STANMORE (LITTLE), a parish in the hundred of GORE, county of MIDDLESEX, a mile (N. W.) from Edgware, containing, with part of the village of Edgware, 712 inhabitants. The living is a perpetual curacy, in the jurisdiction of the Commissary of London, concurrently with the Consistbrial Court of the Bishop of London, and in the patronage of G. Drummond, Esq. The church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, stands about half a mile from the village, and was rebuilt, with the exception of the tower, about 1715, by the Duke of Chandos, whose splendid mansion of Canons was in this parish, but the internal decorations were not completed until 1720: the ceiling and walls were painted by Laguerre; on each side of the altar is a painting of the Nativity, and a dead Christ, by Belluchi; and behind it is a recess for the organ, supported by columns of the Corinthian order in the back ground are paintings of Moses receiving the Law, and Christ preaching. Handel, who resided at Canons as chapel-master, is said to have composed his sacred drama of Esther for its consecration the anthems used in it were composed by him, and the morning and evening services by Pepusch. On the 25th of September, 1790, a grand miscellaneous concert of sacred music, selected from Handel's works, was performed to his honour in this church. A vault was constructed on the north side of the chancel by the Duke of Chandos, for. the interment of his family, and in a large chamber over it is a monument of his ancestor, James, first Duke of Chandos. The free grammar school was founded and endowed by Sir Lancelot Lake, in 1656; the income is derived from a field producing £ 50 per annum, of which £ 30 is paid to the master, and the remainder applied to charitable purposes. Almshouses were founded, in 1640, by Dame Mary Lake, for seven poor persons, having an endowment of about £45 per annum; and this parish is entitled to send three poor persons to the almshouses in Edgeware, founded in 1828, by Charles Day, Esq.