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102 HISTORY OF EAST GRINSTEAD. |
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chapel re-erected at a cost of £700, the foundation stone being laid on August 1st, 1850, the latter decorated; and the massive roof slates re-laid.
On February 25th, 1851, there was a riot at the College in consequence of some objections made by the relatives and others to the form of burial service it was proposed to observe at the funeral of a female inmate named Alchin. The relatives and a body of townspeople went to the College in the afternoon, got the body, and carried out the funeral as they desired. In the evening the mob re-assembled and the College windows were smashed. Ten of the townspeople were subsequently summoned and seven of them were sent for trial at Lewes Assizes. They subsequently issued a public apology for their conduct and at the Assizes pleaded guilty. The case against them was thereupon not pressed, and they were bound over to come up for judgment if called upon.
It is not now a place where pensioners are starved to death, for the inmates afford several instances of longevity. On October 2nd, 1819, there died Elizabeth Knight, who had lived in the College 52 years, and on March 21st, 1829, Mary Knight, who had been for 42 years a pensioner in the institution, breathed her last. Nicholas Piggott, who died on December 21st, 1784, was a pensioner for exactly the same period. At the present time there are 18 inmates, 14 women and four men, of whom seven of the women and all of the men get allowances of £14 a year, the remainder getting their rooms only.
The right of appointing the Warden, who gets his residence and £28 a year, has always rested with the heirs of the founder, the privilege, to-day, being in the hands of Earl De la Warr, who, on a vacancy arising, is supposed to appoint within "the space of three score dayes." If he neglects so to do then the assistants and inmates meet on the afternoon of the first Sunday after this allotted time has expired and propound the name of one of their own number to the Patron for appointment. |
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