Transcribed from the 1869 edition , email
BY GEORGE BRYAN.
“It is not given to all to havegenius—it is given to all to have honesty of purpose; anordinary writer may have this in common with thegreatest—that he may compose his works with a sincere viewof administering to knowledge.”—Bulwer Lytton.
Entered at Stationers’Hall.
CHELSEA:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR,
4, ALFRED COTTAGES, CAMERA SQUARE,KING’S ROAD.
MAY BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS.
1869.
There are circumstances inconnection with the publication of this volume which I deem itnecessary to mention. Some persons probably have thoughtthat such an undertaking should have devolved on an individualpossessing greater literary attainments, and occupying a higherposition in the parish than I do in it. To this impressionI willingly give my assent. But this has not been the case;and the length of time (upwards of forty years) since the lateMr. Faulkner published his “History of Chelsea,” andthe consequent difficulty of procuring a copy—independentlyof the fact that much contained in that work is now altogetherdevoid of interest, and also that, from the great improvementsand alterations in the parish, there required many additions tobe made to it—induced me, in the decline of life, toundertake the present task.
As an additional justification for the course I have pursued,it must not be forgotten that Chelsea is my native parish, andthat I have possessed peculiar facilities for acquiring thenecessary information; and, moreover, that in early life Icomposed in type a great portion of Mr. Faulkner’s firstedition, and at a subsequent period was employed as theprinting-office reader of his edition in two volumes. Thisgave me frequent opportunities of seeing him, and witnessing hislaborious exertions to produce a work as complete “as theutmost diligence, care, and patience enabled him tocollect.” I cannot but think that theseconsiderations—combined with the fact of my having been,for many years since that period, connected with the press inLondon—will remove all p. viimpressions of assumption, on mypart, for submitting the present volume to the impartial judgmentof the parishioners and the public.
I have purposely avoided all dry details of parochialmanagement, &c., as being foreign to the nature of the workand rendered now unnecessary in consequence of the voluminousAnnual Vestry Reports, which may easily be obtained. Myobject has rather been to make the volume interesting, as far aspossible, without being guilty of “book-making.”
The work embodies all the essential and interestinginformation that could be obtained, with a great amount oforiginal matter, and should the volume not appear so bulky assome might have expected, it is simply owing to the rejection ofextraneous subjects.
That the intelligent working-man, and persons of limitedmeans, might possess the work, I published a certain number ofcopies at a very great sacrifice, trusting that the motive wouldbe rather an inducement than otherwise for others to purchase thevolume. Local histories, unlike other works, can only havea small circulation, and the price charged for them must benecessarily regulated by the probable