Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 7.djvu/512

 504 NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. VII.JUN1:%, 1913. She was still mindfull of the concerns and I interests of another, and therefore employed a large art of Her Time lin Devotion, Reading, and Mpeditation, Books She lov’d, and principally such I|)as were written upon Subjects of Morality and ivinity. These She lstudied as much as the inflrmities of a tender and delicate constitution Ewould (permit, These She relish’d and under- s an thus became devout Iwithout Super- stition, Serious without Moroseness, and regular without AAfIectation, perfectly easy to Her self, and the elight of all that knew Her. j In a word She was by this means a good Christian, a good Wife, a tender I 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 Sl' EDMUND WARN- FORD married to | EDWARD RICHARDS Esq' of this pilace in January 1710 and died atl London ay 1737 aged 53 leaving behind Her only one Daughter. 2. Sacred to the Memory of M" ANNE RICH- ARDS h(Daugh' of EDWARD RICHARDS Esq & ACHEL his wife) Iwho died July 24” 1771, in the 61" Year of her Age. | Blessed with an uncommon Share of good Sense and | Under- standing, and educated under the Eye of an L excellent Mother (whose character is amply " just] |describ’d on the opposite Monument) She became an |Ornament to Christianity. In every natural Endowment land acquir’d Accom- plishment equal to her Parent ; | in an unwearied 85 cheerful Attention to Acts I of Charity superior toall. To promote the Hapcpiness of her Friends, her Domesticks 85 all aroun her ; and to imitate the Example of her divine Master |in his eat Employment of doing Good to Mankind, frwas the governing Principle of her Life. | Doubt not, Reader, but she shall receive Ieternal Rewards 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 4,500l.. 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 l,534l. 13s. 9d. In 1712 two adjoining sites on the east side of Kingsland Road were purchased by the Company-the southern one, of W. Hunt, for 200l., and the northern one, of John Jewkes, for 201. (Shoreditch seems to have been a favourite locality for almshouses. In 1742 there were ten in the i pzrish: ‘ A New and Compleat Survey of ndon,’ p. 1220.) The change in character which the district has undergone rendered it, in the opinion of the Company, a very unsuitable neigh- bourhood for the almshouses. The Com- pany therefore decided to dispose of the roperty, and in 1908 an inquiry was held gy the Charity Commissioners with respect to an application by the Company to sell the almshouses and the garden attached thereto to the trustees of the Peabody Donation Fund, who proposed to clear the site and erect model dwellings thereon. 'I'he application was opposed by the National Trust for the Preservation of Places of Historic Interest, the Society for the Protec- tion of Ancient Buildings, the Borough Council of Shoreditch, and the Metropolitan Public Gardens Association. The archeo- logical interest attaching to the almshouses, together _with the amenity of the open space formed by the garden, were deemed suffi- cient to render the almshouses worthy of preservation. The Charity Commissioners refused to sanction the sale. The Court of Chancery, on the etition of the Ironmongers’ Company, sugsequently ordered an inquiry to be held as to whether it would be for the benefit of the charity that the almshouses and lands should be sold. The debate took lace on 6 July, 1909. As a result of the Xxrther inquiry, the Court made an order allowing t-he property to be sold, on the ground that the only quest-ion before it was whether the sale would benefit the charity; and the Court referred it to Chambers to ascertain whether the offer of the Peabody Trustees (amounting to 23.500l.) should be accepted. The Peabody Trust, having acquired the property, agreed to resell it to the London County Council without making any profit. The Borough Council of Shoreditch guaranteed that 8,000l. would be contributed locally towards the purchase money-6,000l. being raised by rate, and 2,000l. by voluntary subscrip- tions. On 13 Dec., 1910, the Council accepted the Trust’s offer, the total cost of acquisition being 34,289l. The total area of the site of the alms- houses and garden is about l°62 acres. Of this, the garden occupies about 1°06 acres, and a disused burial~ground at the rear about 0‘l2 acre. The Council had also to purchase other land in Maria Street, with an area of about 0°50 acre, which was not part of the almshouses estate. The grounds fronting the almshouses form one of the London County Council’s open