LAMBETH'S "PEDLARS ACRE.'

Otago Witness, Issue 2852, 11 November 1908, Page 38

LAMBETH'S "PEDLARS ACRE.'

AN UNKNOWN BENEFACTOR

Munioipal Lambeth derives £1800 a year from the " Pedlar's Acre" estate, the proceeds of" which are applied to reduction of the rates. Mr G. Masters, a member of tho Borough Council, has recently made an exhaustive search amongst the records of the Lambeth Parish Ohurcth in order to ascertain the origin of the gift. There has, he -states, always been, a mystery about this (pedlar. Tfoe acre, however, is not ia dispute, it being situated on the river side of Belvedere road.

The estate is said to have been bequeathed upon condition that a picture of the pedlar and his dog- should be perpetually preserved in glass in one' of the windows of the church. Further, it is suggested that the land: was a gift in acknowledgment of permission granted the pedlar to bury his dog in tibe churchyard. Another tradition, says Mr Masters, is that a tired pedlar fell -asleep, and that while he slept his dog scratched upon the ground, and so discovered a spot where gold ihad been concealed. - -With 4ftiis gold the pedlar was enriched and settled in the neighbourhood. Soon afterwards the dog died, and by a little gious^ collusion was buried, m the chufchvardr 11 "Before long tho'peoJar died, too, but not until he had left an acre of ground in trust for the poor of the parish. A memorial? window was, therefore, raised in the church, whereon the pedlar and the dog were depicted. That window remains to thi3 day. Mr Masfers's own conclusion Is less romantic. It is that the picture of the pedlar and the dog was intended as a rebu3 on the name of come benefactor rather than descriptive of his trade or calling. The donor may have been Alder-

man Henry Smith, who .in 1626 gave £10 to the poor of Lambeth, and who was usually referred to as " Dog " Smith because at one period he was a beggar and always entreated a bone for his dog. There is no record in the name of Pedlar at all.