Wellington: Charities for the poor

CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.

Andrew Charlton of Apley, by will proved 1617, left £20 stock to provide clothing in Wellington, Wombridge, and Preston upon the Weald Moors parishes (fn. 1) but it was lost by 1787. (fn. 2)

Richard Steventon (d. 1659) (fn. 3) left a rent charge of £10 which in 1830 and 1861 was being distributed in clothing. (fn. 4) It was redeemed in 1868 and by 1884 the income was given to the Wellington Clothing Club. (fn. 5) In 1962 the income was £8 6s. 8d. (fn. 6) Walter Marigold (by will dated 1666) and William Phillipps left a rent charge of £1, which was distributed in cash in 1830 (fn. 7) and bread in 1861 and 1889, (fn. 8) and was last received in 1937. (fn. 9) Roger Pavier (or Pavior), by will dated 1745, (fn. 10) left a rent charge of £4; in 1830 it was distributed in cash to aged poor (fn. 11) and in 1861 and 1889 in bread. (fn. 12) In 1772 there were unendowed almshouses in the churchyard, said to have been founded by one Steventon, (fn. 13) which were allotted to paupers by the parish. They were demolished when the new church was built, and the parish put up new ones on the churchyard's northern edge; they were administered in the same way in 1830. (fn. 14) Standing in 1854 (fn. 15) they had been demolished by 1882 (fn. 16) and a charity was endowed from sale of the materials. (fn. 17) The income was 13s. 4d. in 1962. (fn. 18) The four preceding charities were jointly administered by 1897, when their beneficial area was redefined as that of the then Wellington urban district and the then Wellington Rural civil parish. (fn. 19) They were afterwards known as the Wellington NonEcclesiastical Charities. (fn. 20) In 1964 the three surviving benefactions were united as the Charity of Richard Stevinton and Others, (fn. 21) whose income in 1975 was £15 (fn. 22) distributed in cash. (fn. 23)

A rent charge of 10s. left before 1787 by one Leeke was lost by 1830. (fn. 24)

In 1830 four or five cottages opposite the pound in Back Lane were said to have been built a century earlier as almshouses at the cost of one Icke. They were unendowed and by 1830 were occupied as private dwellings. (fn. 25)

Mrs. Margarette Noneley, by will proved 1852, left £450 stock (fn. 26) for members of the Church of England. (fn. 27) In 1861 it was distributed in clothing to worshippers at All Saints' and Christ Church. (fn. 28) The income in 1910 was £12 11s. 4d. James Oliver, by will proved 1867, left £225 stock (fn. 29) for bread doles in the parishes of All Saints and Christ Church; in 1910 the income was £5 19s. 8d. William Roberts, by will proved 1900, left stock for residents of Watling Street township; in 1910 the income was £7. Elizabeth Taylor, by will proved 1906, left stock for residents of the town of Wellington; the income was £38 4s. 8d. in 1910. In 1910 administration of the four preceding charities was combined as the Wellington United Charities. Their income in 1975 was £200 (fn. 30) and in 1981 it was distributed both in cash and in kind. (fn. 31)

Henry Parker, by will proved 1898, left stock to provide food, clothing, and blankets in Christ Church parish; (fn. 32) the income in 1975 was £4. Mrs. Elizabeth Hiatt (d. 1909) (fn. 33) left stock for eleemosynary use in All Saints' parish and other stock for religious education or the relief of people associated with New Street Methodist chapel; in 1975 the former charity yielded £2, the latter £4. Henry Joseph Jones, by will proved 1953, left stock for relief in Christ Church parish and other stock for people associated with New Street Methodist chapel. In 1975 the former charity yielded £11, the latter £13.

After the National Health Service began the funds of the Wellington dispensary (fn. 34) were used to endow the Wellington and District Dispensary Charity for the sick of Wellington, Dawley, and Oakengates urban districts and Wellington rural district. In 1975 the income was £69. (fn. 35)