Charities for the Poor.
By will dated 1443
John Forest, Prebendary of Banbury (d. 1446), bequeathed £66 13s. 4d. for 20 years to support 4
persons 'in my almshouse at Banbury' at the rate of
4d. a week. (fn. 1) In 1448 the newly founded guild of
St. Mary was authorized to hold property worth 100
marks a year for the support of three chaplains and
eight poor persons dwelling in the almshouse. (fn. 2) In
1535 £6 18s. 8d. was distributed to 8 poor men and
women at a groat a week; at the dissolution of the
chantries in 1548 the guild was paying £10 8s. a year
to 12 poor people at the same rate and provision was
made to continue the payment. (fn. 3) A decree of the
Exchequer in 1572 confirmed that the £10 8s. was
to be paid to the corporation from the revenues of the
castle or manor of Banbury or of dissolved chantries. (fn. 4)
In 1653 the corporation rejected the suggestion that
payments should be replaced by a grant of rents in
the town. (fn. 5) In 1824 the corporation was receiving
£10 10s. a year less fees (7s. 2d.) charged upon the
land revenues of the Crown, and the charity was distributed at 4d. a week, known as the Widow's Groat,
to 12 poor widows, of whom 8 lived in the almshouse. (fn. 6) In 1443 the almshouse stood near the
churchyard. By 1711 it was ruinous and was repaired
by Francis, Lord North and Guilford. In 1793 the
vestry discussed rebuilding it again. Repairs were
paid for out of the poor rate. In 1824 the almshouse
contained 12 apartments for the most poor, old, and
impotent people in Banbury, recommended by the
overseers of the poor. (fn. 7) The almshouse stood in
a low, damp, and confined position, and consisted
in 1868 of two blocks of dilapidated buildings
scarcely fit for human habitation. By 1877 the
buildings were unsafe: eventually the smaller
block was abandoned and a new almshouse for 4
persons was acquired for £270, the gift of a private
donor. (fn. 8)
In 1882 the almshouse was amalgamated with the
charities of Joshua Sprigge, Mr. Metcalfe, and Captain Smith to form the Almshouse Charity, the last
three charities providing income for the almshouse,
which was rebuilt at a cost of £440. (fn. 9) Joshua Sprigge
of Crayford (Kent) by will dated 1684 had left the
corporation of Banbury £400 to build a workhouse
and £100 for a stock to set the poor to work. (fn. 10) In
1706, after a Chancery case, William Sprigge was
ordered to pay the corporation the £500 together
with the £515 interest due thereon. Mr. Metcalfe,
probably Thomas Abraham alias Metcalfe whose
will was dated 1712, (fn. 11) left £100, and before 1738
Captain Smith gave £112 12s., for the benefit of
the workhouse. By 1750 Francis, Lord North and
Guilford, held £750 of the capital and interest on
loan, paying £30 a year interest to the corporation. (fn. 12)
Of that money £4 was spent each year to provide
fourpenny loaves monthly for 20 poor widows, part
of the bequest of Captain Smith, and the balance
went to the poor rate. (fn. 13) After 1882 the £30 was used
to maintain 12 people resident in the almshouse,
who had to be over 60 years of age and unable to
work, and to have lived in Banbury for 3 years. (fn. 14)
A further amalgamation took place in 1895 when
the Almshouse Charity, the Bridge Estate, (fn. 15) and the
Arran Estate were placed under a single administration, known as the Banbury Municipal Charities. (fn. 16)
The Arran Estate had been founded by Elizabeth,
Countess of Arran (d. 1756) for the education and
support of children from the workhouse, and was
operative by 1767. In 1825 the endowment consisted of £100 stock and 2 houses, producing a total
income of £33 a year. In 1872 one house was sold
for £250. The income was spent on apprenticing
children, mostly from the National school, with
premiums first of £10, then of £15, and after 1857,
of £20. In 1889 the charity was opened to children
from the extended borough, and in 1893 to those
born but no longer resident in Banbury. In 1867–8
the Charity Commissioners suggested amalgamating
the Arran Estate, the Bridge Estate, and the Sprigge
Charities (i.e. those of Sprigge, Metcalfe, and Smith,
later amalgamated with the almshouse) to found
a grammar school, but the project was abandoned
after bitter opposition from Banbury residents. In
1960 the stock belonging to the charity was worth
£2,150. (fn. 17)
In 1603, after apparently ill-founded complaints
had been received about the corporation's administration, the corporation was authorized to cooperate with the vicar and churchwardents in the
general administration of the town charities, and to
appoint 2 bridgemasters, overseers, or receivers to
supervise them, and to render an annual account.
Fourteen endowments were involved: as well as the
Bridge Estate, the Almshouse, and the Church
Estate (fn. 18) there were 6 annuities (4 of 20s. each, one
of 10s., and one of 3s.), 3 capital sums to be lent to
the poor, a stock to buy coal for the poor, and
a tenement. (fn. 19) Of those charities, the tenement (in
Colebar Street) left by John Knight (d. 1587) and
later rented for 26s. 6d., (fn. 20) a 20s. annuity charged on
a meadow in Eynsham left by John Knight's relict
Joan, and an annuity of 20s. from a tenement in
Barkhill Street left by Edward Brightwell, had
disappeared by 1825. (fn. 21)
Of the other annuities Henry Halhead left two,
one of 20s. from a tenement in Sheep Street to buy
frieze for the poor, and one of 10s. from a shop in
Barkhill Street for the weekly preaching of the
Gospel, or else for the teaching of poor children
in Banbury parish. The 20s. annuity was paid
regularly until 1812, and clothing was bought for
3 poor widows. In 1825 the tenant of the property
agreed to pay the annuity, if it proved legal, but in
1843 no money had been received. In 1825 the
parish clerk was collecting 2 sums of 10s. from property in the borough, and one of these may have
been Halhead's other annuity. An annuity of 3s.
given by Thomas Hall of Bodicote to buy bread
for the poor was still in existence in 1825 when
bread was distributed to the poor on Good Friday. (fn. 22)
The remaining annuity, of 20s. was charged on the
interest of the £100 which Walter Calcott, by will
dated 1574, left to be lent at 5 per cent. in sums of
£10 and £20 to poor artificers of Banbury. (fn. 23)
There were two other loan funds in 1603; Thomas
Oken of Warwick (d. 1573) left £40 to be lent to
8 poor, honest men for 3 or 4 years, each man paying
4d. to the poor and 4d. for a sermon and merrymaking afterwards for every pound borrowed.
Payments were still being made from this fund in
1714. (fn. 24) Edward Brightwell, before 1592, left £50
to be lent to poor artificers and occupiers of Banbury. (fn. 25) A further loan fund, described as Harding's
money, existed in 1662. (fn. 26) In 1786 the sum of £14
was available for interest-free loans to young
tradesmen and £40 similarly to anyone who employed a number of poor persons, (fn. 27) but all the loan
charities had been lost by 1825. (fn. 28)
The last of the charities covered by the 1603
decree was a stock of £22 18s. 6d. given by several
persons to buy coal for sale to the poor at a price
sufficient to maintain the stock. The stock had
fallen to £16 by 1750, but was increased to £41 by
two donations from William Holbech. In 1770
deficiencies were made up out of the poor rate. In
1778 William Holbech, Francis, Lord Guilford, who
had subscribed £25, and the vestry decided to give
the money, then amounting to £56 16s., to the
charity school. (fn. 29)
By will dated 1627 Henry Smith granted to the
poor of Banbury part of the rents of an estate in
Telscombe (Sussex). In 1822 and 1823 £35 5s. 6d.
was received by the churchwardens and distributed
in gifts of flannel to 70 or 80 people, most of them
above the status of pauper. (fn. 30) By a Scheme of 1926
a wide range of objects for the charity was defined,
including donations to a provident club, aid to poor
patients, premiums for apprenticeships, and gifts in
kind and in money. In 1960 the income of £15
provided coal for 20 people. (fn. 31)
In 1681 Richard Plestow gave £2 a year, charged
on land in Williamscot (in Cropredy), to provide
bread for the poor at Christmas and Easter. (fn. 32) In
1858 the rent-charge was redeedmed for £66 13s. 4d.,
and loaves were still being distributed twice yearly
in 1868. The charity was later administered with those
of Brownsill, Conant, and Cooke, under the collective name of Plestow. (fn. 33) John Brownsill, by will
proved in 1849, gave £400 to the poor; between
1953 and 1961 the annual income, c. £9 10s., was
distributed in 5s. tickets for groceries or drapers'
goods to 25 poor people; the capital was then
£383. (fn. 34) Paynton Pigott Stainsby Conant, by will
dated 1861, left £200 to provide bread or money
for the poor of Banbury and Neithrop. Between
1959 and 1961 the income of £7 14s. a year was
distributed in 5s. tickets to 20 poor people. (fn. 35)
Stephen Cooke, by will dated 1885, gave £500 as
a coal and bread charity for the poor of all denominations. In 1955 the income was £12 4s., and
about 30 people benefited from 2 tons of coal. (fn. 36)
Thomas Abraham alias Metcalfe, by will dated
1712, left an annual rent-charge of £13 on his
property in Banbury and Bodicote of which £2
a year was to be given to the charity school, and
£10 a year alternately to apprentice 2 boys and to
clothe 6 poor widows. The remaining £1 was left
to the trustees. Until 1819 £10 was used every
other year to buy clothing for 6 poor widows in the
almshouse, but the property was sold that year,
and by 1825 the rent-charge was £61 15s. in arrears.
The trustees were ordered to ensure the regular
application of the charity in future. There were
few applications for apprenticeships, however, and
in 1877 £115 accumulated income was invested. (fn. 37)
In 1888 the charity was amalgamated with that
founded by Henry Abraham alias Metcalfe, nephew
of Thomas, who, by will dated 1746, gave the interest
of £100 to be disposed of annually on St. Thomas's
Day among the poor of Banbury, and the interest
of a further £50 to the charity school. In 1825 £3
income from the £100 was distributed in bread to
poor women. (fn. 38) In 1889 the amalgamated charities
were divided into two branches, educational and
eleemosynary. The income for the second branch
derived from a rent-charge and from £115 stock.
In 1914 £5 was spent annually on clothes for
poor widows and £5 on coal. By 1958 the £10
was either spent on clothes for 10 poor widows, or
it was divided into two, and £5 given to needy
patients in Horton General Hospital and the other
£5 spent on clothes for the poor. (fn. 39) Mary, relict of
Thomas Abraham alias Metcalfe, by her will dated
1723, left an annuity of £17 charged on estates in
Culworth and Eydon (Northants.), of which £5
was to be given to the sick poor, £5 distributed as
shilling loaves weekly to church-going poor, £5 paid
to the schoolmaster of the church school, and £2
given to the charity school. The £5 for the sick
poor was regularly paid, and in 1825 was being
added to money collected by voluntary subscription,
which amounted to nearly £200 a year. (fn. 40) The bread
charity, which provided 6 fourpenny loaves for 6
widows weekly, was altered in 1906 so that the
money might be distributed to the poor generally.
In 1959 it was given in cash or kind, and in 1960
there was a capital sum of £150 accumulated
income. (fn. 41)
The Old Charitable Society was formed in 1782
for the relief of persons in distressed circumstances,
especially those who had tried to support themselves
without parochial aid, and those who, because of
age, accident, or other cause beyond their control,
were in need of aid. The society was at first supported entirely by voluntary subscription, each member
paying not less than 10s., and by the proceeds of
special collections in churches and chapels. Latter,
however, legacies were received; John Brownsill left
£50 to the society in 1849, and Stephen Cooke left
£200 in 1885. In that year the income of the society
was £126 from subscriptions and £35 from church
collections, and 452 persons were given relief. By
1960 subscriptions had fallen to £100, but the
society's stock was worth £3,727, and in 1964 the
income was between £250 and £500 a year. (fn. 42)
The Visiting Charitable Society was founded,
probably in 1820, to visit and relieve the sick and
distressed poor of all creeds. During the cold
winter of 1886 it helped 740 people, and 583 in
1889. In that year the society's capital amounted
to £810, most of it invested. By 1919, however, the
society had outlived its usefulness, as many of its
functions had been taken over by the Banbury
Nursing Association, which had existed since 1871.
By a scheme of the Charity Commissioners in 1926
the Visiting Charitable Society and its endowments
were administered by the Nursing Association,
and after 1948 both were administered by the Banbury Sick Poor Fund, which supplied extra fuel,
bedding, and domestic help to the sick and convalescent. In 1954 the Visiting Charitable Society held
£1,034 stock producing £25 27s. a year, and the
Nursing Association's assets amounted to £1,600.
Susan Page, by will dated 1955, left £50 to this
fund, and in 1961 the total income was £84 10s. 10d. (fn. 43)