Charities for the poor (fn. 14)
St. Thomas's bread charity, sometimes referred to
as the poor's estate, was an amalgamation of
many small charities administered by the
churchwardens and overseers. In 1658 the
poor's stock of £58, presumably made up of
earlier charitable donations, was invested in
c. 2 a. of pasture near Mill Street, later Poor's
close, the site of the workhouse. A Commission
of Charitable Uses in 1701 nominated trustees
to call in and invest in land £66 acquired from
Catherine Butler (d. 1682, £5 by gift), Francis
Perrott (£10 by will proved 1684), Christopher
Maund (£10 by will proved 1697), Eleanor
Fulkes (d. 1699, £6 by gift), and recent gifts of
£30 by George Castell of Tunbridge Wells
(Kent) and £5 by William Wilkins of London.
The income was to be distributed to the poor
with special care that five widows benefited from
the Butler charity. (fn. 15) In 1711 £86 from those and
other charities were invested in Bitterall close.
Meadow in Spareacre (c. 3a.) was purchased
with £200 given as a bread charity by Edward
Goddard of London by will of 1709. In 1753 the
charities of George Castell (£10 by will proved
1739), (fn. 16) John Wise (£10 by will of 1729), and
Anne Ayres (£10 for widows by will of 1752)
were used, with c. £15 from the sale of timber
from charity lands, to buy meadow in Mill
mead. In 1770 a further £44 was spent on a close
and orchard near Spareacre.
By 1787 a total of £376 had been laid out in
land producing £9 16s. for the poor: (fn. 17) the estate
represented all the above-named donations, together with sums of £10 each given by Joan
Blackman (? d. 1635), (fn. 18) Joan Olive (fl. 1652),
John Green (will proved 1653), (fn. 19) and James
Quartermain (will proved 1704), (fn. 20) and £5 each
from Stephen and Margaret Wise, Thomas
Smith, and Richard Berry at unknown dates,
and from Richard Castell (? d. 1705), Susannah
Saywell (will proved 1707), George Knapp (will
proved 1711), and Thomas Wastie of Cowley (fl.
mid 18th century). (fn. 21) The St. Thomas's fund
also received rent charges of 5s. given as a bread
charity for 10 poor widows by John Wastie (will
of 1667), (fn. 22) and 5s. from the Bolds (later Bowles
farm) granted by Richard Castell in 1694 to be
given to the poor on Good Friday; there was also
a stock of £10 for 10 poor widows given by
Esther Bartholomew (will proved 1762). (fn. 23)
In 1786 it was decided to raise the rent of the
poor's estate and distribute bread at the rate of
£1 worth each week from Christmas until Lady
Day; lists of those qualified for bread were
drawn up by the vestry. (fn. 24) Not all the above
benefactions were for bread, notably those of
Richard Castell (1694), George Castell, Esther
Bartholomew, and probably several others,
which were meant to be distributed in cash on
Good Friday: in the later 18th century the
overseers regularly disbursed 'Good Friday
money' arising from benefactions which had
been invested in a house which they may have
been using as a poor house. (fn. 25) At inclosure in
1802 annual payments to the Eynsham commoners of £2 12s. 6d. from Twelve Acre farm
and £1 1s. from Newfield farm, to free those
lands from common rights, were turned into
rent charges paid into the St. Thomas's fund. (fn. 26)
After inclosure the poor's estate comprised c.
18 a., which in 1823 was let for c. £45; with the
rent charges and 15s. a year from the Esther
Bartholomew and Catherine Butler charities the
total income of the St. Thomas's charity was
over £50, from which £6 was held back for cash
payments to poor widows and widowers, and the
rest distributed in bread on nine Sundays after
Christmas.
Another bread charity was given by John
Bartholomew (will proved 1701), who charged
his estate with the provision of a 3d. loaf weekly
to each of 10 poor widows or widowers. (fn. 27) By
1823 the estate, though divided, yielded £6 10s.
a year which was distributed in cash on the
distribution days of St. Thomas's charity and in
bread on the other Sundays; arrangements were
unchanged in 1852 but by 1871 the £6 10s. was
administered with the St. Thomas's charity. (fn. 28)
Thomas Walker (will of 1789) gave the income from £100 to provide bread. A plan of
1814 to sell the stock for a parish fire engine and
fund the charity from the overseers' accounts (fn. 29)
seems not to have been implemented, and in
1823 the income of £4 4s. 6d. a year was
distributed in bread on Sundays when there was
no St. Thomas's charity distribution. The charity was linked with two other bread charities,
£40 given by Thomas Castell in 1830 and £100
by Robert Day in 1831, and all were invested in
stock yielding c. £7 10s. in 1852; by 1871 the
stock of £235 was absorbed in the St. Thomas's
account. (fn. 30)
In 1852 the income of the St. Thomas's
charity, with balances from the other bread
charities, was c. £57, of which £7 was disbursed
on Good Friday and at Whitsun, presumably to
poor widows and widowers; there were four
large distributions of bread in January. (fn. 31) In
1871 the income of the St. Thomas's charity
(excluding the £6 10s. from John Bartholomew's charity) was c. £71. (fn. 32)
Several other charities not recorded by 1871
may have been merged in the St. Thomas's
fund. A bread charity of 10s. a year was given by
Joseph Druce (will proved 1822) and another of
£5 was given by Elizabeth Scarsbrook (will
proved 1819). (fn. 33) The income from £100 left by
James Lord (d. 1809) to provide coal or bread
was being distributed in bread in 1823 but was
recorded as lost in 1871.
Another lost charity was that of Francis
Wastie (will of 1775), who gave the interest of
£10 to clothe two fatherless children; in 1823
the interest had not been paid for 30 years, and
although an agreement was made over arrears
the charity was not recorded thereafter.
A bread charity was given by Elizabeth West
(will of 1638) and her brother and executor John
Walter (will proved 1640), who left an estate at
Appleton (formerly Berks.) in trust for the poor
of Witney, Standlake, and Eynsham; Eynsham
received a quarter share of the charity. In the
1650s the income, spent on bread, was usually
between £2 and £3 but rents rose (fn. 34) and in the
late 18th century Eynsham's share was between
£6 and £7 half-yearly. (fn. 35) In 1823 bread worth c.
£17 was distributed on Sundays when there was
no St. Thomas's distribution. In 1852 and 1871
Eynsham's share of the Appleton rent was c.
£20. (fn. 36) The estate was sold in 1931 and the
capital invested. (fn. 37)
At inclosure in 1802 Foxley farm (c 83 a.) was
awarded as a fuel allotment to the poor in
compensation for their former common rights; (fn. 38)
the rent was distributed in coal on St. Thomas's
day. The rent fell from c. £125 to £70 by the
1820s, (fn. 39) and later fluctuated from £185 in 1863
to only £86 in 1890. (fn. 40)
From the 1860s the administration of Eynsham's charities caused bitter dispute. In 1865
the vicar, W. S. Bricknell, refused to produce
accounts of the bread and coal charities for the
previous six years, (fn. 41) and shortly afterwards
came to blows at a meeting of the Bartholomew
charity trustees. (fn. 42) In 1873 Bricknell's leading
opponent, Joseph Druce, secured a Chancery
investigation and under threat of prison Bricknell eventually rendered accounts in 1875; (fn. 43)
quarrels over the charities continued into the
1880s. (fn. 44) A Scheme of 1878 amalgamated the St.
Thomas's charity with the fuel allotment and
directed that bread distributions should be
phased out and income devoted to the sick poor;
to pensions, to educational purposes, and to
provident institutions. The fuel allotment was to
be distributed in coal. (fn. 45) During the next ten
years up to £95 a year were spent on coal, up to
£75 on education, and up to £25 on the sick
poor and donations to local hospitals. (fn. 46) In 1911
the charity commissioners rejected the parish
council's plea that the fuel allotment was not a
charity, (fn. 47) and under a revised Scheme transferred £400 from the St. Thomas's charity into
a separate educational foundation, leaving the
Consolidated Charities with an income of c.
£217 for the general benefit of the poor. (fn. 48) The
distribution of bread and fuel continued; grants
for tools, false teeth, and spectacles were made,
but in recent times cash payments to old age
pensioners were favoured. (fn. 49) After various land
sales, notably that of Foxley farm in 1923 and
the Appleton estate in 1931, (fn. 50) the Consolidated
Charities by 1970 retained only 4 a. of land and
rent charges of less than £5; investment income,
however, rose to £995 by 1979. (fn. 51)