Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 6.djvu/108

 NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. vi. A. 3, 1912.

Preparatory for the Holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper ; which is maintain' d by a Society there, who have also a Charity Sermon every third Sunday, when there are five in the Month, at five in the Evening ; for the Use of the poor Children.

" Minister. Mr. Samuel Broomsgrove.

It is described in Stow's ' Survey,' ed. Strype, 1720, as a Tabernacle or Episco- palian Chapel, and the hours for divine service are given. Since that time a number of well-known names have been connected with its ministry, e.g., Theophilus Lindsey, IFellow of St. John's College. Cambridge, .afterwards a prominent Unitarian minister ; -George Huddesford, satirical poet ; the Rev. -Josiah Pratt, secretary to the Church Mis- sionary Society, 1802-24 ; and the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, subsequently Rector of Watton, Herts.

The Rev. Josiah Pratt, licensed as minister of the chapel 20 February, 1810, -on the presentation of Granville Hastings Wheeler, Esq., established in connexion with the chapel the Spitalfields Benevolent Society, .and among his congregants were Samuel Hoare, the friend of the Words worths, and Thomas (afterwards Sir Thomas) Fowell Buxton, Bart. (1786-1845), who was asso- ciated with William Wilberforce in the work of abolishing the slave trade. Buxton, with several friends, left, at Pratt's suggestion, the Society of Friends, and was baptized into the Church of England. Thirty years later he wrote to his former minister, ~" Whatever I have done in my life for Africa, the seeds were sown in the Wheler -Chapel."

The final service in the church prior to its sale and demolition was held on 13 Dec., 1911, at 3.30 P.M. The building, which .already showed signs of dismantling, was lighted by a large acetylene lamp and some candles. Among the numerous congrega- tion were Mrs. Paget, wife of the Bishop of Stepney, and her father, Sir Samuel Hoare, Bart., whose parents were baptized in Wheler Chapel. The service, which was pathetic, solemn, and impressive, was taken by the Bishop of Stepney.

St. Mary's has been merged into the parishes of Christ Church and St. Stephen's, Spitalfields. The registers of baptisms and marriages, with other records formerly in the keeping of the trustees of the chapel, have been transferred to the custody of the Rev. Charles H. Chard, Rector of Spitalfields, as rector of the united parishes.

The freehold site of the late church, with an area of about 3,040 square feet, with the house adjoining lately used as the

vicarage, was announced for sale by auction at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard, on 20 Febru- ary last, by order of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England ; the site, how- ever, was withdrawn at 1,850/., the vicarage realizing 700Z. Two certificates were pro- duced as evidence that there were no human remains in or under the church: the first, dated 22 November, 1911, signed by one of the churchwardens, testifying that he and his co-warden had never heard of any burials having taken place in the church ; the other, dated 19 January, 1912, from Messrs. Glutton & Co., surveyors, stating that they had had excavations made in the soil of the late church, and found no trace of any human remains therein (Spitalfields Church : Christ Church, Middlesex, Parish Magazine, January, 1912).

Quebec Chapel, known of late years as the Church of the Annunciation, St. Mary- lebone, was in its day, when Edward Meyrick Goulburn, William Connor Magee, Canon Holland, and other notable preachers occu- pied its pulpit, one of the best-attended churches in the Mid- Victorian age. During the incumbency of Canon Holland, in 1867, it was changed from one of the most un- sightly into one of the most beautiful chapels in London. It had been a cherished hope ever since the old chapel was conse- crated, and a parish assigned to it by Order in Council dated 18 July, 1894, to build a new and beautiful church. A large sum of money was collected, the site was bought, and a nucleus formed for a building fund. Last year it became evident that the old building was unsafe. It had held its position longer than most proprietary chapels, but even giving it a district failed to save it, and the last services were held in it on Sunday, 10 March, morning, afternoon, and ivening, the day ending by the singing of the ' Te Deum ' (Guardian, 15 March, 1912, p. 332, col. 1). DANIEL HIPWELL.

COBBETT BIBLIOGRAPHY. (See ante, pp. 1, 22, 62.)

1811.

Hobbett's Political Register. Vol. XIX. From January to June, 1811. London : Printed by T. C. Hansard, Peterborough Court, Fleet Street ; and sold by Richard Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent Garden ; and John Budd, Pall Mall. 1811.

8vo, pp. xvi 1632 cohimns.

Cobbett's Political Register. Vol. XX. From July to December, 1811. London : Printed for the Author, and sold by Richard Bagshaw,