100 WANDSWORTH COMMON. 
son, on Prince Charles. This Prince, on coming to the 
throne, granted it to Oliver St. John, afterwards created 
Viscount Grandison. His nephew inherited the estate, 
but not the title, and was himself created, in 1716, 
Viscount St. John. He had an only son, the well-known 
statesman, who was created Viscount Bolingbroke in 
the lifetime of his father. His successor, in 1762, sold 
the Manor to the trustees of Lord Spencer, from whom 
it descended to the present owner. 
No Common in the neighbourhood of London has 
suffered more cruelly in past times from encroachments of 
all kinds. It now consists of 194 acres, but a glance at 
the map will show that formerly it must have had a 
considerably larger area. In 1782, the then Lord of the 
Manor obtained the consent of the Parish of Wands- 
worth to an inclosure of 92 acres for an addition to 
his Park, on payment of an annual sum of £50, to be 
expended in charity ; and at the same time Sir Wilham 
Fordyce obtained leave to inclose 23 acres on payment 
of £20 a year to the parish. The late Mr. Porter also 
inclosed a considerable part of the East Common, which 
he claimed as waste of the Manor of Alfarthing, of 
which he was Lord; and his claim, though unfounded, 
does not appear to have been disputed. 
About forty years ago, two Railway Companies— 
the London and South-Western and the London and 
Brighton—obtained leave to take their lines through the 
Common, severing it into three distinct parts, and almost 
ruining it as an open space; and later, chiefly in conse- 
quence of this severance, the Royal Patriotic Society was 
