Fountain

Temperence Fountain - W8

Inscription

{Plaque on the fountain:}
Lord from thy blessed throne
The griefs of earth look upon
God bless the poor
Teach them true liberty
Make them from strong drink free
Let their homes happy be
God bless the poor.

We wondered if the verse, by Robert Nicoll, was from a hymn, as the scansion seemed familiar. Then we realised that it fits the tune of 'God Save the King'

Site: Temperence Fountain - W8 (1 memorial)

W8, Marloes Road, Opposite Stratford Road

This 1863 map shows two workhouses on the site below what is now St Margaret's Lane and north of what is now a terrace of houses on Lexham Gardens. The northern workhouse was Saint Mary Abbott's (built 1847 for Kensington) and the southern one was St Margaret and St John's (built 1853 for Westminster). By the 1893 map St Margaret and St John's has been subsumed (in 1880) into Saint Mary Abbott's, and a porter's lodge has been built with a drinking fountain on Marloes Road.

In 1893 new buildings, designed by T. W. Aldwinckle (1844– 1920), facing Marloes Road including the porter's lodge were erected. But the design for the wall of the lodge, including the drinking fountain presumably, was provided by T. P. Figgis

By 1933 St Mary Abbot's Hospital had shed its institutional role completely. In 1992, when the new Chelsea and Westminster Hospital opened on Fulham Road, St Mary Abbotts, along with three other hospitals, closed. The others were: Westminster Hospital, West London Hospital and St Stephen's Hospital (on the Fulham Road site).

Most of the St Mary Abbot's Hospital buildings were demolished and replaced with blocks of flats. The central western wing of the 1847 St Mary Abbot's workhouse has survived and been redeveloped as luxury housing, Stone Hall Gardens.

Information from Lost Hospitals of London and British History Online.

Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of plaquesoflondon.co.uk

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This section lists the subjects who helped to create/erect the memorial on this page:
Temperence Fountain - W8

Created by i

Church of England Temperence Society

Queen Victoria was its patron, and in 1899 it had about 7,000 branches.

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Thomas Phillips Figgis

Architect. Born in Dublin. He moved to London and established his own practic...

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Robert Nicoll

Scottish poet and lyricist. Born Perthshire into a poor family but he was qui...

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