battersea. 

Enchanter's  Nightshade. — Very  uncommon,  grew  in 
shady  lanes,  was  found  in  the  lane  leading  from  the 
Fields  to  the  Prince's  Head  Tavern. 

Fetid  Goosefoot.  —  Rare,  but  was  sometimes  seen 
between  Lavender  Hill  and  Wandsworth ;  it  is  a  weed 
which   grows  by  the  roadside. 


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BATTERSEA    AND   BOTANY.  89 

Fine-leaved  Water  Dropwort. — Grew  in  the  large  ditches 
and  pools  in  Battersea  Fields. 

Flowering  Rush. — Was  plentiful  in  ditches  between 
Battersea  Bridge  and  Vauxhall.     A  very  handsome  plant. 

Great  Yellow  Loose  Strife.  —  Found  in  ditches  in 
Battersea  Fields,  towards  the  Red  House. 

Great  Water  Dock. — Was  to  be  found  in  the  wide 
ditches  about  Battersea  Fields. 

Great  Water  Scorpion  Grass. — Was  found  in  ditches 
and  the  marshy  land  near  Battersea  Fields. 

Gree?i  Panic  Grass. — This  was  rare,  sometimes  found 
between  the  Bridge  Road  and  the  Nine  Kims,  near  the 
footpath. 

Hedge  Mustard.  —  Grew  on  waste  ground  in  dry 
positions  on  the  L,atchmoor  Common. 

Hemlock  Dropwort. — Grew  on  the  banks  of  the  Thames 
near  Battersea  Bridge,  close  to  the  Chelsea  Waterworks. 

Horse  Radish. — Seen  often  in  Battersea  Fields  and 
Wandsworth  Common. 

Ivy -leaved  Snapdragon. — Grows  on  old  damp  walls ; 
was  found  at  Battersea,  Clapham,  and  Wandsworth. 

Lesser  Snapdragon. — A  pretty  annual  plant  which  was 
found  in  the  Battersea  corn-fields. 

Loose  Pa?iic  Grass. — Found  on  moist,  arable  land  near 
Battersea. 

Marsh  Arrow  Grass. — Plentiful  in  the  marshes  between 
Battersea  Bridge  and  the  Red  House. 

Pere?mial  Dove's-fool  Cranes-bill.— Found  on  the  banks 
near  Battersea  Fields.    Not  common. 

Remote  Carex. — By  no  means  common,  has  been  found 
in  the  brook  near  Lavender  Hill. 

Rough  Panic  Grass. — Very  rare,  Sir  J.  E.  Smith 
found  some  in  Battersea  Fields. 

Round-leaved  Cranes-bill.  —  Rare,  was  found  on  the 
banks  near  the  Lavender  Hill  nursery,  and  by  the  roadside 
near  the  Prince's  Head. 

Self-heal. — The    white   flowered   variety  seldom   met 


90  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

with,  but  has  been  found  in  the  meadows  about  Lavender 
Hill. 

Shilling  Cranes-bill. — This  was  not  common,  but  could 
be  found  in  a  lane  leading  from  Clapham  Common  to 
Lavender  Hill. 

Small  Marsh  Valerian. — Found  in  the  moist  meadows 
about  Battersea  Fields. 

Smooth-headed  Poppy . — Very  uncommon,  a  weed  which 
grew  in  the  gardens  on  Lavender  Hill. 

Smooth  Naked  Horse-tail. — Grew  plentifully  in  Batter- 
sea  Fields. 

Snapdragon. — Very  rare;  some  was  found  in  arable 
land  on  Lavender  Hill. 

Star  of  Bethlehem. — This  was  found  on  a  piece  of 
waste  pasture  land  near  the  Thames,  west  of  the  Red 
House. 

Tall  Red  Rattle. — Rare,  not  often  seen,  sometimes 
found  in  the  moist  meadows  near  the  Red  House. 

Triangular  Club  Rush. — This  was  found  on  the  banks 
of  the  Thames  between  Battersea  and  Vauxhall. 

Upright  Annual  Broom  Grass. — Was  seen  growing  on 
an  old  wall  near  Battersea  Church. 

Water  Aloe. — Could  be  gathered  from  a  wide  brook 
near  the  foot  of  Lavender  Hill,  also  in  a  pond  opposite 
"The  Five  Houses,"  Wandsworth  Common. 

Water  Hemlock. — Grew  in  the  ditches  about  Battersea. 
Rather  rare. 

Water  Plantain. — Found  in  ponds  and  marshes,  but 
required  diligent  search,  has  been  found  on  Lavender  Hill 
near  the  milestone. 

Water  Violet. — Was  found  in  the  principal  ditches 
near  Battersea,  and  was  plentiful  on  Latchmoor  Com- 
mon. 

White  Saxifrage. — Was  found  in  meadows  between 
Battersea  and  Wandsworth. 

Wild  Endive. — The  white  variety  is  very  rare,  but  has 
been  found  in  Battersea  Fields. 


BATTERSEA    AND   BOTANY.  91 

Yellow  Cress. — Grew  near  the  Thames  at  Battersea, 
rather  common. 

Yellow  Goals  Beard. — Found  in  the  meadows  between 
Battersea  Fields  and  Lavender  Hill. 

Yellow  Marsh  Dock.— Rather  rare,  was  found  on  the 
inundated  parts  of  Latchmoor  Common. 

Yellow  Oat  Grass. — Grew  in  the  footpath  from  Batter- 
sea Bridge  to  Lavender  Hill.     Not  common. 


CHAPTER    XII. 
BATTERSEA    BEQUESTS. 

THE  old-time  citizens  of  Battersea  who  could  claim 
to  be  wealthy,  did  not  leave  much  of  their  wealth 
to  be  enjoyed  by  their  fellow  citizens  who  were  not 
so  well  endowed  with  this  world's  goods.  Old  records 
show  that  a  number  of  bequests  were  made  from  time  to 
time,  nearly  all  of  which  are  conspicuously  small,  but  in 
considering  this,  it  must  be  remembered,  that  when  many 
of  those  bequests  were  made,  it  was  not  the  age  of 
millionaires,  money  was  not  so  much  centralised  as  it  is  at 
the  present  time,  fortunes  were  not  so  large,  and  many  of 
our  best  families  lived  a  more  simple  life.  There  was  little 
globe  trotting,  or  hunting  of  big  game  in  those  days, 
money  had  not  the  uses  it  has  now,  therefore  gentlemen 
retired  from  commerce  on  much  smaller  fortunes  than 
they  do  in  the  present  day,  and  when  they  made  their 
wills  the  bequests  were  smaller.  More  generosity  was 
also  dispensed  during  the  lifetime  of  wealthy  people,  as 
the  ties  of  life  between  the  rich  and  the  poor  were  much 
closer  than  is  the  case  now,  when  money  is  often  hoarded 
up  by  its  owner  during  the  whole  of  his  lifetime,  nothing 
being  dispensed  until  his  death.  Then,  again,  what  was 
looked  upon  as  a  considerable  fortune  one  hundred  years 
ago  would  be  thought  a  small  one  in  the  present  age.  The 
value  of  money  is  constantly  changing,  and,  dealing  with 
the  last  century,  these  features  must  be  considered  when 
comparing  old-time  bequests  with  those  of  the  present 
day. 


BATTERSEA    BEQUESTS.  93 


John   Banks    Bequest. 

By  the  will  of  John  Banks,  dated  March  21st,  1716, 
the  sum  of  £2  10s.  each  was  left  to  five  poor  men  and 
five  poor  women  as  an  annuity  ;  the  conditions  were,  resi- 
dence in  the  parish  of  Battersea,  applicants  to  be  over 
forty  years  of  age,  and  nomination  by  a  ratepayer  of 
the  parish.  The  money  was  left  in  trust  to  the  Haber- 
dashers' Company,  who  had  to  make  a  half-yearly  payment 
of  the  pension  at  Haberdashers'  Hall,  and  the  pensioners 
were  to  be  provided  with  a  dinner  at  the  cost  of  the  Com- 
pany. The  payments  were  to  continue  for  the  lifetime  of 
the  recipients,  unless  valid  reasons  could  be  shewn  for  its 
discontinuance. 


Ann  Cooper   Bequest. 

Ann  Cooper,  by  her  will  dated  June  22nd,  1720,  left 
£300  in  trust  for  the  purchase  of  land,  the  rental  to  be 
employed  for  the  relief  of  so  many  poor  persons  of  the 
parish  as  the  trustees  should  appoint,  the  money  could 
also  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  apprenticing  poor  children 
to  trades.  The  nett  income  of  this  charity  is  now  dis- 
tributed in  money  gifts  of  five  shillings  each  to  poor 
persons  belonging  to  Battersea. 


John    Edmonds   Bequest. 

In  1743  John  Edmonds  left  three  houses  situated  in 
the  parish  of  St.  Mary,  Colechurch,  the  houses  forming 
part  of  Bird-in-Hand  Alley  in  that  parish.  The  income 
from  these  houses  was  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of 
apprenticing  as  many  poor  boys  belonging  to  the  parish 
of  Battersea  and  Colechurch  as  the  money  would  allow. 


94  HISTORIC    BATTER  SEA 

Mark   Beu,   Bequest. 

In  1789  Mark  Bell  left  ^1,000  upon  trust  for  the 
benefit  of  the  minister  of  the  dissenting  meeting  house, 
Battersea,  and  his  successors.  The  testator  also  left  ,£200 
upon  like  trust  for  the  benefit  of  the  minister  for  the  time 
being  of  an  independent  meeting  house  at  Beverley,  in 
Yorkshire.  The  dividend  from  this  first  investment  is  now 
about  £40,  which  is  received  by  the  minister  of  the  Baptist 
Chapel,  York  Road. 

Rebecca  Wood   Bequest. 

The  sum  of  ^"200  was  left  by  this  lady  in  1796,  the 
interest  of  which  was  to  be  divided  among  twenty-four 
poor  families  living  in  Battersea.  The  money  was  to  be 
expended  in  the  purchase  of  bread,  coal,  and  candles,  and 
distributed  every  seventh  day  of  January. 


Haldimand   Bequest. 

Anthony  Haldimand,  in  1815,  left  by  will  ^"ioo  to  be 
invested  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  of  Battersea.  The 
interest  on  this  sum  is  now  incorporated  with  Rebecca 
Wood's  Charity. 

John   Pavin   Bequest. 

John  Pavin  died  in  1820,  leaving  by  will  the  sum  of 
^1,000  in  trust,  to  provide  coal,  candles,  bread,  and  six 
yards  of  flannel,  to  be  distributed  every  year,  on  the  25th 
of  December,  amongst  forty-four  widows  residing  at  Nine 
Elms  and  Battersea  Fields,  the  recipients  to  be  selected 
by  the  vicar  and  churchwardens,  who  were  the  trustees. 
He  also  left  the  sum  of  ^1,000  divided  as  follows:  one 
fourth  of  the  amount  to  be  applied  for  the  benefit  of  St. 


BATTERSEA    BEQUESTS.  95 

John's  School ;  one  fourth  part  to  be  expended  in  the 
purchase  of  bread,  which  was  to  be  distributed  every 
Sunday  at  the  Battersea  Parish  Church  ;  one  fourth  part  to 
be  expended  in  the  purchase  of  tea  and  sugar  for  the  aged 
women  in  the  Battersea  Workhouse ;  and  the  remain- 
ing fourth  part  to  be  applied  for  the  benefit  of  the  aged 
men  in  the  workhouse,  who  were  in  the  habit  of  attending 
divine  service  in  the  Parish  Church. 


Thomas   Archer    Bequest. 

By  the  will  dated  August  23rd,  1827,  the  testator  left 
the  sum  of  ,£100,  in  trust,  for  the  Battersea  poor.  The 
interest  on  this  amount  is  given  in  sums  of  five  shillings 
to  persons  selected  by  the  Minister  and  Churchwardens 
(the  trustees). 

The   Buck   and   Perkin   Bequest. 

The  following  entry  appears  in  an  old  cash  book 
relating  to  this  bequest  to  Battersea: — "1828.  Messrs. 
Buck  &  Perkin,  of  Wandsworth,  gave  to  this  parish  the 
sum  of  ^500  for  the  purpose  of  repairing  that  portion  of 
the  new  road  within  this  parish  across  Battersea  and 
Wandsworth  Cynmon,  and  Nightingale  Lane,  which  road 
was  made  by  the  said  two  persons."  This  sum  of  ^500 
was  invested  in  Consols. 


John   Sheweu*   Bequest. 

The  testator  left  the  amount  of  £220  in  September, 
1829,  which  was  to  be  applied  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor 
during  his  sister  Mary's  lifetime.  In  an  old  register 
relating  to  the  parochial  charities  of  Battersea  it  is  shown 
that  ^40  a  year  was  expended  in  bread,  coal,  and  clothing, 
from  1835  until  the  death  of  Mary  Shewell  in  1842. 


96  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 


John  Rapp  Bequest. 

John  Rapp  left  £200  on  December  23rd,  1830,  the 
proceeds  of  the  sale  of  his  estate,  which  amount  was  to 
be  invested  in  three  per  cent.  Consols,  the  interest  to  be 
given  annually  to  four  poor  men  and  four  women  at  the 
discretion  of  the  Vicar  and  Churchwardens  on  Christ- 
mas Day,  the  amount  receivable  being  fifteen  shillings 
each. 

Tritton   Bequest. 

Henry  Tritton,  in  1838,  left  ^"1,000  invested  in  public 
funds,  the  dividend  to  be  paid  to  the  minister  for  the 
time  being  of  the  Battersea  Baptist  Chapel,  York  Road. 
The  amount  of  interest  on  this  money  is  about  ^40 
per  annum. 

Constable   Bequest. 

John  Charles  Constable,  in  1849,  left  £50  to  the  Vicar  of 
Battersea,  to  be  invested,  the  interest  to  provide  a  dinner 
every  Christmas  Day  for  eight  poor  families,  inhabitants 
of  the  parish.  The  money  now  amounts  to  £1  16s.  a  year 
and  is  distributed  in  money,  five  shillings  being  given 
each  family  in  lieu  of  a  dinner. 


Rev.   Edwin  Thompson   Bequest. 

This  testator  bequeathed,  in  1872,  one  quarter  of  his 
fortune  in  trust  to  the  Churchwardens  of  St.  John's 
Church,  Battersea,  to  invest  and  distribute  the  annual 
income  among  the  poor  of  the  parish  in  perpetuity,  the 
money  to  be  expended  in  the  best  way  the  trustees 
see  fit. 


BATTERSEA    BEQUESTS.  97 


Juhr  Bequest. 

Henry  Juer  made  a  considerable  fortune  out  of  fruit 
growing.  His  orchard  covered  a  large  tract  of  land  near 
the  river.  When  he  died,  in  1874,  he  left  ^500,  free  of 
legacy  duty,  to  invest  for  the  benefit  of  the  aged  poor  of 
Battersea,  the  Churchwardens  of  the  Parish  Church  to  be 
the  trustees.  The  interest  on  the  money  was  to  be  given 
to  twelve  needy  persons,  not  under  sixty  years  of  age,  the 
money  to  be  distributed  on  February  1st,  the  anniversary 
of  his  birthday.  The  recipients  to  be  different  persons 
each  year,  and  selected  by  the  Overseers  and  Church- 
wardens. 

Edward   Dagnau,  Bequest. 

This  testator  died  in  1881,  leaving  ^"ioo  in  trust  of 
Churchwardens,  to  be  expended  in  purchasing,  every 
December,  as  many  loaves  as  the  money  would  buy,  the 
loaves  to  weigh  four  pounds,  and  to  be  distributed  among 
widows,  born  and  residing  in  Battersea,  and  not  under 
sixty  years  of  age. 

Henry   Smith    Bequest. 

This  testator  left,  in  1883,  about  ^600  for  various 
charities,  a  portion  of  which  was  to  be  spent  among  the 
poor  of  Battersea,  and  the  trustees  expend  the  money 
in  the  purchase  of  great  coats,  value  £1  each,  these  coats 
are  distributed  every  winter  to  men  considered  the  most 
deserving. 

The   Ely  Charity. 

In  1891  Ashley  W.  G.  Allen  left  the  sum  of  ^3»o°° 
in  trust  to  the  Vicar  and  Churchwardens  of  St.  Mary, 
Battersea,  to  invest  for   the   purpose  of  founding  "  The 

G 


98  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

Ely  Charity,"  in  memory  of  his  grandfather,  some  time 
Bishop  of  Ely.  The  trustees  were  to  expend  the  divi- 
dends for  the  benefit  of  the  deserving  poor  of  both  sexes 
belonging  to  the  parish  of  St.  Mary.  In  1898  the  income 
amounted  to  ^114  19s.  4d.  The  trustees  apply  the  money 
in  contribution  to  Bolingbroke  Hospital,  a  special  bed 
being  maintained  in  respect  of  the  fund. 


The   Copland   Bequest. 

Elizabeth  Susan  Copeland,  in  1893,  left  £180  to  be 
invested  for  the  benefit  of  the  poor  residing  in  the  parish 
of  Christ  Church,  Battersea,  the  money  is  expended  in 
gifts  of  coal,  meat,  milk,  etc.,  which  is  distributed  by  the 
Vicar  of  Christ  Church. 


Webb   Trust. 

In  January,  1897,  Emma,  Lady  Osbourne,  transferred 
to  the  official  trustees  of  Charitable  Funds,  the  sum  of 
^1,891.  The  dividend  of  this  money  to  be  in  keeping 
of  the  Vicar  of  St.  Mary's,  to  be  applied  for  the  relief  of 
the  poor,  the  money  to  be  distributed  in  pensions, 
pecuniary  gifts,  clothing,  or  otherwise.  Recipients  must 
be  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  residents  of 
Battersea.    The  charity  is  called  "  Webb's  Trust." 


Lost   Charities. 

The  records  for  1786  show  money  left  to  the  amount 
°f  £335  for  the  poor  of  Battersea,  but  it  cannot  be  traced, 
and  there  is  no  account  of  it  ever  having  been  dispensed. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

BATTERSEA    CHURCHES    OF    HISTORICAL 

INTEREST. 

Baptist   Meeting   House. 

THE  first  Baptist  Meeting  House  dates  from  1736,  and 
was  in  the  York  Road.  The  Rev.  Brown  was  minister 
for  over  forty  years.  In  1796  the  Rev.  Joseph  Hughes, 
M.A.,  was  appointed  the  minister,  he  at  once  commenced  a 
fund  to  build  a  church,  and  with  such  success  that  in  1797 
the  first  church  was  built  and  Mr.  Hughes  was  appointed 
the  pastor.  Soon  after  this  he  originated  the  "  Surrey 
Mission  Society,"  which  did  much  good  work  in  the  early 
part  of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  was  a  great  friend  of 
Wilberforce  and  Henry  Thornton,  with  whom  he  was  con- 
nected in  forming  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society. 
The  present  Baptist  Church  was  erected  in  1870. 

St.    Mary's. 

This  church  is  built  of  brick,  and  has  a  tower  with 
a  conical  copper  spire,  the  belfry  contains  a  set  of  eight 
bells,  six  of  which  were  in  the  old  church,  but  were 
re-cast  before  being  placed  in  their  present  position. 
The  ground  upon  which  the  church  is  erected  was  pre- 
sented by  Earl  Spencer,  and  the  total  cost  of  the  building 
was  about  £5, 300,  which  amount  was  raised  by  the  sale 
of  the  church  pews  on  a  ninety -nine  years'  lease,  the 
sale  of  estates  belonging  to  the  church,  and  the  grant- 
ing of  annuities  on  lives.  The  church  was  opened  for 
public  service  in  November,  1777. 


ioo  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 


St.   George's 

Was  built  in  1828  near  Battersea  Fields,  and  was 
known  as  St.  George's-in-the-Fields,  the  style  is  what  is 
termed  English  architecture.  The  building  cost  a  little 
over  ^2,900,  which  was  defrayed  out  of  a  rate,  and  by 
a  grant  from  the  Parliamentary  Commissioners.  The 
churchyard  was  closed  for  burials  in  1852. 


Wesi,eyan   Church. 

The  first  church  of  this  denomination  in  Battersea  was 
erected  in  Bridge  Road  West  about  1845  ;  before  this  time 
the  Wesleyans  used  to  meet  in  private  houses  where  they 
held  their  church  services,  these  were  termed  "cottage 
meetings  "  ;  they  also  used  to  meet  for  worship  in  a  large 
upper  room  over  a  joiner's  shop  in  King  Street.  The 
church  was  enlarged  in  1864  and  again  in  1871. 


Christ   Church. 

Built  in  1849  from  designs  by  Mr.  Charles  Lee,  the 
church  is  constructed  of  Bath  stone,  and  has  a  tower  with 
a  spire.  The  total  cost  of  the  building  was  ^"5,600,  most  of 
which  was  raised  by  subscription.  Mr.  E.  Fownes,  head 
of  the  glove  factory,  presented  the  land  upon  which  the 
church  is  built. 

Methodist   Free   Church. 

In  1858  this  church  was  built  in  Church  Road  by  the 
Free  Church  members,  who  had  been  much  persecuted  in 
the  early  days  of  their  existence.  The  church  was 
enlarged  in  1864. 


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BATTERSEA    CHURCHES.  101 


The  "New"  Baptist   Church. 

This  religious  body  was  commenced  in  Battersea  about 
1862  by  a  working-man,  who  used  to  hold  the  meetings  of 
service  in  his  own  house.  He  soon  gathered  men  of 
influence  around  him  who  contributed  funds  to  build  a 
place  of  worship,  and  the  first  church  was  built  in  Chatham 
Road  at  the  cost  of  ^1,000.  Charles  and  Thomas  Spurgeon 
have  preached  here  on  several  occasions. 


St.  John's. 

The  church  was  built  in  1862,  it  is  designed  in  the 
early  English  style  from  drawings  by  E-  C.  Robins.  Three 
thousand  three  hundred  pounds  were  expended  in  com- 
pleting this  building.  The  opening  service  was  held  on 
May  5th,  1863. 

Congregational   Church. 

This  edifice  in  the  Bridge  Road  has  a  fine  tower  and 
spire,  it  is  built  of  "  Kentish  rag "  with  Bath  stone 
dressings.  The  total  cost  of  the  building  was  ^4,500 ;  this 
was  the  first  Congregational  Church  in  Battersea.  The 
foundation  stone  was  laid  on  September  17th,  1866,  and 
the  church  was  opened  for  services  in  1867. 


The  Church  of  Our  Lady  of  Mount  Carmel  and 

St.  Joseph. 

This  church  was  built  in  1868  out  of  funds  supplied  by 
a  Spanish  lady,  Mrs.  Shea,  and  private  contributions,  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk  contributing  ^500.  In  connection  with 
this  church  was  the  convent  of  Notre  Dame,  and  a  boys' 
and  girls'  school. 


io2  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 


St.    Mark's. 

This  church  was  built  in  1873  at  a  cost  of  ,£6,500,  it  is 
in  Gothic  style  and  consists  of  a  chancel,  nave,  aisles,  and 
transept,  the  architect  was  W.  White,  F.S.A.  The  church 
will  seat  six  hundred  persons. 


Church   of  the   Sacred   Heart. 

This  Roman  Catholic  Church  was  erected  in  1875,  and 
was  then  a  small  iron  building  which  was  built  at  the  cost 
of  the  Countess  of  Stackpool.  Schools  have  been  added 
to  the  new  church. 


St.   Peter's 

Was  erected  in  1875  and  cost  over  £10,000,  it  is  a  brick 
Gothic  structure  with  a  lofty  tower  which  can  be  seen  at  a 
great  distance.  There  are  some  very  fine  carvings  on  the 
capitals  inside  this  church  by  Henry  Hems.  There  is 
room  for  seating  eight  hundred  worshippers.  The  old 
tower  was  removed  in  191 1  and  the  present  one  erected. 


St.  Matthew's. 

This  church  has  a  very  fine  vaulted  roof,  the  building 
is  in  the  early  English  style,  and  was  erected  in  1877  at  a 
cost  of  £3,000.     It  will  seat  five  hundred  persons. 

St.   Saviour's. 

This  church  was  erected  at  a  cost  of  £4,000  in  1870, 
from  designs  by  E.  C  Robins,  the  style  is  French  Gothic. 
It  was  consecrated  by  Bishop  Wilberforce  (son  of  the 
emancipator).  The  church  will  seat  seven  hundred  persons. 


BATTERSEA    CHURCHES.  103 

St.  Philip's. 

This  building,  which  is  in  the  Gothic  style,  cost  over 
,£13,000.  It  is  a  fine  structure  built  from  designs  by  James 
Knowles,  it  will  seat  nearly  one  thousand  persons.  The 
church  was  opened  for  public  worship  in  1870.  This 
church  is  one  of  the  finest  ecclesiastical  buildings  in 
Battersea. 

Primitive   Methodist   Church. 

The  first  church  was  built  in  the  New  Road  about 
1870,  some  ground  was  also  bought  in  the  New  Road  and 
schools  built.  Before  the  church  was  erected,  the  work  of 
this  religious  body  was  carried  on  in  an  old  building  in 
Stewart's  L,ane,  which  was  used  as  a  place  of  worship. 


104 


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CHAPTER    XIV. 
OLD    BATTERSEA   SCHOOLS. 

IN  the  far  off  days,  long  before  education  became  com- 
pulsory and  without  cost  to  the  scholar  or  his  parents, 

the  teaching  of  the  three  R's  was  in  a  very  scrappy 
and  unsatisfactory  condition.  Much  of  the  education  then 
available  depended  upon  bequests  left  by  wealthy  and 
charitable  citizens,  whose  bequests  were  sometimes  supple- 
mented by  the  pence  of  the  children  attending  the  schools, 
and  by  Government  grants. 

During  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  the 
stream  of  education  for  the  masses  was  at  a  very  low  ebb. 
Most  of  the  parish  churches  had  small  schools  under  their 
charge,  which  were  often  inefficiently  conducted.  This 
educational  stagnation  continued  until  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  when  Dr.  Bell,  who  had  occupied 
the  post  of  manager  to  the  Educational  Institute  of  Madras, 
wrote  a  book  on  a  system  of  education  by  monitorship, 
a  system  which  he  had  practised  in  Madras  with  great 
success.  In  1811  the  National  Education  Society  was 
formed  to  put  this  educational  system  into  an  organised 
form.  The  society  was  managed  by  members  of  the 
Church  of  England,  with  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
as  President.  A  new  impetus  to  education  was  thus  given, 
as  the  following  figures  show:  In  1812  there  were  only 
fifty-two  schools  under  the  Society's  control,  in  1818 
there  were  three  thousand  and  fifty-two  schools  in  con- 
nection with  the  Society,  and  a  few  years  later  the  total 
number  of  schools  had  risen  to  nearly  twelve  thousand. 
Another  great  factor  in  the  early  education  of  the  people 


OLD   BATTERSEA    SCHOOLS.  107 

was  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  which  did 
good  work  in  the  pioneer  days  of  scholastic  work. 

The  Church  of  England,  by  founding  "National 
Schools,"  did  a  great  work  in  educating  the  people ;  still 
the  result  upon  the  nation  was  far  from  satisfactory. 
Fifty  years  ago  it  was  not  uncommon  to  find  adults  who 
could  neither  read  or  write,  never  having  been  to  school. 
The  old  marriage  registers  also  testify  to  the  ignorance  of 
the  people  by  the  number  of  crosses  which  were  made  in 
place  of  signatures.  To  remedy  this,  night  schools  were 
started  for  the  teaching  of  adults,  which  schools  had  a 
certain  amount  of  success  ;  adult  schools  were  also  held  in 
factories  after  working  hours.  The  first  factory  school 
in  England  was  held  in  Price's  Candle  Works  at  Vauxhall 
in  1849. 

Battersea,  like  other  towns  and  villages,  suffered  from 
this  want  of  a  sound  system  of  schooling,  and  some  of  her 
citizens  came  forward  and  assisted  the  boys  and  girls 
of  a  by-gone  generation  to  obtain  a  little  educational 
knowledge. 

St.  John's   School. 

In  the  year  1700,  Sir  Walter  St.  John  left,  by  deed  of 
gift,  the  rents  and  profits  accruing  from  land  situated  in 
Camberwell  and  Battersea  for  the  endowment  of  a  school 
at  Battersea,  to  teach  and  instruct  twenty  poor  boys  to 
read,  write,  and  cast  up  accounts.  No  child  was  to  be 
admitted  under  the  age  of  eight,  or  to  remain  in  the 
school  after  the  age  of  fifteen.  The  school  was  managed 
by  trustees,  and  children  were  admitted  into  the  school 
by  the  votes  of  the  inhabitants.  By  a  will  dated  March 
8th,  1705,  Sir  Walter  gave  to  the  Minister  of  Battersea, 
to  the  schoolmaster,  and  to  the  trustees  of  the  school,  the 
sum  of  ^200  for  the  purchase  of  land,  the  income  to  be 
used  for  apprenticing  boys  to  trades,  after  leaving  the 
school.      The    school    consisted    of  a    house    and    small 


108  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

garden,  the  rooms  of  the  house  which  were  not  used  for 
the  purpose  of  the  school  were  let  to  poor  people  at  a 
small  rental.  In  1731  L,ady  St.  John  left  in  her  will  the 
sum  of  ;£ioo,  the  interest  of  which  was  to  be  used  for  the 
purpose  of  apprenticing  one  boy  or  girl  to  a  trade.  The 
St.  John  School  continued  in  existence  as  a  separate 
institution  until  1815,  when  it  was  united  to  the  National 
School. 

Grovb   British   School. 

Old  records  show  that  about  1800  a  charity  school 
was  opened  in  the  York  Road  which  was  supported  by 
voluntary  contributions.  The  school  was  used  for  the 
purpose  of  "  teaching  poor  boys  reading,  writing  and  the 
lower  rules  of  arithmetic."  The  establishment  was  under 
the  management  of  a  committee,  chosen  by  the  sub- 
scribers. This  school  was  carried  on  until  1858,  when 
a  new  building  was  erected,  consisting  of  a  large  hall 
and  other  rooms.  The  building  was  then  used  for  both 
Sunday  and  day  schools,  and  received  a  Government 
grant  until  1887,  when  the  day  school  was  closed,  the  place 
being  open  only  as  a  Sunday  school.  The  building 
was  finally  demolished  in  191 2. 

St.    Mary's   School. 

In  1 85 1  Earl  Spencer  and  Mr.  Shaw  Lefevre  gave  a 
school  site  in  Green  Lane  for  the  erection  of  a  school  to 
educate  female  children  and  the  adults  of  the  poorer 
classes  residing  in  Battersea.  The  vicar  was  to  have 
managing  control,  he  was  also  to  have  the  use  of  the 
building  as  a  Sunday  school.  The  school  was  erected  on 
this  site  at  a  cost  of  ^2,000,  this  money  being  contributed 
by  Miss  Champion.  In  1875  the  school  was  considerably 
enlarged,  by  which  accommodation  was  provided  for 
boys,  the  cost  of  the  new  building  amounted  to  ^1,500, 


OLD   BATTERSEA    SCHOOLS.  109 

which  was  paid  by  Mr.  Philip  Cazenove,  who  was  one  of 
the  school  managers.  The  school  was  conducted,  on 
Church  of  England  lines,  for  the  education  of  boys,  girls 
and  infants,  and  supported  by  Government  grants,  the 
only  endowment  being  the  site  and  the  buildings. 


St.  George's   National   School. 

John  Spencer  Lucas,  in  1857,  gave  a  plot  of  land  in 
New  Street,  Battersea,  for  the  erection  of  a  school  which 
was  to  be  used  for  educating  children  and  adults  belong- 
ing to  the  working  classes.  The  school  was  built  in  the 
following  year  and  served  a  good  purpose  for  man}'  years. 
In  1895  a  portion  of  the  school  premises  were  sold  to  the 
South  Western  Railway  Company  for  the  sum  of  ^2,750, 
which  was  paid  to  the  trustees,  the  vicar  and  church- 
wardens of  St.  George's  Church.  A  large  portion  of  this 
money  was  expended  in  repairs,  alterations  and  improve- 
ments of  the  school  buildings.  The  school  was  conducted 
as  a  Church  of  England  school,  supported  by  voluntary 
contributions  and  by  grants. 


Christ   Church    National   School. 

In  1866  a  plot  of  land  was  purchased  abutting  on 
Chatham  Street,  Orkney  Street  and  Anerly  Street,  for 
the  purpose  of  erecting  a  school,  at  a  cost  of  ^520,  and 
conveyed  to  the  minister  and  churchwardens  of  Christ 
Church,  Battersea ;  the  school  was  erected  for  educating 
the  poor  children  of  the  parish.  In  1871  the  district  of 
St.  Saviour's  was  formed,  which  had  an  interest  in  the 
school,  as  the  building  was  used  as  a  Sunday  school.  In 
1876  it  ceased  to  be  used  as  a  day  school,  as  it  failed  to 
meet  the  requirements  of  the  educational  department. 
The  school  was  built  and  supported  by  endowments, 
voluntary  contributions  and  grants. 


no  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 


The   Masonic  School. 

The  Royal  Masonic  School  was  built  in  1793  for  the 
purpose  of  educating  and  maintaining  a  number  of  girls, 
the  children  of  "  Masons  "  in  reduced  circumstances.  The 
school  was  founded  at  the  suggestion  of  Chevalier  Ruspini, 
who  was  surgeon  to  King  George  IV.  The  first  school 
was  built  in  St.  George's  Field's,  near  the  Obelisk,  and  was 
supported  entirely  by  voluntary  contributions.  In  1851 
land  was  purchased  at  Battersea  for  the  erection  of  a  new 
school,  which  was  opened  in  1853.  This  school  had  the 
support  of  King  Edward  VII.,  and  other  members  of  the 
Royal  Family. 

St.   James'    School. 

This  industrial  school  was  built  in  1851  and  opened  in 
1852,  out  of  the  funds  of  a  charity  left  in  1806.  One 
hundred  and  forty  boys  were  admitted,  vacancies  being 
filled  up  as  the  boys  left.  When  they  finished  their 
term  at  the  school,  the  sum  of  ^10  was  given  for  each 
boy  to  be  taught  a  trade,  or  assisted  in  learning  some 
business.  In  connection  with  this  school  Mrs.  Anne 
Newton  left,  by  will,  in  1806,  the  sum  of  ^1,000,  the 
interest  of  this  money  was  to  be  given  annually  to  the  best 
boy  in  the  school.  The  will  went  into  Chancery,  and 
the  school  only  received  about  ^"500.  The  best  boy  was 
selected  by  his  fellow  scholars  and  the  superintendent. 


CHAPTER    XV. 
LOCAL    GOVERNMENT. 

SIXTY  years  ago  Battersea  was  a  small  parish  under 
the  rule  of  several  authorities,  viz.,  a  Vestry,  a  High- 
way Board,  Overseers,  and  Inspectors  of  Lighting. 
The  Vestry  was  composed  of  every  ratepayer  in  the  parish 
and  was  not  an  elected  body.  The  vicar  was  the  chair- 
man, and  the  meetings  were  held  in  the  parish  church 
vestry  room.  Despite  the  place  of  meeting,  the  debates 
were  often  of  a  stormy  character,  and  the  language  used 
far  from  parliamentary,  the  votes  were  taken  by  show  of 
hands,  and  if  a  poll  was  demanded,  the  churchwardens 
would  go  round  the  parish  asking  each  ratepayer  how  he 
wished  to  vote  on  the  question  at  issue,  the  result  was 
recorded  in  a  book  and  reported  to  the  Vestry.  The  Over- 
seers made  and  collected  the  poor  rate,  and  tabulated  the 
list  of  persons  entitled  to  vote  in  parliamentary  elections. 

The  Highway  Board  was  elected  in  open  Vestry  by 
show  of  hands,  and  consisted  of  eight  members.  The  In- 
spectors of  Lighting  were  elected  in  a  similar  manner. 

In  1854  Sir  Benjamin  Hall,  Commissioner  of  Works, 
framed  a  Bill  for  the  improvement  of  local  government 
which  was  very  comprehensive,  and  was  entitled  "  The 
Metropolis  Local  Management  Act."  This  Bill  passed  the 
Houses  of  Parliament  and  became  law  in  1855.  Under  this 
Act  the  various  parishes  were  divided  under  schedules 
known  as  A,  B,  and  C,  with  varied  powers.  Schedule  A 
comprised  the  larger  parishes,  and  the  smaller  ones  came 
under  Schedule  B,  several  of  these  parishes  in  one  area 


ii2  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

being  dominated  by  the  Board  of  Works.    Schedule  C 
comprised  the  Inns  of  Court,  and  other  extra  areas. 

At  this  time  the  population  of  Battersea  did  not  exceed 
11,500,  and  therefore  came  under  Schedule  B,  with  its 
limited  powers  of  administration,  and  no  funds  at  its 
disposal.  The  number  of  members  composing  the  Vestry 
was  regulated  by  the  population,  the  smallest  number 
being  twenty-four,  and  the  highest  one  hundred  and 
twenty.  Battersea's  first  elected  Vestry  comprised  the 
lowest  number  of  members.  The  Board  of  Works  had  to 
carry  out  the  duties  of  a  highway,  sewer  and  sanitary 
authority.  The  Act  provided  that  the  vicar  of  the  parish 
should  remain  ex-officio  chairman  of  the  new  Vestry,  and 
the  churchwardens  were  to  be  co-opted  members.  The 
election  of  Vestrymen  took  place  annually.  At  this  time 
Penge,  then  a  small  hamlet,  formed  part  of  the  parish  of 
Battersea. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  parish  had  certain  Lammas 
rights  over  some  land  known  as  the  Battersea  Marsh, 
this  land  was  required  for  the  formation  of  Battersea  Park, 
and  for  those  rights  the  Government  paid  ^1,500,  which 
was  to  be  expended  for  the  benefit  of  the  parish,  and  as 
there  was  no  hall  for  public  meetings  in  the  parish,  it 
was  decided  to  build  one  for  that  purpose,  this  was  strongly 
opposed  by  the  churchwardens,  who  had  other  uses  for  the 
money.  They  took  legal  proceedings  against  those  op- 
posed to  them,  but  in  the  Law  Courts  they  were  defeated 
and  had  to  pay  all  costs.  The  Lammas  Hall  was  then 
built,  and  proved  a  great  boon  to  the  parish ;  for  many 
years  it  was  the  meeting  place  for  the  new  Vestry,  and  was 
used  for  the  holding  of  public  meetings.  The  building  is 
now  used  as  a  branch  library  and  reading  rooms. 

The  rateable  value  of  Battersea  in  1857  was  £72, 148. 
About  this  time  there  came  into  existence  the  first  rate- 
payers' association  in  Battersea,  which  was  destined  to  be 
the  forerunner  of  many  others,  it  was  called  the  "Battersea 
Ratepayers'  Protection  Society,"  and  seems  to  have  found 


LOCAL    GOVERNMENT.  113 

plenty  of  work  to  do  in  watching  the  ratepayers'  interests  ; 
its  meetings  were  held  at  the  Railway  Tavern,  Battersea 
Rise,  and  many  of  them  were  very  stormy  and  of  a  per- 
sonal character,  which  in  those  far-off  days  was  a  weak- 
ness of  most  ratepayers'  associations,  and  to  some  extent 
is  to-day. 

In  1853  the  parish  churchyard  was  closed  for  inter- 
ments, and  a  Burial  Board  was  formed  consisting  of  nine 
members.  One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  Board  was  to  pur- 
chase about  seven  and  a  half  acres  of  land  on  Battersea 
Rise,  which  they  laid  out  as  a  cemetery.  This  served  its 
purpose  until  1885,  when  the  Vestry  and  the  Burial  Board 
resolved  to  provide  a  much  larger  place  of  burial,  and 
several  sites  were  suggested,  but  the  final  selection  was  a 
piece  of  land  of  over  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  acres 
in  the  parish  of  Morden,  known  as  Hobalt's  Farm.  This 
cemetery,  with  the  buildings,  cost  nearly  ^25,000. 

In  1879  an  effort  was  made  to  get  the  Baths  and  Wash- 
houses  Acts  adopted,  but  this  was  not  successful  until  1887 
when  a  piece  of  the  Latchmere  allotments  was  obtained  as 
a  building  site,  and  the  first  public  baths  were  erected  in 
Battersea  after  nine  years'  fight  had  been  waged  by  the 
promoters. 

As  the  population  grew  the  number  of  members  upon 
the  Vestry  increased,  and  in  1882  it  had  reached  the  maxi- 
mum of  one  hundred  and  twenty  members,  with  increased 
representation  upon  the  District  Board. 

Early  in  the  year  i860  an  attempt  was  made  to  obtain 
a  public  library  for  the  parish.  A  meeting  of  the  rate- 
payers was  called  and  Sir  Page  Wood  took  the  chair,  but 
the  meeting  voted  against  the  proposal  and  the  matter  was 
dropped,  to  be  again  revived  in  1883,  when  a  poll  was 
taken  of  the  ratepayers,  with  the  result  that  the  majority 
were  not  in  favour  of  adopting  the  Libraries  Act.  The 
promoters  were  not  dismayed  but  went  on  with  their  work 
until  1887,  when  they  demanded  another  poll,  and  this 
time  with  success,  getting  a  majority  in  their  favour. 

H 


ii4  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

The  Public  Libraries  Act  was  adopted,  and  Mr. 
Andrew  Cameron — a  well-known  public  man  in  bis  day — 
was  the  first  chairman  of  the  Commissioners,  and  Mr. 
Lawrence  Inkster  was  appointed  secretary  and  librarian. 
Temporary  offices  were  taken  at  346  Battersea  Park  Road, 
which  was  also  opened  as  a  reading  room,  and  on  the  28th 
November,  1888,  the  Latchmere  reading  room  was  opened. 
The  Battersea  Literary  Institute  having  been  closed  the 
churchwardens  transferred  the  books,  about  one  thousand 
volumes,  to  the  new  library.  The  meetings  of  the  Com- 
missioners was  held  in  the  Lammas  Hall,  which  was 
opened  as  a  reading  room  and  lending  library  with  about 
five  thousand  volumes.  Mr.  O.  V.  Morgan,  the  first 
member  of  Parliament  for  Battersea,  opened  the  library  on 
October  25th,  1888.  The  Central  Library  on  Lavender  Hill 
was  erected  in  1889,  by  Messrs.  Holloway  Bros.,  at  a  cost 
of  £8,600  including  purchase  of  site.  Sir  John  Lubbock 
(now  Lord  Avebury),  laid  the  foundation  stone  on  May 
2nd.  The  library  was  opened  on  March  26th,  1890,  by 
Mr.  A.  J.  Mundella,  M.P.  The  Lammas  Hall  now  became 
a  branch  library.  The  Lurline  Gardens  branch  was  built 
in  the  same  year  at  a  cost  of  £2,070  including  the  freehold, 
and  was  opened  on  September  30th,  1890,  by  Mr.  J.  S. 
Gilliat,  M.P. 

Up  to  1873  the  parish  had  not  been  divided  into  wards, 
but  in  that  year,  by  order  of  the  Board  of  Works,  the 
parish  was  divided  into  four  wards.  About  this  time  a 
great  deal  of  scandal  was  being  talked  about  the  doings  of 
the  Board,  and  rumours  of  an  ugly  nature  were  in  circula- 
tion, some  of  the  members  were  men  with  axes  to  grind, 
and  the  Board  of  Works  came  to  be  commonly  known  as 
the  Board  of  "  Perks,"  all  this  did  a  great  deal  to  bring 
about  the  extinction  of  the  Metropolitan  Board  of  Works 
in  1888. 

Battersea  did  not  obtain  incorporation  until  1887, 
many  efforts  had  been  made  to  get  the  Vestry  incorporated 
during  the  previous  ten  years,  deputations  had  been  sent 


LOCAL    GOVERNMENT.  115 

to  the  Home  Office,  and  the  claims  of  Battersea  had  been 
pressed  forward  by  Mr.  Edward  Wood,  and  Mr.  Harrop, 
Vestry  Clerk,  on  every  possible  occasion,  but  no  success 
came  until  1887,  when  Mr.  C.  S.  By  worth  enlisted  the 
assistance  of  Mr.  O.  V.  Morgan,  M.P.,  and  in  that  year 
a  Bill  was  before  the  House  of  Commons  to  separate  the 
parish  of  Battersea  from  the  Wandsworth  district  and  the 
Board  of  Works.  Mr.  Gilliatt,  then  member  for  Clapham, 
ably  supported  Mr.  Morgan,  and  in  due  course  the  Bill 
received  the  Royal  assent.  Under  this  Act  it  was  provided 
that  the  parish  should  take  over  the  offices  at  Battersea 
Rise  belonging  to  the  District  Board,  and  retain  the  ser- 
vices of  the  officers  of  the  Board.  On  March  22nd,  1888, 
Mr.  Byworth,  who  had  been  appointed  Vestry  Clerk  in 
1885,  took  possession  of  the  Battersea  Rise  offices,  and  the 
Vestry  met  for  the  first  time  as  a  corporate  body.  Mr.  W. 
Davies  was  elected  the  first  chairman. 

As  the  parish  increased  in  population,  and  the  work  of 
the  Vestry  became  greater,  the  Battersea  Rise  offices  were 
found  to  be  much  too  small  for  the  growing  needs  of  the 
parish,  and  schemes  were  put  forward  by  the  Vestry  for  the 
erection  of  a  Town  Hall.  Various  sites  were  suggested, 
including  the  corner  of  St.  John's  Road,  where  Messrs. 
Arding  &  Hobbs'  premises  now  stand,  Battersea  Park 
Road  and  Falcon  Road,  but  the  final  decision  of  the  Vestry 
was  in  favour  of  Lavender  Hill,  and  a  committee  was  in- 
structed in  1891  to  purchase  the  Elm  House  Estate,  which 
was  then  in  the  market,  and  in  1892  the  plans,  etc.,  were 
passed,  and  the  present  municipal  buildings  were  erected 
at  a  cost  of  a  little  over  ^"30,000.  The  opening  ceremony 
took  place  on  November  15th,  1893,  by  the  Earl  of 
Rosebery,  and  shortly  after  the  Vestry  removed  their 
officials  from  Battersea  Rise  to  the  new  buildings,  which 
have  since  been  the  centre  of  municipal  authority. 

In  1894  the  vicar  and  churchwardens  ceased  to  be  ex- 
officio  members  of  the  Vestry,  and  the  old  Burial  Board, 
the  Commissioners  of  Baths  and  Wash-houses,  and  the 


n6  HISTORIC    BATTERSEA. 

Commissioners  of  Public  Libraries,  were  transferred  to  the 
Vestry.  This  form  of  local  government  by  Vestry  con- 
tinued up  to  the  close  of  1899,  when  the  Borough  Councils 
came  into  existence  as  a  new  administrative  body  with 
extended  power. 


THE    END. 


G.  Rangecroft  &  Co.,  Printers,  St.  John's  Hill,  Battersea,  S.W. 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

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