3-101-174 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Charterhouse - Great Hall, exterior, c1880. The London Charterhouse is a historic complex of buildings in Clerkenwell, London, dating from the 14th century. It was originally built as a Carthusian priory, founded in 1371. Following the priory's dissolution in 1537, it became one of the great courtyard houses of Tudor London. In 1611, the property was bought by Thomas Sutton, a businessman and "the wealthiest commoner in England", who established a school for the young and an almshouse for the old. Sutton's intention was to found a hospital for poor men and a free school for poor children and scholars but as described by Alfred Marks, the "pious founder's" directions were later disregarded and the cost of educating a boy at Charterhouse far exceeded most incomes. The school later moved to Surrey and in 1872, the school of the Merchant Taylor's Company took over the buildings. Alfred Marks: 'The word "Charterhouse" is a corruption of "Chartreuse…'".