Benevolent Institutions - Law Commission - Ministry of Justice

for enabling the President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, and Governors of the
Magdalen Hospital for the Reception of Penitent Prostitutes to sell and grant
Leases of the present Site of the Hospital and other Lands belonging to them,
to acquire a new Site for the Hospital, and to erect a Hospital thereon; and for
other purposes.
13. The preamble to the 1866 Act recorded that the present site of the hospital
(Southwark) had become unsuitable because of the rise in population of the area,
and it was desirable to move the hospital to a more suitable and healthy site.
14. The 1866 Act provided as follows-
(a) the Corporation 11 was empowered to sell or exchange the land and
buildings of the hospital, to purchase up to 10 acres as a site for a new
hospital, and to erect such new hospital on that site; the Corporation was
empowered to invest in railway securities
(b) the Corporation’s power to sell or purchase land was to be subject to the
consent of the court or of the Charity Commissioners
(c) provisions to allow the Corporation to retain or occupy buildings on a
temporary basis; savings; expenses and status of this Act.
Magdalen Hospital Charity Scheme Confirmation Act 1937
15. According to its long title, the purpose of the Magdalen Hospital Charity
Scheme Confirmation Act 1937 (“the 1937 Act”) wasto
confirm a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners for the application or
management of the Charity called the Magdalen Hospital in the County of
London.
16. The Scheme confirmed by the 1937 Act provided as follows-
(a) the object of the charity was now to be the provision and maintenance of
an institution for the maintenance and training of girls and young women
who were in need of reformation of character or who were in moral
danger (article 1)
(b) the body corporate established by the 1769 Act was now to be called
“The President Vice-Presidents Treasurer and Governors of the
Magdalen Hospital” 12 (article 2)
11
Defined in the preamble to the 1866 Act as “the President, Vice-Presidents, Treasurer, and Governors
of the Magdalen Hospital”.
12
In other words, the name no longer included the words “for the Reception of Penitent Prostitutes”.
11