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14
On comparing the area of the land proposed to be surrendered
with that of the Cross Bones as shown upon plans in
the possession of the Board, it was found to be a portion only
of the burial ground, the same in its entirety measuring about
13,000 superficial feet, nearly the third of an acre, and further
inquiry elicited the fact that Messrs. Spicer, who had also
acquired the adjoining premises in lied Cross Street, proposed
to reserve to themselves a private roadway, and to erect buildings
upon the north side of the burial ground ; that the
Home Office had given its consent to the removal of human
remains, holding that the land was, by Section 5 of the Disused
Burial Grounds Act, 1884, exempted from the operation of the
provisions of the Act which forbid the erection of buildings
upon a disused burial ground, and that the Home Secretary
had already intimated to Messrs. Spicer his willingness to grant
a license accordingly.
In reply to such communication the Board caused a letter
to be written to the County Council expressing its disappointment
at finding that only the eighth of an acre was proposed
to be handed over, seeing that on former occasions it had been
in treaty for the whole of the burial ground, declining to accept
the same and adding that the Board strongly protested against
any building being erected on any part of the burial ground.
It also caused a letter to be addressed to the Home
Secretary, protesting against the course proposed to be taken by
him, and contesting the assertion that the land came within the
terms of section 5 of the Act of 1884, seeing that in the case
of the original sale of the land by the former owners, the Rectory
Trustees of St. Saviour's, it was held by Vice Chancellor Bacon
that such Trustees could not compel payment of the purchase
money by the purchaser, the Vice-Chancellor basing his judgmenton
the ground that the sale was effected after the passing
of the Act, and that the sale therefore had had to be annulled.
Further correspondence with the County Council and the
Home Office ensued, and, in February, the Board presented a
Memorial to the Home Secretary as follows:—
"To the Right Honourable Sir Matthew White Ridley,
Secretary of State for the Home Department.
"The humble memorial of the Board of Works for the Saint
Saviour's District, sheweth as follows:—
"A proposal has been made to the London County Council by
Messrs. Spicer & Sons, through Messrs. Freshfield & Williams, their
Solicitors, for the erection of buildings upon a portion of the site of the
Cross Bones Burial Ground, situate on the north side of Union Street, and