A HISTORY OF SURREY 



A chapel at Sheen was one of four 

 annexed to the church of Kingston 

 when the latter was granted to the 

 priory of Merton," 6 and continued to be dependent 

 on Kingston (q.v.) until 1769, although in 1658 the 

 commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of 

 ecclesiastical benefices had recommended that it should 

 be separated from the mother church." 7 By an Act 

 passed in I769, 238 Kingston parish was divided, and 

 Kingston with Richmond and the hamlets of Ham 

 and Hook were consolidated into one vicarage called 

 ' The Vicarage of Kingston-upon-Thames with Shene, 

 otherwise Richmond.' The patronage has from that 

 time descended with that of Kingston. The Provost 

 and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge, acquired 

 it in 1781, and their successors still hold it. Rich- 

 mond was severed from Kingston and constituted a 

 distinct vicarage in 1849.**' 



The living of St. John the Divine, now called a 

 vicarage under the Act of 1868,'* was in the gift of 

 the vicar of Kingston until 1 849, when it was trans- 

 ferred to the vicar of Richmond." 1 



The patronage of Holy Trinity and Christ Church 

 is in the hands of trustees, and that of St. Luke 

 belongs to the bishop. 1 " 



The incumbency of St. Matthias is held with that 

 of the parish church, to which it serves as a chapel of 

 ease.' 45 



There are six sets of almshouses 

 CHARITIES in Richmond. Sir George Wright, 

 who died in 1623, founded the alms- 

 houses commonly called Queen Elizabeth's Alms- 

 houses. The foundation was completed by his 

 executors in 1636.*" They were benefited by John 

 Michel in 1739, by will of Charles Selwyn in 

 1747, and by Whichcote Turner in 1770. The 

 last removed them in 1767 from the Lower 

 Road, next Camborne House, to the present site 

 in the Vineyard. They are for eight almswomen. 

 Bishop Duppa's Almshouses were founded in 1 66 1 for 

 ten unmarried women, and endowed from an estate at 

 Shepperton. The old red brick building, near the 

 Terrace, is not unpicturesque. In 1695 Humphrey 



Michel founded almshouses for ten poor men. He 

 died the next year, and his purpose was carried out 

 by his nephew John Michel. In 1722 William 

 Smith conveyed property for their further support. 

 In 1810 they were rebuilt, and in 1858 six additional 

 almshouses were built. Part of Michel's original 

 foundation was a house which was taken into the old 

 Adelphi Theatre. William Hickey in 1727 left 

 property to provide pensions for the inmates of Duppa's 

 Almshouses, and for other poor people, men and 

 women, over fifty-five years of age. In 1834 the 

 trustees built almshouses for the pensioners, six men 

 and ten women. The houses form three sides of a 

 square, with a chapel in the centre of the building. 

 There is also a house for the chaplain. Houblon's 

 Almshouses were founded in 1757 and 1758 by 

 Rebecca and Susannah Houblon respectively, daughters 

 of Sir John Houblon, first Governor of the Bank of 

 England. They are for nine poor women. The 

 Church Lands Almshouses were built in 1843. 

 They are supported by part of the income of the 

 Church or Parish Charity Lands. These lands are 

 supposed to have been given by Thomas Denys in 

 1558 for the use of the poor and repairing and 

 sustaining the church. The funds were misappro- 

 priated, and it was not till 1626 that they were 

 delivered into the hands of the churchwardens. In 

 1650 the churchwardens conveyed them to trustees, 

 apparently illegally, with new trusts substituted for 

 the original. They were applied ' for the necessary 

 use of the parish church, the maintenance of the 

 minister, and no other purposes whatsoever.' "* The 

 cost of rebuilding the church in 1823 was defrayed from 

 these funds. In 1828 the original trust was restored 

 by a private Act of Parliament of 9 George IV. Part 

 was allotted for the maintenance of two churches in 

 Richmond, part for the almshouses, built in 1 843 as 

 above mentioned, the rest in pensions for the poor. 

 The charity now provides an income of about 1,000 

 a year, which is applied in aid of the rates." 6 Smith's 

 Charity is distributed as in other Surrey parishes, and 

 there are other numerous small charities for bread, 

 clothing, apprenticing, &c. 



286 Dugdale, Man. vi, 247 ; Comment' 

 Journ. xxxii, 155. 



^Commons' Journ. xxxii, 155; Surr. 

 Arch. Co!t. (Surr. Arch. Soc.), xvii, 104, 

 quoting Parl. Surv. 



188 Private Act of 9 Ceo. Ill, cap. 65. 



*" Local Act, 12 & 13 Viet. cap. 42. 



aw Public Act, 31 & 32 Viet. cap. 117. 



411 See above. 



441 Clergy List, 1908. Ibid. 



341 Lysons and Manning and Bray say 

 1606. The Parl. Ret. of 1786 says 

 1636. Sir George's death is in the parish 

 register in 1623. 



145 Parl. Ret. 1786. 



446 Brayley, Hist, of Surr. iii, 93 ; 

 Rep. of End. Charitiei in Co. Surr. for 

 Surr. Co. Council, from Parl. Ret. 433 

 (14), 15 July i86S, and 103, 17 Feb. 

 1891. 



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