Our History

 

1824

 

Charlotte Antonia Sulivan is born on 14th April the youngest of the five children born to Laurence and Elizabeth Sulivan of Broom House, Fulham.

Elizabeth Sulivan (nee Temple) was the younger sister of Harry Temple, third Viscount Palmerston. Palmerston served in various British government in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was Foreign Secretary in the 1830's and Prime Minister in the 1860's.

 

1870

 

There is urgent need for a church on Parsons Green for the rapidly increasing number of houses being built.

There had long been a Rectory on the west side of the Green; it was also known as a Parsonage, hence the name. This belonged to the Rector of All Saints', Fulham, whose position was sinecure, which involved no duties beyond appointing the vicar to do the work and providing a bull and a boar for increasing the livestock of the parish! The Rector did not live there but leased the house to someone else.

 

1876

 

St Dionis Mission Hall is built in memory of Charlotte’s father on land that she owned close to the Parsonage.

The building cost £4,000 and could seat 300 people. The 'most substantial building .... well lit with gas' was a 'present to the neighbourhood'. The Rev. F.H. Fisher the Vicar of Fulham, told everyone who had crammed in for the opening service that they were 'going to have a regular service ... a hearty one'. However the preacher, the Rev. W.L. Bames, spoke on 'the wages of sin is death'! Mr Fisher asked a blessing on the Mission Hall and 'the lady who gave it' - the 52-year-old Charlotte was present. The proceedings were spoiled for some by the boys at the back who made 'coarse remarks ... much to the annoyance of all near them'.

 

1885

 

St Dionis Church is built on the site of the Rectory, and consecrated.

 

1889

 

The Mission Hall is used in 1889 by kind permission of Charlotte who still owned it, to raise money for 'the Tower Fund', presumably the Church tower. The event was an evening with Charles Pond who recited the trial scene from The Merchant of Venice, The Ancient Mariner and two humorous selections with the help of three ladies!

 

1898

 

The Vicarage next door to the Church is completed.

At the laying of the foundation stone, the Reverend John Sinclair, the first Vicar, said that 'when he first came Miss Sulivan took a great interest in the spiritual welfare of the parish'." He commented that the population of the Parish was 1,300 and rapidly increasing (by 1923 it was 10,000). When Mr Sinclair left in 1898 and Dr William Carter succeeded him, Charlotte gave £55 to wipe off all deficits on church funds

 

1911

 

Charlotte Antonia Sulivan dies on 3rd April, 1911.

After her death the Bishop of London, a neighbour at Fulham Palace, said in a sermon that he had visited her every Christmas Day for ten years and 'he always found her quite by herself ... She would speak of nothing about her property or her money but always of her relation to God.'

Dr Carter, Vicar of St Dionis, told how she had said, hearing of another's death, ‘I am envious of him; but I suppose God wants me to live a little longer’. He added 'many a poor home in Fulham had been saved through her handsome gifts, and a great many tradesmen, who would have been left unpaid by dishonest and unfortunate customers, had to thank God for the intervention of her generosity, but only in a secret way did they know from whom that came'. He also said, 'he scarcely ever visited her without she inquired about the names of the people who lived in some of the streets of the parish' .

In her will she left £3,000 for the upkeep of the Mission Hall and the house which was annexed to it; this was to be used for church purposes or a curate.

After her death, it was also revealed that she had been the anonymous donor of £3,000 in 1903 to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, which gave the Vicar a stipend of £100 per year.

 

2003

 

The Mission Hall was converted into two halls, with a first floor hall and ground floor hall, enabling much more flexible use for more members of the local community.

 

2022

 

The Mission Hall is refurbished and renamed the CAS Halls.

 

2023

 

The CAS Halls officially re-open and on Sunday 4 June are re-dedicated to Charlotte Antonia Sulivan’s legacy of being the story of blessing in Parsons Green.

The charity today

The Charlotte Antonia Sulivan Property Trust (charity number 255175) owns the permanent endowment of the charity: the Mission Hall, 16 Parsons Green and 6 Parsons Green (the freehold of Ensor House and the Sulivan Hall). The Charlotte Antonia Sulivan Charity (charity number: 1158311 and company number 09182690) is the sole trustee of the Charlotte Antonia Sulivan Property Trust. By a linking directive issued by the Charity Commission on 8th October 2016 the Charlotte Antonia Sulivan Charity files a single consolidated report and accounts for both charities.

The Charlotte Antonia Sulivan Property Trust was created by a scheme issued by the Charity Commission on 15th September 2015 which merged the Charlotte Antonia Sulivan for Mission Hall Charity (charity number 255176), the Charlotte Antonia Sulivan for the Mission Hall (charity number 255176-1) and the Sulivan Ray of Hope Hall (charity number 255175). The scheme appointed the Charlotte Antonia Sulivan Charity as the sole trustee of the Charlotte Antonia Sulivan Property Trust.

The object of both charities is:

"to further the religious and other charitable purposes of the Church of England in the ecclesiastical parish of St Dionis, Parsons Green and Fulham, for the benefit of the public"

The Charlotte Antonia Sulivan Charity is a company limited by guarantee registered on 20th August 2014. It has four Directors all based in the local area of Parsons Green. To find information on our current Directors, please follow this link.

The registered address of the charity, to which all formal correspondence should be sent, is 18A Parsons Green, London, SW6 4UH.

The charity's annual report to the charity commission can be found here and to Companies House here.