21. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. KATHARINE BY THE TOWER
The hospital of St. Katharine by the Tower
was founded about 1148 (fn. 1) by Matilda the wife
of King Stephen for a master, brethren, sisters,
and thirteen poor persons (fn. 2) on land in the parish
of St. Botolph without Aldgate, bought for that
purpose from the priory of Holy Trinity, Aldgate. (fn. 3) The queen gave to the hospital for its
maintenance a mill near the Tower of London
with the land belonging to it, (fn. 4) and confirmed
the grant made by William de Yprès of an
annual rent of £20 from 'Edredeshethe,' (fn. 5) afterwards Queenhithe. The perpetual custody of
the hospital was conferred on the priory of Holy
Trinity by Queen Matilda, who, however, reserved for herself and the queens, her successors,
the choice of the master. (fn. 6)
Nothing further is heard of the house until
1255, when Queen Eleanor of Provence disputed the claim of the priory to its custody. (fn. 7)
The condition of the hospital shortly before must
have been most unsatisfactory, for the canons of
Holy Trinity had appointed one of their own
number master in order to reform the brothers
who were always drinking and quarrelling, (fn. 8) and
a suspicion arises that the priory may have been
partly responsible for this by previously neglecting its duty of supervision. (fn. 9) Whether the queen's
action was determined by her desire to secure a
better working of the hospital, or by her resentment at the encroachment on her right of presentation, it is impossible to say. The court of
the Exchequer decided that the priory had
established its claim to the custody, and an
inquisition taken by the mayor and aldermen of
London resulted in a similar verdict. (fn. 10) The
queen then called to her aid the bishop of London,
who, in 1257, visited the hospital, removed the
master appointed by the canons, and without a
shadow of right ordered the prior and canons to
refrain henceforth from all interference with the
hospital. (fn. 11) In 1261 Henry de Wengham,
bishop of London, the bishops of Carlisle and
Salisbury, with others of the king's council,
prevailed on the prior to assent verbally to the
renunciation of the convent's right, and then
made a formal surrender of the hospital to the
queen. (fn. 12)
Eleanor waited for some years and then dissolved the hospital, refounding it 5 July, 1273. (fn. 13)
This new foundation she endowed with land in
East Smithfield, and all her lands and rents in
Rainham (fn. 14) and Hartlip, co. Kent, and in the
vill of Reed, (fn. 15) co. Herts., for the support of a master
and three brothers, priests, who were to say mass
daily for the soul of Henry III and the souls of
past kings and queens of England, (fn. 16) some sisters
and twenty-four poor persons, (fn. 17) of whom six
were to be poor scholars. On the anniversary
of the death of Henry III a thousand poor men
were each to receive ½d. The right of appointing the master, of filling vacancies among the
brethren and sisters, and of changing the articles
of the charter was reserved by the queen for
herself and her successors, queens of England.
In 1293 Thomas Leckelade who had been
made master by Eleanor of Provence resigned, and
the post was granted to Walter de Redinges for
life. (fn. 18) His administration appears to have been
the cause of the dilapidation and deterioration of
which the brothers and sisters complained and
which caused the king in April, 1300, to order
a visitation of the hospital to be made by John
de Lacy and Ralph de Sandwich. (fn. 19)
The hospital was harassed in 1310 by a demand
of the Exchequer for a sum due from a former
owner of the lands in Kent given to them by
Queen Eleanor, but the king ordered the barons
of the Exchequer to give the hospital a discharge. (fn. 20)
The right of the queen to make any change
she thought fit in the hospital was called in question in 1333 and the point was decided completely in her favour. Richard de Lusteshull,
who had been made master for life by Queen
Isabella on 24 June, 1318, (fn. 21) was removed for
wasting the goods of the hospital, (fn. 22) and his post
given by Queen Philippa to Roger Bast. Lusteshull brought his case before the king and council
in Parliament, and at first the king in 1333
ordered the justices to proceed to a trial and
judgement even if Bast refused to appear. (fn. 23) Queen
Philippa, however, showed that by the terms of
the foundation charter the judges had no jurisdiction, and the king decided that the matter
rested with the queen and her council. (fn. 24)
It is evident that Queen Philippa took a keen
interest in the hospital. She tried on two occasions (fn. 25) to secure the appropriation to its use of
the church of St. Peter, Northampton, with the
chapels of Kingsthorpe and Upton, the patronage
of which had been granted to the hospital in 1329
by the king. (fn. 26) In 1350 she founded a chantry
in the hospital and provided for the maintenance
of an additional chaplain by the gift of lands
worth £10 a year. (fn. 27) At this time too she drew
up a number of ordinances (fn. 28) to be observed by
the inmates: the brothers and sisters were to
have no private property except by the consent
of the master; they were not to go out without
his leave nor to stay out after curfew; the sisters
were allowed 20s. a year for their clothing, the
brothers 40s.; the costume was to be black with
the sign of St. Katharine, and the wearing of
green or entirely red clothes was prohibited; the
brethren were to have no private conference with
the sisters or any other women; negligence or
disobedience on the part of the brethren and
sisters was punishable by lessening their portion
of food and drink but not by stripes; each sister
was to receive in her room her daily allowance
of a white and a brown loaf, two pieces of different
kinds of meat value 1½d. or fish of the same
value, and a pittance worth 1d.; the portion of
both brothers and sisters was to be doubled on
fifteen feast days; the master was to dine in the
common hall with the brothers; the almswomen
were to wear caps and cloaks of a grey colour;
they were not to go out without leave of the
master; if their conduct was bad they could be
removed by the master with consent of the
brethren and sisters. Other ordinances concern
the care of the sick and the transaction of
business relating to the property of the house.
The rebuilding of the church was begun by
William de Kildesby the master, in 1343, (fn. 29) and
Queen Philippa had directed that all surplus
revenues of the hospital should be devoted to
this work. (fn. 30) Judging, however, from the report
following a visitation by the chancellor and others
in 1377, (fn. 31) the master can have found it no easy
matter to secure a surplus. Some time before it
had been necessary to give up the distribution to
the thousand poor persons on St. Edmund's Day
in order to provide properly for the poor women
and clerks; the income of the hospital was less
than the expenditure by £14 14s. 6d. without
reckoning provision for the master or for the
repair of the church and its possessions, and
although John de Hermesthorp, then master, had
spent £2,000 on rebuilding (fn. 32) the nave of the
church and other necessary work, much still
remained to be done. The petition of one of
the ladies of the princess of Wales to have
possession of a corrody granted her by the king
was refused by the chancellor, who said that no
corrody existed there and that the hospital was
unable to support one. (fn. 33) It seems not unlikely
that a reduction of the numbers on the foundation
was gradually effected as a result of the report,
for in 1412 (fn. 34) there were ten poor women and
not eighteen as before.
Meanwhile the hospital had been adding to
its resources: Edward III in 1376 made a perpetual grant of £10 a year from the Hanaper
for a chaplain to celebrate in the chantry founded
by Queen Philippa, (fn. 35) and left in trust for the
hospital the reversion of the manor of Rushindon in the Isle of Sheppey, and of a messuage,
60 acres of land, 200 acres of pasture, and 120
acres of salt marsh in the parish of Minster to
provide another chaplain; (fn. 36) in 1378 Robert de
Denton, who had intended to found a hospital
for the insane in his messuages in the parish
of Allhallows Barking, granted the property
instead to St. Katharine's to establish a
chantry; (fn. 37) John de Chichester, goldsmith of
London, bequeathed to the hospital in 1380 lands
and tenements in the parishes of St. Botolph
Aldgate, St. Mary Abchurch, St. Edmund
Lombard Street, and St. Nicholas Acon for a
similar purpose; (fn. 38) in 1381 a messuage in Bow
Lane was granted to St. Katharine's for daily
celebrations for Thomas bishop of Durham; (fn. 39)
and in 1380 Richard II allowed the hospital to
acquire in mortmain from the alien abbey of
Isle Dieu the manor of Carlton, co. Wilts., and
the advowson of the church of Upchurch, in
Kent, (fn. 40) in return for an annual payment of
£40 during the war with France and for
the maintenance of three additional chantry
chaplains.
The hospital benefited considerably by the
appointment of Thomas Beckington, the king's
secretary, as master in 1440. (fn. 41) Henry VI not
only gave to it in August of that year the
manors of Chisenbury and Quarley, parcel of
the alien priory of Ogbourne, (fn. 42) but on Beckington's representing that the revenues of the house
were still insufficient, he granted to it in 1441
an annual fair of twenty-one days from the
feast of St. James, to be held on Tower Hill. (fn. 43)
He, moreover, exempted the hospital and precinct
from all jurisdiction save that of the Lord Chancellor and the master, (fn. 44) and acquitted it from
payment of all aids, subsidies, (fn. 45) and clerical
tenths; (fn. 46) no royal stewards, marshals, or other
royal officers were to lodge in the hospital or its
houses without the consent of the master, (fn. 47) and
no royal purveyor was to take the goods and
chattels of the hospital against the master's
wish; (fn. 48) the master was to have court-leet and
view of frankpledge within the bounds of the
hospital; (fn. 49) and the master, brothers, and sisters
were to have the chattels of felons, fugitives and
suicides, waifs and strays, deodands and treasure
trove, (fn. 50) assize of bread and ale, custody of
weights and measures, the cognizance and punishment of all offences against the peace in the
same place, (fn. 51) and the cognizance of all pleas and
the fines and amercements of all persons residing
in the precinct; (fn. 52) any writs they needed were
to be given to them free of all payment; (fn. 53)
they were not to be deprived of any of the
above privileges because they neglected to use
them. (fn. 54)
John Holland, duke of Exeter, who died in
1448, was buried in the church of St. Katharine, to which he made an important bequest of
plate (fn. 55) and tapestry. He also directed that in
the little chapel where his body rested a chantry
of four priests should be erected, to be endowed
with his manor of Great Gaddesden in Hertfordshire, though apparently some other endowment
was arranged, for the manor figures in the possessions of his son Henry, on whose death it passed
to the crown. (fn. 56)
The general pardon to the warden, brethren,
and sisters on the accession of Henry VIII (fn. 57)
must have been a matter of form, since it is
evident that the hospital enjoyed the favour of
both Henry VII and Henry VIII: at the
funeral of the former the large sum of £40
was given to the sisters; (fn. 58) Henry VIII (fn. 59) and
Queen Catherine established in the hospital
church in 1578 a Gild of St. Barbara, to which
belonged Cardinal Wolsey, the duke of Norfolk,
the duke of Buckingham, and many other dis
tinguished persons, (fn. 60) and amid the dissolution of
so many monasteries and hospitals the king not
only spared this house but in 1537 remitted the
annual tenth, and the first fruits due from Gilbert
Latham, who had been appointed master by
Queen Jane Seymour. (fn. 61) The income of the
house in 1535 was said to be £315 8s. 4d., (fn. 62)
and its expenses £284 8s. 4d., £186 15s. being
paid to the inmates of the hospital, viz., to the
three brothers, £24; three sisters, £24; three
priests, £24; six clerks serving in the church,
£40; ten bedeswomen, 10½d. a week each; the
master of the children, £8; for the maintenance of the six children, £24; and £5
each to the steward, butler, cook, and undercook. (fn. 63)
The possessions of the hospital then included
rents and ferms in the City and suburbs of
London of an annual value of £211 19s. 6d., (fn. 64)
the manor of Queenscourt, with the farm of
Berengrave, (fn. 65) land in the parish of Rainham, (fn. 66)
Rushindon Manor, with the farm of Daudeley, (fn. 67)
in co. Kent; the manor of Quarley, (fn. 68) co. Hants;
the manors of Chisenbury Priors (fn. 69) and Carlton, (fn. 70) co. Wilts.; and the manor of Queenbury,
co. Herts. (fn. 71)
In 1303 and 1428 the master held half a
knight's fee in Reed, co. Herts. (fn. 72) The house
also owned the advowsons of St. Peter, Northampton, with its chapels of Kingsthorpe and
Upton, (fn. 73) of Queenbury, (fn. 74) and of Quarley. (fn. 75)
The advowson of Frinsted, co. Kent, had been
granted to St. Katharine's in 1329 by Sir
John de Crombwell, (fn. 76) who two years later
obtained a papal mandate for its appropriation to
the hospital. (fn. 77)
The religious changes must have greatly
affected the house. The suppression of chantries
under Edward VI not only deprived it of much
of its property but of the principal reason of its
existence. The new order of things was marked
by the king's appointment of a layman as master
in 1549, (fn. 78) and henceforth the post was regarded
mainly as a reward for a servant of the crown.
Fortunately most holders of the office held a
more exalted view of their duty than Dr.
Thomas Wilson, who used his position merely
as an opportunity for plunder. He first attempted
to sell the privileges of the liberty to the City
Corporation, and when he was baulked in this
by the action of the inhabitants, who appealed
to Cecil in 1565, (fn. 79) he surrendered the charter
of Henry VI to the queen and obtained a
confirmation in 1566, (fn. 80) omitting the grant
of the fair, which he sold to the City for
£466 13s. 4d. (fn. 81)
The history of the house for more than a
century was marked by no events of importance.
In 1692 a certain Dr. Payne, in virtue of a
patent he had obtained to visit exempt churches,
attempted a visitation of St. Katharine's, but the
brothers absolutely declined to acknowledge his
jurisdiction, (fn. 82) and were successful in maintaining
the privileges of their house. Complaints against
the master, Sir James Butler, caused a visitation
to be made in 1698 by Lord Chancellor Somers,
who removed Butler and drew up some rules for
the government of the hospital. (fn. 83) These order that
the master shall be resident; (fn. 84) that provision
shall be made for the performance of religious
services by the brothers; (fn. 85) that chapters shall be
held (fn. 86) at which all business is to be considered; (fn. 87)
that the fines at the renewals of leases shall be
divided into three parts, of which one is to be
devoted to the repair of the church, another to
be given to the master, and the third to the
brothers and sisters; (fn. 88) any increase of the annual
revenues shall be disposed of as follows: the
allowance of the bedeswomen is to be doubled;
the stipend of £8 then given to each brother is to
be increased until it reaches the sum of £40; the
sisters' stipends are to be gradually raised to £20
each; the surplus is then to go to the master
until his whole income amounts to £500; any
further revenues shall be devoted to the maintenance of an additional brother, of another
sister, of two more bedeswomen, and if more
still remain, it shall be used to provide a school. (fn. 89)
The income of the house seems to have benefited
by Lord Somers' regulation, for a school was
established there in 1705. (fn. 90) The church, which
seems to have been repaired about 1640, (fn. 91)
escaped damage from the fires which occurred in
the precinct in 1672 and 1734, and from the
Gordon Riots, (fn. 92) to be destroyed with the rest of
the hospital buildings in 1825, when the site was
needed for the St. Katharine's Docks. (fn. 93) A new
church and hospital were then built in Regent's
Park to continue Queen Eleanor's foundation,
though numerous changes have made the house
of the present day very unlike that of 1273. (fn. 94)
However, there still are sisters, bedesmen, bedeswomen, brothers with religious duties to perform,
and a master now also in holy orders, for
Queen Victoria appointed clergymen in both the
vacancies which occurred during her reign. (fn. 94a)
Masters of St. Katharine's Hospital
Gilbert, appointed 1257 (fn. 95)
Walter de Runachmore, clerk, appointed
1263 (fn. 96)
John de Sancta Maria, occurs 1264 (fn. 97)
Thomas de Chalke, clerk, appointed 1266 (fn. 98)
Stephen de Fulborne, occurs 1269 (fn. 99)
Thomas de Lechlade, appointed 1273, (fn. 100) resigned 1293 (fn. 101)
Walter de Redinges, appointed 1293 (fn. 102)
John Sendale, occurs 1306 (fn. 103) and 1315 (fn. 104)
Adam de Eglesfeld, appointed 1317 (fn. 105)
Richard de Lusteshull, king's clerk, appointed
1318, (fn. 106) occurs 1326 (fn. 107)
Roger de Bast or Basse, appointed 1327, (fn. 108)
occurs 1333 (fn. 109)
William de Culshoe, occurs 1336 (fn. 110)
William de Kildesby, appointed 1339, (fn. 111)
occurs 1343 (fn. 112)
Walter de Wetewang, occurs 1347 (fn. 113)
William de Hygate, occurs 1348 (fn. 114)
Paul de Monte Florio or Monte Florum,
occurs 1351 (fn. 115)
John de Clisseby, occurs 1363 (fn. 116)
John de Hermesthorp, occurs 1368, (fn. 117) 1377, (fn. 118)
1380, (fn. 119) 1398, (fn. 120) and 1403 (fn. 121)
Richard Prentys, occurs 1411 (fn. 122)
William Wrixham, D.D., occurs 1413 (fn. 123)
John Francke, occurs 1438 (fn. 124)
Thomas de Beckington, LL.D., appointed
1440 (fn. 125)
John Delabere, occurs 1446 (fn. 126)
Henry Trevilian, occurs 1461, (fn. 127) 1462, (fn. 128)
1464, (fn. 129) and 1469 (fn. 130)
Lionel de Wydeville, clerk, occurs 1475 (fn. 131)
William Wryxham or Wrexham, occurs
1484 (fn. 132)
Richard Payne, clerk, occurs 1499 (fn. 133)
John Preston, clerk, appointed 1508, (fn. 134) occurs
1509 (fn. 135)
George de Athequa, occurs 1527 (fn. 136)
Gilbert Latham, M.A., appointed 1536, (fn. 137)
occurs 1541 (fn. 138)
Sir Thomas Seymour, kt., appointed 1547 (fn. 139)
Sir Francis Fleming, kt., appointed 1549 (fn. 140)
Dr. Francis Mallett, dean of Lincoln, appointed
1554, (fn. 141) surrendered 1560 (fn. 142)
Sir Edward Warner, kt., appointed 1560 (fn. 143)
Thomas Wilson, LL.D., appointed 1560, (fn. 144)
died 1581 (fn. 145)
David Lewys, LL.D., appointed 1581 (fn. 146)
Ralph Rookeby, appointed 1587, (fn. 147) occurs
1595 (fn. 148)
Sir Julius Caesar, appointed 1596, (fn. 149) died
1636 (fn. 150)
Sir Robert Ayton, kt., appointed 1636, (fn. 151)
died 1640 (fn. 152) or before
Dr. Coxe, appointed 1653 (fn. 153)
George Montagu, occurs c. 1665, (fn. 154) died
1681 (fn. 155)
William, Lord Brouncker, Viscount of Castle
Lyons, appointed 1681, (fn. 156) died 1684 (fn. 157)
Sir James Butler, appointed 1684, (fn. 158) removed
1698 (fn. 159)
Louis de Duras, earl of Faversham, appointed
1698, died 1709 (fn. 160)
Sir Henry Nelson, kt., LL.D., appointed
1709, died 1715 (fn. 161)
William Farrar, appointed 1715, died 1737 (fn. 162)
Hon. George Berkley, appointed 1738, died
1746 (fn. 163)
Edmund Waller, jun., appointed 1747 (fn. 164)
Hon. Stephen Digby, appointed 1786 (fn. 165)
Major William Price, appointed 1800 (fn. 166)
Colonel Edward Disbrowe, appointed 1816 (fn. 167)
Maj.-Gen. Sir Herbert Taylor, K.G.H.,
appointed 1818 (fn. 168)
Rev. A. L. B. Piele, occurs 1904 (fn. 168a)
A seal of the sixteenth century, (fn. 169) pointed oval
and cabled borders, represents St. Catherine
standing on a carved corbel, slightly turned to
the left, holding in her right hand a wheel, in
her left hand a book. Legend :—
S. HOSPITALIS: ITE: CATERINE: IVXTA:
TVRS: LONDŌ.
A later seal, (fn. 170) pointed oval, with carved
borders, bears a full length representation of
St. Catherine, with nimbus; the saint holds in
her right hand a wheel, in the left a book. At
her feet is a flower. A space has been left for
the legend, but not filled up.
The royal seal, (fn. 171) 'ad causas ecclesiasticas,' is
a pointed oval, and shows an ornamental shield
of the royal arms of Edward VI. Over it a
crown with royal supporters. On a corbel an entablature in base, the inscription, SCĀ KATERINA
IVXTA . TVR IN LONDON' S' REGIAE MAIESTATS
AD CAVSAS ECCLESUS.