PLEASE NOTE: The transcription of these Royal Charters is attributed to The Crystal Palace Foundation 2013.
No part is to be used in any medium without prior written permission from the Crystal Palace Foundation. The originals are located in the National Archives.

When the Crystal Palace was moved to Sydenham, Joseph Paxton set up with others a Royal Charter Company - The Crystal Palace Company - to rebuild and run the Crystal Palace and grounds. The Company was declared Bankrupt in 1909.

The Charters have been transcribed below in their entirety and are the formal terms of reference for the Company drawn up by the Privy Council with the agreement of Queen Victoria.

Public Record Office Royal Charter Register
18th August 1852

Petition of Samuel Laing & others praying the grant of a Charter to the Chrystal Palace Company. (sic)
Referred to Committee for Trade

Upon reading this day at the Board the humble petition of Samuel Laing of Brighton in the County of Sussex Barrister at Law and others praying the grant of a Charter of Incorporation to the “Crystal Palace Company” It is ordered by Her Majesty in Council that the said petition (copy of which is hereunto annexed) together with a draft of the charter prayed for Be and they are hereby referred to the Right Honourable the Lords of the Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to the Trade and Foreign Plantations to consider the same and report their opinion thereupon to Her Majesty at this Board.

Public Record Office Royal Charter Register PC2/236
28th December 1852

Report of Committee for Trade recommending the grant of a Charter of Incorporation to the Chrystal Palace Company.(sic)
Approved

Whereas their was this day read at the Board a report of the Right Hon the Lords of the committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to the Trade and Foreign Plantations dated the 17th of December inst. in the words following viz.

“Your Majesty having been pleased by your Order in Council bearing date the 18th August last to refer unto this committee a petition of Samuel Laing of Brighton in the County of Sussex Barrister at Law and others praying the grant of a Charter of Incorporation in the “Crystal Palace Company” The Lords of the Committee have taken the said petition into consideration and humbly take leave to report as their opinion that a Charter of Incorporation may be granted by your majesty to the said petition in the terms draft hereunto annexed”.

Her Majesty having taken the said report and the draft charter accompanying the same into consideration was pleased by and with the advice of Her Privy Council to approve thereof and to order as it is hereby ordered that the Right Honourable Viscount. Palmerston one of Her Majesties Privy Councillors Secretary of State do cause a warrant to be prepared for Her Majesties Royal signature for passed a charter conformable to the said draft (which is hereunto annexed) under the Great Seal of Great Britain.

Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland Queen Defender of the Faith to all whom these presents shall come Greeting, Whereas it hath been represented unto us that by an Indenture bearing date on or about the 28th day of May 1852 expressed to be made between the several persons whose names are hereunto subscribed and whose seals are thereunto affixed (exclusive of the persons next thereinafter named) of the first part and Charles Geach of Park Street in the city & Liberty of Westminster Esquire and Francis Fuller of Abingdon Road in the said city & Liberty Esq. thereinafter described as trustees for giving effect to the Covenants thereinafter expressed or contained of the second part after reciting that the parties thereto had agreed to form a Partnership or Joint Stock Company for the purposes thereinafter mentioned within the meaning of the Act of Parliament passed in the Session of Parliament held in the seventh and eighth years of Our Reign Cap. 110 and that such Company was on the 17th day of the said month of May provisionally registered under the said act by the name of the “Crystal Palace Company.” and that it was intended that the same should be completely registered in the manner and form prescribed by the said act and that it has been agreed that the capital of the said Company should £500,000 in 100,000 shares of £5 each and reciting that one fourth part of the capital stock of the said Company had been subscribed for by parties thereto and that the number of shares in the said capital taken or to be taken by the said parties thereto respectively was written opposite to their names and seals respectively subscribed and affixed to the said indenture and reciting that it had been agreed that such of the shares of the said capital as had not at the date of the said indenture been subscribed for should be disposed of as therein after provided to such persons and in such manner in all respects as the Directors of the said Company for the time being might determine and that by the said indenture the said parties thereto of the first part did covenant and agree to pay up and contribute the amount of their respective shares in the capital of the Company in manner in the said indenture mentioned and that the objects and business of the said Company should be the

purchasing of the Great Exhibition Building in Hyde Park in the county of Middlesex and the reconstruction thereof or of any part thereof or of any addition thereto on another site forming and maintaining conservatories parks and museums in or in conjunction with the said Building for the illustration of the arts sciences and manufactures and the cultivation of a refined taste amongst all the classes of the community such objects and the remuneration or price to be paid for the admission being carried out under the superintendence of the Directors thereinafter mentioned and that the partnership or Company should continue until dissolved under the provisions thereinafter contained or to be contained in any charter or act of Parliament thereafter to be granted or obtained by or on behalf of the said Company and that the capital stock of the Company should consist of £500,000, divided into 100,000 shares of £5 each, each as aforesaid and that the said capital should be paid up and contributed either on the execution of the said indenture and the complete registration of the Company or at such other time or times and on such calls as the said Directors should from time to time require or appoint and that the Board of Directors of the said Company should have full power when and as they should think, fit to accept from us and in the name and for the purposes of the said Company a grant of any charter as therein is mentioned. And by such charter to take powers for the Company to extend their business and all such other powers privileges immunities rights benefits & advantages as the Directors might think advisable or advantageous. And whereas it has been further represented to us that the said Company has obtained a Certificate of complete registration under the several acts for the registration incorporation & regulation of Joint Stock Companies on the 14th day of June 1852. And whereas it has been further represented to us that the said Deed hath been executed by persons who in the aggregate have subscribed for 65,000 shares & upwards in the said Company and that the sum of £348,000 and upwards has been paid up in respect of shares in the said

Company. And whereas it hath been further represented to us that the said sum of £500,000 may be found insufficient in the opinion of a majority of the Directors of the said Company to carry into full effect the beneficial purposes aforesaid and that in such case it should be lawful for the members of the said Company for the time being in pursuance of any resolution to be adopted at a general or extraordinary meeting of the said Company and to be confirmed by the execution of a supplemental Deed by the members of the said Company with such consent as hereinafter mentioned to raise and contribute amongst themselves in such shares and proportions as the shall think proper or by the admission of New Subscribers any further or other sum of money not exceeding the sum of £500,000 sterling. And whereas it also hath been represented to us that by a certain instrument of Special Licence bearing date the 22nd Day of September 1852 the Lords of the Committee of our Privy Council appointed for the consideration of all matters to Trade & Foreign Plantations did grant a licence to the said Company by the name or style of “The Crystal Palace Company” to purchase take acquire and hold in the name of the said Company or of the Trustees or Trustee thereof for the purposes of the said Company and again to sell and dispose of the lands tenements and hereditments delineated in a certain plan thereunto annexed and thereinafter more particularly described and every or any parts thereof and which said lands or hereditments with the sites of buildings erected thereon comprise an area of 389 acres 3 roods 28 poles or thereabouts and are situate in the several parishes townships hamlets of Battersea and Penge in the County of Surrey and Beckenham and Lewisham in the County of Kent and whereas Samuel Laing Arthur Anderson Charles Lushington John Scott Russell Francis Fuller Thomas Newman Farquhar Charles Geach and Edmund Sexton Pery Calvert esquires the Directors the said Company and who have executed the said Deed have by their petition to us prayed that we should grant unto the said Company Our Royal Charter of Incorporation for the better completion & carrying into effect the objects and purposes of the said Company and which we are minded to Now Know Ye that We of our especial

grace certain knowledge and mere motion we by these presents for us our heirs & successors do give grant and ordain that Samuel Laing John Scott Russell Francis Fuller and all such other persons and all bodies politic or corporate as have become or from time to time hereafter may become in the manner provided for by the said Recited Indenture or Deed of Settlement members of the said Company partnership or Company and shall hold shares in the capital thereof shall be one body politic and corporate by the name of “The Crystal Palace Company” for the purposes in the said Deed of Settlement mentioned but subject nevertheless to the conditions restrictions regulations and provisions in the said Deed and hereinafter contained and so that the Business of the said Company so now incorporated may be carried on in all respects according to the terms & provisions of the said Indenture of Settlement as far as the same are in conformity with the Laws of Our Realm and so far as the same are not inconsistent with or repugnant to this our Royal Charter and by that name shall sue and be sued implead and be impleaded in all courts whether of Law or Equity as well in Our United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland as elsewhere and shall have perpetual succession with a common seal which may be by them changed or varied at their pleasure And we do hereby direct that the Board of Directors for the time being of the said Company as constituted and provided by the said recited Deed of Settlement or according to the provision of any Bye Laws to be made in pursuance of the said Deed of Settlement or of this our Royal Charter shall have the powers & authorities by the said Deed of Settlement and by this our Royal Charter vested in them and generally do all acts which they shall consider necessary for the well ordering the affairs of the said Company so as the same be done in conformity with the provisions of this our Royal Charter and of the said indenture of settlement or any such Bye Laws as aforesaid. And we do further by these presents for us our heirs & successors grant unto the said Crystal Palace Company. And we do Will and Direct that in case the sum of £500,000 sterling shall be found insufficient in the opinion of a majority of the Directors of the said Company to carry into full effect the beneficial purposes aforesaid then and in such case it shall be lawful for

the members of the said Company for the time being (with the consent in writing of the President of the Lords of the Committee of our Privy Council for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations hereinafter called the Board of Trade) in pursuance of any resolution adopted at a general or extraordinary meeting of the said Company and according to the provisions of any supplemental Deed to be executed by the shareholders of the said Company to raise and contribute amongst themselves in such shares and proportions as they think proper or by the admission of new subscribers any further or other sum of money not exceeding £500,000 sterling but so as not to enlarge the powers to purchase and hold more lands than is warranted by this our charter. And we do hereby will and declare that the custody of the common seal of the said Company shall be provided for as the Board of Directors shall from time to time determine And we do hereby further declare that it shall be lawful for the said Company to purchase take acquire hold and enjoy to them and to their successors such lands house offices buildings and other hereditaments of any tenure whatsoever as are comprised and particularly described in the hereinbefore in part recited Instrument of Special Licence and delineated in the plan thereto annexed and which are situated parishes townships hamlets or places of Battersea Penge Beckenham & Lewisham aforesaid and to sell convey lease and dispose of the same or any part thereof which shall not be required for the purposes of the said undertaking but so nevertheless that the said Company shall sell and absolutely dispose of all such of the lands as shall not be required and appropriated for the purposes of the said undertaking within ten years from the date of this our Royal Charter and apply the money arising therefrom to the purposes of the said Company and shall within 21 days after every such sale certify in writing to our said Board of Trade the quantity sold and the price for which the persons to whom the same shall be sold and do hereby grant unto all persons & bodies politic who may be otherwise competent so to do our Special Licence and authority to grant sell demise assign alieu and

convey in mortmain unto and to the use of the said Company and their successors any such of the land houses offices buildings and other hereditments which are comprised & particularly described in the said hereinafter mentioned instrument of Special licence and delineated on the plan thereto annexed and which are situate in the said parishes townships hamlets or places of Battersea Penge Beckenham and Lewisham aforesaid And we do hereby declare that this our Royal Charter is granted on the condition following that is to say that no spirituous or other fermented or intoxicating liquors shall be furnished to the persons visiting the said Building or Grounds of the said Company and that no person and that no person shall be admitted to the said Building or Grounds on the Lords Day in consideration of any money payment whether made directly or indirectly unless the express sanction of the Legislature shall have been obtained for such admission on such consideration and then only from the time warranted by the Act of Parliament and that due provision shall be made by the attendance of a sufficient number of servants and others in and about the Grounds attached to the Buildings for the observance and enforcement of orderly conduct on the part of visitors or persons resorting to the exhibition And we do hereby further Will and Declare that the several Rules Regulations clauses & agreements contained in the said recited Deed of Settlement or to be contained in any such Bye Laws to be made as in the said Deed of Settlement is mentioned shall be deemed and considered to be the existing Rules & Regulations of the said Company save and except in so far as any of them are or may be altered or varied as may be inconsistent or repugnant to the Laws or Statutes of Our Realm or to this our Royal Charter And we do hereby expressly declare it to be our Royal Will & Pleasure that no Rules or Bye Laws shall in anywise alter or diminish the Rights of the Shareholders to do and perform the matters and things by the said Deed of Settlement authorised to be done at any General or other meeting and further We do hereby declare that no Bye Law or Supplemental Deed shall

be of any force unless the same shall have been first approved of in writing by the President of the Board of Trade or otherwise as may be directed by him copies of the balance sheet of the said Company and also such other accounts as may be required by said President of the Board of Trade And we do hereby declare that when the said Company or partnership shall have been dissolved in pursuance of the Provisions of the said Deed of Settlement or of any supplemental Deed and affairs of the said partnership shall have been completely wound up and its debts and obligations fully discharged this our Royal Charter shall be absolutely void And we do hereby direct that the aforesaid Deed of Settlement shall within one of the date thereof be inrolled in our High Court of Chancery in England and that any supplemental Deed shall be enrolled in the like manner within six calendar months from the date thereof and any Bye Laws to be made by the said Company shall be from time to time inrolled in like manner within six calendar months from the making thereof respectively And we do hereby declare that if the said Building should not be erected and opened to the public within three years from the date hereof or after having been so erected and opened if the same shall be closed for any time not less than one whole year it shall be lawful for Us Our Heirs or Successors at any time thereafter by writing under Our Great Seal to revoke this our Royal Charter. And further that it shall be lawful for Us Our Heirs or Successors at any time after 31 years from the date of this Our Royal Charter by writing under Our Great Seal to revoke this Our Royal Charter or to alter or revoke the same in part and under such terms & provisions as may be thought fit and We for Ourselves Our Heirs & the inrolment thereof shall be in all things valid and effectual in the Law according to the true intent and meaning of the same and

shall be so recognised in all Our courts and Judges in England or elsewhere and all other Officers and Persons and Bodies Politic or Corporate whom it may concern and that the same shall be taken construed and adjudged in the most favourable and beneficial sense and for the best advantage of the said Company as well as in Our several courts of Record in Great Britain as elsewhere notwithstanding any non recital misrecital uncertainty or imperfection in this Our Royal Charter. In witness etc

Public Record Office Royal Charter Register PC2/240
11th August 1854

Report of Committee for Trade recommending the grant of a Supplemental Charter to the Crystal Palace Company.
Approved

Whereas there was this day read at the Board a report of the Right Honourable The Lords of the Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters, relating to the Trade and Foreign Plantations dated the 9th April in the words following viz.

“Your Majesty having been pleased by your Order in Council bearing the date 30th January last to refer unto this committee a petition of the Crystal Palace Company praying the grant of a Supplemental Charter empowering the said Company to purchase and sell land etc. The Lords of the Committee have taken the said petition into consideration and humbly take leave to report as their opinion that a Supplemental Charter may be granted by Your Majesty to the said Company in the terms of the Draft hereunto annexed”

Her Majesty having the said report together with the Draft of a Supplemental Charter accompanying the same into consideration was pleased by and with the advice of Her Privy Council to approve thereof and to Order as it is hereby ordered that the Right Honourable Viscount Palmerston One of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State do cause a Warrant to be prepared for Her Majesty’s Royal Signature for passing a Charter conformable to the said Draft (which is hereunto annexed) under the Great Seal of Great Britain.

Victoria by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland Defender of the Faith to all to whom these presents shall come greeting Whereas it hath been represented unto us that by an indenture bearing date on or about the 28th day of May 1852 expressed to be made between the several persons whose are thereunto subscribed and whose seals are thereunto affixed exclusive of the persons next thereinafter named of the first part and Charles Geach of Park Street in our City and Liberty of Westminster esquire and Francis Fuller of Abingdon Street in the said City and Liberty esquire therein described as trustees for giving effect to the covenants thereinafter expressed or contained of the 2nd part after reciting that the parties thereto had agreed to form a partnership or Joint Stock Company for the purposes thereinafter mentioned within the meaning of the Act of Parliament passed in the session of Parliament held in the 7th & 8th year of Our Reign Chapter 110 and that such Company was on the 17th day of the said month of May provisionally registered under the said Act by the name of “The Crystal Palace Company” and that it was intended that the same should be completely registered in the name & form prescribed by the said Act and that it had been agreed that the Capital of the Company should be £500,000 in 100,000 shares of £5 each and reciting that one fourth part of the Capital Stock of the said Company had been subscribed for by the persons parties thereto and that the number of shares in the said Capital taken or to be taken by the said parties thereto respectively was written opposite to their names and seals respectively subscribed and affixed to the said indenture and reciting that it had been agreed that such of the shares of the said capital as had not at the date of the said indenture been subscribed for should be disposed of as thereinafter provided to such persons and in such manner in all respects as the Directors of the said Company for the time being might determine and that by the said indenture the said parties thereto of the 1st part did covenant and agree to pay up and contribute the amount of their respective shares in the Capital

of the Company in manner in the said indenture mentioned and that the objects that the objects and business of the said Company should be the purchasing of the Great Exhibition Building in Hyde Park in Our County of Middlesex and the reconstruction thereof or any addition thereto on another site the forming and maintaining conservatories parks and museums in or in conjunction with the said building for the illustration of the Arts Sciences and Manufactures and the cultivation of a refined taste amongst all the classes of the community such objects and the remuneration or price to be made by admissions being carried out under the superintendence of the Directors thereinafter mentioned and that the said partnership or Company should continue until dissolved under the provisions thereinafter contained or to be contained in any Charter or Act of Parliament thereinafter to be granted or obtained by or on behalf of the said Company and the Capital Stock of the Company should consist of £ 500,000 divided into 100,000 of £5 each as aforesaid and the Capital should be paid unpaid contributed either on the execution of the said indenture and the complete registration of the Company or at such other time or times and on such calls as the said Directors shall from time to time require or appoint and that the Board of Directors of the Said Company should have full power when and as they should think fit to accept from us and in the name and for the purposes of the said Company a grant of any Charter as therein is mentioned and by such Charter to take powers for the Company to extend their business and all such other powers privileges immunities rights benefits and advantages as the Directors might think advisable or advantageous And whereas it hath been further represented to us that the said Company has obtained a certificate of complete registration under the several Acts for the registration Incorporation and Regulation of Joint Stock Companies on the 14th day of June 1852 And whereas it hath been further represented to us that by our Letters Patent or Royal Charter of Incorporation under our Great Seal bearing date on or about

the 28th day of January in the 16th year of Our Reign after reciting as hereinbefore recited and reciting that it had been represented to us that the said Deed had been executed by persons who in the aggregate had subscribed for 65,000 shares and upwards in the said Company and that the sum of £348,000 and upwards had been paid up in respect of shares in the said Company and reciting that it had been further represented to us that the said sum of £500,000 might be found insufficient in the opinion of a majority of the Directors of the said Company to carry into full effect the beneficial purposes aforesaid and that in such case it should be lawful for the members of the said Company for the time being in pursuance of any resolution to be adopted at a General or Extraordinary meeting of the said Company and to be confirmed by the execution of a Supplemental Deed members of the said Company with such consent as thereinafter mentioned to raise and contribute amongst themselves in such places and proportions as they should think proper or by the admission of new subscribers any further or other sum of money not exceeding the sum of £500,000 sterling And reciting that it had also been represented to us that by a certain instrument of special license bearing date 22nd day of September 1852 the Lords of the Committee of Our Privy Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations did grant a license to the said Company by the name or style of “The Crystal Palace Company” to purchase take acquire and hold in the name of the said Company or the trustees or trustee thereof for the purposes of the said Company and again to sell and dispose of the land tenements and hereditments delivered in a certain plan thereunto annexed and thereinafter more particular described and every or any part or parts thereof and which said lands and hereditments with the sites of buildings erected thereon comprised an area 389 acres 3 roods and 28 poles or thereabouts and were situated in the several parishes townships hamlets or places of Battersea and Penge in Our County of Surrey and Beckenham and

Lewisham in Our County of Kent and reciting that Samuel Laing and Arthur Anderson, Charles Lushington, John Scott Russell, Francis Fuller, Thomas Newman Farquhar, Charles Geach and Edmund Sexton Pery Calvert esquires the Directors of the said Company and who had executed the said Deed had by their petition to us prayed that we should grant unto the said Company our Royal Charter of Incorporation for the better completion and carrying into effect the objects and purposes of the said Company and which we were minded to do we did by our Royal Charter give grant and ordain that the said Samuel Laing, John Scott Russell Francis Fuller and such other persons and all bodies politic or corporated had become or from time to time thereafter might become in the manner provided for by the said recited Indenture or deed of Settlement members of the said copartnership or Company and should hold shares in the capital thereof should be one body politic and corporate by the name of ‘The Crystal Palace Company’ for the purposes in the said Deed of Settlement mentioned but subject nevertheless to the conditions restrictions regulations and provisions in the said Deed and in Our said Royal Charter contained and so that the business of the said Company so then incorporated might be carried on in all respects according to the terms and provisions of the said Indenture of Settlement as far as the same were in conformity with the Laws of Our Realm and so far as the same were not inconsistent with one payment to Our said Royal Charter and by that name should sue and be sued implead and be impleaded in all courts whether of Law or Equity as well in Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as elsewhere and should have perpetual succession with a Common Seal and that we did by Our said Royal Charter direct that the Board of Directors for the time being of the said Company as constituted and provided by the said recited deed of settlement or according to the provision of any Bye Law to made in pursuance of the said Deed of Settlement or of Our said Royal

Charter vested in them and generally to do all acts which they should consider necessary for the well ordering the affairs of the said Company so as the same should be done in conformity with the provisions of Our said Royal Charter and of the said Indenture of Settlement or any such Bye Laws as aforesaid And that we did by Our said Royal Charter grant unto the said Crystal Palace Company. And that we did also will and direct that in case the sum of £500,000 sterling should be found insufficient in the opinion of a majority of the Directors of the said Company to carry into full effect the beneficial purposes aforesaid then and in such case it should be lawful for the members of the said Company for the time being with the consent in writing of the President of the Lords of the Committee of our Privy Council for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations thereinafter called the Board of Trade in pursuance of any resolution adopted at a formal or extraordinary meeting of the said Company and according to the provisions of any supplemental Deed to be executed by the Shareholders of the said Company to raise and contribute amongst themselves in such shares & proportions as they should think proper or by the admission of new subscribers any further or other sum of money not exceeding the sum of £500,000 sterling but so as not to enlarge the powers to purchase and hold more land than was warranted by Our said Royal Charter And we did further declare that it should be lawful for the said Company to purchase take acquire hold and enjoy to them and their successors such Lands Houses Offices Buildings and other hereditments of any tenure whatsoever as were comprised and particularly described in the said hereinbefore in part recited Instrument of Special Licence and delineated on the plan thereto annexed and which were situated in the several Parishes Townships Hamlets or places of Battersea Penge Beckenham and Lewisham aforesaid and to sell convey

lease and dispose of the same or any part thereof which should not be required for the purposes of the said undertaking but so nevertheless that the said Company should sell and absolutely dispose of all such of the said lands as should not be required and appropriated for the purposes of the said undertaking within 10 years from the date of our said Royal Charter and apply the money arising therefrom for the purposes of the said Company and should within 21 days after every such date certify in writing to our said Board of Trade the quantity sold and the price for which and the persons to whom the same should be sold And that by our said Royal Charter we did declare that our said Royal Charter was granted amongst other conditions on the condition following (this is to say) that no spirituous or other fermented or intoxicating liquors should be furnished to the persons visiting the said Building or Grounds of the said Company and that due provision should be made by the attendance of a sufficient number of servants and others in and about the Grounds attached to the Buildings for the observance of orderly conduct on the part of the visitors or persons resorting to the said Exhibition. And that we did further will and declare that the several rules regulations clauses and agreements contained in the said recited Deed of Settlement or to be contained in any such Bye Laws to be made as in the said Deed of Settlement is mentioned should be deemed and considered to be the existing rules and regulations of the Company save and except in so far any of them were or might be altered or varied or might be inconsistent or repugnant to Laws or Statutes of Our Realm or to Our said Royal Charter And whereas it hath been further represented to us that the said Crystal Palace Company did by there petition
presented to in Council (amongst other things) state that under the powers aforesaid the said Company purchased 350 Acres or thereabouts part of the said lands which they were authorised to purchase as aforesaid and that they proceeded

to lay out portions thereof for the purpose of re-erecting thereon the said Building with certain alterations and additions thereto and gardens terraces and parks and other work surrounding the same. That the said Company afterwards sold about 17 Acres of the said Land to the Brighton Railway Company for the purpose of forming a Branch Railway to the Said Building and that they also sold about 130 acres to Mr George Wythes of Reigate and that the Lands now held by the said Crystal Palace Company consisted of 200 acres or thereabouts that the said Building has been re-erected on the summit of Norwood Hill on the East side of the public Road leading from Norwood to Sydenham and Dulwich. That it might also become necessary for the said Company to purchase or hold other Lands for the purpose of the said undertaking. That the said Building of 1851 in Hyde Park and also Egyptian Roman Italian Pompeian Assyrian and other courts illustrative of Works of Art of European and national interest. That it was intended to open the said Buildings and Grounds to the public in the month of May 1854. That the said Crystal Palace Company intended to appropriate a portion of the said Building for the purpose of affording light refreshments to visitors frequenting the same but that they were of opinion that this provision would not sufficiently meet the requirements of Visitors who might reasonably be expected to spend the whole day in the Building and Grounds and would therefore require to be provided with dinners including Wine Spirituous and other fermented Liquors as are afforded in ordinary places of refreshment and that it was desirable that they should be enabled to meet with such accommodation without having to leave the Building or Grounds and resorting to the surrounding places of refreshment. And that the said Company did by their said petition humbly pray that we would be pleased to grant a supplemental Charter empowering the said Company to purchase or to take and hold on lease in the name of the said Company or of

Trustees or a Trustee thereof the several lands and hereditments the said petitioned mentioned for the purposes of the said undertaking with power to sell sublet assign or otherwise dispose of any part or parts thereof and also to revoke the aforesaid restriction as to the sale of Wines Spirituous or other fermented liquors so as to enable the Company to sell the same when and if they should be duly licensed so to do. Now know ye that having taken the premises into our Royal Consideration and of our especial grace certain knowledge and mere motion We by these presents for Us Our heirs and Successors do give grant and ordain that notwithstanding any thing in Our said recited Charter contained it shall be lawful for the said Crystal Palace Company to purchase (either in fee simple or for any term or number of years or other limited interest) take acquire hold and enjoy to them and to their successors or to or by means of Trustees or a Trustee in trust for the Company for the purpose of the said Undertaking such Lands or hereditments situate in Our said Counties of Surrey & Kent or either of them other than those already authorised to be acquired by the said Company under Our said recited Royal Charter as may be considered desirable to be acquired for the purposes of the said undertaking and the successful prosecution thereof but not for the purpose of speculation or for any other purpose than as aforesaid (not exceeding in the whole the extent of 20 acres) and to sell let convey lease assign and dispose of the same lands or hereditments or any part thereof which shall not be required for the purposes of the said undertaking and to lay out and appropriate such parts of the said lands as the said Company may from time to time deem expedient in the formation of roads or otherwise conducive
to the benefit and beneficial management of the said undertaking. But so nevertheless that the said Company shall within 10 years from the date of this Our Royal supplemental Charter sell and absolutely dispose of all such of the said lands

and hereditments so to be acquired as shall not be required or appropriated for the purposes of the said Undertaking and apply the money arising therefrom to the purposes of the said Company. And further we do hereby expressly direct and declare that when and as often as any purchase or lease of Messuages Lands or Hereditments shall be made or taken by the said Crystal Palace Company the Board of Directors of the said Company shall in all cases within 3 Calendar months from the making and completing any such purchase or lease report the same in writing to the President for the time being of the said Board of Trade the amount of the purchase money paid back for the same and any rent payable in respect thereof and giving a description of the Messuages Land and Hereditments so purchased or taken on Lease and such other particulars relating thereunto as may from time to time be required by the President for the time being of the said Board of Trade and in case and when any hereditments so purchased or taken on Lease shall be resold by the said Company they shall within 1 Calendar month after any such sale give notice in writing to the President for the time being of the said Board of Trade of such resale and of the price obtained for the same. And we do hereby grant unto all persons and Bodies Politic who may be otherwise competent so to do Our Especial Licence and authority to grant sell demise assign alieu and convey in mortmain unto and to the use of or in trust for the said Company and their successors accordingly any such Hereditments hereby authorised to be purchased as aforesaid. And we do hereby further declare and ordain that (notwithstanding the said Declaration to the contrary in this behalf contained in our said recited Royal Charter) it shall be lawful for the said Company or any person or persons duly authorised by the said Company from time to time and at any time hereafter during the period of 2 years from the date of this Our Royal Charter (when and if they shall be duly licensed so to do) to vend supply and furnish to the persons visiting the said Building & Grounds of the said Company any Wines or Fermented Liquors other than Spirituous Liquors to be consumed on or in the said

Building or Grounds of the said Company subject to regulations to be previously approved by Our Secretary of State for the Home Department and the permission hereby granted to vend supply and furnish Wines and Fermented Liquors is to cease at any time upon notice from Our said Secretary of State although the said two years should not have expired. And we do hereby for ourselves our heirs and successors grant and declare that this our Royal Supplemental Charter or the enrolment thereof shall be in all things valid and effectual in the Law according to the true interest and meaning of the same and shall be so recognised by all Our Courts and Judges on England or elsewhere and by all other officers and persons and Bodies Politic or Corporate whom it may concern and that the same shall be taken construed and adjudged in the most favourable and beneficial sense and for the best advantage of the said Company as well in Our several Courts of Record in Great Britain as elsewhere notwithstanding any non recital or mis recital uncertainty or imperfection in this Our Royal Supplemental Charter. In witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made Patent.

Witness & etc.

Documents transcribed in the interests of education courtesy of National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, U.K.

Copyright Crystal Palace Foundation 2013
Transcribed By Melvyn Harrison, Chairman