HOXTON, a district and parish, in the Tower division
of the hundred of OSSULSTONE, county of MIDDLESEX,
1 mile (N.E.) from London. The population is returned
with the parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch. This
place, formerly a hamlet in the parish of St. Leonard,
has been greatly enlarged within the last few years,,
and having become an extensive and populous district,
was constituted a parish by act of parliament in 1830.
It is divided into Hoxton Old Town, and Hoxton New
Town; the former containing many ancient and spacious
houses, some of which have fallen into decay, and
others have been converted into private lunatic asylums j
and the latter, consisting of numerous well-formed
streets and neat ranges of modern buildings, occasionally
interspersed with pleasant cottages. -The town i?
well paved, lighted with gas, and amply supplied with
water. The principal manufactories are for machinery
of various kinds, pins, vinegar, &c.: there are an extensive
saw-mill, and numerous lime and coal wharfs on
the banks of the Regent's canal, which passes through
the northern part of the parish. Hoxton is within the
jurisdiction of a court of requests held at Whitechapel,
for the recovery of debts under 40s.
The living is a vicarage not in charge, in the archdeaconry
of Middlesex, and diocese of London, and in the
patronage of theDeanof St.Paul's. The church, dedicated
to St. John the Baptist, and containing one thousand nine
hundred and ninety-five sittings, of which one thousand
are free, was erected, in 1826, by grant from the parliamentary
commissioners, at an expense of £ 13,000: it
is a handsome edifice of light brick, with a cornice-and
ornaments of stone, and a steeple consisting of successive
stages of campanile turrets crowned with a dome.
There are places of worship for Independents, Wesleyaa
Methodists, and Methodists of the New Connexion.
The ancient cemetery of the Jews is in this parish. A
spacious National school is supported by subscription, m
which about five hundred children are instructed; and
an infant school, in which are two hundred children,
was established in 1829. Lady Viscountess Lumley
founded almshouses, and endowed them for three aged
persons of the parish of St. Botolph, Aldgate, and three
of the parish of St. Botolph, Bishopsgate: they were
rebuilt in 1822. The Haberdashers almshouses were
founded, in 1692, by Robert Aske, who endowed them
with estates in this parish and at Ashford in Kent, for
the residence and support of twenty poor members of that
company, and for the clothing, maintenance, and education
of twenty boys, sons of freemen of the company:
the old buildings were taken down in 1825, and the
present handsome structure erected on the site. The
premises occupy three sides of a .quadrangular area, in
the centre of which is a statue of the foxmder; the
centre comprises a handsome chapel, with a portico of
the Grecian Doric order, on each side of which are
apartments for the chaplain and schoolmaster, schoolroom
and dormitory for the boys, and domestic offices;
the wings, in front of which is a colonnade, are appropriated
to the aged men, who have each a separate house,
and are in other respects comfortably provided for.
William Puller, Esq., in 1795, founded and endowed
almshouses for twelve aged women, who have a weekly
allowance of money, and a chaldron of coal annually;
and also other almshouses in Gloucester-street;, for
sixteen aged women, who receive a similar allowance.
Almshouses near Gloucester-terrace were founded in
1749, by Mrs. Mary Westb, who endowed them for
ten aged women.