BETHNAL-GREEN, a parish in the Tower division
of the hundred of OSSULSTONE, county of MIDDLESEX,
2 miles (N.E. byE.) from St Paul's, containing 45,676
inhabitants. This very extensive parish, which was
severed by act of parliament, in 1743, from the parish
of Stepney, to which, it was formerly a hamlet, is
divided into four districts, called Church division,
Green division, Hackney-road division, and Town division.
It is supposed to have derived its name from
Bathon Hall, the residence of a family of that name,
who had considerable possessions here in the reign of
Edward I., and from an extensive green, to the east of
which is the site of an episcopal palace, called Bishop's
Hall, which is said to have been the residence of
Bonner, Bishop of London. The popular legendary ballad
of the Blind Beggar of Bethnal-Green, the hero of
which is said to have been Henry de Montfort, son of
the Earl of Leicester, has reference to an ancient castellated
mansion in this parish, built in the reign of
Elizabeth, by John Kirby, a citizen of London, and now
converted into a private lunatic asylum. The.houses in
general are meanly built of brick, and consist of large
ranges of dwellings. Inhabited chiefly by journeymen
silk-weavers, who work at home for the master weavers
in Spitalfields, in each of which two or three families
live, and exercise their sedentary occupation. The parish
is watched, and lighted with gas; the streets are partially
paved, and the inhabitants are supplied with water
by the East London Company's works. There is a very
extensive cotton-factory, besides a large manufactory
for water-proof hose, made of flax, without seam, and
of any length and diameter, chiefly for the use of
brewers and for firemen. A great quantity of land
in the parish is in the occupation of market-gardeners,
who raise fruit and vegetables for the London market;
and there are extensive beds of clay, which is
much used for the making of bricks. The fair formerly
held here has been suppressed, in consequence .of the
riotous proceedings which usually took place during
its continuance. The Regent's canal passes through
the parish. This district is within the limits of the
New Police act, and under the jurisdiction of a court of
requests for the Tower Hamlets, for the recovery of
debts under 40*.
The living is a rectory, in the peculiar jurisdiction
of the Commissary of London, concurrently with the
Consistorial Court of the Bishop, and in the patronage
of the Principal and Fellows of Brasenose College, Oxford.
The church, dedicated to St. Matthew, and
erected in 1746, is a neat brick building, ornamented
with stone. St. John's church was built in 1828, by
grant from the parliamentary commissioners, at an expense
of £17,638. 18.; it is a handsome edifice of
stone, in the Grecian style of architecture, with a tower,
and is capable of accommodating two thousand per-
sons; one thousand two hundred of the sittings are
free. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents,
and Methodists. An episcopal chapel was
erected, in 1814, by the Society for Promoting Christianity
among the Jews, attached to which are two
schools, wherein fifty boys and nearly sixty girls are
maintained and instructed. St. Matthew's school,
founded in 1771, by the inhabitants, for clothing and
instructing forty-five boys and forty-five girls, and a
National school for one thousand children, are supported
by subscription. In 1722, Mr. Thomas Parmiter
left an estate in Suffolk, now producing £25 per
annum, for the erection and endowment of a free school
and almshouse in this parish; for the promotion of
which purpose, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter gave the ground
rent-free for six hundred years, and £10 per annum:
Mr. William Lee also gave £10 per annum towards the
maintenance of the school; and Mr. Edward Mayhew
£5 towards the clothing of the children. The income,
under the management of trustees, has greatly improved
3 there are fifty boys in the school; the master
has a salary of £50, and the almspeople an allowance
of £ 5 per annum arid a supply of coal. The almshouses
founded, in 1711, by Captain Fisher, and those
belonging to the companies of Drapers and Dyers, are
situated in this parish. Trinity Hospital, at Mile-End,
was erected in 1695, on land, in this parish, given by
Captain Henry Mudd, an elder brother of the Trinity
House, and endowed, in 1701, by Captain Robert Sandes,
for twenty-eight masters of ships, or their widows, who
have each a pecuniary allowance, apartments, and other
advantages. The Roman road from the western counties
of England to the ferry over the river Lea at Old.
Ford, passes through the northern part of the parish.
Sir Richard Gresham, father of Sir Thomas Gresham,
who built the Royal Exchange; Sir Thomas Grey,
Knt.; and Sir Balthazer Gerbier, a celebrated painter
and architect, who designed the triumphal arch for the
entrance of Charles II. into London, on his restoration;
were residents at this place. Ainsworth, the celebrated
compiler of the Latin Dictionary, kept an academy here
for some years, and the noted Caslon, who established
the celebrated type-foundry in Chiswell-street, lived
here in retirement till his decease in 1766.