A HISTORY OF SURREY
��A chapel at Sheen was one of four annexed to the church of Kingston when the latter was granted to the priory of Merton," 6 and continued to be dependent on Kingston (q.v.) until 1769, although in 1658 the commissioners appointed to inquire into the state of ecclesiastical benefices had recommended that it should be separated from the mother church." 7 By an Act passed in I769, 238 Kingston parish was divided, and Kingston with Richmond and the hamlets of Ham and Hook were consolidated into one vicarage called ' The Vicarage of Kingston-upon-Thames with Shene, otherwise Richmond.' The patronage has from that time descended with that of Kingston. The Provost and Fellows of King's College, Cambridge, acquired it in 1781, and their successors still hold it. Rich- mond was severed from Kingston and constituted a distinct vicarage in 1849.**'
The living of St. John the Divine, now called a vicarage under the Act of 1868,'* was in the gift of the vicar of Kingston until 1 849, when it was trans- ferred to the vicar of Richmond." 1
The patronage of Holy Trinity and Christ Church is in the hands of trustees, and that of St. Luke belongs to the bishop. 1 "
The incumbency of St. Matthias is held with that of the parish church, to which it serves as a chapel of ease.' 45
There are six sets of almshouses CHARITIES in Richmond. Sir George Wright, who died in 1623, founded the alms- houses commonly called Queen Elizabeth's Alms- houses. The foundation was completed by his executors in 1636.*" They were benefited by John Michel in 1739, by will of Charles Selwyn in 1747, and by Whichcote Turner in 1770. The last removed them in 1767 from the Lower Road, next Camborne House, to the present site in the Vineyard. They are for eight almswomen. Bishop Duppa's Almshouses were founded in 1 66 1 for ten unmarried women, and endowed from an estate at Shepperton. The old red brick building, near the Terrace, is not unpicturesque. In 1695 Humphrey
��Michel founded almshouses for ten poor men. He died the next year, and his purpose was carried out by his nephew John Michel. In 1722 William Smith conveyed property for their further support. In 1810 they were rebuilt, and in 1858 six additional almshouses were built. Part of Michel's original foundation was a house which was taken into the old Adelphi Theatre. William Hickey in 1727 left property to provide pensions for the inmates of Duppa's Almshouses, and for other poor people, men and women, over fifty-five years of age. In 1834 the trustees built almshouses for the pensioners, six men and ten women. The houses form three sides of a square, with a chapel in the centre of the building. There is also a house for the chaplain. Houblon's Almshouses were founded in 1757 and 1758 by Rebecca and Susannah Houblon respectively, daughters of Sir John Houblon, first Governor of the Bank of England. They are for nine poor women. The Church Lands Almshouses were built in 1843. They are supported by part of the income of the Church or Parish Charity Lands. These lands are supposed to have been given by Thomas Denys in 1558 for the use of the poor and repairing and sustaining the church. The funds were misappro- priated, and it was not till 1626 that they were delivered into the hands of the churchwardens. In 1650 the churchwardens conveyed them to trustees, apparently illegally, with new trusts substituted for the original. They were applied ' for the necessary use of the parish church, the maintenance of the minister, and no other purposes whatsoever.' "* The cost of rebuilding the church in 1823 was defrayed from these funds. In 1828 the original trust was restored by a private Act of Parliament of 9 George IV. Part was allotted for the maintenance of two churches in Richmond, part for the almshouses, built in 1 843 as above mentioned, the rest in pensions for the poor. The charity now provides an income of about 1,000 a year, which is applied in aid of the rates." 6 Smith's Charity is distributed as in other Surrey parishes, and there are other numerous small charities for bread, clothing, apprenticing, &c.
��286 Dugdale, Man. vi, 247 ; Comment' Journ. xxxii, 155.
^Commons' Journ. xxxii, 155; Surr. Arch. Co!t. (Surr. Arch. Soc.), xvii, 104, quoting Parl. Surv.
188 Private Act of 9 Ceo. Ill, cap. 65.
- " Local Act, 12 & 13 Viet. cap. 42.
��aw Public Act, 31 & 32 Viet. cap. 117.
411 See above.
441 Clergy List, 1908. Ibid.
341 Lysons and Manning and Bray say 1606. The Parl. Ret. of 1786 says 1636. Sir George's death is in the parish register in 1623.
��145 Parl. Ret. 1786.
446 Brayley, Hist, of Surr. iii, 93 ; Rep. of End. Charitiei in Co. Surr. for Surr. Co. Council, from Parl. Ret. 433 (14), 15 July i86S, and 103, 17 Feb. 1891.
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