West Drayton: Charities

CHARITIES. (fn. 1)

George Carey, Baron Hunsdon (d. 1603), (fn. 2) left 100 marks in trust for the poor of West Drayton, an endowment which, with additions, later became known as the poor's stock. From a note made in 1680 it appears that the poor's stock then stood at £156, of which £5 was a recent gift of George Daye. (fn. 3) In 1725 the stock, which had been in the hands of William, Lord Paget (1637-1713), was invested in £200 stock, increased in 1733 by £20 accumulated interest. The sum of £6 12s. was received as interest on the poor's stock in 1823. Elizabeth, Countess of Uxbridge, by deed of 1747, gave £100 stock, the interest from which was to be divided among ten poor families on New Year's Day. This gift yielded £3 interest in 1823. In 1862 the poor's stock and the countess's gift were together represented by a single principal sum of £360. George Cowdery (by will made 1745) left a rent-charge of £1 yearly to provide bread for the poor. This gift was redeemed for £40 stock in 1953. John Anthill's gift, a rent-charge of £1 yearly, was apparently first received in 1751. William Gander (by will made 1800) left £200 stock to provide quarterly doles of bread, of which those inmates of the church-house who were over 40 were to receive a share. An annual distribution of £6 was made in respect of this gift in 1823. William Henry Batt (by will proved 1879) left £300 stock for the purchase of food, fuel, or clothing. His widow administered the principal until her death in 1920. (fn. 4) Kathleen Barry, in 1934, gave £150 stock to endow a Kathleen Barry memorial fund for the poor.

By a scheme of 1896, which introduced representative trustees, the poor's stock, and the gifts of the Countess of Uxbridge, Cowdery, Gander, and Anthill, worth £17 8s. yearly, were consolidated as the Parochial Charities, and the income was made available for a variety of uses, subject to two-thirds continuing to be apportioned for a bread dole. In 1938 the sole method of distribution was by grocery vouchers, and most of the income of £16 was similarly distributed in 1954. Batt's charity, worth £7 10s. yearly in 1950, was applied in the same way. Barry's charity yielded £3 15s. in 1950.