TOOTING GRAVENEY
Totinge (x cent.); Totinges (xi cent.); Totynge
Grauenel (xiii cent.); Toting Gravenee (xiv cent.);
Lytle Totynge (xvi cent.); Tooting Graveney or
Lower Tooting (xviii cent.).
The area of the civil parish of Tooting Graveney
is about 565 acres. (fn. 1) In the 18th century the land
was chiefly arable, (fn. 2) and a considerable proportion of
the inhabitants were engaged in agriculture in 1831.
Since that time the parish has been entirely transformed from a village into a London suburb. It
now forms a ward of the Metropolitan borough of
Wandsworth. No arable land now remains and
there are only 21 acres of permanent grass. The
soil is London clay and the gravel and sand of the
river deposits. The average altitude is about 100 ft.
above the ordnance datum. In 1870 an attempt was
made by Mr. Thompson, then lord of the manor, to
inclose part of the common, but his action was found
to be illegal. (fn. 3) The common of Tooting Graveney,
adjoining Tooting Bec Common in Streatham, lies at
the north-eastern extremity of the parish, and in the
south stands Hill House, the manor-house of 1802, (fn. 4)
which afterwards became a Roman Catholic college,
and is now used as a workhouse. Nearer the centre
are the church of St. Nicholas and the rectory. The
main road from Merton enters Tooting Graveney on
the south and runs north into Streatham. Tooting
Junction, a station on the joint line of the London
and South-Western and London, Brighton and South
Coast railways, is in the south-east corner of the
parish, within the boundaries of which a small part
of the line here runs. To the north of the station
Lower Tooting bridge crosses the little stream of the
Graveney as it flows into Mitcham. It is worth
noting that this stream is named from the parish,
not vice versa.
A school was built by subscription in 1790 as a
charity school and maintained in the same way. (fn. 5) In
1833 it was placed under the National Society, and
in 1874 under the School Board. In 1875 it was
retransferred to the National Society, and the original
building is now used as the Sunday school.
The original infants' school was founded by deed
in 1855, and, after transference to the School Board
in 1875, repurchased by the parish for a church
room.
Queen Elizabeth is said to have visited Sir Henry
Maynard at Tooting Graveney in 1600, when the
avenue of trees on the common was planted in her
honour. (fn. 6) It was in her reign that a dispute arose
between the parishioners here and their neighbours
of Streatham, who carried away gravel illegally from
the common of Tooting Graveney. (fn. 7)
Among place-names found are Le Frierne Close,
Maningates, le Howe (xvi cent.); Georges Meade,
Vicar's Busshes How (xvii cent.); Great and Little
Dimocks, Beggory Common Mead, Hither and
Further Sugger Lands, Great and Little Bushy Downe
and Reach Field (xviii cent.).
MANOR
About the year 675 seven hides of land
in Tooting and Streatham are said to have
been granted to the abbey of Chertsey
by its founders Frithwald Subregulus of Surrey and
Erkenwald Bishop of London. (fn. 8) The authenticity of
the charter embodying this gift is doubtful, (fn. 9) but the
fact of some such grant seems to be established by
later records. Land in Tooting and Streatham is
mentioned in the confirmation charter of King
Athelstan in 933, (fn. 10) and in 1062 Edward the Confessor included 7 hides 'at Tooting with Streatham'
in his enumeration of the benefactions of Frithwald
and Erkenwald. (fn. 11) In the Domesday Survey, however, this early Chertsey manor appears as an estate
which had been assessed for 6 hides in the reign of
Edward the Confessor, (fn. 12) whilst another hide in the
parish which Osward had held of that king with
liberty to seek what lord he chose had come since
the Conquest under the abbot's overlordship. (fn. 13) His
successors were confirmed in the possession of Tooting and Streatham by Pope Eugenius III in 1149 (fn. 14)
and by Pope Alexander III in 1175. (fn. 15) By the
following century the name of Streatham had dropped
out from the description of the manor, which was
then declared to consist of a knight's fee in Tooting. (fn. 16)
Some claim to it advanced on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury was quashed in 1229, when it
was found to be of the fee of the Abbot of Chertsey. (fn. 17)
His overlordship continued till 1428, (fn. 18) the service by
which the manor was held having been reduced in 1314
to half a knight's fee (fn. 19) ; in 1393 and 1416 it appears as
the payment of a rose on St. John the Baptist's Day, (fn. 20)
and it had apparently lapsed before 1500, when the
jurors were unable to make any statement concerning
its tenure. (fn. 21) The first sub-tenant of this manor
whose name has been preserved was Hamon the
Sheriff, who held all the Chertsey Abbey lands in
Tooting in 1086. (fn. 22) His lands came afterwards to
the family of Gravenel, from whom the parish took
its later name of Tooting Graveney. (fn. 23) In the 12th
century a Hamon de Gravenel owned the church,
and was probably also lord of the manor, (fn. 24) and the
knight's fee which Richard de Gravenel held of the
Abbot of Chertsey in 1212 (fn. 25) can hardly have been
other than the manor of Tooting, which seventeen
years later was found on inquiry to have descended
to him from his ancestors under the same tenure. (fn. 26)
Richard seems to have forfeited his estates in or
before 1215, when the land which he had owned in
Tooting was bestowed by King John on Briton the
cross-bowman. (fn. 27) Briton's tenure was not of long
duration. Alice Richard's widow held his lands in
dower before 1229 (fn. 28) and the unnamed heirs of
Richard Gravenel were returned as tenants of his
Tooting manor in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 29) It
seems to have descended to John Gravenel, (fn. 30) the son
possibly of Richard and Alice, who was living in
1252. The custody of John's lands in Tooting
Graveney with the exception of his widow's dower
was granted until the majority of his heirs by the
Abbot of Chertsey to Bartholomew de Castello, and
duly restored by him to the abbot in 1272. (fn. 31)
The next lord of whom there is record, Thomas
Ludlow, held Tooting Graveney in 1287 and probably
earlier, (fn. 32) whether by marriage with a daughter of
John Gravenel or as tenant of Chertsey Abbey on
the extinction of the Surrey branch of this family does
not appear. He was then or afterwards the husband
of Joan daughter of the last Baron Marmion. (fn. 33)
At his death in or before 1314 Thomas was declared
to be lord of the manor of Tooting Graveney,
then with the rest of his lands in the temporary
possession of his creditor William de Trente. (fn. 34)
One-third held in dower by his widow until her
death in or before 1340 (fn. 35) had been taken into the
king's hands about 1321 on account of her marriage
without licence to Henry Hillary. (fn. 36) The rest of
the manor was held by a younger Thomas Ludlow,
son and heir of Thomas and Joan, who in
1330 (fn. 37) made a settlement on himself and his wife
Katharine. (fn. 38) From 1336, when the second Thomas
died like his father involved in debt, (fn. 39) Tooting
Graveney was held by Katharine until her death in
1393. (fn. 40) Her heir was her daughter Margaret Ludlow,
widow of Sir John Dymoke, champion of England
at the coronation of Richard II by virtue of his wife's
descent from the last Baron Marmion, (fn. 41) and described
as lord of the manor of Tooting in 1372. (fn. 42) When
Margaret died at an advanced age in 1414, her
Lincolnshire estates descended to her son and heir
Thomas, then sixty years old, (fn. 43) who had represented
her at two successive coronations, (fn. 44) but no record
survives to show whether she
was still in possession of her
Surrey inheritance. Within
two years of her death another
John Dymoke, possibly her
younger son, died seised of
the manor of Tooting Graveney, of which he had made a
settlement a few months before. (fn. 45) His son and heir of
the same name, (fn. 46) found in
1428 to be holding the
knight's fee in Tooting Graveney which John Draycote and
John Dymoke once owned, (fn. 47)
may have been the grandfather of Andrew Dymoke,
jun., who was lord of the manor when he died in 1500,
leaving a son and heir Thomas, then aged three. (fn. 48)
William Dymoke is said to have owned Tooting Graveney in the reigns of Edward VI, Mary and Elizabeth. (fn. 49)
Dymoke. Sable two lions passant argent crowned or.
The manor must have then reverted to the Dymokes
of Scrivelsby, for Robert Dymoke, son of Sir Edward
Dymoke of Scrivelsby, who died in that year, held
his first court here in 1566. (fn. 50) His son Sir Edward
Dymoke, champion of England and lineal representative of Margaret Dymoke, (fn. 51) sold it in 1593 to James
Harrington, (fn. 52) by whom two years later it was conveyed to Sir Henry Maynard, (fn. 53) Lord Burghley's
secretary. (fn. 54) Sir Henry died in 1610, (fn. 55) and fourteen
years later Tooting Graveney was held by his sons
Sir William Maynard, bart., John and Charles
Maynard. (fn. 56) It was probably settled on Sir John
Maynard, the second brother, for in 1652 he joined
with James in conveying it, probably as part of a
marriage settlement, to John Rushout, (fn. 57) whose
daughter Katherine married Sir John's son John.
Sir John the elder died in 1658 and Sir John the
younger in 1665, leaving only a daughter Mary,
who evidently married William Adams, for in 1682
Mary and William Adams and Sir James Rushout,
bart., son of John Rushout, conveyed Tooting
Graveney to Sir Francis Pemberton, chief justice of
the Common Pleas. (fn. 58) He was apparently acting as
trustee for the Whichcote family, into which he had
married, (fn. 59) since Sir Paul Whichcote, bart., his brotherin-law, was in possession with his wife Jane in 1689, (fn. 60)
and a few years later they were empowered by a
Private Act of Parliament to make leases for ninetynine years of their manor of Tooting Graveney. (fn. 61)
Sir Paul and his son Francis suffered a recovery of
the manor in 1713, (fn. 62) and sold it in the following
year to Sir James Bateman, Lord Mayor of London
in 1717, by whom it was entailed on his son and
heir James. (fn. 63) In 1725 another Private Act empowered
James Bateman to sell his Surrey estates, (fn. 64) and Tooting
Graveney was bought by Percival Lewis the next
year. (fn. 65) It is said to have descended through his son
and heir Edward to his grandson another Percival
Lewis, whose estate here was sold by auction in 1767
to Morgan Rice, (fn. 66) High Sheriff of Surrey in 1776. (fn. 67)
On his death in 1795 Tooting Graveney came to
his son John and afterwards to John Morgan Rice, (fn. 68)
and was sold by the Rice family in 1802 to Thomas
Platt. (fn. 69) From him it is said to have passed to Charles
son of Sir Charles Pole, who sold it to Henry Baring. (fn. 70)
The next purchaser was Mr. Rees Goring Thomas,
who was succeeded by a son of the same name, who
sold Tooting Graveney in 1861 to Mr. William
James Thompson. (fn. 71) He was still lord in 1870, (fn. 72)
but afterwards transferred his manorial rights to the
Metropolitan Board of Works. (fn. 73)
A grant of free warren in Tooting was made to
Bartholomew de Castello in 1285. (fn. 74) This liberty
was claimed by Thomas Ludlow in his manor of
Tooting Graveney and also view of frankpledge (fn. 75) ;
the latter, which possibly originated in an early and
general grant to the abbey of Chertsey, (fn. 76) is mentioned
amongst the Tooting Graveney liberties as late as
1726. (fn. 77) A capital messuage which was amongst the
appurtenances of the manor in the 14th century (fn. 78)
was possibly on the site of the capital messuage known
in 1802 as Hill House. (fn. 79) There was one dovecote
here in 1314, (fn. 80) two are mentioned in 1652 (fn. 81) and
one in 1726. (fn. 82)
In 1331 Thomas Markward of King's Sutton
obtained licence to alienate to the Prior and friars of
the Holy Cross by the Tower of London a messuage
and 13 acres in Tooting, (fn. 83) and three messuages here
were alienated to the same house by William Roce
five years later. (fn. 84) The priory of Merton had a
small property in Tooting in 1535. (fn. 85)
CHURCHES
The church of ST. NICHOLAS
consists of chancel and north organ
chamber, 1873–5, south vestry, north
and south transepts, 1889; all these are built of red
brick and form part of a scheme of reconstruction in
the Decorated style. The nave, west tower and
porches of light brick were built in 1832–3 in the
Gothic style of the period. In the vestry is an old
print of the church which preceded this one on the
same site, showing a chancel, nave, south aisle, west
porch and north round tower with a louvred belfry
and octagonal spire.
In the south transept there is a mural tablet with
inset brass to Elizabeth Fitzwilliam, 1582, and her
husband, 1597. On the north wall of the nave is a
tablet to Sir John Hepdon, 1670; and in the porch,
above the west door of the nave, is a large marble
mural monument to Dame Bateman, 1710. In
front of the west gallery are the royal arms of Great
Britain of the Hanoverian line to 1802.
There is only one bell by M. B., 1705.
The plate consists of silver-gilt cup and cover
paten, 1669; a silver bowl, 1672; and several
modern pieces. The registers begin in 1555, transcribed in 1603. The church also has a beadle's
staff on which are the royal arms, 1801–37.
The registers are in seven books: (i) baptisms
and burials 1555 to 1782, marriages 1555 to 1753;
(ii) and (iii) baptisms 1783 to 1812; (iv) and (v)
burials 1783 to 1812; (vi) and (vii) marriages 1754
to 1812.
The ecclesiastical district of ALL SAINTS was
formed from the parish of Tooting Graveney in
1903, funds for the erection of the church and provision of a vicarage having been bequeathed about
two years previously by the widow of Lord Charles
William Brudenell-Bruce. (fn. 86)
The church in Franciscan Road is a large and wellbuilt structure of stock brick and stone, with red tile
roofs, in the style of the 14th century, erected in
1906. It has a chancel of three bays with narrow
aisles, a Lady chapel to the east of the chancel, north
tower off the westernmost bay of the chancel aisle, south
transept containing the organ opposite, nave of four
bays, and north and south aisles, each in the form of
four deep transepts separated one from another by
arcades of two bays, and having gabled ends. The
arcades have greystone pillars and whitestone arches.
Above is a clearstory, the window ledges of which are
connected by a passage-way in the thickness of the
wall, as are also those of the aisles. The Lady
chapel, which has an altar with a triptych, is divided
from the chancel by an arcade of three bays, the
middle bay being hidden by a tall green and gold
reredos of Renaissance design and containing a painting of the Crucifixion. The organ case and chancel
furniture are of a similar design and colour. The pulpit
is of green and white marble, and the font of grey
Purbeck marble with a tall green and gold wood cover.
The nave and chancel have wood-boarded vaulted
ceilings; the aisle transepts barrel vaults, also in
wood; and the Lady chapel a flat wood ceiling. At
the west end are a narthex and porches. The aisle
walls are panelled in oak. Open iron screens span
the side arches of the chancel. On the west wall is
a marble mural monument with a bust to Charles
William Brudenell-Bruce.
At the time of the Revolution Tooting is said to
have been the residence of Daniel Defoe, according to
tradition the first person to form the Nonconformists
of this neighbourhood into a regular congregation. (fn. 87)
The present Congregational chapel represents the
Presbyterian congregation to which Joshua Oldfield,
a well-known divine, is believed to have preached in
1688. (fn. 88) In 1715 a Presbyterian meeting existed. (fn. 89)
Dr. Henry Miles, F.R.S., was minister from 1731
to 1763. In 1766 a new chapel was built, and
Dr. Samuel Wilton was probably the first Independent
minister in that year. (fn. 90)
There are also Primitive Methodist and Baptist
chapels at Tooting Graveney, besides a meeting-place
belonging to the Salvation Army.
ADVOWSONS
The first mention of the church
of St. Nicholas seems to be that of
1086, when a church with 4 acres of
meadow belonged to the manor held by Hamon the
Sheriff of the Abbot of Chertsey. (fn. 91) It was afterwards
granted by Hamon de Gravenel with all the tithes
of his demesne lands to the priory of St. Mary Overy
in Southwark, a gift confirmed by Richard Bishop of
Winchester between 1174 and 1189, (fn. 92) and the
church of Tooting, valued in 1291 at £2, (fn. 93) was included at a later date in a list of the benefices belonging to that house. (fn. 94) There was a vicarage here after
1291 and before 1366, (fn. 95) but there is no record of
its endowment. (fn. 96) Presentations continued to be
made to the vicarage from 1366, (fn. 97) and in 1528
Hugh Hudson, the incumbent, was called vicar. (fn. 98) In
1535, however, he was described as rector, (fn. 99) and no
later mention of the vicarage occurs. After the
surrender of the priory of St Mary Overy in 1539 (fn. 100)
the advowson seems to have remained with the
Crown until 1551, when Edward VI granted it to
Edward Fiennes Lord Clinton and Say. (fn. 101) From him
it passed, it is said by sale, (fn. 102) to Sir Richard Sackville,
who owned it at his death in 1566. (fn. 103) Richard Earl
of Dorset, grandson of Sir Richard's son and heir
Thomas, (fn. 104) who had been created Earl of Dorset in
1604, was patron when he died in 1624, leaving no
son. (fn. 105) His title and estates then descended to his
younger brother Edward, (fn. 106) to whom the advowson
belonged until his death in 1652. (fn. 107) From Richard,
Edward's son and heir, who presented in 1662, (fn. 108) it
seems to have passed to John Keat and Henry
Eyton, patrons, possibly as trustees, two years later, (fn. 109)
but the presentation of 1683 was made by Charles
afterwards Lord Berkeley, (fn. 110) who must have bought
it from Charles Earl of Dorset, son of Richard,
his wife's nephew by marriage. (fn. 111) Sir William
Turner presented pro hac vice in 1686. (fn. 112) It
is said that the Earl of Berkeley or his son sold
the advowson to Sir John Bateman, (fn. 113) whose son
James was patron in 1720. (fn. 114) Six years later it was
conveyed with the manor to Percival Lewis. (fn. 115) Maria
Lethullier, widow, presented in 1730, (fn. 116) but a settlement made in 1747 for the purpose of cutting off
the entail between James Bateman, his daughter Ann
and her husband Samuel Dashwood, Percival Lewis
and others shows that the Batemans retained their
interest in the living. (fn. 117) Percival Lewis sold it to
the Rev. Nicholas Brady, from whose son-in-law
Dr. Henry Allen, instituted here in 1769, it was bought
by the Rev. G. F. Barlow. (fn. 118) The next purchaser,
Peter Broadley, patron from 1801 to 1812, (fn. 119) was
succeeded before 1817 by R. Burrows and F. Greggs, (fn. 120)
possibly trustees for the Broadley family, since Robert
Broadley and his wife Ann transferred their interest
in the advowson of Tooting Graveney to William
Wilson in 1820, (fn. 121) and a Peter Broadley was patron in
1822. (fn. 122) From F. B.Wilson, who presented in 1829, (fn. 123)
the advowson of Tooting Graveney probably passed
to the Rev. R. Greaves, in whose possession it was
from 1836 until 1853. (fn. 124) The Rev. R. W. Greaves
was patron and incumbent in 1854, and retained
the patronage until 1870. (fn. 125) From 1871 to 1875
the advowson was in the possession of the Rev. John
Congreve, then rector. (fn. 126) The next patron, Mr. W. S.
Flack, was succeeded in 1880 by the Rev. E. H.
Morton, patron until 1906, since which date the
advowson has been in the hands of trustees. (fn. 127)
In 1337 Lucy and Alice Sampson held a messuage
of the parish church of Tooting. (fn. 128) The living of
the new church of All Saints is in the gift of the
Bishop of Southwark.
CHARITIES
The following charities are under
the administration of the rector and
churchwardens, namely:—
Sir John Maynard—as recorded on a benefaction
table in the church—gave £1 to eight poor parishioners,
viz. 2s. 6d. each on Easter Sunday.
It is also recorded that Sir James Bateman, kt., gave
£100 for binding out apprentice poor children.
These charities are now represented by £304 18s. 4d.
consols, producing £7 12s. 6d. a year, of which £1
is applied as above at Easter and the balance in
apprenticing.
John Avarn for poor, by will proved in the P.C.C.
1809, trust fund, £335 13s. 6d. consols, for bread.
Rev. John Ravenhill for poor, will proved in the
P.C.C. 27 February 1833, trust fund, £60 consols.
John Rogers, by his will, 1778, left £200 for
four housekeepers, and Mrs. Martha Chivers (who
was the widow of John Rogers), by her will, 1789,
left £200 for the same purpose. These legacies,
together with a legacy of £50 by will of William
Powell, 1823, for repairs of vault and monument,
are now represented by £650 consols.
Thomas Bridges, by will proved at London
3 June 1868, bequeathed £1,000 consols for the
poor.
Mary Harford Hoggart by deed, 1869, gave £100,
now represented by £106 19s. 1d. consols, the
dividends to be distributed among poor residents of
sixty-five years of age and upwards, members of the
Church of England, with a preference to such as had
been born and baptized in the parish; the charity to
be called 'Charles Lancelot Hoggart's gift.'
Stephenson Clarke, by deed, 1889, gave £200
London, Chatham and Dover 4½ per cent. Arbitration Stock for aged poor of not less than sixty years of
age in memory of his late sister, Maria Jane Clarke,
irrespective of their religious opinions.
Stephenson Clarke, above mentioned, by his will
proved at London 9 June 1891, also bequeathed
£1,000, now represented by £730 London and
Blackwall railway stock and £12 7s. 6d. consols, the
income—subject to keeping in order and planting
that portion of the churchyard in which his grave was
situated—to be distributed amongst deserving poor
people of the parish without regard to their religious
opinions.
The several sums of stock are held by the official
trustees, the dividends upon the consols amounting
to £61 14s. 4d. and from the railway stocks to
£41 17s. a year.
About £20 a year is expended upon the churchyard and about a dozen pensions of 3s. per month
are given in respect of Stephenson Clarke's charities,
and the income of the remaining charities is applied
in the relief of the poor, mainly in the distribution of
tickets for groceries, an apprentice being selected
under Sir James Bateman's charity.
This parish is also entitled under Henry Smith's
charity to two one hundred and thirtieth parts of the
dividends on £4,767 consols, representing the Bexhill Estate branch and of an annual payment of £100
from the Longley Manor Estate branch. The amount
actually received varies in amount from £3 11s. to
£3 15s. a year, which is applied by the churchwardens
and overseers in the distribution of articles in kind.
In 1712 Isaac Brand by will charged his mansionhouse with £3 a year for the poor at Easter. The
annuity is paid out of property in Defoe Road and
applied with Henry Smith's charity.
In 1713 Thomas Man by his will charged his
messuages in the Market Place, Kingston-on-Thames,
with six chaldrons of sea coals for twelve poor of
the parish of Tooting. The coals of the value
of £8 or £9 a year are distributed among twentyfour poor.
Educational Charities.
—The following charities
are regulated by a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, namely, the charities of John Avarn, will
proved in the P.C.C., 1809; William Powell, will
proved in the P.C.C., 1823; Rev. John Ravenhill,
will proved in the P.C.C., 1833, and Elizabeth
Collett, deed, 1839. In respect thereof the official
trustees hold £891 3s. 4d. West Ham Corporation
Three per Cent. Stock and £897 0s. 11d. Western
Australian Government Three per Cent. Stock, producing together £53 12s. 10d. yearly; £174 14s. 9d.
consols and £142 5s. 2d. consols, producing together
£7 18s. 5d. yearly. The official trustees also hold a
sum of £818 9s. 1d. consols on an investment account
to replace a sum of £794 8s. consols sold out in 1896
for the erection of a hall. This account now (1911)
amounts to £1,228 7s. 8d. consols. The available
income is applied in prizes for infants and for scholarships at schools for secondary education.
Nonconformist charities comprise the following
charities, namely:—
1. The charity of Elizabeth Wilmot, will proved
in the P.C.C., 1740, consisting of a rent-charge of
£10 issuing out of property in Defoe Road.
2. The Meeting House, known as Tooting Independent Chapel, in the High Street, comprised in
deed 16 February 1766.
3. The Defoe Memorial Manse in the Charlmont
and Selincourt Roads, regulated by schemes of High
Court of Justice, 1893, and of Charity Commissioners, 1894, occupied by the minister.
4. The charities of Benjamin Bond, deed 1743,
Emma Miles, deed 1763, John Bond, deed 1794.
By the scheme, 1894, above referred to, the trustees
were authorized to apply a sum of £900 to be raised
by the sale of a sufficient portion of £1,336 12s. 5d.
consols belonging to these charities, in discharging
certain liabilities to which the manse was subject and
in defraying the cost of repairs, &c. In the result a
sum of £246 12s. 8d. consols was transferred to the
official trustees, the annual dividends, amounting to
£6 3s. 4d., to be remitted to the trustees, and £200
consols on an investment account to replace a sum of
£203 14s. consols sold out for repairs.
The official trustees also hold a sum of £100
consols, given at some date prior to 1839 by a person
named Leach By a scheme of the Charity Commissioners, 4 April 1871, the annual dividends of
£2 10s. are made applicable for the benefit of poor
members of the Congregational church in the High
Street.
The Lady Charles Bruce's Tooting charity, founded
by the will of the Right Hon. Augusta Georgiana
Sophia Brudenell-Bruce, proved at London 29 April
1901, is regulated by a scheme of the High Court of
Justice (Chancery Division), 11 June 1909. The
testatrix directed that the residue of her property
should be devoted to charitable objects for the purpose
of perpetuating the memory of her late husband and
be applied in purchasing a site and erection of a
church, &c., in any part of the county of London and
towards the endowment of the minister or perpetual
curate thereof.
Several sums of government stock and railway
securities of the value of £30,000, or thereabouts,
have been transferred to the official trustees, producing together in annual dividends £838 18s., which is
applied in salaries of the curates of All Saints' and in
the upkeep, &c., of the church, Bruce Hall, and two
cottages called 'Blankney' and 'Savernake.'
A sum of £1,000 consols is also in course of being
provided as an 'Extraordinary Repairs Fund.'