31. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. THOMAS, NORTHAMPTON.
The hospital of St. Thomas the Martyr is
usually said to have been founded about 1450 by
the burgesses of Northampton. The authority
for this statement is Leland, who wrote, in
1538:—'S. Thomas Hospital is withoute the
Toune, and joinuth hard to the West (? South)
Gate. It was erected within lesse then a hunderith yeres paste, and induid with sum Landes,
al by the Citizens of Northampton.' (fn. 1)
It seems, however, quite possible that this
was but the augmentation and rebuilding on a
larger and more definite scale of an older foundation. St. Thomas à Becket was canonized in
1173; a special chapel in his honour was soon
afterwards built at Northampton, which was
confirmed to the priory of St. Andrew by
Bishop Hugh of Lincoln (1209-1235). There
was also a fraternity of St. Thomas the Martyr
in the town in the reign of Henry III. (fn. 2)
From the middle of the fifteenth century
the house was under the charge of the mayor
and burgesses as trustees. It was founded for
the support of twelve poor persons (men or
women), who should receive a weekly allowance,
with clothing, firing, and washing. The corporation records show that the earlier management was vested in two masters, or wardens.
One of them was elected each year, his period
of office being two years, during the first of
which he was termed minor or junior master,
and during the second senior master.
This arrangement was afterwards modified,
and in Elizabethan days it became customary to
choose one of the aldermen to be alderman of
the house, in addition to the two masters. At
the October meeting of the assembly in 1604
it was resolved that:—'Mr. Thomas Humfrey
be alderman of the almeshouses or hospitall of
St. Thomas, and that Mr. Hughe Coles shall
contynue and be one of the masters of the said
almeshouses or hospitall for one yeare next
ensueing to wit thelder master, and that Mr.
Abraham Ventris shalbe thother master for twoe
years next also ensueing to wit the first yeare
the younger master, and the second yeare thelder
master, the saide masters to be accomptable
either of them respectivelie, as hath been
accustomed.'
Instead of a chaplain, as in pre-Reformation
days, the inmates had to be content with the
ministrations of a miserably-paid layman. Mr.
William Browne, schoolmaster, who read daily
prayers to the poor folk in St. Thomas's hospitall,
had his annual stipend raised in 1617 from
16s. to 20s. (fn. 3)