The following are the accounts for the year ending the 25th March 1899: St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster. Bandinel's Charities-continued. Christ Church National Schools (including the Rev. Cyril William Page Memorial Fund). The present building of Christ Church, Broadway, was erected about 1841 upon the Christ site of a church known as the "New Chapel," afterwards as " Broadway Chapel," which Church was built about 1631, Archbishop Laud contributing 1,000l. towards the cost. A school had been carried on in connection with the chapel for very many years before the date of the deed next mentioned, the date of the foundation of the school, which had, it is believed, always been conducted as a Church of England school, being unknown. For some years before 1847, the schools had been carried on in a house in Dacre Street, whence they were removed to the present site. No information is forthcoming as to the trusts, if any, upon which the school premises in Dacre Street were held. By a deed poll, dated the 20th January 1847 and enrolled on the 27th February following, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, under the authority of the School Sites Act, 1841, and without valuable consideration granted and conveyed to the said Dean, the rector of the parish of St. Margaret's, Westminster, and the minister of the Chapel District of Christ Church in the said parish of St. Margaret's, a piece of ground situate and being near the east side of Gardener's Lane in the said parish of St. Margaret, bounded on the west side thereof by a piece of vacant and open ground immediately adjoining on the east side of Gardener's Lane, intended to be added to and used as and for a public street, which piece of grouud intended to be thereby conveyed extended in front on the west side thereof from north to south 123 feet, and from west to east on the north side thereof 44 feet, and from north to south at the back or rear thereof 66 feet 8 inches, then turning west 4 feet, then running south 11 feet 10 inches, then turning west 11 feet 3 inches, then running south 13 feet 5 inches, then turning west 13 feet 6 inches, then running south 13 feet 5 inches, then turning west 3 feet, then running south 17 feet 10 inches, then turning west 3 feet, then running south 19 feet 9 inches, which said piece of land, with the several dimensions thereof, was more particularly delineated and shown on the plan thereto, and therein coloured pink, to hold the same unto and to the use of the said Dean and Minister and their respective successors, for the purposes of the said Acts, and to be applied as a site for schools for poor persons of and in the united parishes of St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, and for a residence for a school master and school mistress and for no other purpose, such schools to be in union with the National Society. It was declared that the religious instruction to be given in the schools should be under the control of the minister for the time being of Christ Church Chapel, and it was provided that the schools should be managed by a committee to be appointed therein as mentioned, of which committee the members should always be members of the Church of England. It was further provided that any person appointed to be a master or mistress of the said schools should be a member of the Church of England. Schools were subsequently erected with money raised by voluntary contributions. National St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster. Christ The Page Fund. The schools are conducted as Church of England public elementary schools and are supported by government grants, by voluntary contributions, and by the rent of a piece of vacant ground. The average attendance for the year ending the 31st March 1899 was: boys, 79; girls, 70; infants, 66. The trustees of the schools have entered into an agreement, dated the 20th March 1899, with the united Vestry of the parishes of St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, to exchange the site of the schools and the piece of land adjoining for the site and buildings of the Blue Coat School, which had been purchased by the Vestry as mentioned on page 72. It is a term of the said agreement, that the Vestry shall adapt part of the existing buildings of the Blue Coat School, and erect additional buildings for the purposes of an elementary school according to plans approved by the Education Department. The exchange will be effected under section 14 of the School Sites Act, 1841, and a parliamentary grant having been made to the Christ Church Schools, the agreement of the 20th March 1899 is made subject to the consent of the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The erection of the additional school buildings is now approaching completion. The Page Memorial Fund. By an indenture, dated the 9th March 1877, and made between John Gilbert Talbot, M.P., on behalf of the Page Memorial Committee, of the one part, and the Incorporated National Society, of the other part, it was recited that a fund had been raised for the purpose of commemorating the services of the late Rev. Cyril William Page, incumbent of Christ Church, Westminster, and that the committee to which the distribution of such fund had been entrusted had resolved that a part of such fund should be devoted to the benefit of the above-mentioned schools by an annual distribution of prizes to the pupil-teachers, monitors, and children who were qualified to receive such prizes by their knowledge of the subjects of instruction thereinafter mentioned, and that in pursuance of such resolution the said John Gilbert Talbot had invested 1441. 16s. 8ď. in the purchase of 1577. Canada 47. per Cent. Inscribed Stock, which sum of stock had been transferred to the said Society and was then standing in their name, and it was witnessed that for the purpose of declaring the intention of the said memorial committee, and also the trusts of the said sum of stock, it had been agreed by and between the parties thereto that the said Society and their successors should thenceforth stand possessed of the said sum of stock and the dividends and annual produce thereof, upon trust that the said Society and their successors should receive such dividends and annual produce, and should pay the same to the managers of the said schools for the time being for the purposes of rewards and prizes to such pupil-teachers, monitors, and children as were considered to have deserved such prizes or rewards from their knowledge of Holy Scripture, the Church Catechism, and the Book of Common Prayer, and for the payment of any fee which might be deemed proper to be paid for any examiner in such subjects by the managers. and for any expenses which might be necessary in carrying out the Scheme, the amount to be paid upon a certificate signed by the treasurer of the said schools, or two managers acting for him, such certificate to state the amount of fee (if any), and that the persons to receive the said prizes or rewards had a satisfactory knowledge of each of the several subjects before named; and it was further declared that the. managers of the said schools should arrange the details of any Scheme for the distribution of the aforesaid prizes and rewards. It was provided that if the said daily schools should cease to be conducted as Church of England schools, or the Catechism and Prayer Book should cease to be taught therein, then the trust and agreement aforesaid should be applied to the Church of England schools held on a Sunday in connection with the aforesaid district of Christ Church, and in the further event of both week-day and Sunday schools ceasing to be held, the aforesaid sum of 1577. Canada 47. per Cent. Inscribed Stock, and the proceeds thereof, should belong exclusively to the aforesaid National Society, to be applied by them to any educational purposes which to them might seem best, a preference being given to the parishes of St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster, such application (if practicable) being made in such manner that the original object of the Fund as a memorial to the Rev. C. W. Page might be perpetuated either in Page prizes or in such other way as the National Society should think fit. The endowment consists of 1577. Canada 47. per Cent. Inscribed Stock, standing in the name of the National Society, and producing annual dividends of 6l. 5s. 6d. The dividends are paid to the secretary to the National Society, and handed by him St. Margaret to Mr. Butterfield, the head master of Christ Church schools. Mr. Butterfield spends the amount received in buying books varying in value from 4d. to 13s.. and St. John, Westminster. The books are given as prizes for religious knowledge to those children who answer Christ best at the examination held by the Diocesan Inspector, and have done well in the Church religious lessons throughout the year. National The most valuable prizes are usually well-bound bibles, which are stamped with the continued. name of the recipient, and the inscription recording that the book was given as the Page Memorial Prize. No fee is paid to the inspector from the funds of the Charity. The undermentioned conditional Gift, which is alleged to have been made for the benefit of the Christ Church Schools, has apparently never been received. Gift. Margaret Bagnell's Gift.-It appears, from information in the possession of the Charity Margaret Commissioners, that Margaret Bagnell, by her will dated the 22nd January 1822 and Bagnell's proved with a codicil in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on the 1st March 1824 by the Rev. George Mutter, then curate-in-charge of Broadway Chapel, sole executor, bequeathed (inter alia) to Charles Frederick Mackey, late of New Way, Westminster, for his life, the interest of all stock which stood in the joint names of the testatrix and the said C. F. Mackey in the Navy 57. per Cents., and after his decease to be equally divided between all his children born in wedlock, to be paid half-yearly; and she directed that her executor should at his discretion transfer such stock into any other security he should deem for the benefit of the said C. F. Mackey, and in case of the C. F. Mackey dying without issue, or not appearing to claim the stock before 14 years after her decease, the testatrix bequeathed the same unto the Westminster New Charity Schools, to be disposed of for the benefit of the said schools as her executors should think fit, and until the end of the 14 years aforesaid, unless the said C. F. Mackey should make such demand previously as aforesaid, the testatrix gave the interest of the above stock to her executor, but the interest to be paid to the said C. F. Mackey from the time of his making such demand after her decease; and she gave to the said George Mutter all sums and stock standing in her name and not being in the joint names above stated, and bequeathed to the said George Mutter all the rest and residue of her estate. In 1863, an application was made to the Charity Commissioners on behalf of the Christ Church National Schools, alternatively described in the application as the New Charity School in Dacre Street, stating that the said C. F. Mackey had never appeared to claim the legacy, and that a sum of 5777. 10s. Stock standing in the names of Margaret Bagnell and Charles Frederick Mackey had, with many years' dividends thereon, been, some time before 1862, transferred to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt. The applicants applied to the Charity Commissioners for their advice as to what steps, if any, should be taken to recover the legacy. The Commissioners, by letter dated the 2nd February 1863, stated that they considered that they could not properly entertain any application for their official opinion and advice in the matter until it should have been judicially determined that the charitable bequest contained in Mrs. Bagnell's will in favour of the schools was valid, and had actually taken effect. The Commissioners further stated that they conceived that the trustees of the School might properly take proceedings in Chancery for the purpose of enforcing their claim to the bequest, but that upon that point it would be desirable to obtain sufficient professional advice. It does not appear that any proceedings in Chancery were ever taken. It has recently been ascertained that a sum of 577. 108. Navy 51. per Cent. Stock, formerly standing in the names of the above-mentioned stockholders, was on the 6th January 1841 transferred to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt. National otherwise the St. Stephen's National Schools, now known as the St. Stephen's Higher Grade School. St. Stephen's By deed dated the 21st March 1850, enrolled on the 27th of the same month, the Schools, Dean and Chapter of Westminster and Christopher Hodgson, under the provisions of St. Stephen's the School Sites Act, 1841, and without valuable consideration, granted to the Bishop Higher of London, and his successors, a piece of ground on the south-east side of Rochester Grade Row, in the parish of St. John the Evangelist, Westminster, abutting north-west ou School. and St. John, Westminster. St. Margaret Rochester Row and containing there 71 feet 4 inches, north-east on a piece of ground intended to be conveyed by an indenture of even date to the Church Building Commissioners for a site for a church, and containing there, conmencing from Rochester Row, 48 feet, then turning to the east 5 feet, then turning to the north-east 3 feet 6 inches, St. Stephen's and then turning to the south-east 28 feet; south-east on property of the said Dean and National Chapter on lease to Mr. Manchester and containing there 82 feet 10 inches, and southotherwise the west on a street leading froni Rochester Row into Vincent Square and containing there St. Stephen's 81 feet 7 inches, for the purposes of the said Act, and to be applied as a site for a school Higher Grade School Schools, continued. for poor persons of and in an intended new district parish of St. Stephen's, in Rochester Row, and for the residence, if requisite, of the schoolmaster and schoolmistress of the said school, and for other purposes of the said school, and for no other purpose whatever, such school to be in union with the National Society and under the management and control of the incumbent of the new parish or district jointly with such other person or persons as should from time to time be nominated for that purpose by the Bishop of the diocese for the time being. In 1851, a piece of land on the south-east of the site above mentioned was granted as a site for a vicarage, and a group of buildings, consisting of a church, vicarage, and schools, with teachers' residence, was erected, wholly, as it is believed, at the expense of the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. The site occupied by the vicarage encroached on the north-west to a small extent on the site granted for the schools. By deed poll, dated the 28th June 1867, enrolled on the 27th September following, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster and the Bishop of London (in his private capacity), without valuable consideration and under the provisions of the School Sites Act, 1841, granted to the Bishop of London (in his corporate capacity) and his successors, first, a piece of land at the rear of the site of St. Stephen's parsonage house; and secondly, a piece of land at the rear of Nos. 36 and 37 Vincent Square, for the purposes of the said Act, and to be applied as part of, and as an addition to, the site of the schools of the district parish of St. Stephen's, and to be used for the purposes of the said schools and for no other purpose whatever. The plots of land with the dimensions are shown in a plan in the margin. The St. Stephen's Schools were carried on in the buildings erected on the ground described in the deed of the 21st March 1850, until November 1891, when they were transferred to the buildings of the Townshend Elementary School in Rochester Street (see page 208), and have ever since been carried on in those premises, the buildings formerly used by St. Stephen's National Schools having, since 1891, been occupied by the Townshend Elementary School. The land granted by the deeds of the 21st March 1850 and the 28th June 1867 (on a small part of which buildings have been erected for the purposes of the Westminster Technical Institute, see page 210), appears, however, to be still held by the Bishop of London upon the trusts declared by the last-mentioned deeds. For some years the St. Stephen's National Schools have been conducted as a Church of England Higher Grade School under the name of St. Stephen's Higher Grade School. The buildings are used in the evening by members attending some of the classes carried on in connection with the Westminster Technical Institute. The Higher Grade School is supported by Government grants, and by the fees of scholars, varying from 1d. to 5d., any deficit being made good by Lady Burdett-Coutts. The amount paid by her has, in the four years ending the 28th February 1899, averaged 5401. Os. 7d. per annum. Among the subjects taught in the boys' and girls' departments are English, geography, drawing, shorthand, cookery and physical drill; algebra, chemistry and military drill being taught as additional subjects to boys; bookkeeping and French to giris. Kindergarten instruction is given in the infants' department. About 40 exhibitions, carrying exemption from fees at the evening classes in the Technical Institute, are attached to the Higher Grade School. As regards award and tenure these are similar to those attached to the Townshend School (see page 212). The average attendance for the year ending the 28th February 1899 was: boys, 257; girls, 253; infants, 239. The St. Margaret's Westminster Church School, otherwise known as the St. Margaret's St. Margaret and St. John, Westminster. Westminster It appears from information in the possession of the Charity Commissioners, that by The St. a deed poll dated the 21st April 1858, the Dean and Chapter of the Collegiate Church Margaret's of St. Peter, Westminster, under the authority of the School Sites Acts, granted and Church conveyed a piece of land and hereditaments situate on the north side of Tothill Street in School and the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, to the use of the dean of the said Collegiate Mission Hall. Church for the time being, the rector of the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, the rector of the parish of St. John the Evangelist, Westminster, and the senior canon of the said Collegiate Church for the time being, and their respective successors, for the purposes of the said Acts, and to be applied as a site for a school for poor persons of and in the united parishes of St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, Westminster, and for the residence of the schoolmaster and schoolmistress of the said school, and for no other purpose whatsoever, and it was provided that such school should be in union with the National Society, and should be open to Government inspection. In 1859 application was made by the trustees of the school to the Education Department for a grant towards the cost of building a school, but that Department was unable to make a grant in that behalf until the trusts of the above-mentioned deed had been amended. Application was accordingly made to the Charity Commissioners, who by their Certificate, dated the 3rd September 1859, authorised the trustees of the school to apply to the County Court of the district for an Order establishing a Scheme. By an Order of the Westminster County Court, dated the 21st November 1859, the Scheme set forth in the schedule was established, and it was ordered that the piece of ground and hereditaments situate on the north side of Tothill Street in the parish of St. Margaret, Westminster, and more particularly described in the first clause of the said Scheme should vest in the Official Trustee of Charity Lands in trust for the Charity. The principal provisions of the Scheme were in substance as follows: That the premises, which were described in the said first clause, and all buildings thereon erected or to be erected, should be for ever thereafter appropriated and used as a school for the education of children and adults or children only of the labouring, manufacturing, and other poorer classes in the united parishes of St. Margaret and St. John the Evangelist, Westminster. That such school should be at all times open to the inspectors of schools for the time being appointed in conformity with the Order in Council dated the 10th August 1840, and should always be in union with and conducted according to the principles of the National Society. That the principal officiating ministers for the time being of the said respective parishes should have the superintendence of the religious and moral instruction of all the scholars attending such school, and might use and direct the premises to be used for the purposes of a Sunday school under their exclusive control and management, but that in all other respects the control and management of such school and premises and of the funds and endowments thereof should be vested in a committee to be constituted as therein mentioned. That no person should be appointed or continue to be the master or mistress of the school who should not be a member of the Church of England. The Scheme was formally approved by an Order of the Charity Commissioners dated the 10th January 1860. In 1866, the Metropolitan District Railway Company, requiring the site of the schools, served upon the managers of the school the usual notice to treat for the purchase thereof. The purchase money was fixed at 8,245l., but the Company delayed payment of the same, and on the 5th February 1869 the Charity Commissioners authorised the committee of the school to take the necessary proceedings in the Court of Chancery to enforce payment. In the result of proceedings in Court, a sum of 8,476l. 17s. Id., representing the purchase money and interest, was invested under the authority of an |