[♦] PLATE XXVI. ABINGDON ALMSHOUSES
“Thes persons be called cremettes and le pore and agyd people, and placyd in a howse, callyd Seynt Nycoles Hospytell, p235 and when any of them dyeth another ys placyd in the dedes roome, and ys very convenyent to be contynuyd, as well for the helpe of the pore and agyd people of the towne as for others.”
In many places, however, endowments were seized by virtue of this Act. A sixteenth-century MS. states:—
“Item, there ar within the towne and parishe of Taunton xliiijor almshowses full of poore people whereunto there was certen Lande belonginge which by the Suppression of Chaunteries was taken awaie soe that now thinhabitaunts doe beare the whole burden them selues.”[154]
The dissolution of fraternities also affected the maintenance of the poor. Of almshouses associated with gilds at Colchester, Stratford and Abingdon, none survived save the latter, which was incorporated by Edward VI. St. John’s hospital in Winchester outlived the fraternity annexed to it. St. Thomas’, York, which had been united to Corpus Christi Gild, weathered the storm, its officials afterwards diplomatically inviting the mayor and aldermen “to be brether with us in the same hospital.”
Those houses were fairly secure which were already the property of municipal authorities, who indeed received fresh patronage at this time (e.g. at Canterbury, Norwich, Bath)—a policy which obtained the support of the great middle-class. At this crisis the public-spirited action of more than one corporation saved charities from extinction. In the Survey for Wiltshire (1548), quoted by Mr. Leach in English Schools at the Reformation, the following entry is made:—“There is an Hospitall within Marleborowe . . . wiche the sayd mayre and commons humbly desyre the Kingis Highnes and his mooste Honourable councell p236 to conuerte into a Free scole for the inducement of youth.” But before the townsmen obtained their school, it was necessary to sell the stock of plate intended to pass from mayor to mayor, “as hath byn credibly reported,” says a book formerly belonging to the Chamber. To cite another example, the corporation of Bristol received St. Mark’s as a “gift,” that is, the sum of £1000 was paid into the treasury of the Court of Augmentations, besides an annual rent of £20. The city obtained part of the property in return on easy terms, for, as Fuller would observe, there were “many good bargains, or rather cheap pennyworths, bought of abbey lands.” It is said that more than half the purchase-money was raised by the sale of church plate.
In London, the citizens, under the leadership of the Lord Mayor, made an urgent petition to Henry VIII (1538) for the re-foundation of certain hospitals:—
“for the ayde and comforte of the poore sykke, blynde, aged and impotent persones, beyng not able to helpe theymselffs, nor hauyning any place certeyn whereyn they may be lodged, cherysshed and refresshed tyll they be cured and holpen of theyre dyseases and syknesse. For the helpe of the said poore people, we enforme your grace that there be nere and wtyn the cytye of London three hospytalls or spytells, comenly called Saynt Mary Spytell, Saynt Bartylmews Spytell, and Saynt Thomas Spytell, . . . fownded of good devo
on by auncyent fathers, and endowed wt great possessions and rents.”
The petitioners promise that if the king will grant the governance of these hospitals to them with their possessions, they shall be reformed and their usefulness increased:—
“A greatter nombre of poore nedy sykke and indygent persones shalbe refresshed maynteyned comforted fownde heled p237 and cured of theyre infyrmytyes frankly and frely, by phisicions, surgeons, and appotycaryes, . . . so that all impotent persones not able to labor shall be releued . . . and all sturdy beggars not willing to labor shalbe punisshed, so that wt Godd’s grace fewe or no persones shalbe seene abrode to begge or aske almesse.”