Hospitals: Leper hospitals of St Mary Magdalen and St James, Ipswich

55 AND 56. THE LEPER HOSPITALS OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN AND ST. JAMES, IPSWICH

The first known mention of the leper hospital of St. Mary Magdalen, Ipswich, occurs in 1199, when King John granted it a fair on the feast of St. James the Apostle. (fn. 1) This grant was confirmed and extended by Henry VI in 1430, when the fair was authorized to be held on the land of this house, on both the day and the morrow of St. James's festival. (fn. 2)

There was also a leper hospital of St. James in this town, which was united to the hospital of St. Mary Magdalen in the fourteenth century, and held by a common master. The joint mastership of the two hospitals was in the gift of the bishop, and to it was usually annexed the church of St. Helen with the chapel of St. Edmund. There are many collations to this joint benefice in the diocesan registers.

In October, 1324, the custody of the administration of the goods of the leper hospital of St. James, then vacant, was committed to the custody of the (rural) dean of Carlford, according to ancient custom, so that he might answer for the time being for the receipts and expenditure of the house. (fn. 3)

Masters of the Leper Hospitals of St. Mary Magdalen and St. James, Ipswich

Alexander, (fn. 4) 1336

William Olde de Debenham, (fn. 5) 1351

John May de Multon, (fn. 6) 1361

Thomas de Claxtone, (fn. 7) 1367

John de Blakenham, (fn. 8) 1369

Stephen Ingram, (fn. 9) 1385, reappointed 1390 (fn. 10)

William de Cotsmore, (fn. 11) 1399

William Tanner, (fn. 12) 1409

Robert Markys, (fn. 13) resigned 1464

Robert Lang, (fn. 14) 1464

Thomas Bullok, (fn. 15) 1468

Thomas Eyton, (fn. 16) 1472