Ecclesiastical Commissioners Act 1866

17 Improved Provision for the Cure of Souls in Westminster.

Whereas the Operation of the Provisions of the said recited Acts which relate to the Division and Appropriation of the Revenues accruing to the Canonries in the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter, Westminster, to which the Rectories of Saint Margaret and Saint John, Westminster, are respectively annexed, has been found to be inconvenient, and it is expedient that better Provision should be made for the Cure of Souls in the said Two Parishes, and in the several' Ecclesiastical Districts into which the same have been divided: Be it enacted, That so much of the Thirty-first Section of the Act of the Third and Fourth Tears of Her Majesty, Chapter One hundred and thirteen, as has not been already repealed be and the same is hereby repealed, and that in lieu thereof, as from the Twenty-ninth of September next, the whole of the Proceeds of the Canonry to which the Rectory of Saint Margaret's is annexed, over and above the Sum of One thousand Pounds per Annum, and during the Incumbency of the present Rector of Saint John One Third of the Proceeds of the Canonry to which the Rectory of Saint John is annexed, shall become payable to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners for England, for the Purposes of their Common Fund, and that from the same Date the Commissioners shall pay out of the said Common Fund to the Incumbent of All Saints, Knightsbridge, the annual Sum of One hundred and twenty Pounds, and to the Incumbents of each of the under-mentioned Churches, situate in the said Parishes of Saint Margaret and Saint John, within the City of Westminster, namely, Saint Margaret, Christ Church, Saint Andrew, Saint Matthew, Saint Stephen, Saint Mary, Saint James-the-Less, and Holy Trinity, such annual Sum as, together with any permanent Endowment, not including Pew Rents and Fees, now belonging to each of such Churches, will raise such Endowment to Five hundred Pounds per Annum; and that upon the next Avoidance of the Canonry to which the Rectory of Saint John is annexed the whole of the Proceeds of such Canonry, over and above the Sum of One thousand Pounds per Annum, shall become in like Manner payable to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, who shall thereupon pay out of their said Common Fund to the Incumbent of the Church of Saint John such annual Sum as, together with any permanent Endowment, not including Pew Rents and Fees, belonging to such Church, will raise such Endowment to Five hundred Pounds per Annum: Provided always, that from and after the Twenty-ninth of September next all the Seats in the said Churches of Christ Church, Saint Andrew, Saint Matthew, Saint Stephen, Saint Mary, Saint James-the-Less, and Holy Trinity, not held by Faculty or Prescription, nor appropriated under the Authority of any Act of Parliament, or of the Deeds of Consecration of the said Churches, shall be for ever free.