CHAPTER IV.
SCHOOLS—CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS—PUBLIC ESTABLISHMENTS AND ESTABLISHMENTS OF PUBLIC UTILITY.
A SUNDAY SCHOOL, in connection with the Church, was established in Paddington, during the last century; but it was not till the beginning of this, that any public means of instruction existed for the children of the poor on week days. Lysons, in his second Edition, tells us that “A charity school for thirty boys and thirty girls was established in this parish in 1802;” and that it was “supported by voluntary contributions, and the collections at an annual charity sermon.” This public day-school for poor children was one of the first established in the outskirts of London; and the school room was built on that land which is said to have been given by Bishop Compton. But this building was but small; for it held only one hundred children; and in 1816, it was discovered that there were 1508 children under twelve years of age, living on the south side of the canal only; and it was supposed that four hundred of these were between seven and twelve years old.
The curate of the parish and other influential inhabitants, seeing this great field open for profitable cultivation, got up a Committee, to devise ways and means to effect so desirable an object. This Committee reported to the vestry, in March, 1818, that “the Bishop of London, as the most extensive proprietor as well as the patron of the church, &c.” had been consulted on the propriety of establishing a school for three hundred children; which they calculated might be supported for £175 per annum, while the expense of building the school room, was estimated at £650; and they further reported to the vestry, that the bishop expressed “his hearty good wishes for its success.” But as “hearty good wishes” did not build or endow the school, it was not built till some years after this time; and then, not by the bishop, or his lay lessees.
As we have already seen, the proceeds of the sale of waste lands were devoted to this purpose; Denis Chirac’s legacy, which, with interest, now amounted to £170 3_s._ 10_d._, and a donation of £130 from Baron Maseres, one of his executors, being added; and in 1828, the vestry resolved to devote two-thirds of the proceeds of the copyhold estate to the support of this school.
When the Act of 1838, relative to the freehold estates, was obtained, a re-arrangement of these funds was made; and three-fifths of the whole estates, freehold as well as leasehold, were appropriated “towards the support of the _Paddington_ Parochial National and Infant Schools.” The new school rooms were built in 1822 on Paddington Green, or rather on a part of the site of the “town pool;” and in 1831, other school rooms, in connection with that system which is called National, were built at Bayswater.
In 1840 the parochial school-rooms of St. John’s district were erected in Tichbourn Row; and the new schools, built at the back of Stanley Street, and St. Mary’s Hospital, in the district of All Saints, were opened in February, 1852.
The Rev. F. C. Cook’s “Report on Schools in the Eastern district,” published in “Minutes of the Committee of Council on Education 1845,” contains a full account of those schools then in operation; and the following extracts are taken from it.
In 1845, the number of scholars was as follows, viz., in the schools on Paddington Green, April fifth and sixth, “200 boys present, total 210; 115 girls present, total 131; 180 infants present, total 190.”
“Titchbourn Street, second of April, Boys present, 167; total, 190. Girls present, 91; total, 109. Infants present, 151; total 200.”
“Bayswater, twenty-fifth April. Boys, 106; girls, 49; infants, 60.”
The masters and mistresses of these schools, and of the new school, have kindly furnished me with the numbers now in attendance; they are as follows:—
Boys. Girls. Infants. Paddington Green 174 98 150 Bayswater 168 100 160 Tichbourn Street 184 113 217 All Saints 140 138 174 Total 666 449 701
Mr. Cook reported, that at the schools on Paddington Green, “the boys and girls are instructed in two rooms, well-built, warmed and ventilated. The building handsome, and well arranged.
“Boys: instructed by master, with pupil teacher, seventeen years old, who was educated in the school. Arranged in six classes on the circulating system. The rewards for medals are books, which cost about £5 per annum. The attendance averages more than nine-tenths of the total number. Age of boys between seven and twelve, excepting ten boys near thirteen years. Many boys have been in school from infancy. There is an increase of fifty since the last inspection. The fluctuation in the numbers not considerable. Boys are very healthy and cleanly in appearance. The discipline is nearly perfect.
“The general proportion of instruction in the several classes is somewhat advanced since last year. In the first class of fifty boys, averaging eleven years old, and three years in school, twenty-five work a sum in practice, 9860874, at £35 10_s._ 6½_d._, with ease; the others compound rules and proportion. Write exceedingly well from dictation, and some good abstracts. Geography, grammar, and etymology well taught. Read History of England fluently, and are acquainted with the facts. Learn linear drawing, and music on Hullah’s method. The lower classes are advancing in due proportion to age and time in school. The religious instruction throughout is good.
“Generally speaking, methods of teaching are those of the National Society.”
“Girls: instructed in two rooms, and four classes, by mistress, assistant and monitors. From seven to thirteen years old; fifteen, between twelve and thirteen.
“The manners of the girls are very pleasing, and the school is in good order.
“All can read from easy narrative, to the third book and History of England. Eighty read with ease in the third book. Good secular reading books in all classes. Writing on paper, ninety in books, and from memory, neat and accurate. Ciphering to compound rules, with practical questioning. The first class learn geography and grammar very well; the religious instruction in all classes is remarkably good. Needlework is very well taught; thirty can fix a shirt.”
“Infants, one hundred and eighty. Conducted by a mistress; assistant employed in managing, not in instructing the children. A handsome, well-arranged school, with abundant apparatus. All infants between two and six years. The infants are cheerful, orderly, clean, and fond of their mistress. It is peculiar to the school that the mistress teaches all the children to read, &c., without monitors. The result is that they are more advanced than in good infant schools conducted on the usual system; seventy read in books; twenty very well; and twenty write sentences on slates, twenty, words; and thirty, letters; all elementary subjects are well-taught. Children are well acquainted with scriptural history, and give more intelligent answers on meaning of words and sentences than is usual in good schools. The mistress is an able teacher, and devoted to her duties.”
Mr. Cook adds, “I have recommended many clergymen to visit these schools, as among the best and most complete in London.”
And he concludes this part of his report by saying, that “in addition to these nine schools, it is intended to erect others in the neighbourhood of the new church, which will make altogether provision for the instruction of 2000 children, in a population of 25,000. The present schools cost nearly £1,300 per annum.” The expenditure of these schools varies, as a matter of course; and this sum must not be taken as the present expenditure. The new schools will cost £400 per annum, in addition to this sum; and I find that in 1847–48, the total expenditure of St. John’s schools for the year, amounted to £591; the income being made up of £336, subscriptions, donations, and collections; £140 paid by scholars in the form of “school pence;” and £115 from other sources. By another report I find that the sum paid by the children at Paddington Green, amounted in the year to £130.
All these schools have received, and continue to receive, grants from the Parliamentary Fund. For the year ending thirty-first of October, 1850, I find the schools on Paddington Green, had an award of £135 10_s._; Bayswater, of £67 10_s._; and St. John’s, of £65 10_s._, “to apprentices and teachers, for their instruction;” with an additional grant of £9 7_s._ 2¾_d._, to St. John’s for “books and maps.” The Government grant for the All Saints schools was £180; the cost of the site, £640, and the building of these schools amounted, altogether, to £2,173 7_s._ 0_d._; which sum was raised by donations and subscription from the inhabitants of the parish, with the exception of the grant just mentioned, and one hundred pounds given by the Bishop of London. But before these new schools were erected, the population of Paddington numbered upwards of 46,000; and 1816, is the actual number of scholars on the books of the twelve schools at the present time, (January, 1853).
From the “Blue Book,” which contains the answers to Questions on education, printed by order of the House of Commons, twentieth March, 1835, we learn, that the first infant school in this parish was commenced in 1833; that it then contained fifty children of both sexes, and was supported principally at the cost of the individual who established it, but partly by the payment of two-pence per week from the parent with each child. We are also informed by this inquiry, that a school for fifty females was established at Bayswater, and supported by Mrs. Sutcliffe, of Orme-square. From this “Blue Book” we also learn, that to each of the four “day and Sunday National Schools,” and to two of the Dissenters’ Sunday schools a lending library is attached, a most excellent provision which has been extended since that period to the other schools; but the books are obtainable only upon the scholars conforming to certain regulations.
Although the reports of the Tichbourn-street, and Bayswater schools, were not quite so favourable, in 1845, as the Paddington-green school; and although from subsequent reports, we find the Paddington-green schools suffered from change of teachers, while the others were more favourably reported on, yet the published annual reports of the Inspector, to which I must refer for further information, shew that, on the whole, the schools of Paddington may be looked on as amongst the best of those which follow the peculiar methods of teaching laid down by the “National Society.”
The masters, and mistresses, and those who have the management of these schools, evidently do their duty; and the instruction given is highly valuable. But whether it was right to apply the proceeds of the sales of waste lands, and three-fifths of all the charity estates of this parish, exclusively to those schools which adopt the methods of teaching instituted by the “National Society,” may, I think, be justly questioned; seeing that the greater portion, if not the whole of that property, was given to the poor _generally_, and not to those _only_, who were willing to have their children taught a particular Catechism, and a particular Belief.
Out of Paddington there are systems of teaching, which do not base themselves on peculiar and sectarian tenets; and in which, learning controversial portions of scripture, in “proof” of the truth of a catechism, does not form an essential element. Many learned men, whose religious principles cannot be called in question, do not approve of this catechism, or of this teaching; and they believe the first Society established, the British and Foreign School Society, advocate a system more _national_ than that of the self styled National Society. “Rational Schools,” too, are not unknown—even within “a stone’s throw of the High Court of Chancery” {169}—but Dr. Birkbeck’s plan is _too rational_ for the Parochial schools of Paddington.
The foundation stone of the “Westbourne Schools,” conducted on the “Glasgow Training System,” was laid on the thirty-first July, 1850. This excellent establishment, which is in connection with the Lock Chapel, is built by the side of “the green lanes,” (the old road which led from the Great Western-road to the Harrow-road,) and is now in full operation.
The different congregations of Dissenters, too, have schools attached to their respective chapels; and the Roman Catholics have built a large school room in connection with their new chapel.
There are, also, many excellent private schools in Paddington; but of schools strictly private, I have nothing to say.
In July 1848, the “Paddington Wharfs Ragged Schools,” for infants, girls, and boys, were opened in Kent’s place; but in December of the same year, larger premises in Church-place were taken. These have been found too small, and the Committee have incurred a considerable expense in making them more convenient. The average attendance is set down in the third annual report at one hundred and ten infants, thirty girls, and forty boys. In the adult schools there were twenty pupils; and the scholars in the evening and Sunday schools vary from forty-five to ninety. The current expenses tor 1851, amounted to £206 7_s._ 5_d._
There are two small establishments at Bayswater for female orphans. The one called the “Orphan Asylum,” was instituted in 1833, by Mrs. Sutcliffe and other ladies connected with the private charity school, which was supported for many years by that lady’s generosity. The other, called the “Bayswater Episcopal Female Orphan School,” was established in 1839. The former of these establishments contained fourteen female orphans in 1851, the current expenses for the year, being £251 4_s._ 2¾_d._ In the latter, in the same year, there were sixteen orphans, and the expenditure amounted to £335 17_s._ 6_d._ Both institutions are supported by voluntary contributions.
Queen Charlotte’s Lying-in-Hospital, now situated in the New-road, was originally established in Paddington; Lysons tells us the Naval Asylum was removed to Greenwich from this place; and the “School of Industry for Female Orphans,” which was “instituted in Church street, Paddington Green, in 1786, for the maintenance and education of twenty-four children” is about to be removed to their new premises in St. John’s Wood-road.
“The Paddington Visiting Society,” was established in the year 1838; its objects being “to promote the religious and moral improvement of the poor, in co-operation with the parochial clergy, to relieve distress and sickness, to encourage industry, frugality, and provident habits, and generally, to cultivate a friendly intercourse between the poor and the wealthier and more educated classes of society.” It was proposed to effect these objects by means of district visiting, in connection with provident institutions, and visiting societies or church associations. The Provident Dispensary in Star-street; Provident Funds, and lending libraries connected with the schools; and the Paddington Savings’ Bank, have arisen out of this parent Institution. And, although some of the district visitors may have been over ardent in pressing on the poor, the necessity of observing certain forms, as one of the conditions of their assistance, yet undoubtedly these associations have done much good. I must refer to the annual reports of these charitable Institutions for the detailed account of their operations; but I may mention here, that the church association in connection with St. John’s District, collected during the year 1851, £1,105 10_s._ 2_d._ besides £128 1_s._ 0_d._, contributed to a fund, called the “additional curate’s fund,” “designed for the increased visitation of the sick and poor at their own houses, and the maintenance of a daily service in the church.”
The block of small alms-houses at present existing in the Harrow-road, said to have been built in 1714, on a portion of what had been Paddington Green, is the oldest charitable building in Paddington; but the endowment, if there ever was one, has merged into other estates; for no endowment now exists. Sixteen poor old women belonging to the parish, are still supported there out of the poor rates; but the inmates think themselves not so far degraded as they would be, if obliged to become tenants of the great parish poor-house; although in the latter they might have a less confined crib, and perhaps, a more generous diet; but _there_ they would not be free. Now they can ramble about at pleasure; and when at home, for each little room is a home, they can dwell upon the remembrance of those pretty little flower gardens, which formerly existed in front of these almshouses, and which may have attracted them in their younger days, when perhaps, they little thought of becoming the recipients of alms. With the alteration of the Harrow-road, which added “thirty feet in depth” to the church-yard, and I presume the same quantity to that strip of the Green, which was so kindly offered to the parish for four thousand pounds, and a portion of which was purchased for £2,000, these little attractions vanished; and a considerable portion of the “thirteen feet ten inches” of flower garden, which existed on the north side of this charitable institution, now forms a part of the altered road; while on the garden to the south, the vestry-room, the police-station, the infant-school, and other buildings, have been erected.
The great charitable Institution of modern Paddington, is St. Mary’s Hospital, situated in Cambridge-place. “Its establishment was commenced in 1843, and His Royal Highness Prince Albert was pleased to lay the first stone on the twenty-eighth of June, 1845.” Thomas Hopper, Esq. made the design gratuitously; and Mr. Winsland’s tender of £33,787 was accepted for the building; which, when complete, was intended to hold 380 beds.
A portion of this building, “with all the requisite appurtenances, capable of containing 150 beds,” was opened for the reception of fifty patients on the thirteenth of June, 1851; 332 patients were admitted into the wards of the Hospital, during the first six months; the average duration of their stay being twenty two days.
Mr. Winsland’s original tender was for the whole building, included “in five separate divisions;” and a certain portion was to have been completed within a specified period, but the sudden death of the contractor is said to have thrown some obstacles in the way of its progress. There must have been some alteration, too, in the original design, or some sad miscalculation in the contract; for instead of a building capable of containing 380 beds having been erected for £33,787, I find by a “statement and appeal” published by “the Bond of Governors” in 1851, that there had been expended the end of that year £33,806 5_s._ 3_d._ “on account site and building,” _as it then existed_: £1,776 6_s._ 9_d._, in addition, had been expended in furnishing; and £1,223 3_s._ 2_d._, for the maintenance of the fifty beds for six months. The estimated sum “to maintain the establishment of 150 beds, and to defray the expense of out-patients,” was calculated at £4,400 per annum; £300 additional being required to support the maternity department.
At the present time there are 150 beds for patients, the total number the present building is capable of containing; and attendance on the practice of this Hospital is now recognised by the medical examining boards—the medical staff having been complete from the first opening of the establishment. This staff consists of three Physicians, and three Assistant Physicians; three Surgeons, and three Assistant Surgeons; a Physician-Accoucheur; a Surgeon-Accoucheur; an Ophthalmic-Surgeon; and an Aural-Surgeon; all of whom perform their respective duties gratuitously. There are also two resident medical officers, and a Dispenser. There is a paid Secretary; an Assistant Secretary; a Collector; a Matron; and a Chaplain; and the establishment is managed by a certain number of Governors elected on building, special, house, finance, and medical committees; subject to a code of laws, and, in most instances, to the will of the whole body of Governors.
“Every subscriber of three guineas or upwards annually, is eligible to be elected an annual governor; and every individual, making a donation of thirty guineas or upwards in one sum, is eligible to be elected a life governor.”
“Every governor, in addition to the privilege of recommending in and out-patients as a subscriber, has the right to attend at all, or any weekly, quarterly or special boards, and to speak and vote on all questions, and to vote on all elections which shall come before such board; &c.,” but “no governor is entitled to vote on an election, until he shall have been a governor for a period of three calendar months.”
“Annual subscribers of twenty-five guineas, or _donors_ of 500 guineas in one sum, have an unlimited right of recommending in-patients.
“Annual subscribers of ten guineas, or _donors_ of 100 guineas in one sum, may recommend an unlimited number of in-patients, one in-patient only at a time in the Hospital.
“Annual subscribers of three guineas, or _donors_ of thirty guineas in one sum, may recommend three in-patients annually, and eighteen out-patients.
“Annual subscribers of two guineas, or _donors_ of twenty guineas in one sum, may recommend two in-patients annually, and twelve out-patients.
“Annual subscribers of one guinea, or _donors_ of ten guineas in one sum to the maternity fund, may recommend three patients annually _to that department_; and three additional patients for each guinea annually subscribed, or each donation of ten guineas in one sum.”
But, although great sums have been already subscribed, and although these inducements to subscribe have been held out to the charitable, the Hospital is already in debt; and the advertisements declare that “to maintain the present number of in-patients, and to supply medicine for a very large number of out-patients, the amount of annual subscriptions is quite inadequate.”
From what has been seen in the previous part of this Work, it may have been thought that the site of this Hospital, with the whole of its enclosed ground, was the gift of the Bishop of London and the trustees of the Paddington Estate; but from a printed statement, dated the tenth of July, 1846, I find that this is not the case. The ground which was to be given up, according to the provisions of the 7th and 8th Vic. chap. 30, as a site for this Hospital, is said to consist “of upwards of three quarters of an acre;” “its value was stated to have been estimated at £3,885;” but “the trustees of the Hospital were required to pay £1,000, as an indemnity to the Grand Junction Water Works Company, to whom the ground had been leased.” Further, the Committee “deemed it expedient to purchase, at an expense of £2,000 two adjoining pieces of ground, in order that the future governors of the institution should not be restricted in their operations for want of space.”
These pieces together, made “an acre and a quarter of land, being nearly half an acre more than the present site of St. George’s Hospital.”
Within a few yards of this large building, there is another charitable medical Institution, called the “Paddington Free Dispensary, for the Diseases of women and children.” This Institution, also, is supported by voluntary contributions; and a consulting physician; a consulting surgeon; two physicians; a surgeon; a dentist; and a secretary; give their gratuitous services to this charity. The report of 1851, states that 5,280 patients had been “admitted during the last year;” the expenditure of the whole establishment being but £218 18_s._ 0_d._
In the same street—Market-street,—there is a “Refuge for the Destitute” supported by voluntary contributions. Here the houseless poor, to the number of 100, may obtain a bed and breakfast during the winter months; and here, winter and summer, the manager and his wife have been maintained for some years in very easy circumstances. {174a}
For the regular poor of the parish, a very excellent house has been built, at a cost of £11,431 9_s._ 11_d._, on a portion of five and a quarter acres of “the Upper Readings,” purchased of the Bishop of London and the trustees of the Paddington Estate for £5,168 15_s._ 0_d._ {174b}—By an “extract from the statistical and financial statements of accounts of the Board of Guardians,” I find that for the half year ending Michaelmas, 1851, the total number of paupers relieved was 1,054, viz.—in-door, 88 males; 126 females; 117 children. Out-door, 122 males; 289 females; 312 children. The collective number of days being 37,171. I also find, from the same official document, that there was an increase of 36 in-door, and a decrease of 160 out-door paupers as compared with the corresponding half of the previous year; that the total expenditure for the relief of the poor, amounted to £2,995 16_s._ 0½_d._; that the sum of £1,130 10_s._ 8_d._ was repaid for “workhouse loan and interest;” and that the whole cost of the establishment for this half-year was £4,237 16_s._ 8½_d._—£4,500 having been called for to meet the expenditure. The financial account closed with a balance in hand of £1,154 10_s._ 1_d._
From the same kind of printed document, for the half-year ending lady-day, 1852, I find the total number of paupers relieved, was 1,070; viz., in-door, 70 males; 139 females; 101 children; out-door, 135 males; 290 females; 335 children; being a decrease of 120 out, and 26 in-door paupers, as compared with the corresponding half of the previous year; the collective number of days, being 36,738. The in-maintenance and clothing for this half-year, amounted to £892 16_s._ 9_d._; the “establishment and common charges,” to £830 6_s._ 2½_d._; the out-relief to 1,056 7_s._ 10¾_d._; the lunatic charges to £315 14_s._ 7_d._; and the extra medical fees to £27 4_s._ 0_d._, making the total expenditure for the relief of the poor this half-year £3,122 9_s._ 5_d._ Payment of interest, registration fees, &c., increased this sum to £3,474 18_s._ 11_d._ The amount called for this half-year was £2,700 0_s._ 0_d._, and £410 2_s._ 1_d._, was the amount of balance in hand.
The Lock Hospital, which adjoins the Work-house, was removed from Grosvenor-place to its present site, in 1842. This institution was founded in 1737, and no less than 60,502 patients have been treated at this Hospital since that date. The number of in-patients for 1851, was 388; of these 193 were females, and 195 males; during the same period 785 persons were attended to, as out-patients. Attached to this charity, and indeed forming an important portion of it, is “the Asylum.”
“The Lock Asylum was founded in the year 1787, by the Rev. Thomas Scott, the venerable commentator. It then occupied a building in connection with the old Lock Hospital. In 1842, it was removed to its present site, and in 1848–9, enlarged to its present dimensions. When first founded, the Asylum received only sixteen inmates; in 1842, it was enlarged so as to receive twenty; it is now capable of containing 100.
Since the foundation of the Asylum, 1,175 female patients of the Hospital have been admitted, a majority of whom have been provided with situations, restored to their friends, or otherwise comfortably settled in life.
There are now forty-seven in the Asylum.
Needlework is taken in at the Asylum, and the payment for it constitutes a valuable addition to the receipts of the Institution. A laundry is open also for the washing of those families who may be willing, by sending the work, thus further to benefit the Asylum.”
Besides the chapel and the schools, which have sprung out of these charitable institutions, there are now connected with them and the chapel, the following societies, viz. The Westbourn Friendly Visiting Society, the Westbourn Provident Bank, the Lock Sunday schools, the Church Missionary Association, the Juvenile Missionary Association, the Sunday School Children’s Missionary Association, the Church of England Young Men’s Society; and the London City Mission.
The Public Establishments in Paddington, unconnected with particular forms of religion, are soon recounted:
Here there are no places for rational amusement—unless indeed, we consider such places as “the Flora tea-gardens,” and “Bott’s Bowling-green,” to come under this designation. In that region of the parish still devoted to bull-dogs, and pet spaniels; the bodies of broken-down carriages, old wheels, rusty grates, and old copper boilers; little gardens, and low miserable sheds; there is an establishment, which boasts of having the truly attractive glass, in which “for the small charge of two-pence, any young lady may behold her future husband.” But although such attractions as these exist, the youths who live on the celebrated Paddington Estate, have not to thank the lords of the soil for setting apart any portion of it for their physical improvement; and yet for the efficient development both of mind and body, it is necessary that the physical condition of the young should be cared for. In Paddington, however, there is no public gymnasium; there is now no village-green, worthy of the name; {176} the young are not trained to use their motive powers to the best advantage; there are no public baths. And when, on the establishment of the baths and washhouses in Marylebone, the governing Body in Paddington was solicited to join in that useful work, that good office was rejected, and the people of Marylebone were permitted to carry out that necessary and useful undertaking by themselves. Perhaps the Paddington vestrymen thought there ought to be a bath, and a bath-room, in every house in Paddington; if so they certainly thought rightly. But how many of these necessary adjuncts to a healthful home are to be found even on the Paddington Estate, and what steps have our local governors taken to supply this want in the houses of the poor?
In particular religious communities, the education of those who can no longer be called children, is beginning to be attended to, in some degree; yet there is no public lecture room; no museum; no public reading room; no place of general instruction in Paddington, where Jew and Gentile, saint and sinner, alike may meet to receive lessons from that fountain of truth which ought to be open to all mankind, irrespectively of their private religious opinions.
And yet in Paddington we see some of the most miraculous signs of the times. A city of palaces has sprung up on a bishop’s estate within twenty years; a road of iron, with steeds of steam, brings into the centre of this city, and takes from it in one year, a greater number of living beings than could be found in all England a few years ago. The electric telegraph is at work by the side of this iron road. And by means of conveyances, open to all who have any small change, from sixpence to a penny, the whole of London can be traversed in half the time it took to reach Holborn-bar at the beginning of this century, when the road was in the hands of Mr. Miles, his pair-horse coach, and his redoubtable Boy. This coach and these celebrated characters were for a long time the only appointed agents of communication between Paddington and the City. The journey to the City was performed by them in something more than three hours; the charge for each outside passenger being two shillings, the “insides” being expected to pay three. The delivery of parcels on the line of road added very materially to Mr. Miles’s occupation and profit; and I am informed that Miles’s Boy not only told tales, to the great amusement of his master’s customers, but gave them some equally amusing variations on an old fiddle, which was his constant travelling companion, and which he carefully removed from its green-baize covering, to beguile the time at every resting-place on the road.
When the Paddington omnibuses first started, the aristocracy of “The Green” were quite shocked at the disgrace thus brought on the parish; and loud and long were their complaints to the vestry, and most earnest were their petitions to that body, to rid them of “the nuisance.” Since that time, however, greater folks than those of “The Green” have not objected to be seated in these public vehicles; and so useful and necessary to the public have they become, that one Company of Proprietors of Paddington Omnibuses has had in use 700 horses at one time. And, if the Paddington omnibuses were improved, as they easily might be, they would be much more useful than they are at present.
The glory of the first public Company which shed its influence over Paddington, has in a great measure departed; the shares of the Grand Junction Canal Company are below par, though the traffic on this silent highway to Paddington, is still considerable; and the cheap trips into the country offered by its means, during the summer months, are beginning to be highly appreciated by the people, who are pent in close lanes and alleys; and I have no doubt the shareholders’ dividends would not be diminished by a more liberal attention to this want.
If every one had their right, I am told there would be a wharf, adjoining this canal, open free to the people of Paddington, for loading and unloading goods. It is certain that the old road to Harrow was never leased to the Grand Junction Canal Company; but a wharf, upwards of one hundred feet wide, now exists on a portion of that road; and, as I am informed, the rent of this wharf is not received by the parish. I was promised, twelve months since, that the claims of the parish to this wharf should he inquired into; but as yet no such inquiry has been made.
At the western extremity of the parish, there is an artesian well, to which the name of “the Western Water Works” has been given; the water from which supplies the houses, which have been built on that clayey district. The west Middlesex, and the Grand Junction Water Works Companies supply the other parts of the parish.
The Imperial Gas Company have supplied the parish with gas, since its first introduction into Paddington, in 1824.
A new station and hotel, now nearly finished, will make a fine terminus to the Great Western Railway; and add to the many showy buildings, which have been erected in Paddington, within the last few years.