PLUMSTEAD COMMONS. 79 
as they liked with it. In pursuance of this policy, a series 
of aggressions and encroachments were carried out, by 
which Plumstead Common was reduced by about one- 
third of its area, and which culminated, in 1866, in the 
inclosure, on behalf of the College, of the whole of 
Bostall Heath and of the Shoulder of Mutton Green. 
These acts led to a crisis. There was general indig- 
nation in the district against the action of the College. 
The advice of the Commons Society was sought. 
Inquiries were made. <A meeting of the inhabitants of 
Hast Wickham was held, and by the advice of the 
Society a Committee was formed by the Vestry, with 
Mr. John Warrick as Chairman; and under the 
authority of this body the fences round the Green were 
forcibly removed, in vindication of the claims of the 
inhabitants to use it for games and recreation as a 
Village Green. 
It was ascertained that among the freeholders of the 
Manor was Mr. Frederick Goldsmid, then a member of 
the House of Commons. This gentleman was persuaded 
to put himself at the head of the movement to preserve 
the Common. He presided ata public meeting in Plum- 
stead to enlist popular sympathy against the inclosure, 
and he put the matter into the hands of Mr. Lawrence. 
In the following month Mr. Goldsmid died suddenly ; 
but his son, Mr. Julian Goldsmid (now Sir Julian), took 
up the matter with equal warmth, and in concert with 
Mr. John Warrick and another gentleman, undertook 
the litigation, which was necessary to vindicate the rights 
of the freeholders and of the public to the waste lands 
