Hanwell: Charities

CHARITIES.

The most important charitable endowment in Hanwell is Hobbayne's charity, which was founded in the Middle Ages and survived the Reformation without diminution. William Hobbayne, according to a court roll of 1485, surrendered a house and some 24 acres to the use of his will. By 1573 the income was being used for the benefit of the poor, and a Chancery decree of 1612 defined the purposes to which it was to be applied, no doubt in accordance with previous tradition. The trustees were to pay 40s. to the parish officers for the repair of the church and its bells, books, and vestments, 13s. 4d. to the rector for an annual sermon and for the supervision of the accounts, and the remainder of the income to the deserving poor, at the discretion of the trustees and parish officers together. The income rose from £6 13s. 4d. in 1612 to over £80 in 1822 (fn. 1) and about £150 in 1875, (fn. 2) and it seems that the charity and its trustees occupied a correspondingly important place in the life of the village: the relief to the poor rates of so small a village as Hanwell was considerable. (fn. 3) Preference in distributing the £40 or so bestowed directly on the poor in 1822 was then given to those not receiving parish relief, but this probably served only to reduce the number of persons on relief, whereas a wider distribution of the charity funds would have reduced the amount of parish relief needed by each pauper. The charity also gave money for particular purposes, like the payment for the parish officers in 1782 of the apothecary's bill, and the inoculation of the poor in 1798. In 1790 the charity built some almshouses on the west side of Halfacre Road, which it let to the parish. (fn. 4) In 1875 it still owned twelve dilapidated cottages there, of which six were let and six were occupied rent-free by poor persons. In 1779 the trustees began to pay for the education of a few children, and a few years later took the initiative in starting a parish school and paid £30 towards its establishment. (fn. 5) They paid £30 a year to the school until 1807, and then increased their grant by £5 and provided a site for a new building. The school was moved from the charity land in 1855, but the trustees continued to contribute towards it, by 1875 at £50 a year. By 1882 the charity divided its annual gift to education between the National and British schools.

The charity is now regulated by schemes of 1878, 1900, and 1903. (fn. 6) The first of these met with some opposition from the trustees because it admitted the claims of dissenters to share in the benefits. (fn. 7) The second was prompted by the formation of a school board, which made the annual grants to the village schools inappropriate. They were replaced by exhibitions for Hanwell children to the sum of £65 a year, and the question was then raised whether New Brentford should share in the charity. In the course of the investigations which followed, Sir Montagu Sharpe, then treasurer of the charity, conducted extensive researches which formed the basis of most of his published work on the history of Hanwell. (fn. 8) Much of the evidence given at the public inquiry, however, seems to have been founded upon an insufficient understanding of the documents used and of the historical background. (fn. 9) In 1959 the grants to the rector and the church fabric were still being made as they had been for centuries, but considerably more than the official £65 was being spent on grants to children over sixteen years old who were still at school. The remainder was used to give gifts to poor persons. (fn. 10) The total income in 1954-5 was nearly £330, of which £150 came from landed property in Hanwell. This covered some thirteen acres, and the rest of the charity's land had been replaced by trustee stock. (fn. 11)

At the inclosure of 1816 about 1¼ acre on the heath was allotted to the poor in compensation for their rights of common. (fn. 12) The income from the land seems always to have been distributed each winter in coals: it latterly amounted to £12, and the land was let as allotments. (fn. 13) The property was sold in 1939 and in 1951 was opened as a recreation ground called King George's Field: it lies on the corner of Lower Boston Road and St. Mark's Road. (fn. 14) The proceeds were invested in stock, which produced £33 in 1952. (fn. 15)

The Hobbayne's almshouses were apparently given up under the scheme of 1878, but the parish acquired others at about the same time. In 1876 Katherine Buchan built and endowed four almshouses in Green Lane, opposite the school. (fn. 16) Her daughter later increased the endowment, and in 1953-4 the almshouses had an income of £10. (fn. 17) The occupants have always been women. (fn. 18) Other small charities for the poor have been founded by J. W. Commerell (will proved 1848), Baroness de Sternberg (d. 1859), and Eugenie Martin (d. 1914). Baroness de Sternberg was only connected with Hanwell by being buried in one of the large cemeteries in the parish. Mrs. Martin's connexion seems to have been similarly created by the burial of her son. (fn. 19)