41. THE HOSPITAL OF EAST TILBURY (fn. 1)
It appears from a suit (fn. 2) in Michaelmas term,
1233, that this hospital was founded by Geoffrey
Fitz Peter, earl of Essex, who died in 1213.
Henry de Kemeseck claimed the advowson of the
church of East Tilbury, and John Fitz Geoffrey,
a younger son of the earl, said that the church
belonged to the hospital which his father had
built upon land purchased from Clement de
Monasterio, who held it of the church. Clement
was present and said that Geoffrey had taken
the land from him by force. It was admitted
that the land on which the hospital was built
pertained to the church, which in its turn pertained to the ancestral fief of the earls at Pleshey,
and consequently John lost his case.
About the same time Geoffrey de Helyun
granted (fn. 3) to the poor's hospital of St. Mary at
Tilbury 8s. rent from land in Aveley, Henry
de Kemesec being one of the witnesses to the
deed. The warden of the hospital was to pay to
Geoffrey one pound of wax at Easter for the light
at the altar of St. Margaret in Tilbury church.
In 1254 Simon de Dunton claimed eighty acres
of marsh land in Little Tilbury against the master
of the hospital of Great Tilbury, who said that
he ought not to be impleaded as he was removable
at the pleasure of John Fitz Geoffrey and held
nothing except at the will of the said John. (fn. 4)
The advowson of the hospital belonged to
Richard Fitz John, a great-grandson of the
founder, at the time of his death in 1297; and
on the division of his property it was assigned (fn. 5) to
Joan la Botillere, one of his sisters and heiresses.
At the end of the fourteenth century the
hospital was better known as the chapel of St.
Margaret and the patronage belonged to the
earls of Ormond. It is said to have been a free
chapel time out of mind and to own land in
East and West Tilbury, Aveley and Mucking.
On the resignation of Thomas Ocle, James,
earl of Ormond, granted it to Robert Crul in
1391; but Hugh de Pyryton also claimed it by
a settlement of the late earl. (fn. 6)
In 1393 Robert Crull had a ratification (fn. 7) by
the king of his estate as warden of the free
chapel otherwise called the hospital or chantry of
East Tilbury, in the diocese of London. Henry
Fyfield occurs as warden in 1456. (fn. 8) After this
little more is known of the hospital; but it is
possible that it reappears as the chantry of
Stonehouse in East Tilbury, which owned land
in Aveley. (fn. 9)