CHARITIES FOR THE POOR.
The Harborne Parish Lands Charity.
Smethwick enjoys a share of
the charity which existed by 1640 when a body of
trustees was administering lands granted for charitable uses in Harborne parish. (fn. 74) The trustees subsequently obtained the endowments of two other
charities, both founded by members of the Smethwick family of Cowper alias Piddock. Elizabeth
Cowper, by will dated 1576, left £40 to buy land,
the rent from which was to be distributed as charity
twice a year; 20s. was to go to the poor of Harborne
parish, while the remainder (fn. 75) was apparently to be
distributed without restriction of place. The land
so bought was settled in trust in 1591. (fn. 76) About 1786
it was acquired by the parish, and by 1823 the rent
was being applied in charitable relief with that of
the other parish lands. In 1623 William Cowper,
formerly of Smethwick, settled a cottage and ½ a.
near Rood End, Oldbury, in Halesowen (Worcs.), in
trust for the poor; 6s. 8d. of the income was to be
distributed yearly to the poor of the adjacent part
of Handsworth parish, and the rest twice yearly to
those of Harborne parish, with at least half going
to the poor of Smethwick. By c. 1765 the property
had apparently passed to the parish lands trustees.
Trust deeds of 1640 and 1668 stipulated that the
income of the parish lands was to be used for the
relief of the aged or infirm poor of Harborne and
Smethwick. (fn. 77) By 1723 the trustees were setting
aside £10 a year to apprentice four poor children,
two from Smethwick and two from Harborne. (fn. 78) By
1786 they were also maintaining what were in effect
alms-houses, as cottage property which they owned
was occupied rent-free by paupers; they drew
£57 6s. from the rest of the property. (fn. 79) In 1823 there
were thirteen cottages used as alms-houses, four in
Smethwick and nine in Harborne. Smethwick received £75 14s. from the trustees, and Harborne
£67 15s. Out of these sums the cottages were kept in
repair and the two poor children of each township
were apprenticed. In both places the remainder of
the income was given to 'the more respectable description of poor, to whom it would be hurtful to
apply for relief at the workhouse', either in weekly
payments of 2s. or 3s. or in occasional payments of
£1-£4. (fn. 80)
The income of the parish lands was £420 in
1872, £525 in 1895, and £820 in 1914. (fn. 81) In 1872,
out of a total expenditure of £344 in Harborne and
Smethwick, £270 was given in food or cash. The
alms-people seem to have received no relief except
rent-free accommodation. A Scheme of 1885, however, authorized payment of stipends to them;
thereafter more and more of the charity's income
went to support them, while less and less was spent
on doles. In 1914, for example, the stipends, fuel,
and medical attendance for the alms-people of both
townships cost over £200 while only £3 5s. was
distributed casually. The system of allowing the
trust's cottages to be occupied as alms-houses meant
that the number of alms-houses fluctuated. In
Smethwick, as already seen, there were four in 1823.
In 1842 there were six, in Crockett's Lane; (fn. 82) there
were five there in 1851, (fn. 83) four in 1886, and six in
1890. (fn. 84) In 1912 the Smethwick alms-people were
moved to new alms-houses in Harborne. (fn. 85)
In 1927 ten alms-houses and a matron's house
were built in Cooper's Lane, Smethwick, by members of the Mitchell family in memory of Henry
Mitchell; known as the Henry Mitchell Almshouses, they were given to the Harborne Parish
Lands Charity. (fn. 86) A Scheme of 1928 required candidates to have lived in the borough for three years or
more; they were to be nominated to the parish lands
trustees by a descendant of Henry Mitchell, in the
first instance by J. E. Mitchell and subsequently
by a descendant chosen by Mitchells & Butlers Ltd.
By 1930 six more alms-houses had been built for the
charity at the expense of five members of the
Mitchell family. Under a Scheme of that year the
five benefactors and successors appointed by them
were empowered to nominate alms-people for the
new houses. Under the Schemes of 1928 and 1930
residents of the Mitchell Alms-houses receive the
same stipends as residents of the alms-houses in
Harborne belonging to the Parish Lands Charity.
They also benefit from £900 stock left by Mary Ann
Penny, by will proved in 1969, to the parish lands
trustees in memory of her husband Joseph. The
income was to provide excursions with teas for the
residents, matron, and assistant matron of the
Mitchell Alms-houses. Any resident unable to join
an excursion was to receive a treat of equal value.
The sixteen alms-houses and the matron's house
form a rectangle of brick-built bungalows enclosing
a lawn. The entrance from Cooper's Lane to the
north is by a covered passage between the matron's
house and one of the alms-houses; there is a south
range of three alms-houses while along the east and
west sides are twelve semi-detached alms-houses.
Parkes's Charity.
By deed of 1719 Dorothy Parkes
charged her trustees with the payment of £10 a year
out of the income from the lands which she gave for
the foundation of Smethwick chapel. Payment was
not to begin before they had built and furnished
the chapel and appointed a minister or before the
death of Mary Halfpenny, her servant. Of the £10,
52s. was for a weekly dole of penny-loaves to twelve
poor inhabitants of Smethwick attending divine service in the chapel, and 52s. for a similar distribution
at Harborne church; £4 10s. was to buy six coats or
other garments to be given each year to three poor
women from Smethwick and three from Harborne;
and 6s. to buy bibles to be given yearly to poor inhabitants of Smethwick chosen by the minister of
Smethwick. Any person who had received parish
relief within the previous twelve months was disqualified from receiving the bread or garments. (fn. 87)
The payments had begun by 1739. (fn. 88) By 1970 the
trustees of Dorothy Parkes were paying £5 3s. a year
to the parochial church council of Smethwick Old
Church and £4 17s. a year to that of St. Peter's,
Harborne. (fn. 89)
Dandy's Charity
By will proved in 1910 James
Dandy of Bromsgrove (Worcs.) left £1,000 for the
poor of Smethwick. (fn. 90) After the deduction of £2
a year for the upkeep of his tomb, the income was to
be spent on warm clothes or bedding to be distributed yearly to poor people who had lived in
Smethwick for at least six months; anyone who sold
or pawned a gift was disqualified for the future. The
trust's income in 1964 was £30; £40 was spent on
gifts of bedding and clothing.
Hill Crest Home for the Aged.
By deed of 1946
Arthur Mitchell, a director of Mitchells & Butlers,
gave Smethwick corporation £5,000 to buy Hill
Crest, a large Victorian house on the corner of Little
Moor Hill and South Road, as a home for aged poor
who had lived in Smethwick for at least ten years. (fn. 91)
In 1948 Mitchell gave the corporation £250
Mitchells & Butlers stock to provide comforts for
the residents of Hill Crest. The annual income from
the endowment in 1963-4 was £95. In 1958 it was
decided that the qualifying period of residence in
the borough should be reduced from ten to three
years.