The Sun.
London, England, 1840-09-04 00:00:00

BRIDEWELL AND BETHLEM

HOSPITALS.

The following is the Report of the Commissioners of
Charities on these Hospitals :
The Royal Hospitals of London are five in number,
viz., St. Thomas's and Bridewell, Christ's Hospital
(or the Blue-coat School), St. Bartholomew's, and
Bethlem.

The two former are included in a charter, granted by
Henry VIII. The others were established in the reign
of Edward VI.

Though termed the " Royal Hospitals," they appear,
in fact, to have been founded by the citizens, in order
effectually to clear the streets of the metropolis of the
vagrants and mendicants with which they were infested ;
and for this purpose the charter purports to confer
upon the Mayor, commonalty, and citizens, in whom
the government was vested, ample powers for the ap-
prehension of disorderly pe:sons, and for the visitation
of taverns and other places frequented by them. The
several hospitals formed parts of one entire system.
The reception into none of them was voluntary ; the
the sick were taken to St. Bartholomew's, or St.
Thomas's to be cured, destitute children were sent to
Christ's Hospital for education, while the idle and
sturdy were set to labour in Bridewell, to which place
were also sent such children as were not found "apt to
learning" at Christ's Hospital, that they might be in-
structed in some useful trade or occupation.
The charter empowered the Mayor, commonalty,
and citizens to depute the superintendence of the hos-
pitals to certain persons under them, who, however, had
no original jurisdiction or authority, sad could be con-
sidered only in the light of committees of management.
Separate treasurers were appointed to each house, ex-
cept for Bethlem, which, by an order of a general court
of the governors of the Royal hospitals, made Septem-
ber 27, 1557, was annexed to Bridewell, to which, as
far as relates to its government, it has ever since re-
mained united.

In the course of time the persons delegated by the
citizens to the management of each house seem to have
assumed the power of adding to their number, and at
last claimed an authority independent of the city, and
their pretensions were ultimately sanctioned by the Act
23d Geo. 111., c. 77, in pursuance of which the govern-
ment of each of the Royal hospitals is now vested in a
President, and Treasurer, and Court of Alderman, and
twelve Common Councilmen, elected as the Act directs,
and an unlimited number of momination Governors.
At the time of the Report the Governors of Bridewell
and Bethlem were 343 ir. number, of whom the Alder-
men and Common Councilmen amounted only to thirty-
seven, and the nomination Governors to 306, of whom
seventy-eight had been appointed by the Presidents
and Treasurers.

'The separatinn of the Royal hospitals into distinct
and unconnected institutions, the various subsequent
benefactions which have been made to some of them,
and the changes produced by the lapse of years, have
caused an entire departure from the original purposes
of these foundations, and admission to Christ's Hos-
pital, which was once compulsory, is now a matter of
valuable patronage. The vast additions which have
been made to its possessions, and the numerous trusts
engrafted on the original foundation, render the report
on Christ's Hospita a subject too intricate for our
columns. The state of St. Bartholomew's and St.
Thomas's has elicited no expressions of disapprobation
from the Commissioners, but the management of the
hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlem appears, from the
repurt before us, to be essentially defective ; the utility
of one of them, as now constituted, so questionable,
and the internal arrangements of the other so imperfect,
that we de;in it our duty to call the public attention to
the subject.
_ _

The endowment of Bridewell is as follows :
REAL ESTATE.
FOR GENERAL FCRPOSES.

Per Annum.
Bridewell Precinct, producing at Christmas, £ s. d.
1836 ... ... 3,150 8 6
Lands at Wapping 4,010 1 2
Farm at Northleigh, in Oxfordshire ... 354 14 6
Part of an estate in Southwark ... ... 266 13 0

STOCK.
FOR GENERAL PURPOSES.
Three per Cent. Reduced
Annuities ....£16,230 19 4
Three per Cent. Consols... 2,374 18 4
Producing - 553 3 7
Annuities and rent-charges .. ... 58 5 0

Total for general purposes ... .t 8,398 6 1
FOR SPECIAL PURPOSES, VIZ. PUTTING OCT
YOUNG PERSONS WHO HAVE BEEN Ara

PRENTICED IN THE HOUSE.
Houses in various parts of
London ... ....£353 4 6
Annuity 2 0 0
Dividends ... 250 4 9

605 9 3

Total income of the Hospital at
Christmas. 1836 ... • 9.003 15 . I „4k
At this time %Ike leases- of-a-parr erthidewell TireeMea
were on the point of extinction, and before the printing
of the report the sum of 1,367/. 2s. had been added to
the rental from this source. Further additions may
fairly be calculated on, and as the northern entrance to
the Thames Tunnel is situate within the estate of th
Hospital at Wapping, and cannot fail to cause consider-
able improvement in a neighbourhood now wretched
beyond all description, it will not be too much to esti-
mate the future income of the Hospital at upwards of
12,000/. per annum.
The gross income of the Hospital, on an average of
ten years ending at Christmas, 1836 (excluding certain
casual receipts, and the produce of stock sold out)
amounted to about 8,8701.

Bridcwell now consists of two distinct establishments,
one situate in Bridge-street, Blackfriars, which includes
the rrison, the chapel of the precinct, the hall, officers'
houses and apartments, and the dwellings of the beadles.
The ether, called the house of occupation, situato near
Bethlem, in St. George's-fields.
The precinct is in the nature of a parish, and the in-
habitants resort to the chapel as to a parish church.
No apportionment is made by the governors of the chap-
lain's salary in respect of his duty in this chapel and of
that performed in the chapel of the prison. In the re-
port, the sum of 2001. is taken as the salary for the
former, and 1001. for the latter. The buildings in
Bridge-street are all repaired at the expense of the
Hospital.
The following is a summary of the chief heads of an-
nual expenditure for ten years, ending at Christmas,
1836 :
Deductions from the rental £992 0 0
Expenses of the chapel and burial-ground of
the precinct, and salary of the chaplain 3OO 0 0
&dories of the receiver, and accountant

ele:k, and surveyor
Pensions
Taxes, rates, &c. on oflicGr,' liou‘ses.
Workmen's bills for repairs, &c. in Bridge_

_
street' - 1,650 0 0
Stationery, advertisements, &0.. 192 4 0
Law bills +
Expenses of the beadles 273 0 0
Miscellaneous expenses
Annual dinner
Charitable donations, &c 157 0 0
Expenses of the gaol, including the salaries
of all the officers
Expenses of the house of occupation, ave

rage seven years 2,305 0 0
Repairs on ditto ... lBO 0 0
It thus appears that the expences of the prison and of
the house of occupation amount to less than half the
gross average income.

Workmen's bills form a very great item of expendi.
ure. The subjoined statement exhibits the nature of
;he work performed in three years when they exceeded
he usual amount :-
1829 The hall repaired, new roofed, and £2,028 18 0
830 - the ceiling raised 8 1,194 19 0
The Treasurer's, Chaplain's, and
831 2,352 5 0
the Receiver's houses repaired
832817 7 0
throughout
834 Beadles' houses repaired through-
out, and quadrangle repaired 1,640 19 6
Stables and coach-houses for Trea-
-835
836 surer and Receiver erected, and 1,767 1 0
4,209 15 0
their houses repaired &furnished

The cost of the erection of the house of occupation,
a newly established branch of the charity, seems enor-
mous. It amounted to nearly 22,0001. The number
of inmates for whom the buildings were intended, was
about 120. A union workhouse for the same number
would cost from 1,6001. to 2,000/.
Besides want of economy, the hospital ha s suffered
greatly from negligence or incapacity on the part of the
governors, extensive frauds having been practised on
them by Mr. Hudson, the late accountant and receiver,
which were carried on for years with impunity, and
have only recently been detected.

With the exception of the house of occupation, the
whole institution needs remodelling ; and doove all, an
entire and sweeping reformation is wanted in the gene-
ral es'ablishment in Bridge-street, which nas for years
absorbed the funds, which, properly and judiciously ad-
ministered, might be rendered of incalculable service to
the metropolis.
In the words of the Report, " The bead7.es are of little
or no service to the charity. The hall is out of all propor-
tion to the usual attendance of the goverc ors, and a room
of more moderate dimensions would be :..amply sufficient.
Commodious offices for the clerk and receiver, with
strong-rooms for the books and documents of the Ito 4-
pital, and a committee-room annexed, se, 'm all that is
essential for the transaction of business, an d these might
without difficulty be comprised in an exce, •dingly 'small
compass. It thus appears the buildings in Bridge-
street, to be repaired by the hospital, might be. •reduced
to little more than the prison, the chapel, and tI le chap-
lain's house. By this means, not only rn:ght a very
considerable reduction be effected in the outgi ;s of the
establishment, but the whole of the south sid and a
large portion of the eastern side of the quailra ngle, to-
gether with the house of the treasurer, anti., tb c stables
now used by that officer and the receiver, i ig,ht be
added to the productive property. Whr,n the very de-
fective construction of the prison is considered, it may,
perhaps, even be questioned whether it, mi,rht not I.`'e
tl.at it should be taken down,. zud rebuilt, pi an