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138 HISTORY OF EAST GRINSTEAD. |
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misconduct. Such drastic powers in one man's hands did not long remain, for in 1866 another scheme was sanctioned, giving him the power of appointing the schoolmaster and mistress, subject only to the consent of the other trustees, who then were Mrs. Gatty, Mr. C. H. Gatty, Rev. G. W. Banks (Rector of Worth), Rev. G. Bird (incumbent of Blindley Heath) and the Vicars of East Grinstead and Godstone. Despite this arrangement the management of the whole affair drifted exclusively into the hands of Mr. Gatty and the rent charge on the Bletchingley property was not collected for many years. When Mr. C. H. Gatty died inquiries were instituted and as a result Mrs. Pelly, the owner of Stocklands, without admitting liability, and, as an act of grace, paid over, to the school funds, the sum of £400 in full discharge of any claim which might be made on her. As there is now universal free admission to elementary schools the charity has practically lapsed.
It may not be out of place here to add that James Evelyn, who founded this charity, erected the obelisk which still stands in Felbridge Park, to the memory of his father and mother, Edward and Julia Evelyn. The inscription on it, in hardly classical Latin, reads:—
Jacobus Evelyn, Filius Edwardi Evelyn
Et Julise uxoris ejus
(0 Benignissimi Parentes)
Hanc Columnani Hac Terra (Natale Solum)
Ponendam
Pientissime Gratissimeque
Curavit
A.D. MDCCLXXXVI
Johannes Soane
Architectus.
Much of the base of the column is further occupied by the whole of Addison's exquisite Hymn of Gratitude, commencing "When all Thy mercies, 0 my God."
Some lengthy references to members of this remarkable family will be found in the chapter which deals with the Parliamentary history of East Grinstead. They were the possessors of the Felbridge estate for nearly 300 years, |
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