CHAPTER II. 



The Committee of 1865 on Metropolitan Commons. 



The first movement for dealing with a Common in the 

 interest of the public arose in respect of Wimbledon 

 Common one of the largest, most beautiful, and best 

 valued of those in the neighbourhood of London and 

 at the instance of its lord. 



In the autumn of 1864 Earl Spencer, the Lord of 

 the Manor of Wimbledon, announced his intention to 

 dedicate the greater part of this Common to the public. 

 In bringing his proposal before the Commoners and 

 Inhabitants of Wimbledon, he pointed out the very 

 great changes which had occurred within recent years, 

 by the growth of a large suburban population in the 

 neighbourhood of the Common, and the grave respon- 

 sibilities and difficulties entailed upon him as Lord of 

 the Manor; he said that, however anxious he had been 

 to fulfil these duties in an unselfish manner, and to 

 consult the interests of the neighbourhood, he had found 

 his powers as lord were inadequate to cope with the 

 various cases in which complaint had been made to him, 

 by the inhabitants and others, in relation to the want of 

 drainage, to petty encroachments on the Common, to 

 the gipsies and tramps who frequented it, and to the 

 rubbish-heaps and other nuisances which disfigured it, 

 and generally as to the want of power to improve it, and 

 to manage it in the interest of the public. 



