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128
The interest on the sum of £500, part of the purchase
money of the land sold by the Trustees of St. James s
Chapel and Burial Ground under their Act of 1869 (see page
121) is applicable to Scholarships in this School. The present
annual income of the Charity derived from the endowment is
£495 8s. 8d.; education is provided for 280 girls, all of
whom pay fees.
A copy of the accounts of the School for the year 1884
will be found on page 219.
THE CRAVEN PEST-HOUSE CHARITY
Dates from the year 1687, and orginated in the gift by
"William, Earl Craven, of certain property demised for the
benefit of poor persons parishioners of St. Martin-in-theFields,
St. Paul, Covent Garden, and St. James, suffering
from the Plague. This Earl of Craven remained in
London during the whole period of the Plague of
1665, and displayed much bravery and self-denying
zeal in aiding the sufferers. According to Strype,
the Pest-houses were situated in a large piece of ground
enclosed with a brick wall, and handsomely set with
trees. Maitland states that the Pest-field contained a
lazaretto, consisting of 36 small houses, for the reception of
poor persons afflicted with Plague, and that at the lower end
of Marshall Street there was a common cemetery where
thousands of Plague-stricken corpses were interred.
The Plague-field was subsequently covered with houses,
pursuant to an Act of Parliament passed in 1734(17 Geo. II.,
cap. 2), some property at Paddington being given upon like
trusts in exchange for the same. This last-mentioned property,
however, has since been built upon, and in order to
release the occupiers and owners of the buildings from any