IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 ACC/0746
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: CHRISTS HOSPITAL
Date(s): 1760-1920
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 0.07 linear metres
Name of creator(s): Christs Hospital | Corporation of London x Greyfriars
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Greyfriars Franciscan monastery was situated in Farringdon near Newgate. It was suppressed during the dissolution of the monasteries in 1538 and given to the Lord Mayor and citizens of London in December 1547. It was decided to convert the monastery into an orphanage and school for poor children. By November 1552 the building was ready and 340 fatherless children were admitted (at this date a child was considered orphaned if the father had died, even if the mother was still alive). The school became known as the 'Blue Coat School' because the children were required to wear a uniform of blue gown, red belt and yellow stockings. In 1553 a Charter was signed to confirm the transformation of Greyfriars into Christ's Hospital (a hospital in the older sense of 'a charitable institution for the housing and maintenance of the needy; an asylum for the destitute, infirm, or aged' O.E.D.)
Branches of the school existed at Hertford from at least 1653, at Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire, from 1666 to c 1690, and at Ware, Hertfordshire, from about the same period until 1760. From 1778 the Hertford premises were used as the girls' school and as a preparatory school for boys. The Royal Mathematical School, founded in 1673, was an integral part of Christ's Hospital, from which its pupils, all boys, were chosen at the age of 11 or 12. They were educated in mathematics and navigation, and were intended for service in the Royal Navy. Christ's Hospital moved from the City of London to Horsham in 1902, and at the same time the boys' preparatory school also moved from Hertford to Horsham. The girls' school remained at Hertford until 1985, when it also moved to Horsham.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Records relating to estates owned by Christs Hospital in East Bedfont, including letters, reports, leases, deeds and valuations.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
ACC/0746/001 to ACC/0746/116.
Conditions governing access:
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to these records rests with the depositor.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Loaned to the Middlesex County Record Office, 16th September, 1960.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
See CLA/067 for more records relating to Christ's Hospital.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Rules or conventions: Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Date(s) of descriptions: June to August 2010.