An Act to transfer to the Crown Apsley House and the site, forecourt and garden thereof and certain chattels formerly belonging to the first Duke of Wellington; to provide for the use of Apsley House partly as a museum for the preservation and exhibition of the said chattels and other chattels associated with the said first Duke or his times and for other public purposes, and partly as a residence for the Dukes of Wellington; to amend the enactments relating to the Wellington estates, so as to provide for the automatic devolution of the property subject to the trusts thereof whenever there is a change in the person holding office as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer or Speaker of the House of Commons ; and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid.
[31st July 1947]
Whereas Apsley House, Piccadilly, in the City of Westminster (in this Act referred to as "Apsley House ") is held for the benefit of the Dukes of Wellington, and certain chattels formerly owned by the first Duke of Wellington are held as heirlooms of the Duke of Wellington :
And whereas it is the desire of His Grace the seventh Duke of Wellington that Apsley House, and certain of the said chattels, and certain chattels which are his own property, may be presented to the nation, with a view to the formation of a Wellington museum, subject, however, to the provisions of this Act :
And whereas the trustees under the Acts specified in the First Schedule to this Act (in this Act referred to as " the Wellington Estate Acts ") include the persons who for the time being hold the offices of First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Speaker of the House of Commons, and it is expedient that, on a change in the person holding any of the said offices, the trust property should devolve automatically.
Be it enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :—