504
NOTES AND QUERIES. [us. vn. JUNE 28,1913.
She was still mindfull of the concerns and |
interests of another, and therefore employed a
large part of Her Time | in Devotion, Beading,
and Meditation, Books She lov'd, and principally
such | as were written upon Subjects of Morality
and Divinity. These She | studied as much as
the infirmities of a tender and delicate constitution
| would permit, These She relish'd and under-
stood and thus became devout | without Super-
stition, Serious without Moroseness, and regular
without | Affectation, perfectly easy to Her self,
and the delight of all that knew Her. | In a word
She was by this means a good Christian, a good
Wife, a tender | Mother, a kind Mistress, an agree-
able Companion, and a sincere Friend.
- - Go Reader, and do honour to Her memory
'by making Her Character | still live in thy Life and Actions.
She was Daughter of S* EDMUND WABN- FOBD married to j EDWABD RICHARDS Esq r of this place in January 1710 and died at | London May 1737 aged 53 leaving behind Her only one Daughter.
2. Sacred to the Memory of M ra ANNE BICH- ABDS | (Daugh r of EDWABD BICHABDS Esq & BACHEL his wife) | who died July 24 th 1771, in the 61 st Year of her Age. | Blessed with an uncommon Share of good Sense and | Under- standing, and educated under the Eye of an j excellent Mother (whose character is amply & justly | describ'd on the opposite Monument) She became an | Ornament to Christianity. In every natural Endowment | and acquir'd Accom- plishment equal to her Parent ; | in an unwearied & cheerful Attention to Acts | of Charity superior to all. To promote the Happiness j of her Friends, her Domesticks & all around her ; [ and to imitate the Example of her divine Master | in his great Employment of doing Good to Mankind, [was the governing Principle of her Life. | Doubt not, Beader, but she shall receive | eternal Bewards in the Kingdom of Heaven.
F. H, C.
GEFFREY'S (GEFFERY'S) ALMS-
HOUSES, KINGSLAND ROAD.
THE fourteen almshouses and chapel at Kingsland, in the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, were built in or about the year 1715 by the Ironmongers' Company, at a cost of nearly 4,500?., out of money left by Sir Robert Geffrey or Geffery, Kt. (1613-1703), London merchant and Lord Mayor in 1686, who bequeathed certain real and personal estate for the erection of almshouses for poor people near London and the mainten- ance thereof. The bequest amounted to 1,534?. 13s. 9c?. In 1712 two adjoining sites on the east side of Kingsland Road were purchased by the Company the southern one, of W. Hunt, for 200?., and the northern one, of John Jewkes, for 20?. (Shoreditch seems to have been a favourite locality for almshouses. In 1742 there were ten in the
parish : ' A New and Compleat Survey <
London,' p. 1220.)
The change in character which the distri< has undergone rendered it, in the opinio of the Company, a very unsuitable neigl bourhood for the almshouses. The Con pany therefore decided to dispose of tl property, and in 1908 an inquiry was he] by the Charity Commissioners with respec to an application by the Company to se the almshouses and the garden attache thereto to the trustees of the Peabod Donation Fund, who proposed to clear tic. site and erect model dwellings thereon. Tl: application was opposed by the Nation* Trust for the Preservation of Places c Historic Interest, the Society for the Prote< tion of Ancient Buildings, the Boroug Council of Shoreditch, and the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. The archaec logical interest attaching to the almshouse: together with the amenity of the open spac formed by the garden, were deemed suff cient to render the almshouses worthy c preservation. The Charity Commissionei refused to sanction the sale.
The Court of Chancery, on the petition c the Ironmongers' Company, subsequent! ordered an inquiry to be held as to whethc it would be for the benefit of the charity the the almshouses and lands should be sole The debate took place on 6 July, 1909. A a result of the further inquiry, the Coui made an order allowing the property to b sold, on the ground that the only questio before it was whether the sale would benefi the charity ; and the Court referred it t Chambers to ascertain whether the offer c the Peabody Trustees (amounting to 23.500?, should be accepted. The Peabody Trusi having acquired the property, agreed t resell it to the London County Counc without making any profit. The Boroug Council of Shoreditch guaranteed the 8,000?. would be contributed locally toward the purchase money 6,000?. being raise by rate, and 2,000?. by voluntary subscrij tions. On 13 Dec., 1910, the Counc accepted the Trust's offer, the total cost ( acquisition being 34,289?.
The total area of the site of the aim houses and garden is about 1*62 acres. C this, the garden occupies about 1*06 acre and a disused burial-ground at the ret about 0'12 acre. The Council had also t purchase other land in Maria Street, wit an area of about 0'50 acre, which was nc part of the almshouses estate.
The grounds fronting the almshouses fori one of the London County Council's ope
