CHARITIES.

In 1627 William Bennett gave a £3 rent-charge half of which was to go to the minister and half to the poor. Thomas Bennett by will dated 1630 gave £5 to be invested for the minister and the poor; in 1677 the capital was used to purchase a rent-charge of 5s. In 1717 John Mills of Bisley gave a rent-charge of £2 10s. to buy linen cloth for the poor. By will dated 1731 Thomas Chandler of Dudbridge gave £150 with which land was purchased and ²/3 of the rent used for clothes for the poor and ⅓ for the minister. (fn. 41) Elizabeth Bennett gave £30 in 1761 for a distribution to 30 poor families on Christmas day. (fn. 42) In the 19th century the poor's portion of the income from the charities of William and Thomas Bennett and Thomas Chandler and from another charity, probably that of Elizabeth Bennett, was called the Woollen Clothes Account and amounted to c. £10 a year; in the mid 19th century coats and gowns were distributed to about 12 people each year, and at the end of the century 6 coats and c. 35 flannel garments. The charity of John Mills was distributed in calico in the mid 19th century to c. 30 people. (fn. 43) In 1967 the income assigned to the poor from the various charities, none of which brought in more than £5 a year, was distributed in cash at Christmas. (fn. 44)

Footnotes