234 London Suburbs and Environs. seems to show that the asylums, which were in former times the source of so much honourable pride and satisfaction, are not the best means for taking care of old and decayed people. Wormwood Scrubbs, a station near Notting Hill. Upon the Common of 194 acres-but recently a waste-used to be fought many of the fashionable duels which took place at the beginning of this century. A new Government Prison in course of erection on Wormwood Scrubbs, for the reception of male criminals, has been almost entirely built by convicts. When it is complete the occupants of Milbank penitentiary will be removed hither, and Milbank will be used exclusively for female prisoners in lieu of Tothill-fields Prison, recently abolished. 1 Principal Churches and Chapels. 235 THE PRINCIPAL CHURCHES AND CHAPELS, Other than those mentioned in the body of this book (for which see Index), are: Bavarian (Roman Catholic).-12 Warwick Street, Regent Street. Danish (Lutheran).-King Street, Poplar. 11 A.M. Dutch (Reformed Calvinist).—6 Austin Friars. French (Protestant).-Monmouth Road, Westbourne Grove, Bayswater, 11 and 7; and 36 Bloomsbury Street, New Oxford Street. 11 and 3.30. Do. (Roman Catholic).-Little George Street, Portman Square. Do. do. Leicester Place, Leicester Square. German (Lutheran).-Cleveland Street, Fitzroy Square. 11 and 7. Do. (Evangelical) Church, Fowler Road, Cross Street, Islington. Do. (Protestant Reformed), Hooper Square, Leman_Street, Whitechapel. Do. (Russian).-32 Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square. Italian (Roman Catholic).-Clerkenwell Road, near Holborn Circus. Sardinian (Roman Catholic).-Sardinia Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Spanish (Roman Catholic).-Spanish Place, Manchester Square. Swedish (Protestant).-Prince's Square, Shadwell (where Swedenborg was buried, 1772). Swiss (Protestant).-26 Endell Street, Bloomsbury. Welsh (Calvinist).-Nassau Street, Soho; Fann Street, Aldersgate Street, E.C. Do. (Baptist).-North Buildings, Eldon Street, Finsbury, E.C. Do. (Wesleyan).-186 Aldersgate Street, E.C.; City Road, E.C. Do. (Church of England).—St. Benet, Paul's Wharf, E.C. There are seventeen Jews' Synagogues in London. The Central Synagogue is at 129 Great Portland Street. The City Synagogue is in Great St. Helen's, St. Mary Axe, E.C. East London Synagogue, Rectory Square, E. German, New Broad Street, E.C. Spanish and Portuguese, Bevis Marks, E.C., and 57 Bryanston Street, W. The West London Synagogue is at 34 Upper Berkeley Street, Edgware Road. Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, W.C. The Western Synagogue is at St. Alban's Place, Haymarket. The Western Wall Synagogue in St. Petersburg Place, Bayswater. The Great Synagogue is at St. James's Place, Aldgate, E.C.; and the German Jews' Synagogue is at New Broad Street, E.C. Service begins at sunset every Friday; upon other days early morning and evening service, varies as to the hour according to the time of year. NONCONFORMISTS. Baptists. Rev. C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington Butts. 11 and 6.30. Westbourne Grove Chapel. 11 and 7. Bloomsbury Chapel, Bloomsbury. 11 and 7. 236 Principal Churches and Chapels. Congregationalists.-Rev. Newman Hall, Christ Church, Westminster Bridge Road. 11 and 6.30. Rev. Dr. Allon, Union Chapel, Islington. 11 and 6.30. Whitefield's, Tottenham Court Road; and Tabernacle Row, Finsbury. 11 and 6.30. Rev. Dr. Parker, City Temple, Holborn Viaduct. 11 and 7. Rev. J. G. Rogers, Clapham Common. 11 and 7. Rev. P. Hood, Falcon Square, E.C. 11 and 6.30. Rev. H. Simon, James Street, Buckingham Gate, Westminster. 11 and 6.30. Moravian, or United Brethren, 32 Fetter Lane. 11 and 6.30. Positivists or Comtists.-Newton Hall, Fleur de Lis Court, Fetter Lane, E.C. Mr. Frederic Harrison. Presbyterians.- Regent Square, Gray's Inn Road. 11 and 7; Colebrooke Row, Islington. 11 and 6.30. Dr. D. Fraser, Upper George Street, Bryanstone Square. 11 and 7. Scottish National.-Crown Court, Covent Garden, Rev. D. Macleod. 11 and 6.30. Holloway Road. 11 and 6.30. Society of Friends, or Quakers.-The principal Meeting Houses are at 110 St. Martin's Lane, near Charing Cross; and at 12 Bishopsgate Street Without, E.C. Unitarians.-Essex Street, Strand. Little Portland Street. Rev. P. W. Clayden, Clarence Road, Kentish Town. Wesleyan Methodists.—Warwick Gardens, Kensington; Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. 10.45 and 6.30. Brunswick Chapel (New Connexion), 156 Great Dover Street, Southwark. Theistic.-Rev. C. Voysey, Langham Hall, Langham Place, Regent Street. Undefined. Rev. Stopford Brooke, Bedford Chapel, New Oxford Street, W.C. 11 and 7. Rationalist.-11 South Place, Finsbury. 11.15. 6 The Catholic Apostolic Church, founded by Irving, in Gordon Square, was designed by Brandon, in a style of Early Gothic. The service is of a ceremonial kind, with a full proportion of music, and the robes of the priests, or Elders,' are highly pictorial, and probably unique. Other churches of this sect, are at Duncan Street, Islington; College Street, Chelsea, &c. The principal ENGLISH ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES are: St. George's Cathedral, Westminster Bridge Road. The Oratory, Brompton Road. The Jesuits, Farm Street, Berkeley Square. Postage and Telegrams. 237 THE POST OFFICE. The History of the Postal Service in England, may be told in a few words. Originally, all public and private letters were sent by special messengers. About the time of the Wars of the Roses (1455-85) common carriers with pack-horses began to ply regularly and to carry letters. Government posts, i.e. relays of horses and men, were established two centuries later, but as early as Edward II. horses were kept for hire, so that a messenger might travel post, i.e. by relays, and the words "Haste, post haste" upon the backs of private letters of the 15th and 16th centuries indicate that such letter-carrying was not restricted to Government correspondence. In 1481 (temp. Edward IV.) despatches by relays were conveyed 200 miles in three days. The first establishment of a Foreign Letter Post took place in the reign of James I., and of an Inland Letter Post by Charles I. in 1635. Letters were then charged 2d. each under 80 miles, 4d. under 140 miles, 6d. for any longer distance in England, and 8d. to any place in Scotland. The time then occupied between London and Edinburgh was three days, it is now 15 hours. Even in 1740 such letters were only sent three times a week, and on one occasion the London office sent only a single letter. Cromwell effected important changes in the Post Office, and Charles II. re-enacted the statute of the Commonwealth, and in 1663 settled the revenue of the Post Office, then £21,000, upon his brother James, afterwards James II., and his heirs male for ever. In 1683 a Penny Post was, for the conveyance of letters and small parcels in and about London, set up by Robert Murray, an upholsterer, who subsequently transferred it to William Dockwra,-the latter was eventually pensioned off by the Crown (which, however, treated his post as an infringement of Government rights), and this London District Post existed up to 1854 as a separate department of the Post Office. In 1710 a statute of Q. Anne established a General Post Office for the three kingdoms and the Colonies, under one head, "Her Majesty's Post-Master General." In 1720 Ralph Allen improved the Cross Posts, and farmed them from the Government for £6000 a year, and for forty-four years he derived a profit therefrom of £12,000 to £20,000 a year, which he mainly spent in works of charity, and in hospitality to men of learning and genius. Allen died in 1764, and the Government realised the profits by appointing its own manager at £300 a-year. In 1799 the annual profits from this branch amounted to £200,000. Up to 1784 Members of both Houses appear to have exercised from the first establishment of the Post, or at least from the time of the Long Parliament, the privilege of receiving and sending letters through the post without payment. They had only to write their names upon the cover of a letter to frank or free it from all postage, and Members would provide parcels of such covers bearing their signature, for the use of their friends as they might require them. In 1763 it was enacted that the whole address of each letter should be in the handwriting of the Member, but this did not stop the evil,-which was only removed by the total abolition of both Parliamentary and Official franking upon the establishment of Penny Postage in 1840. Up to 1784 the mail-bags had been carried by post-boys on horseback 238 Postage and Telegrams. at an average rate, including stoppages, of from three to four miles an hour. This was he of whom Cowper wrote, "He comes the herald of a noisy world, With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks; Mr. Palmer, manager of a theatre at Bath, proposed to Mr. Pitt a plan which included sending the mail-bags by passenger coaches well guarded, and thereupon he obtained the appointment of Controller-General of the Post Office, and the postboy was abolished. In 1792 a Money Order Office was set on foot by some of the Post Office clerks, and in 1838 it became a branch of the establishment. In 1829 the General Post Office was removed from Lombard Street to St. Martin's-le-Grand. In 1830 the mails were first conveyed by railway, viz. between Liverpool and Manchester. In 1835 they were first conveyed by the overland route to India. In 1836 the stamp duty on newspapers was reduced from 34d. net to 1d. In 1837 Mr. Rowland Hill brought forward his plan of penny postage, and in 1839 it was accepted by the Legislature, and it was put into operation early in 1840. The Post Office Savings Banks were established in 1861, and the Telegraphs were taken over in 1870 by the Government from the private companies which established them. In 1870 also post-cards were first used, in 1880 the Postal Order was introduced, in 1883 the Parcels Post. The gross revenue of the Post Office, as last reported, was £9,413,812, the expenditure £6,352,064, and the net revenue profit to the nation £3,061,748. POSTAGE AND TELEGRAMS. Letters to any part of the United Kingdom, including all outlying British isles, are charged, when prepaid, as follows: and so on at the rate of d. for every additional 2 oz. Letters are not to be larger than 18 inches by 9 inches. Letters posted unpaid are charged double postage, and if posted with insufficient stamps, the deficiency is charged double. Letters to any country in the Postal Union, i.e., nearly every country in Europe, also the United States, are charged 24d. each, under oz. Newspapers registered for postal transmission are charged, whether one or more, d. for every 2 oz. (prepaid) within the United Kingdom, or double to any country in the Postal Union. Post Cards for the United Kingdom are sold at d. each, or at the rate of 7d. or 8d. per doz., according to thickness; for places within the Foreign Postal Union they cost 1d. or 1d. each. Reply Post Cards are to be bought at double these rates. Books not exceeding 5 lbs. in weight, or the size stated above for largest letters, are charged at the rate of 2 oz. for d. They must be packed open at the ends, so as to be readily examined. |