Whereas we, whose names and seals are hereunto subscribed and set, are all, or most of us, persons concerned in the herring-fishery. And do intend to employ and send out yaggers to sea, to buy herrings for this herring-fishing season, and to all other subsequent herring-fishing seasons, during our respective lives. And whereas the Corporation of Great Yarmouth, in the county of Norfolk, do give out speeches, and threaten, that in case we, or any of us, do so buy herrings at sea, that they will commence and prosecute one or more suit or suits against us, or him, or them of us, who shall so buy herrings at sea. And whereas, in case any suit or suits shall be brought, begun, commenced or prosecuted against us, every, or any of us, for our, every, or any of our buying herrings at sea, during this or any other subsequent herring-fishing season, we are unanimously resolved to defend such suit or suits. And in order to defray the charge and expense of such suit or suits, we, and every of us, whose names and seals are hereunto subscribed and set, do hereby severally and respectively, each one for himself, and for his own heirs, executors, and administrators, and not jointly, or one of us for another, covenant, promise and agree, to, and with, John Tanner, of Lowestoft aforesaid, clerk, his executors, and administrators, in manner and form following, (that is to say), That we, and every of us, shall, and will, within seven days next after any suit or suits shall be brought, begun, or commenced against us, every, or any of us, by the said corporation of Great Yarmouth, or by any person or persons whomsoever, for our, every, or any of our, buying herrings at sea as aforesaid, well and truly pay, or cause to be paid, this several sum and sums of money by us severally subscribed or set down at or near the end of our respective names, into the hands of such person or persons as the majority of us whose names and seals are hereunto subscribed and set, shall, by any writing, to be signed by such majority in the presence of two credible witnesses, direct and appoint. And that such suit and suits shall be defended during the pleasure of the majority of us. And also, that it shall and may be lawful to and for the person or persons into whose hands the majority of us shall so, as aforesaid, direct and appoint the said several sum and sums of money so, as aforesaid, by us severally subscribed to be paid, out of the same moneys, to pay not only such costs and charges and other moneys as may happen to be obtained or recovered against us, every, or any of us, in any such suit or suits. And that we, and every of us, shall and will, out of the same moneys so, as aforesaid, by us subscribed, bear a proportionable part, with respect only to our several subscriptions, as well as of all such costs and charges and other moneys as may happen to be obtained or recovered against us, every, or any of us, in any such suit or suits as aforesaid, as also of the charges in defending such suit or suits. And so, likewise, in case the corporation of Great Yarmouth shall act in any such manner as to make it necessary for us to commence and prosecute any suit or action against them, it is hereby agreed, That the money underneath subscribed shall be liable to be employed as well in bringing and prosecuting any such suit or action as the majority of us shall think necessary to commence and prosecute against them, as in defending any such suit or action as they shall commence and prosecute against us. And likewise to make good to any particular person the loss he may sustain by his vessel being seized and detained by the said corporation, on account of his buying herrings at sea as aforesaid. Provided always, and it is our and every our intents and meanings, that in case any of us shall happen to depart this life before any such suit or suits shall be brought, begun, or commenced against us, or any of us, that then the sum and sums of money subscribed by him and them of us who shall depart this life as aforesaid, shall not be paid. And that then, and in such case, the executors or administrators of him or them of us so dying shall not be any way concerned in any such suit or suits, any thing herein before mentioned or contained to the contrary thereof, in any wise notwithstanding. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this two and twentieth day of September, in the third year of the reign of our sovereign lord George the second, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, defender of the faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord one thousand seven and twenty-nine.
John Jex, £50; William Balls, £30; James Reeve, £20; Thomas Manning, £20; Samuel Adams, £20; John Arnold, £5; Robert Hayward, £35; John Fowler, jun., £25; Robert Payne, £15; Samuel Church, £25; Thomas Landifield, £25; Daniel Long, £20; John Ibrooke, £5; John Barker, jun., £30; John Ellis, £20; John Munds, £20; Charles Boyce, £20; Matthew Arnold, £25; Thomas Watson, £5; John Brame, £20; Robert Dixon, £10.
Thus was the last effort of the Yarmouth men to monopolize the herring-fishery totally frustrated, and the Lowestoft people have enjoyed the free exercise thereof, without any interruption ever since.
How far the disputes between Yarmouth and Lowestoft had engaged the attention of the public, will, in some measure, appear from the following circumstance:—
About the beginning of the reign of Charles I, lived Thomas Nash, who was born at Lowestoft, and was a sharp satirist. He wrote a play called “Lenton-Stuffe; or, The Praise of the Red Herring,” published in 1599, in 4to. Also another play called “The Isle of Dogs,” together with other works. His writings relate chiefly to the disputes between Yarmouth and Lowestoft, the former of which places he attempted much to ridicule. Swinden says, “The facetious Nash designed nothing more in Lenton-Stuffe than a joke upon our staple—red herrings; and being a Lowestoft man, the enmity between the two towns led him to attempt that by humour which more sober reason could not accomplish.”
SECTION V.
OF THE CHURCH.
Lowestoft is a vicarage endowed with great tithes. In the reign of Henry I the impropriation of this parish was given by that king towards augmenting the endowment of the priory of St. Bartholomew, in London, and continued in the possession of that house till the dissolution of the monasteries, in the reign of Henry VIII; when the site of this priory being granted to Sir Richard Rich, afterwards Lord Rich, probably the impropriation of Lowestoft, as part of the endowment of the priory, devolved to Sir Richard and his family. How long it continued there, or into whose hands it came afterwards, is now uncertain; the most material information obtainable concerning it is, that about the year 1719 the impropriation was the property of three grand-daughters of one Mr. Church, at Pakefield, whose names were Fowler, Landifield, and Warwick; and was purchased of them soon after by the Rev. Tanner, vicar of the parish, at the price of £1050, which money was raised by Mr. Tanner by subscription. In gratitude to the memory of those who so generously contributed to the purchase of this impropriation, Mr. Tanner caused a list of their names to be entered upon two tables, and affixed to the north side of the chancel, together with the several sums they severally subscribed. Between these tables of impropriation benefactors is a neat marble tablet with the following inscription:
A.D. 1720.
Two Hundred Pounds of Queen Anne’s Bounty were given
towards purchasing the
Impropriation of Lowestoft, for the benefit of the Vicar.
Mr. Tanner, previous to the subscription for purchasing the impropriation, distributed among his friends, and the neighbouring gentlemen, a printed representation of the vicarial tithes and the state of the living; and wherein it appears that the income was very small.
THE REPRESENTATION.
The parish of Lowestoft, in Suffolk, is a large parish, consisting of about three or four and twenty hundred souls; and the living, which is a vicarage only, is but meanly endowed; there being no house, and but one acre of land belonging to it, and out of that piece of land the crown claims a pension of 3s. 4d. per year, and 8d. for an acquittance; the vicarage tithes are not worth above £20 per year, one year with another; and all the rest of the minister’s income depends on the offerings, surplice fees, and fisheries, which are very precarious and uncertain. And as the number of the poor increaseth greatly in the said parish (the poor’s rate, which about 35 years ago came only to £13 a quarter, cometh now to £63 per quarter, besides a great deal that is paid to the poor out of the town lands), so doth the number of the inhabitants in general increase too (several families coming to us almost every year from other places, and the number of our christenings exceed the number of our burials); so that the duty of the minister is plainly increasing, whilst his revenue must as certainly decrease as the poor increase. But under this melancholy prospect it hath pleased God to order things so that the great tithes of the said parish are to be sold, by a decree in Chancery, to the highest bidder; and to put it into the hearts of several, both in the parish and places adjoining, to contribute according to their abilities, towards purchasing the said tithes for the benefit of the vicar for the time being, for ever. But as all that can be raised hereabouts will go but a little way towards so large a purchase, we are forced to ask the assistance of charitable and well-disposed persons further off, hoping they will not be backward in promoting so good a work.
It is thought that these tithes will cost £1,800, which being a larger sum than can possibly be raised by benefactions; the method proposed is, to raise as much as we can by benefactions, and to borrow the rest of the money; and to have the tithes conveyed to divers persons, in trust for payment of the money borrowed; and when both principal and interest of that is paid off, then to be for the use and benefit of the minister for the time being, for ever. So that it is uncertain whether the present minister will ever have any benefit of it. And therefore he hopes that all whom he applies himself to on this account will believe that he acts more, in what he herein doth for the good of the church than out of any principle of self-interest.
It is apprehended that the acre of land referred to by Mr. Tanner, (on which formerly was built a messuage or tenement, since decayed) for which the vicar of the parish paid to the crown the annual sum of 3s. 4d, and 8d. for an acquittance, was given by some pious person, to support a light before the image of St. Roche. [119] Where this image was placed, whether in the church or in one of the chapels, is now uncertain; though most probably in the church; as this acre of land lies next the quarter of an acre at the south-west corner of the churchyard, on which the vicarage-house stood that was destroyed by fire in 1546. Probably at the dissolution, the premises came into the hands of Government, and as the vicar enjoyed them, he became subject to the above annual payment. A discharge of the above-mentioned payment was purchased of Government in 1788, by the Rev. John Arrow, late vicar of this parish, at the expense of £5 as appears by the following certificate: