TRINITY HOUSE (properly called, The Corporation of the Elder Brethren of the Holy and Undivided Trinity), a corporation intrusted with the regulation and management of the light-houses and buoys of the shores and rivers of England. In 1518 a society under the above name was founded at Deptford by sir Thomas §pert, knight, and incorporated by Henry VIII. Its privileges were confirmed in 1658; and iu 1680 its first light-house was erected; all the light-houses which had previously existed on the English coast hav ing been built by private individuals under patents from the crown. By 6 and 7 Will. IV. c. 79, and the merchant shipping act, 1854 (17 and 18 Viet. c. 104), private rights in light-dues were abolished, and the exclusive right of lighting and buoying the coast com mitted to the board of Trinity house. The power of Trinity house to appoint and license pilots for the English coast is also regulated by this last-named statute. The Cinque ports pilots, who had formerly been under control of a separate society,were, by 16 and 17 '\Tict. c. 129, and the merchant shipping act, 1854, placed under the jurisdiction of Trinity house. Trinity house was in the practice of distributing certain funds arising from light and pilotage dues, and from the sale of ballast, for certain charitable purposes; but the right which the society possessed to the surplus of light-dues was done away with by the merchant shipping act, 1854. This same act gave Trinity house a general supervision over the commissioners of northern lights and the ballast board of Dublin, the corpora tions which have the charge of the light-houses and buoys of Scotland and Ireland respec tively, subject to an appeal to the board of trade, to whose general superintendence Trinity house is also subject in matters relating to England. The light-houses of the
isle of Man are, by special arrangement, under the charge of the commissioners of north ern lights.
The corporation of Trinity house consists of a master, a deputy-master, nineteen act ing elder brethren, eleven honorary elder brothers, and an unlimited number of younger brethren. The master and honorary elder brethren are chosen on the ground of eminent social position. The younger brethren all belong either to the naval service or the mer cantile marine, and are admitted by the court of elder brethren. The deputy-master and acting elder brethren are elected by the court of elder brethren from such of the younger brethren as are possessed of the qualifications of having obtained the rank of commander in the navy four years previously, or having served as master in the merchant service on foreign voyages for at least four years. The board discharges its duties by means of committees and sub-committees for special purposes, whose proceedings are, when neces sary, subject to confirmation by the general court. Two elder brethren of Trinity house assist the court of admiralty at the hearing of every suit for collision, and occasionally in suits for salvage. Their duty is to guide the court by advice only; though influential, their opinion is not legally binding on the judges. The gross income of Trinity house greatly exceeds the expenditure. The surplus income is chiefly devoted to the extinction of the debt incurred in pursuance of the act of 1846 for the purchase of private rights in light-houses.