Richard Winne, in 1679, gave £100 to the Haberdashery Company, London, on their giving a covenant to pay £5 yearly to the minister and churchwarden of the parish of St. Chad, for the benefit of the poor. This gift is distributed by the churchwardens among twenty poor widows.
Hester Farmer, by will, 1691, devised a parcel of land in Castle Foregate, and directed the rents to be paid successively to the several parishes of St. Chad, Guilsfield, Kinnerley, and Great Ness. The land produces £23 per annum, and once in four years the amount is distributed in small sums among the poor of St. Chad’s parish.
Elizabeth Williams, in 1712, charged certain lands at Llansianfraid, in the county of Montgomery, with the payment of 40s, yearly, to the minister of St. Chad, upon trust, to dispose of 20s. thereof yearly, for clothing two of the poorest boys in the parish of St. Chad, and the remaining 20s. in buying coats or gowns for three poor women.
Francis Swift, in 1717, bequeathed £100 to the churchwardens and overseers of the parish. This gift was laid out in the purchase of three tenements, in Shrewsbury, for a workhouse; together with £100 arising from the charity of Gabriel Rogers; £10 the charity of John Lloyd; £10 given for a distribution of bread, and £100 given to the parish officers for the general benefit of the inhabitants. This workhouse was sold about the year 1799, and out of the sale £220, the amount of the several sums given for charitable uses, with the further sum of £40, the gift of John Lloyd, was lent on the security of the Shrewsbury House of Industry, bearing interest at five per cent. In respect of Swift’s gift, £5 is given among poor persons in sums varying from 2s. 6d. to 5s. each.
Martha and Mary Harwood’s Charities.—There is an annual sum of upwards of £80 arising from an estate, at Faxley, and a dwelling house situated in Belmont, Shrewsbury, which is distributed among poor decayed housekeepers and aged widows, chiefly parishioners of St. Chad, excepting £5 per annum which is used as a clothing fund for poor widows. There were two houses in Belmont, devised by Mary Harwood in 1734; but they were subsequently converted into one.
Josena Pemberton, by a codicil to her will, dated 10th December, 1817, desired that her sister would pay yearly during her life the sum of five guineas, to be laid out in coals for the poor; and she further desired that her nephew, Rev. Robert N. Pemberton, would, within one month of her sister’s decease, lay out the sum of £100 in the names of the trustees, or some other safe security, and apply the annual income in purchasing coals for poor needy persons of the parish of St. Chad. When the Charity Commissioners published their report, Miss Pemberton and her nephew were both living, and the annual sum of £5. 5s. was paid to the churchwardens.
Easter Jones, in 1823, bequeathed to the minister and churchwardens of the parish of St. Chad £400 three per cent consols, in trust, to distribute the yearly dividends every Easter Monday, in proportions of 10s. each, to twenty-four poor women of the said parish.
Mary Jukes, by will, in 1700, devised certain premises on Claremont Hill, and directed the yearly income to be appropriated to charitable uses. The property consists of four houses, producing a yearly rental of £46; out of which 10s. is paid to the vicar for an annual sermon, one moiety paid in apprentice fees, and the residue distributed among the poor.
Edward Tomkis, by will bearing date 24th January, 1771, bequeathed £400 upon trust, that the interest should be annually spent in buying twelve blue coats for men, and twelve gowns and petticoats of the same colour for an equal number of women. In respect of this Charity, there is a sum of £717. 10s. three per cent. consols, the dividends of which amount to £21. 10s. 6d. The amount is expended in coats and gowns, except a yearly sum of £5 which has been given to the Vicar of Meole Brace for clothing poor boys, belonging to St. Chad’s, but resident in Meole Brace.
Hopton Estate Charity.—The following legacies were noticed on a table of benefactions put up in the Church in 1640, viz.:—Sarah Giles, £50; John Hill, £50; Henry Swinnerton, £50; Stephen Rogers, £50; Thomas Phillips, £10; John Cotton, £50; Hester Lloyd, £100; Thomas Cotton, £10; John Hall, £20; Richard Lloyd, £10. These several sums may have formed the purchase money of the Hopton estate, as it is stated it was purchased with the proper money of the poor of the parish of St. Chad; but it does not state the source from whence the money was obtained. The estate consists of 83a. 1r. 37p. of land, with farm house and out-buildings, the whole of which was let on lease in 1748, for 99 years, at a yearly rental of £15. The farm is valued at upwards of £100 a-year. Of the rent one moiety has been paid in aid of the National Schools, and the other to the general fund of the poor.