Queen Anne’s Bounty; First Fruits and Tenths.—From the earliest periods every bishop and clergyman has been required to pay the amount of his first year’s incumbency into a fund, and every succeeding year one tenth. These first fruits and tenths were formerly collected at their full value, and applied to the use of the pope, as early as the time of Pope Nicholas (A.D. 1200). For this purpose a valuation was made of all the livings in England, which is still preserved in the Remembrancer’s office, and designated, “Valor of Pope Nicholas IV.” At the time of the Reformation, King Henry VIII. passed a law, with the sanction of Parliament, declaring that the first fruits and tenths should be appropriated to the use of the state; and he caused an accurate and full valuation to be made of all the ecclesiastical livings in England and Wales, which were accordingly paid into the public exchequer, till the reign of Queen Anne, with the exception of a short period in the reign of Philip and Mary. Queen Anne, deploring the wretched condition in which many of the clergy were placed, owing to the insufficiency of their livings, came to the determination that the first fruits and tenths should be paid into a fund, called Queen Anne’s Bounty, and that the amount should be appropriated to the livings of the poor clergy. No fresh valuation has been made since 1535, and registered in what is now called the King’s Book, till that made by order of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, in 1835, on which the payments are now regulated. That the payments might not operate oppressively, the first year’s income was to be paid in four annual instalments; and livings of small value were entirely exempt, and hence, called “Discharged livings.” During the time of Popery, a large portion of the tithes had been alienated from the parishes, for the endowment of religious houses, or for chantries, to say masses for the dead. These endowments, at the Reformation, being seized by Henry VIII., left the greater part of the parochial livings very poor. The governors of Queen Anne’s Bounty, sometimes aided by benefactions, and at others by Parliamentary grants, for the endowment of churches, have been able to augment many of the poorest livings, and now the resources at the command of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, by various reductions in cathedral and collegiate churches, will cause the church livings, in a few years, to be considerably equalized: The receipts for the year 1846, amounted to £206,502.
Charities.—The parochial accounts of the posthumous charities are given from the voluminous reports of the commissioners deputed by parliament to enquire into the state and appropriation of public charities in England. This commission commenced in 1817, and was not finished till the year 1839. The charities bequeathed by numerous individuals for the education and relief of the poor of this county, produce collectively the large sum of £21,578. 6s. 4d. In addition to this a very large amount is subscribed by the benevolent inhabitants, for the support of the various charitable institutions, among which are free schools, hospitals, dispensaries, lunatic asylums, and various societies for relieving the poor, &c. The summary of the reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into charities show that in England there are 442,915 acres, or about 690 square miles, belonging to charities, which is little less than the area of Worcestershire. The rent of these lands is £874,313 per annum. The amount of rent charge is near £80,000 per annum, a great part of which is made up of very small sums. The interest of the money (above £6,000,000) which belongs to charities is £255,151 per annum; the whole income of the charity property inquired into by the commissioners is £1,209,395 per annum. Now all this is not derived from one plain single source, but from all the counties of England; from numerous rent charges, money in the funds, mortgages, personal and turnpike securities, &c. Further, this only includes the charities inquired into by the commissioners. We believe that the commissioners have here and there missed a few charities. New charities are daily increasing, and those not included in the inquiry are very numerous.
Parish Registers.—The earliest of the parish registers date from the establishment of the Church of England, injunctions to this effect having been issued by Cromwell, Henry’s vicegerent in ecclesiastical matters in 1538. The canons now in force date their authority from the beginning of the reign of James I., A.D. 1603. One of these prescribes minutely the manner entries are to be made in the parish registers, and contains a respective clause, appointing that the ancient registers, as far as they could be procured, should be copied in a parchment book. This new regulation appears to have been carried into effect, so that the only parish registers now extant are transcripts commencing with Queen Elizabeth’s reign. The parish register act of 1812 obviated some of the previous sources of error, and insured the further usefulness of the registers of that period. But a satisfactory system of registration was not established until the year 1837, when the act for registering births, deaths, and marriages came into operation in England and Wales. The registration of births is considerably more complete than the old parochial registers of baptism, and the register of deaths is believed to be very complete.
A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL
SEATS & RESIDENCES OF THE NOBILITY, GENTRY, & CLERGY,
IN THE COUNTY OF SHROPSHIRE.
*** To avoid increasing this List, the Villa Residences in the suburbs of the Towns are not inserted, but will be found in the Directories of the respective Parishes in which they are situated.
THOSE WITH * AFFIXED ARE ACTING MAGISTRATES.
Abertannat Hall, 1½ mile S.E. of Blodwell, John Edwards, Esq.
Acton Burnell Hall, 8 miles N.E. of Shrewsbury, * Sir Edward Joseph Smythe, Bart.
Acton Reynald, 7 miles N.E. by N. of Shrewsbury, * Sir Andrew Vincent Corbet, Bart.
Adderley Hall, 4 miles N.W. of Drayton, * Richard Corbet, Esq.