It is very curious to find that the supply of converts continued; only once did they wholly cease; there was sometimes only one; then three, four, eight, five, two, and so on. Where, I repeat, did they come from? One woman was named Elizabeth Portugall—evidently a Portuguese Jewess; another was called Elizabeth Baptista; another was “Kateryn Wheteley,” sometime called Aysa Rudeywa; another, Mary Coke, alias “Omell Fayll Isya.”
Thomas Cromwell was made Keeper in 1534. In his term of office he held a Court of Law at the House: yet it was not without converts. In 1550, when John Beaumont became keeper, he had but one convert, the above-named Mary Coke.
When Mary Coke died in 1551 (?), there followed a period of 26 years when there were no converts at all. In 1578 Yehoude Mende appears followed by Fortuna Massa, Philip Ferdinando and Elizabeth Ferdinando. In 1606-7 there were four converts. And then the allowances cease.
One Paul Jacob petitioned King James to grant him assistance, but he was not received into the Domus. That part of its history was closed.
In 1708 we hear that the buildings were much dilapidated: in 1717 the Rolls House was built upon the site of the Domus. And the Chapel was used as a muniment room for depositing the rolls of Chancery, until their removal to the Public Record Office.
Chapel of St. Mary Magdalen and All Saints Guildhall
The foundation of a college dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen is said by Stow to have taken place in 1299. It appears to have been so much enriched seventy years later by Adam Francis and Henry de Frowick as to have become a new Foundation. A third benefactor, Peter Fantore, died before his intentions were carried out. It was endowed for five chaplains who were to pray for the souls of the Founders, their wives, and their children, King Edward the Third, and all departed Kings, Mayors, Wardens, Sheriffs, and Chamberlains of the City. In the year 1430, the buildings, having become ruinous, were pulled down and others erected on the south side of them. In 1450 the parish clerks obtained leave to have a Guild dedicated to St. Nicholas in the Chapel, with two chaplains and seven almspeople.
At the Dissolution the College had a Warden, seven chaplains, three clerks, and four choristers. The Chapel was given to the Mayor and Aldermen, for whom services were held in it on certain occasions.
In the year 1785 the Chapel was made into a Court of Requests, and so remained until the year 1820, when it was taken down.