The Royal Masonic Institution For Girls.

To the Right Honourable the Lord Mayor , Aldermen , and Common Council of the City of London , & c , & c , & c . The Petition of the Right Honourable Lord Macdonald , James Heseltine , William Addington , William Birch , and James Galloway , Esquires , Trustees , and The Chevalier Ruspini , Charles Carpenter , and William Forssteen , Esquires , being the Committee Specially appointed for this purpose at a General Meeting of the numerous and Respectable Governors , Subscribers , and Supporters of that Excellent Charity called The Royal Cumberland Free Mason School , under the Patronage and Protection of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales , Grand Master of the Ancient Fraternity ol Free and Accepted Masons .

Sheweth—That having , under the sanction of the Orders of such General Meeting , agreed with Mr . Gilbert , the Under Lessee of James Hedger , Esqr ., for a piece of Ground in St . George ' s Fields , situate on the North side of the High Road leading from the Obelisk to Westminster Bridge , extending 77 Feet in Front next to the said Road , and running 220 Feet in depth , for the remainder of the Term under which the same is held by Mr . Hedcrer from the City of London , expiring

at Lady Day , 1810 , with a view to erect thereon a commodious Building capable of receiving the many distressed Objects that the Noble and Generous Patronage of this Charity may extend to the comfortable support of : Your Petitioners are authorised and directed to make application to your Honourable Court , ever famed

for the most liberal attention and encouragement to all useful and beneficial Charities , for an Extension of Term by a Reversionary Grant from the City of those Premises , to take Effect after the Expiration of the present Lease in such Manner as to your Honourable Court shall seem reasonable . The better to enable the Royal , Noble , and Liberal Supporters and Promoters of this Charity to make such a creditable Solid and Permanent Establishment of their Benevolent Designs

as will do Honour to the High Patronage of the Society of Free ancKAccepted Masons , to the Corporation of London , and to the Nation at large . Your Petitioners , therefore , Pray the Indulgence of the Court in granting such Reversionary Lease of these Premises .

The petition , though at ' first it experienced some opposition , was ultimately successful , and the City agreed to grant the lease

filllLS' SCHOOL , FROM AN ENGRAVING OP 180 : 1 .

as requested for a term of 43 years , which would expire on Lady Day , 1883 .

A Building Committee , consisting of Bros . Lord Rawdon , A . G . M ., Lord Macdonald , James Heseltine , James Galloway , William Addington , C Carpenter , W . Forssteen , Thos . Callendar , John Fleming , William Birch , the Chevalier Ruspini , Major-General Garth , Anthony Tenbroecke , Thomas Colcomb , and

Benjamin Cooper , having been appointed in the interim , the design of a Mr . Carter was selected from a number , and a Bro , Mason having tendered to erect the building for £ 1819 and been accepted , the first stone was laid with the following inscription thereon - .

THIS BUILDING ( under favour of the City of London ) was begun by Voluntary Subscription , September , 1793 , for the reception of Female Children and Orphans of Indigent Free Masons , first suggested to Her Royal Highness The

DUCHESS OF CUMBERLAND By the CHEVALIER RUSPINI , 1788 , and , since adopted by the Society of Free and Accepted Masons ,

Under the Patronage of His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales , G . M ., The Earl of Moira , A . G . M ., Sir Peter Parker , Bart ., D . G . M . F . Carter , Arct .

Operations were at once commenced under the direction of Mr . Carter as surveyor , and after innumerable difficulties owing to the bankruptcy of the contractor and other causes , were brought to a satisfactory conclusion by the Building Committee , and some time between the nth and 26 th June , 1795 , the Matron

and her young charges were transferred from Somers-place East to their new home in St . George ' s Fields , and here the School remained in a state of greater or less prosperity until the move to its present quarters was made in 1852 . But though the building was finished , the difficulties connected with the contractor ' s

bankruptcy remained to harass the Committee , who had to contend against the lawyers and a Chancery suit . Ultimately , the latter was dismissed , and at the Quarterly Court held in July , 1802 , the Governors received the gratifying intelligence that all their difficulties in connection with the erection of their

School were at an end . It should be added that the total cost of the erection was £ 3097 17 s . 8 d ., and that the total of the moneys raised , including a loan of £ 1250 three percent . Consols —value £ 858 15 s . —from the General Fund of the Charity , amounted to £ 3106 17 s . 6 d ., so that when the accounts were made up there remained a balance to the good of £ 8 19 s . 4 d .

As the time approached when the lease would expire , it became a question whether a renewal thereof would be obtained from the Corporation and upon what terms it would be granted ,

or whether they should obtain a new site and build a fresh School thereon . From the inquiries made by Bro . Hardwick , G . Superintendent of Works , it became apparent that the terms

on which such renewal could be obtained would necessitate a large outlay , and , moreover , it was evident that the neighbourhood was no longer a desirable one for such an Institution , it

was accordingly resolved to remove it to a more suitable locality and the present site was purchased and the nucleus of the present building erected thereon and dedicated by Bro . the Earl of Zetland , on the 2 nd August , 1852 . Steps were then taken to render it habitable , and on the oth December , the children to the

number of 61— the four remaining being absent through illnesswere removed to the new premises , and there the Institution has remained ever since , though it is more than probable that the Committee , if they could have foreseen the enlargement that has since taken place , would have purchased a larger p lot of ground .