WANDSWORTH, a parish in the western division
of the hundred of BRIXTON, county of SURREY, 6
miles (S. W.) from London, containing 6702 inhabitants,
The name of this place is derived from its
situation on the river Wandle, which falls into the
Thames in this parish. It consists chiefly of one street,
occupying the declivities of two hills, on each of which
are several mansions of a superior description: the
inhabitants are supplied with water from springs.
The manufactures comprise scarlet-dyeing, established
for more than a century; hat-making, introduced
by some French emigrants who settled here in the
time of Louis XIV.; the making of bolting cloths, the
printing of kerseymeres, the whitening and pressing
of 'stuffs, and calico-printing: there are also three cornmills,
and mills for the preparation of iron, white lead,
and linseed oil, now on the decline; vinegar works,
distilleries, and a large brewery; the whole furnishing
employment to several hundred persons. A rail-road
extends from the basin, near the junction of the Wandle
with the Thames, through Mitcham and Croydon, to
Merstham in Surrey, and furnishes means of conveyance
for the manufactures and other commodities. A fair
is held on Whif-Monday, for cattle, horses, and pigs;
and there is a pleasure fair on the two following
days. The town is within the jurisdiction of the
new police. Petty sessions for the western division
of the hundred of Brixton are held every Saturday;
and a court of requests, for the recovery of debts under
£5, comprises within its jurisdiction the parishes of
Barnes, Battersea, Lower Tooting, Mortlake, Merton,
Putney, Wandsworth, and Wimbledon.
The living is a vicarage, in the archdeaconry of
Surrey, and diocese of Winchester, rated in the king's
books at £15. 5. 5., and in the patronage of Mrs. Anne
Butcher. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a
plain brick structure, rebuilt in 1780, with the exception
of a square tower at the west end; it contains
several monuments. A new church, dedicated to St.
Anne, and containing one thousand seven hundred and
fifty-eight sittings, of which one thousand three hundred
and thirty-two are free, has been recently erected,
at an expense of £14,600, which was defrayed by His
Majesty's commissioners for building new churches.
There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society
of Friends, Independents, and Wesleyan Methodists;
the Society of Friends have two schools, at one of
which the eminent citizen, Sir John Barnard, was
educated. The free, or Green-coat, school was founded
and endowed, in 1710, under the will of William Wicks;
of late years it has been incorporated with the National
schools, in which one hundred and twentyfive
boys and one hundred girls are educated, twentyfive
of the boys and thirty of the girls being also,
clothed: the produce of the old endowment is appropriated
exclusively to the use of thirty-five boys on the
original foundation. The school of industry, founded
in 1805, in which forty girls are instructed in knitting,
spinning, &c., besides apportioning rewards for good
behaviour at service, is supported by voluntary contributions.
A school for the education of children of every
religious denomination, instituted in 1821, affords instruction
to one hundred and seventy boys and sixty
girls. Fifteen watermen of the parish receive £4 per annum
each, the produce of bequests by Nicholas Tonnett,
Sir Alan Broderick, and Sir Francis Millington. Here
are some small funds for apprenticing poor children,
and relieving the poor, for whose benefit a parochial
library was instituted, in 1826. Amongst, the miscellaneous
charities, those of the famous Alderman Smith,
commonly called Dog Smith, who was born and buried
here, deserve particular notice, extending not only to
Wandsworth, but to most of the principal towns in the
county. The first Presbyterian congregation establishedin
the kingdom, was at this place, in the year 1572. In
Garratt-lane, between Wandsworth and Tooting, a mock
election used to be held after every parliamentary election,
to which Foote's dramatic production of the Mayor
of Garratt has given celebrity.