Appendix: Endowed charities

SECTION 7 - ENDOWED CHARITIES (fn. 1)

At a Vestry held the 4th day of October 1786. (fn. 2)

Whereas an Act of Parliament passed in the last Session of Parliament having directed a Return to be made to the Honourable the House of Commons by the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor of the several Parishes throughout England upon Oath of various Receipts and Expenditures respecting the poor of the said several Parishes as in manner therein mentioned.—It is ordered by the Vestry that a copy of Requisitions and the Returns made thereto respecting the parish be deposited in the Chest in the Vestry Room.

And whereas by the same Act of Parliament it is further directed that the Minister and Churchwardens of the said Parishes should also make a return upon Oath of the Charitable Donations given by Deed or Will for the benefit of Poor Persons within their respective parishes. It is also ordered by this Vestry that a copy of the Returns made thereof by the Minister and Churchwardens of this Parish be deposited in the chest in the Vestry Room and that an account thereof be entered in the Vestry Book as follows, viz.

1666. Mr. Bilbie Sharpe by will gave and bequeathed unto the Poor of the Parish of St. Bartholomew the Great London whereof he was a Parishioner wardens and overseers of the said parish for the time being and to be by them paid and distributed unto the poor of the said parish by twenty shillings each New Year's Eve for ever.

1675. Anthony Wyatt gentleman by Will gave and bequeathed to and for the use of the Poor of the parish of Gt. St. Bartholomew for ever to buy them Bread an Annuity or yearly Rent charge of five pounds to be issuing and payable unto the churchwardens and Overseers of the said Poor for the time being out of certain Messuages and Lands in White Cross Street—Which sum of £5 is now vested in the churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor for the time being.

1709. The Revd. Mr. Anthony Burgess late Rector of this Parish left to the use of the Poor fifty pounds the interest to be distributed in the month of January Annually to the Poor in Bread—Which sum remains in the hands of the churchwardens.

1712. Captain Saml. Roycroft. Gave to the Vestry of the Parish of St. Bartholomew the Great Eleven Blank Lottery tickets at 14s. each amounting to £7 14s. per Annum for thirty one years.—In trust that on the 20th day of Jany. or ten days after yearly they give to six of the poorest and most Industrious Housekeepers having charge of children and not receiving Alms or in default of such to other Poor respect being had to those who most frequented the Service of the Church to each Poor 20s. Clerk 5s., Sexton 4s., Beadle 3s. 6d. Remainder £1 1s. 6d. to the Vestry.—Which in the year 1723 was converted into the sum of £50 Old S. S. Annuities and now stands in the name of the Rector and Churchwardens of Great St. Bartholomew.

1729. Mr. John Richardson by Will bequeathed to the Parish £100 in manner following: £50 to be put to Interest for Bread for the use of the Poor to be distributed Decr. 27th St. John's Day and likewise £50 to the Charity School for ever.—Which sum of £50 was laid out in the purchase of £50 Old South Sea Annuities stands in the name of the Rector and Churchwardens of Great St. Bartholomew.

1730. Mr. Willm. Johnson by Will bequeathed unto the Minister Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor for the use of the Poor £50 and the Interest thereof to be divided Annually on the 24th day of December yearly and forever amongst the Poor of the said Parish of St. Bartholomew the Great.—Which said sum of £50 was laid out in the purchase of £50 Old South Sea Annuities stands in the names of the Rector and Churchwardens of Gt. St. Bartholomew.

1751. Mr. Christopher Woodward gave the Interest of £50 to be distributed in Bread to the Poor on New Year's Day Annually which sum stands in the Old S. S. Annuities in the name of the Rector and Churchwardens of Gt. St. Bartholomew.

Resolved that it appears to this Vestry that the Legacy left by Mr. Bilbie Sharpe to the Poor of the Parish in the year 1666 is become lost by lapse of time and it is also Resolved and Ordered that the several other Legacies left by Mr. Anthony Wyatt, the Revd. Mr. Anthony Burgess, Captain Saml. Roycroft, Mr. John Richardson, Mr. Willm. Johnson, and Mr. Christopher Woodward be in future distributed in the manner and at the times expressed in the respective Donors Wills as above mentioned.

Ordered that in future the Vestry Clerk for the time being attend the distribution of the several Legacies above mentioned and also of any other Legacies or Donations that may hereafter be given to the Poor of this Parish and regularly make an Entry of the disposal thereof in the Vestry Book.

EXTRACTS FROM ENDOWED CHARITIES (COUNTY OF LONDON)

RETURN to an Order of the Honourable The House of Commons, dated 2nd August 1894;—for,

RETURN 'comprising THE REPORTS made to the Charity Commissioners, in the result of an Inquiry held in every Parish wholly or partly within the Administrative County of London into Endowments, subject to the provisions of the Charitable Trusts Acts, 1853 to 1891, and appropriated in whole or in part for the benefit of that County, or of any part thereof, together with the Reports on those Endowments of the Commissioners for inquiring concerning Charities, 1818 to 1837'.

PARISH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE GREAT

I. The Inquiry into this Parish was held on the 5th February 1902. (fn. 3)

II. The following is the Report on two Educational Charities of this Parish, dated the 2nd March 1819, of the Commissioners appointed in pursuance of the Act 58 Geo. III, c. 91, to inquire concerning Charities in England for the Education of the Poor (vol. i, p. 169).

This Report is hereinafter referred to as the Report of 1819.

School of St. Bartholomew the Great.

The estates of this charity consist of a cottage, farm, and land, in the parish of Navestock and Weald, in the county of Essex, devised by the will of John Whiting, dated the 12th of October 1702, for teaching twenty poor children of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, to read. (fn. 4) The estate contains about 35 acres, and is copyhold, with the exception of two or three acres; it is let to Samuel Withan, as yearly tenant, at the rent of £63, the full annual value: the rent was raised from £30 about three years ago.

The funds appropriated to the charity are £635 5s. 10d. 3 per cent. consols, £100 3 per cents., £950 old South Sea annuities, and £175 16s. 6d. like annuities, producing annual dividends amounting to £55 16s. 7d. The stocks arose from legacies, donations, and savings of income, and stand in the names of different trustees; as stated in the Appendix. (fn. 5)

The annual produce of the estate and funds is £118 16s. 7d. in addition to which, about £30 a year is received from subscriptions, and from £4 to £6 a year from Betton's gift, distributed by the Ironmongers Company.

The income is applied in educating 30 boys and 20 girls, and in clothing 20 of the boys and 16 of the girls. The children are instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the girls in needlework and knitting, in addition. Some children have been occasionally apprenticed.

The annual expenditure is £30 the master's salary, and £4 4s. for teaching psalmody; £15 to the schoolmistress, and an allowance of coals and candles; clothing, on an average, £65; £20 the average expense of books, coals, candles, and incidental expenses.

The Protestant Dissenters Charity School in Bartholomew Close. (fn. 6)

This school was founded by voluntary subscription, in October 1717, for the education of the children of Protestant Dissenters of all denominations, and is maintained by interest of stock, annual subscriptions and donations, and occasional collections at sermons.

The stock, which arose from legacies and benefactions given to the charity at various times, consists of £1,917 7s. 5d. in the navy 5 per cents., producing a dividend of £95 17s. 4d. or thereabouts.

This annual income is applied towards defraying the expense of educating 80 boys and 40 girls; 60 of the boys and all the girls being annually fully clothed, so as to require nothing from their parents. The 20 boys who are not clothed at first, succeed in their turns to the benefit of clothing. The numbers in the school are generally full, that of the boys always. The boys are taught reading, writing, and arithmetic, and the girls plain work in addition; they are all taught the Assembly's catechism. The former are allowed an apprentice fee of 50s., and the latter have £2 on going to service, if their conduct has been good, and their situations are approved; they are each admitted into the school at 9, and continue till 13 or 14 years of age. The average expense of the establishment is about £500 a year, and that of each child is about £5 per annum.

The school is managed by a committee consisting of thirty-six gentlemen, and fourteen ladies, selected annually from the general body of the subscribers, and there is an annual audit of the accounts. Each child is appointed by a subscriber, whose recommendation is attested by a Dissenting minister, having knowledge of the parents.

The following is the Report on other Charities of this Parish, dated the 28th June 1823, of the Commissioners appointed in pursuance of the Acts 58 Geo. III, c. 91, and 59 Geo. III, c. 81, to inquire concerning Charities in England and Wales (vol. x, p. 265).

This Report is hereinafter referred to as the Report of 1823.

PARISH OF ST. BARTHOLOMEW THE GREAT

Deane's Charity. (fn. 7)

JOHN DEANE, by will, dated 6th April 1563, devised to Bryan Storke and Alice his wife, 'All that his tenement, called the Half-moon, together with the parlour, chambers and shop thereunto adjoining, which late were in three little tenements, situate and being in the parish of St. Botolph, that is to say, on the north side of the Half-moon'; to hold the same to the said Bryan and Alice, and the heirs of their two bodies, upon condition (among other things) that of the rents and profits of the said tenements, they should yearly distribute 10s. in coal, wood, or money, amongst the poor householders of the parish of Great St. Bartholomew for ever, on Christmas-eve, with the advice and consent of the churchwardens of the said parish for the time being, with a proviso, that in case the said Bryan and Alice, or their heirs, should make default in the said payment, that the estate of such person should cease, and the right heirs of the testator should possess the premises, upon the condition above specified.

There is a large old house, in Aldersgate-street, part occupied by a stationer and part used as a coffee shop, which was formerly the Half-moon tavern, and is understood to be the house mentioned in John Deane's will. Nothing, however, is now paid from this house on account of the rent-charge given by John Deane, nor can we find any trace of its having ever been paid.

Lady Say and Seale's Charity. (fn. 8)

Elizabeth Lady Say and Seale, by will, proved the 10th May 1632, gave to the parish of Saint Bartholomew three houses and tenements, which she had built in the Cloth-fair, and placed three widow women in them. She likewise gave, for the maintenance of the three widows, who she desired should always dwell in them and remain unmarried, a house and tenement, being 'the corner house as you go by the church', then let for £7; and her meaning was, that if the benefit of these four houses should at any time thereafter not be applied to the uses aforesaid, then the same should return to the right heirs of Oliver Lord St. John, Earl of Bolingbroke.

The parish have been at considerable expense in respect of the buildings belonging to this charity, Lady Say and Seale having left no funds for the repair of them.

The three almshouses in Cloth-fair were twice rebuilt, at the expense of the parish, previously to the year 1763. In that year, one of the three fell down, and has never since been rebuilt, but the ground on which it stood was enclosed, as an additional burying ground for the parish paupers, and has since been used for that purpose. The remaining two houses have since fallen into so much decay, that it was found necessary, in the last year, 1823, to take them down, and they have been rebuilt, in a substantial manner, at an expense of considerably more than £100. These houses have always been inhabited by poor widows, or unmarried persons, of whom, prior to 1763, there were three, and, since that time, two, elected by vestry.

The fourth house, being that near the church given for the maintenance of the poor widows, was also taken down, and two houses were built on the site thereof, by the parish, at a very early period.

It does not appear that these premises were made a source of revenue for the maintenance of the almspeople. We find a minute of vestry, of the 25th June 1686, ordering, that one Chitwell should have a lease of the church almshouses (by which appellation these were distinguished from the other three), for twenty-one years, at £10 per annum; but if this lease were ever executed, it must afterwards have been given up, for it appears, that in 1703 the houses were used as a place of residence for several poor persons placed therein, as it is supposed, by the parish. It is probable that this continued to be the purpose to which they were applied, as no trace is found in the parish books of any rent being received for them prior to the year 1776. In that year these houses were in so deplorable a state, that it was again necessary to pull them down, and the ground was let on a building lease, to John Pullen of Fleet-market, for sixty-one years from Christmas 1775, at a ground rent of £2 10s. per annum. He has built a dwellinghouse upon the ground, which is rated in the parish books at £14 per annum.

The almspeople have invariably received out of the parish stock £2 each per annum, by monthly payments of 3s. 4d. without any reference to the produce of the house given for their support by Lady Say and Seale.

Thorpe's Charity.

William Thorpe, by will, dated 19th August 1667, gave to the poor of this parish, £20 to be paid to the churchwardens, and by them distributed, by 20s. every New Year's Eve, for ever.

It appears, from the vestry books, that this legacy was received by Smith and Birkhead, churchwardens, in 1668; and by an order of vestry of the 21st October 1669, Birkhead was directed to pay this £20 to William Crossfield, for the lease of a house, which he was to assign to the use of the poor on receipt of the money.

Nothing further is known of this charity. It does not appear for what term the lease directed to be purchased had been granted, nor whether the assignment was made, neither is there any trace of the rent of the house being received, or of the payment of the 20s. a year to the poor.

Wyatt's Charity.

Anthony Wyatt, by will, dated 7th November 1675, gave and devised, to and for the use of the poor of the parish of Great St. Bartholomew, in London, for ever, to buy them bread, one annuity or yearly rent-charge of £5 to be issuing and payable to the churchwardens and overseers of the said poor, for the time being, out of all and singular his freehold messuages and lands, lying within the manor or lordship of Finsbury without Cripplegate, in the county of Middlesex, to be paid at the four usual quarter days, with a power of distress to the churchwardens and overseers for the time being, if the same should be unpaid for the space of twenty-one days.

This rent-charge is regularly paid by the proprietor of certain premises in Whitecross-street and Cooper's-alley, which were formerly the Mermaid brewhouse, and now consist of three old wooden tenements, and a variety of old sheds, and part of a dwelling house, variously occupied by the undertenants of Mr. — Blythe, who himself holds the whole under a lease which will expire in 1836.

It appears, from an entry in the vestry book, of the 2nd October 1822, that a committee of vestry had viewed the estate charged with this payment, and reported, that they thought it possible, that at the expiration of the lease to Mr. Blythe the premises would be pulled down, and they recommended that the vestry should keep in mind the necessity of preserving the exact boundary lines of the estate, in case the present erections should be taken down.

Previously to the year 1737, this rent-charge had been unpaid for many years. In that year, the payment having been claimed by the parish, after much litigation, an agreement was entered into between the then churchwardens and overseers and Mr. Thomas Sayers, to whom Mr. Wyatt's property had passed, in which the premises charged are accurately described, and a plan of them is delineated in the margin; and Sayers covenanted, for himself and his heirs, to pay the said rent-charge out of the premises, as described.

The donor has not prescribed any particular mode of distributing the bread. It seems always to have been given away on Sundays; and for above 20 years past, the distribution has been of 12 twopenny loaves, immediately after the morning service, to 12 poor parishioners, at the church. The persons are selected by the churchwardens for the time being, and generally receive the bread for life.

Doncaster's Charity.

Various entries are found in the Vestry Minute Book respecting the gift of an estate to the poor of this parish by Mr. John Doncaster, who had formerly been a vestryman, as to which a suit in chancery was pending in the latter end of the seventeenth century, by the name of— Corbett and Thomas Midwinter, churchwardens of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, against Hugh Bantock, in which a decree was obtained in favour of the parish.

Upon searching the report office of the court of Chancery this decree is found entered as of Easter term 1685, and dated the 11th May, from which it appears that in 1664 Mr. Doncaster bought of a Mr. Bolton a messuage called the Falcon, and seven acres of land at Widlesford, in Cambridgeshire, and had it conveyed to Bantock, to such uses as he, Doncaster, should appoint; and that he, in his life-time, gave it to the poor of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great. The object of the suit was, to compel Bantock to execute a conveyance of the property, for the benefit of the poor of the said parish, according to the donor's intention; and upon the hearing, it was ordered, that Bantock should so convey it to Corbett and Midwinter, and others named in the decree, being vestrymen of the said parish.

It does not, however, appear that any such conveyance was made. The parish is not in possession of the estate; there is no mention whatever of it in the parish books subsequent to the decree, nor could we learn anything further respecting it.

Free School: Whiting's Charity.

An account of the free school in this parish was given in our (the C. C.'s) First Report, p. 169; to which we would now add the following particulars:

By the will of John Whiting, dated the 12th October 1702, he gave an estate at Navestock and Weald, in Essex, to the minister, churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, to the intent they should pay out of the same, for the teaching 20 poor children, born in the said parish, to read, till they could read the English Bible, and be instructed in the Catechism; and the surplus, if any, he gave to the use of the poor of the said parish, for bread.

The land is copyhold, and the rector for the time being appears to have been always admitted tenant to the lord on behalf of the parish.

The rent of this estate is applied, as we have before seen, in aid of a parochial school, which is principally maintained from other sources. The management of Whiting's fund is not exclusively exercised by the minister, churchwardens and overseers; but the general business of the school, and the whole of its funds, are managed at monthly meetings of the trustees, to which the churchwardens and overseers are summoned.

About two years ago, Samuel Withan, the tenant of the land at Navestock, who at the time of our former examination held it at a rent of £63, became insolvent. There was then two years' rent in arrear, and no stock on the premises from which it could be obtained by distress. The rector, and the treasurer of the school, Mr. Burgh, went down to inspect the premises, and consulted a farmer and land-surveyor, resident in the neighbourhood, as to the value of them, which he estimated, in the then state of agricultural property, at £30 a year, being the same rent at which they had been let previously to Withan's occupancy. Prior to this, the land had been offered to the owner of the adjoining property, who had refused to take it even at the old rent of £30. Under these circumstances, it was agreed between the rector and the treasurer, that the latter should place his son in the farm, as tenant from year to year, at the rent of £35 per annum. Mr. Burgh's son was accordingly let into possession; and from the sums which he paid to the former tenant for the crops and fallows, the arrears of rent have been obtained.

The churchwardens and overseers were not previously consulted as to the expediency of this agreement. The rector stated to us, that the bargain concluded between him and Mr. Burgh was considered by them as complete, but that he was to mention it at the next school meeting, and that he did mention it, if not at the next, certainly within the three next meetings; but that no notice was given in the summons to either of these meetings, that this agreement was to be taken into consideration.

Under the circumstances of the case, the agreement appears to us to have been beneficial to the charity; and Mr. Burgh expresses his willingness that his son should quit the farm at any time, if better terms can be obtained. Although, therefore, there seems no cause of blame in this transaction, we think that it would be right that more consultation should be had with the persons entitled under Whiting's will to participate in the administration of his charity, both as to the management of the property and the conduct of the school; and we have reason to hope that this will in future be more attended to.

Indeed, till within these few years, the terms of Whiting's endowment appear to have been very little known in the parish. After the present rector came to the living, he drew up a statement respecting the charity, of which 250 copies were printed and circulated, by which its constitution has been made more generally known.

There are not, at present, in the school 20 children who were born in the parish, as directed by the founder; but all natives who apply are admitted, and are clothed in preference to others.

No bread appears to have been at any time distributed on account of Whiting's charity.

Burgess's Charity. (fn. 9)

The Rev. Anthony Burgess, formerly the rector of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, who died in 1709, gave, by his will, £50 to the use of the poor of the said parish.

The legacy was received, and lent to Henry Woolmer, then churchwarden, at the interest of £3 per annum. In the years 1714 and 1715, Woolmer settled his account with William Raine, the churchwarden of that year, and in that account debited himself with this £50. On the balance of the account, he was debtor to the parish £14 5s. 10d. which he paid over to Raine. Nothing further appears of this sum of £50 which sunk in the parish stock.

The interest appears to have been pretty regularly distributed to the poor, first at the rate of £3; in 1729, it was reduced to £2 10s.; and in 1737, to 40s. From 1745 to 1785, the distribution appears to have discontinued. In the latter year, there is an order of vestry, that interest for this legacy should be paid at the rate of 30s. by the churchwardens, for ever, which has been regularly done ever since.

It is given away in bread, in the month of January, in quartern and halfquartern loaves, amongst the poor of the parish, by the churchwardens and overseers in vestry. The names of the persons receiving it are taken down by the vestry clerk, in order to ascertain that they are properly entitled to it, and to show that the distribution has regularly taken place. We do not see any reason why the interest paid by the parish should be at so low a rate.

Roycroft's Charity. (fn. 10)

From a minute of vestry of the 2nd December 1712, it appears that Captain Samuel Roycroft gave to the vestry of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, 11 blank lottery tickets, at 14s. each ticket, amounting to £7 14s. per annum, for 31 years, in trust, that they should hold a vestry upon the 20th day of January, or within ten days after, yearly, during the said 31 years, and that they should then make choice of six of the poorest and most industrious housekeepers of the said parish, having charge of children, and not receiving alms of the parish, if such there should be, or in default of such housekeepers, of such other poor inhabitants as to them should seem most in want, regard being chiefly had to those that most frequent the service of the church, and that they should then give to each of them the sum of 20s.; and likewise should then give to the clerk of the said parish 5s., and to the sexton 4s., and to the beadle 3s. 6d., and the remaining £1 1s. 6d. to be spent by the vestry as they should think fit.

The tickets are then described as follows:

The £7 4s. was distributed according to the donor's directions till January 1724/5, when it appears that, in pursuance of a previous order of vestry, the remaining tickets were subscribed into the South Sea annuities, and produced £59 19s. 11d. to which was added by purchase one penny, to make the sum of stock £60.

From this time the payments were gradually reduced, and in January 1731/2 the poor people received 7s. each, and the parish officers 2s. each. From the entry on that day, it appears that £3 per cent. on the annuities having been paid off by order of government, the parish had sold £6 8s. more, in order to reduce the stock to the even sum of £50, and the produce of the transaction, being £11 2s. 5d. was distributed that day to 21 persons, of whom six received £1 each, and the rest various sums from 10s. to 4s.

Two years after this, we found the payments made were 2s. 6d. each to 14 persons, including the vestry clerk, sexton and beadle, and 5s. to the parish clerk, making altogether 40s. the interest at that time of £50 South Sea annuities. This annual distribution continued till 1747/8, from which time, till 1786, there is no entry in the books of any further payments; and it appears that during that interval this and several other of the charities in this parish were totally suspended, except in the year 1781, when some of them are mentioned.

Upon the return, required by Parliament in 1786, of the charities of this parish, it was resolved by the vestry, that this and the other charities there mentioned, should be in future distributed in the manner and at the time expressed by the different donors; and further, that the vestry clerk should in future attend the distribution of the several charities therein mentioned, and of any others that might hereafter be given to the parish, and should make an entry of the disposition thereof in the vestry book.

By minute of vestry of the 27th March 1788, confirming the above resolution, it was further resolved, that the dividend of 30s. being the now produce of Captain Roycroft's legacy, should be distributed as nearly as possible according to the donor's will, in the following proportions, viz., four-fifths, or 24s. to the six poor, equally; and the remaining one-fifth, or 6s. as follows—3s. to the clerk, 2s. to the sexton, and 1s. to the beadle.

This mode of distribution has been correctly observed from that time.

Poor persons are selected to receive the bounty, answering the description in Captain Roycroft's will, and vary from year to year, according to the discretion of the churchwardens.

Richardson's Charity.

John Richardson, by will, in the year 1729, gave to the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great £50 to be put out at interest, and the interest to be distributed in bread to the poor of the said parish, upon St. John's Day, the 27th of December, yearly.

It appears from the vestry book, that on the receipt of this legacy, it was ordered, that it should be placed to the general account of the parish, as a perpetual security for the same, and that the churchwardens should advance the interest thereof yearly.

The interest paid by the parish was £2 till 1752, when it was reduced to 35s. and in 1761 it was further reduced to 30s. In the year 1763, the legacy was, by order of vestry, invested in the purchase of £50 old South Sea annuities.

The annual produce, 30s., is regularly distributed in bread on St. John's Day, in the same manner as Burgess's.

Johnson's Charity.

In the vestry book, under date 3rd March 1730, is an entry, purporting to be a copy of part of Mr. William Johnson's will, whereby he gave to the minister, churchwardens and overseers of the poor of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, and their successors, for the use of the poor, the sum of £50 which he directed should be put out at interest in their names, and that the interest thereof should be annually distributed, on the 24th December, amongst the poor of the said parish.

This legacy of £50 with an addition of £1 1s. 6d. advanced from the parish stock, and which was afterwards repaid, was laid out in the purchase of £50 South Sea annuities, in the name of the rector and churchwardens of the said parish.

The interest of this stock, being now 30s. a year, has been, occasionally, given to the poor in bread; but, from the year 1786, it has been uniformly paid in money, on the 24th of December, to 12 poor housekeepers of the parish, whose names are entered in the vestry book.

Woodward's Charity.

Christopher Woodward, by will, dated the 12th March 1750, gave to the churchwardens of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, the sum of £50 to be by them placed at interest, and the interest to be disposed of in bread, as the churchwardens should think fit, among the poor housekeepers of the said parish, on New Year's Day yearly.

This legacy is invested in £50 old South Sea annuities, the interest of which is applied in the distribution of quartern and half-quartern loaves to poor housekeepers of the parish.

Elston's Charity.

William Elston, formerly a vestryman of this parish, by will, dated 25th February 1817, and proved 31st July 1821, gave to the rector and churchwardens of the parish of St. Bartholomew, £200 navy 5 per cents., to be transferred to them; and directed, that the interest arising therefrom should be annually given, in the month of February, in bread, to such poor residing in the said parish as they should approve.

This stock was transferred, 16 November 1821, into the names of the Reverend John Abbiss, rector, and William Brough and Benjamin Clarke, churchwardens.

By order of vestry, of the 21st December 1821, the interest of this stock is distributed, in equal portions, on the 12th and 30th January, in quartern and half-quartern loaves, to poor persons residing within the parish, selected by the churchwardens.

Mrs. Bridges's Charity.

Jane Bridges, spinster, by will, dated 10th May 1821, gave the sum of £50 for the benefit of the poor of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, to be at the disposal of the rector, the Reverend Mr. Abbiss.

This legacy has been invested by Mr. Abbiss in the purchase of £56 17s. 4d. 3 per cent. consols, in the names of himself, the Rev. Daniel Williams, lecturer, James Burgh, junior, and Benjamin Clarke.

Only one dividend has been yet received, which has been added to other money, raised by subscription, and distributed, in coals, to the poor. It is intended to apply this, in future, to a distribution of coals.

An account of the origin of the Charities which were not described in the Reports of 1819 and 1823, but were mentioned in Statement VI (11) and were included in the Central Scheme, is as follows:

Parish Estates.

It appears from information furnished to the Charity Commissioners in 1885–7 that the parish was in 1820 in possession of a house in Bartholomew Close, which was described in a lease made in 1820 as a 'Parish House'.

The rent was for many years prior to 1851 applied towards payment of the expenses of a lecturer at the church.

In 1856 the rent appears to have been brought into the churchwardens' general account.

The property, which at the date of the passing of the City of London Parochial Charities Act was known as No. 86 Bartholomew Close, was scheduled in Statement VI (11) as applicable, one-third for the ecclesiastical uses, and twothirds for the general uses of the parish.

John Elliot's Gift.

It appears from Mr. Hare's Report, that John Elliot, by his will dated in 1831, bequeathed £30 for the poor of the parish, which sum was invested in £36 9s. 4d. Consols. At the date of the Statement this sum of stock formed part of £501 9s. 2d. Consols, which included the endowments of the Charities of Captain Roycroft, Richardson, Johnson, Woodward, Elston, and Mrs. — Bridges (see pages 4, 5, and 6).

The following Charity was mentioned in the Report of 1819, and included in the Statement, but was not dealt with under any Scheme established under the City of London Parochial Charities Act, 1883:

The Parochial Schools, otherwise the Parish Schools or 'Free Schools'.

With the exception of the undermentioned legacy, the stocks, so far as has been ascertained, represented the investment of legacies and donations given without any trust to maintain the capital intact.

Ann Weldale, by her will dated the 1st April 1770, and proved, with a codicil dated the 1st April 1773, on the 27th April 1773, gave to the treasurer and trustees for the time being of the Charity School of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, £300 South Sea annuities, and directed her executors to transfer the same into the names of the trustees of the said Charity for the time being, for the benefit of the Charity children, both male and female, which should be bred up in and receive the benefit of the Charity School, in manner following (that is to say), in trust to apply half part of the annual produce of the said £300 Stock for the benefit of the Charity boys which should be bred up at the said Charity School from time to time according to the institution of the said Charity, and as to the other moiety of the annual produce for the benefit of the Charity girls which should be bred up as aforesaid.

By the above-mentioned codicil the testatrix gave a further sum of £100 South Sea annuities for the benefit of the said Charity children upon trust to apply the produce as mentioned in her will concerning the said £300 like stock.

The new schools were erected on the site described in the deed next abstracted.

By a deed poll dated the 23rd July 1888, the Rev. Frederick Parr Phillips and Thomas William Boord, under the authority of the School Sites Acts and in consideration of £1,100, granted and conveyed to the rector and churchwardens of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great a piece of ground situate in the said parish containing 257 square yards and 2 square feet or thereabouts, bounded on the north by vacant land on the south side of the sometime Lady Chapel of the said church recently known as numbers 41 and 42 Bartholomew Close, and also by a cottage fronting on Red Lion Passage, on the east by Red Lion Passage, on the south by Bartholomew Close aforesaid, and on the west by a passage leading from Bartholomew Close aforesaid to the site of the said Lady Chapel, which said premises were delineated in the map drawn in the margin and thereon coloured pink, to hold the same unto and to the use of the said rector and churchwardens and their successors for the purposes of the said Acts, and upon trust, subject nevertheless to the proviso thereinafter contained, to permit the said premises and all buildings thereon erected or to be erected to be for ever thereafter appropriated and used as and for a school for the education of children and adults or children only of the labouring, manufacturing and other poorer classes in the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, and as a residence for the teacher or teachers of the said school and for no other purpose, and it was declared that such school should always be in union with and conducted according to the principles of the National Society, provided that the said rector and churchwardens might at any time thereafter, with the consent and at the request of the National Society, grant or convey, for educational purposes but not otherwise, to any body corporate or bodies corporate or person authorized by law to accept the same, the whole of the estate or interest thereby vested in them or any smaller interest in the said school, in such manner and upon such terms as the said society should direct, and it was provided that the school should be under the management of a committee to be appointed as therein mentioned from persons being members of the Established Church, and that the religious instruction to be given in the said schools and the entire control and management of any Sunday school held in the school premises should be vested in the rector for the time being, or in his absence in the officiating minister.

Substantial buildings have been erected on the site, comprising a large basement, which is used for a boys' club, &c., and two floors above the basement which are used for school purposes.

The cost of the site and the erection of buildings thereon, and the expenses of providing fittings amounting in all to about £5,000, were supplied from voluntary contributions, which were mainly collected by the present rector, Sir Borradaile Savory, Baronet.

The new schools are used for boys, girls, and infants.

The rector was admitted tenant to the copyhold lands shortly after he was inducted to the living, but the documents relating to his admission are not forthcoming. The school managers have insured the rector's life for £100 to cover the expenses of the fines payable on the admission, on his death, of a new tenant.

Quit-rents of 4s. and 14s. per annum are payable to the lord of the manor of South Weald and the lord of the manor of Navestock respectively.

The £839 6s. 7d. India Stock was purchased in 1894 with the proceeds of sale of £830 19s. 9d. New Consols, the last-mentioned sum representing the balance of £1,100 like stock (see above) which remained after the sale of £269 0s. 3d. in 1889 to pay off a debt due to the then treasurer (for fines on the death of the tenant).

The schools are conducted as Church of England Public Elementary Schools, and are supported by Government grants, by the rents from the farm, and from the buildings formerly used for school purposes, by the dividends on stock, by voluntary contributions, and by the proceeds of concerts, &c. The average attendance for the year ending the 30th November 1901 was—boys, 62; girls, 45; infants, 39.

There was on the 30th November 1901 a sum of £182 18s. 6d. due to the treasurer.

The Charities described under the two headings next mentioned have been founded since the passing of the City of London Parochial Charities Act, 1883.

The Butterworth Charity. (fn. 11)

By a declaration of trust dated the 31st October 1887, and enrolled in the books of the Charity Commissioners (vol. iii, p. 194), Joshua Whitehead Butterworth, being desirous of transferring, under the authority of the Charity Commissioners, into the name of the 'Official Trustees of Charitable Funds', the sum of £22 10s. 0d. Consols, in order that the dividends thereof might be applied to the charitable purposes, and through the local trustees thereinafter declared and appointed, declared that the said sum of stock was proposed to be transferred, upon trust that the dividends to arise there from might for ever thereafter be paid or remitted by the said Official Trustees unto the rector and churchwardens for the time being of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, in the city of London, and their successors, as the local trustees of the Charity intended to be thereby created, or unto any or either of the said trustees whose receipt should be a sufficient discharge for the same, but for their joint account and disposal, upon trust to be applied by the said trustees to the following purposes (that is to say) upon trust on Good Friday in each year to distribute in the churchyard of St. Bartholomew the Great the sum of 6d. to 21 poor widows, and to expend the remainder of such dividends in buns to be given to children attending such distribution, and he desired that the Charity intended to be thereby created should be called 'the Butterworth Charity'.

Mr. Butterworth, F.S.A., was a member of the firm of law publishers, and founded the Charity with the object of perpetuating a custom which had prevailed in the parish for very many years.

A sum of £22 10s. 0d. Consols was transferred to the Official Trustees on the 14th November 1887, and a like sum of New Consols now stands in their names to the credit of the Charity.

The dividends, 12s. 4d. per annum, are remitted annually to the Rev. Sir Borradaile Savory, Bart.

The whole amount received is annually distributed with other sums arising from voluntary contributions.

Twenty-one poor widows attend every year on Good Friday at the churchyard of St. Bartholomew the Great. The amount available for distribution is divided into 21 equal shares and is placed on a flat tombstone in the churchyard, from which it is picked up by the widows. The sum received by each varies from year to year, and is usually from 2s. 6d. to 4s.

One of the churchwardens or a sidesman is always present at the distribution.

The widows, who are either resident in or former inhabitants of the parish, are chosen by the churchwardens on the nomination of the mission woman.

No distribution of buns to children is made at the present time, but each of the widows receives one or more buns.

Charlotte Hart's Gifts. (fn. 12)

Charlotte Hart, who had for more than 30 years been sextoness of the parish, by her will dated the 25th July 1889 and proved in the Principal Registry on the 20th May 1891, gave to the rector and churchwardens for the time being of the Old Priory Church of St. Bartholomew the Great, West Smithfield, £100, to be expended by them in the purchase and distribution of coals for the poor people of the parish at such times and in such manner as they might think fit, and she gave to the said rector and churchwardens a further sum of £100, the interest or dividends thereof to be expended by them towards keeping in proper order the tablets of her grandfather and grandmother in the south aisle of the church, and also the gravestones of her mother, sister, and brother, and also of Benwell and Johnson and Mary Horne Holland, or such of them as the rector and churchwardens for the time being might think fit.

Coal Gift.—The legacy of £100 was invested, and the endowment now consists of £90 New Consols standing in the names of the Rev. Sir Borradaile Savory, Bart., Benjamin Turner, and Edward Alfred Webb (B. Account). The annual dividends, £2 9s. 4d., are remitted to the rector, who hands them to the churchwardens. The dividends are applied in purchasing coal, which is distributed to the holders of tickets, each ticket entitling the recipient to one cwt. The beneficiaries are selected by the churchwardens, district visitors, and mission woman. Accounts of the receipts and expenditure are published in the rector's annual address and statement of accounts, and are also recorded in a parish ledger.

Monument Repair Fund.—The £100 bequeathed by Miss Hart was invested in £90 New Consols, which sum now stands in the same names as the coal gift, to the credit of A. Account. Some repairs were done to the tablet a few years ago, but a small portion only of the income has been expended up to the present time, and there was on the 31st December 1901 a balance of £18 1s. 6d. The tablet mentioned by the testatrix, which has been removed to the north transept of the church, is in a good state of preservation, but some expenditure on re-lettering may shortly be necessary.

The parish of St. Bartholomew the Great shares in the benefits of the following fund:

The City Church Fund.

An account of the City Church Fund, which is administered under the Central Scheme made under the City of London Parochial Charities Act, 1883, and approved by Her late Majesty in Council on the 23rd February 1891, will be (is) given in the Report on the City Parochial Foundation.

By clause 49 of the Central Scheme the following among other annual payments which were specified in Schedule VII to the Scheme were directed to be made, and it was provided that if within two years from the date thereof, it should be made to appear to the satisfaction of the Charity Commissioners, that the sums set forth in the said schedule with respect to any of the churches therein named were not sufficient for the maintenance of the fabric, monuments and ornaments thereof, or for the conduct of divine service therein, they might by Order increase the amount thereof, subject as in the said clause provided.

To the minister and churchwardens of the parish of St. Bartholomew the Great:

(1) A sum of £55 for the maintenance and occasional cleaning and repairs of the fabric of the church. One-third at least of such sum to be (so far as practicable) accumulated for the purpose of extraordinary repairs.

(2) A sum of £11 for the ordinary cleaning and repairs of the church and the ornaments thereof, and for the maintenance of public worship.

By an Order of the Charity Commissioners dated the 29th September 1893, it was recited that within two years from the date of the Central Scheme it had been made to appear to the Commissioners that the aforesaid annual sum of £55 was not sufficient for the purpose for which it was intended, and that the church of St. Bartholomew the Great was of historical or architectural interest, and was not possessed of sufficient funds for the maintenance of its fabric and ornaments. And it was ordered that the said annual sum of £55 should be increased to an annual sum of £120 as from the 23rd February 1894, one-third of the said annual sum of £120 to be paid to the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds to be by them invested at compound interest in New Consols, to the credit of an account to be entitled 'Investment Account (Extraordinary Repairs)'.

Annual sums of £40 were from time to time invested in New Consols in the name of the Official Trustees, and the amount to the credit of the Investment Account was on the 30th January 1901, £288 14s. 4d.

Under the authority of an Order of the Charity Commissioners dated the 29th January 1901 a sum of £46 13s. New Consols was on the 31st January 1901 sold to produce £45, which was remitted to the churchwardens for the purpose of extraordinary repairs, and was so applied.

The amount to the credit of the Investment Account is now £291 10s. 11d.

The above-mentioned sums of £120 and £11 are remitted annually to the churchwardens by Mr. H. H. Batten, clerk to the trustees of the City Parochial Foundation.

The accounts of the two funds are kept by the churchwardens.

The balance to the credit of the fabric fund was at Easter 1901, 9s. 8d. The whole of the £11 available for maintenance of the services is annually expended.

The Charity Commissioners, by letter dated the 30th November 1896, authorized 25 per cent. of the verger's salary being paid out of the fabric fund, and this fund is annually debited with £20 for that purpose.

The Parliamentary Returns for 1786 mention, under the head of St. Bartholomew the Great, a Charity founded in 1666 by Bilbie Sharpe, who, by will, bequeathed £20 in money for the poor.

It is stated in the Returns for 1786 that the annual income was £1, but nothing more is known of the Charity, and it must be regarded as having ceased to exist.

WALTER A. WIGRAM,
Assistant Commissioner.

12th February 1902.