Leicester.

Charities for Loans, continued.

Part of the money repaid for loans was received by Mr. Cook, who was mayor in 1833-4, and between him and the town-clerk the account stood thus,

Elkington's Charity.

£5,726 10 10

Mr. Cook has since paid the new corporation the sum of money which he received, and Mr. Burbidge admits that he is accountable for the remaining 4,9057. 2s., subject to claims for law expenses; and being unable to pay it off at present, he has given security to the amount of 6000l., by assigning his claim for compensation as town-clerk, under the Corporation Act, in trust, to four members of the old corporation, who have agreed to execute any instrument required to enable the new trustees to avail themselves of the benefit of such security.

In addition to this security from Mr. Burbidge, Mr. Thomas Marston, on 7th April 1835, joined Mr. Burbidge in an accountable receipt for the sum of 2,8867. 10s. 10d., being the balance Lady-day 1835, which ought to have been paid over to the succeeding mayor, which receipt remains in Mr. Rawson's hands.

Mr. Burbidge states that he has demands upon the charity for law expenses, in addition to the two sums of 2007. each entered and allowed in the account made up at Lady-day 1835, and which he will claim to set off against the balance admitted to be due from him. The chancery suit alluded to as commenced by Mr. Whittle Harvey, was an information filed in 1833, in the name of the Attorney General, at the relation of Thomas Kidney and Sarah Hollier, against the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses, as trustees of Sir Thomas White's Charity, and of the charities of Robert Heyrick and John Parker, complaining of mismanagement, and that the accounts of the three charities were not kept separate. An answer was put in by the corporation in 1834. Thomas Kidney, one of the relators, died in 1834, aged 80 years, and Sarah Hollier, the other relator, appears to have been in prison for debt, and stated that she did not know that she was a relator until informed by defendant's solicitor. These facts being brought under the notice of the Attorney General, it is stated that he directed the proceedings to be stayed until fresh relators were put in, and that no further steps have been taken, and no order has been made respecting the costs which have been incurred.

Although there is every reason to expect that the balance due to the charity will be made good and without any loss, yet it appears desirable that this case should be certified to Her Majesty's Attorney General, that in case any disputes should occur, the charity may receive the benefit of the intervention of the Court of Chancery.

ELKINGTON'S CHARITY.

Richard Elkington, of Shawell, by Will, dated 29th May 1607, proved in the Arches Court of Canterbury, gave to the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses of Leicester 50%., upon trust, to lend the same to such five poor artificers or tradesmen of the town of Lutterworth, 10%. to each, as the parson and churchwardens there, or the churchwardens when there should be no parson, should yearly upon the feast of St. Andrew the Apostle nominate for that purpose, to be lent and delivered on St. Thomas's-day on good security, with two sureties for one year, at. Five per Cent. interest, and so from time to time for ever; and he declared his will to be that 35s. parcel of the interest, should be yearly distributed, between the 21st and 25th December, by the parson and churchwardens of Lutterworth amongst the poor of the said parish, at their discretion, and 6s. to the town-clerk of Leicester for entering the orders and making the bonds, and the other 9s. for the use of the said poor artificers or tradesmen towards their charges in coming to Leicester; and in consideration that the said mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses, should perform the said trust, he further gave them the like sum of 50%., on trust, to lend the same to such five poor artificers or tradesmen of the borough of Leicester, 10l. to each, as the parson or vicar, and churchwardens of St. Martin's, or the churchwardens alone, when there should be no parson or vicar, should yearly upon the feast day of St. Andrew the Apostle appoint; such nomination to be set down by the town-clerk, the same to be delivered yearly on St. Thomas's-day, upon the same security and at the same interest as in the former case; and he directed that 40s. parcel of the interest, should be, between the 21st and 25th December, by the parson or vicar and churchwardens of St. Martin's, distributed amongst the poor of the said parish, at their discretion, and the other 10s. to be paid to the town-clerk for entering the orders and making the bonds.

By indenture, dated 12th July 1638, William Speechley, alderman of Leicester, in consideration of 1417. conveyed to Daniel Morfin, mayor, and Alexander Baker, and seven others described as aldermen, and four others as common council of the borough of Leicester, and their heirs and assigns, a close of pasture, formerly two, in the parish of St. Margaret's, abutting upon a lane called Millstone Lane, on the north part, and a lane called Hangman Lane, on the south part; also two cottages, formerly a barn, consisting of three bays of building in the north end of the said close, to hold the same to the said grantees, their heirs, and assigns, for their own use. Indorsed upon this deed in ancient writing, is, " Part whereof was purchased with Mr. Elkington's money."

The corporation records contain the following entry :—

"A meeting held the 12th day of July 1638,
"Daniel Morfin, Mayor,

"This day Mr. Speechlye sealed his deed of his close and cottage nigh the Horse

Fair Leas, and delivered possession of the same to the feoffees, out of the rent of which Elkington's yearly gift to the poore of the parish of St. Martin and the poore of Lutterworth is to be paid."

By indentures of lease and release, dated 8th and 9th September 1690, between Thomas Baker, son and heir of the said Alexander Baker, late alderman of Leicester, of the first part, the mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses, of the second part, and John Bent, mayor, and John Goodhall and ten others, aldermen of the said borough, Francis Churchman and Joseph Wilkins, chamberlains, and five others, being seven of the common council of the said borough, of the third part, reciting the indenture of 12th July 1638, above abstracted, and that all the parties thereto were dead, and that the said Alexander Baker was the survivor, whereby the estate in the said premises descended upon his son the said Thomas Baker, and that since the making of the said indenture a messuage had been built upon part of the said close, and the residue had been converted into an orchard or garden; the said Thomas Baker, by the direction of the said mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses, conveyed the said messuage, close, and garden, unto the said John Bent and others, parties of the third part, and their heirs, to hold to the use of the said parties, their heirs and assigns, for ever; and it was declared and agreed between the parties that the estate, title, and interest thereby granted to the said John Bent and others in the said premises was upon special trust and for the only benefit and advantage of the said mayor, bailiffs, and burgesses, and their successors and assigns for ever.

The employment of the legacies in this purchase would necessarily prevent the corporation from disposing of them in loans as directed by the testator, and as a larger sum could be obtained on easier terms from Sir Thomas White's charity, it was perhaps thought useless to attempt to lend this money at the rate of interest mentioned in the Will. The corporation appear to have paid 57. yearly as interest, half to Lutterworth, and half to St. Martin's, Leicester, supposing the principal money to have been retained in their hands, carrying the whole rent of the land purchased to the general account of the corporation, which was entitled only to two-sevenths, being the proportion which the money advanced towards the purchase by the corporation bore to the bequests of the testator.

In 1807 the corporation were about to dispose of the property purchased in 1638, and in examining the deeds for the purpose of making a title, Mr. William Heyrick, then town-clerk, wrote a letter to the gentlemen of the committee of the corporation, wherein he stated that he thought it his duty to report to them that in preparing to make a title to the property which had been sold to Mr. Roby, in Mill-stone Lane, he had discovered in some ancient records of the corporation, about 200 years old, that 57. per annum to Lutterworth and St. Martin's was charged on that property called Speechley's, and suggested the propriety of taking some steps in order to preserve the rights of the poor, and prevent future litigation.

At a meeting of the corporation held immediately on the receipt of the letter, they passed a resolution, that it would be wrong to conceal the facts from the purchasers of the land, or from the parishes the full circumstances of the case, and that the corporation would institute such proceedings as would procure the decision of the Lord Chancellor on the case; and they directed that the minister and parish officers of St. Martin's and Lutterworth should be informed that the poor of their respective parishes might be entitled to a larger interest in the land than the sum they had been used to receive on account of Mr. Elkington's charity, and that they should be made acquainted with all the information which could be learnt from the Corporation records on the subject.

This resolution of the corporation, together with the report of the town-clerk, was forwarded by him to the two parishes of St. Martin's, Leicester, and Lutterworth, in a letter dated 4th March 1807.

An information was filed 31st October 1807, in the name of the Attorney General, at the relation of Hamlet Clarke, and others, against the corporation of Leicester, and the ministers and churchwardens of the two parishes interested, which information was dismissed with costs 7th May 1813, on the petition of the relators, upon the motion of Mr. Bell, who recommended this proceeding in order that instead thereof a summary petition should be presented under the Act of Parliament which had passed in the preceding session.

A petition in the matter of Elkington's Charity was accordingly presented in December 1813, by the said Hamlet Clarke, and two others, under the provision of Sir Samuel Romilly's Act, setting out all the facts, on the hearing of which on 22d December in that year, it was referred to the Master to inquire in whom the legal estate in the premises in question was vested, and to take an account of the rents and profits of the premises received by the corporation of Leicester since the filing of the information; and the Court declared that five-sevenths of such rents belonged to the charities in question, and two-sevenths to the corporation of Leicester, and ordered the premises to be sold, with the approbation of the Master, and the money arising from such sale to be paid into the bank with the privity of the Accountant General; and referred it to the Master to approve of a scheme for the distribution of the money arising from such sale, regard being had to the Will of the testator, and whether there were any persons to whom the same could be lent on the terms of the Will.

The question of costs was reserved until after the Master had made his report.

The estate was afterwards sold before the Master in the year 1817, as from the Ladyday 1818.

The Master, in pursuance of this order, on the 9th June 1825 made his report, whereby, after stating the Will of Richard Elkington, and the conveyance of 12th July 1638, he found that 100%., part of the said purchase money of 1417., consisted of the two sums of 50l. and 50%. given by the said testator Richard Elkington, and that the remainder of the purchase money was paid by the mayor and burgesses out of their own money, and that the grantees were

Leicester.

Elkington's Charity,

continued.

Leicester.

Elkington's Charity, continued.

therefore only trustees for the said mayor, &c., and that the said mayor, &c., as to his portion thereof, were only trustees for the charitable uses mentioned in the Will.

That the said mayor, &c., had received the rents, and had paid 5l. annually to the purposes mentioned in the Will in respect of the interest to arise from the said two sums of 50l. and 50%., and that the said premises when purchased were of the yearly value of 77., and that 57. was a fair proportion to be allotted to the charities in respect of so much of the purchase money as belonged to them, but that for some time previous to the sale of the premises they had produced a higher rent; that the premises were sold some years since at sums amounting in the whole to 2,7401., which had been paid into Court, and laid out in the purchase of stock, and the dividends laid out to accumulate; that there was then standing to the credit of this matter in Bank Three per Cent. Consols 3,805. 17s. 1d., five-seventh parts of which, namely 2,7187. 9s. 31d. Three per Cent. Consols, producing an annual income of 817. 11s. or thereabouts, belonged to the charity; and he also found from the admission of the petitioners that 1081. 3s. 4d. was remaining in their hands as the balance arising from the proportion of the rents belonging to the charity previous to the said sale, that the petitioners had laid a statement of facts and scheme before him, in which they stated that in consequence of the alteration in the value of money since the time of the testator it had become impracticable to carry his intentions into effect in the precise terms of his Will, because no one would take the trouble of finding security for so small a sum as 107. for one year, and that five per cent. was too high a rate of interest for a boon or charitable advantage; and the petitioners had proposed that they should be at liberty to lend the charity funds in sums not exceeding 50l. each at three per cent. interest, to such persons and upon such securities as were mentioned in the Will, and for such time not exceeding three years; and that if any part of the charity funds should be unemployed in such loans, the same might be invested in the purchase of stock in the public funds, and that such stock might be sold from time to time as the demands for loans required; and that out of the interest of the charity funds, whether in loans or invested in the funds, 51. per annum should be paid to the town-clerk of Leicester for preparing the bonds, and that the remainder should be divided into two parts, one for the parish of Lutterworth, and the other for the parish of St. Martin's in Leicester; and that out of the Lutterworth moiety the corporation of Leicester should make such allowances as they should think proper to the Lutterworth borrowers for travelling expenses, and pay over the remainder to the parson or churchwardens of Lutterworth, to be distributed at their discretion among deserving poor persons in Lutterworth; and that the said St. Martin's moiety should be paid over to the parson or churchwardens of that parish for the like purpose there: all which the said Master approved of as a scheme for the future appropriation of the charity. And in respect of the said order for the sale of the said estate, and the inquiring in whom the legal estate was vested, he found the estate had been sold as before stated, and that the same had been sold and conveyed to the purchasers thereof, and that the solicitor had waived proceeding to take the account of rents and profits, having agreed to admit the said balance of 1087. 3s. 4d. to be due from the corporation of Leicester in respect thereof.

On the 1st July 1825, a petition was presented to the Master of the Rolls to confirm the said report, and by order dated 9th July following the said report was confirmed, and it was ordered that the 3,805l. 17s. 1d. Three per Cent. Consols, together with any dividends to accrue due thereon until the transfer, should be transferred to the mayor or bailiffs and burgesses, as the trustees of the charity, to the intent that they might apply five-sevenths thereof, and the whole of the balance of 1087. 3s. 4d., according to the scheme and proposal approved by the said Master, and be at liberty to retain for their own use the remainder of such stock. It appears that the stock was transferred accordingly, and at a meeting of the corporation held on the 30th August 1825, It was ordered that the common seal should be affixed to powers of attorney for sale of stock and receipt of dividends.

And at a subsequent meeting of the corporation in common hall, held 25th January 1826, as a committee for the management of Elkington's Charity, it was ordered that the money in the funds should be sold at a price not below 80%., and the produce be placed in the bank of Mansfield and Co., in the name of the corporation, as a separate account, to be disposed of according to the order of this committee.

The stock was sold out at 80 on the 26th January 1826, and on the 27th the sum of 3,0537. 4s. 7d. is entered as the produce of 3,8051. 17s. 6d. Consols in the books of Messrs. Mansfield and Babington, bankers of Leicester, in an account headed "The corporation of Leicester trustees for a charity at St. Martin's and Lutterworth." This money has remained with Messrs. Mansfield and Babington to the present time. They allowed interest thereon for the first year at four, and since at the rate of three per cent., striking a balance and adding the interest to the principal every year. On the 1st January 1836, the whole amounted to 3,8677. 14s., divisible in the above-mentioned proportions between the corporation and charity. It is to be observed, however, that from the year 1828 the churchwardens of the parish of St. Martin's have received annually 301. as the interest due to their parish, which has been distributed as hereafter stated.

If the produce of the stock sold had been divided immediately

£. S. d.

and the present balance of 3,8677. 14s. must be divided in the same manner, but of the fivesevenths belonging to the charities as between the two parishes of St. Martin and Lutterworth,

the latter will be entitled to receive a sum equal to that which the former has received already, with the interest accrued thereon, before an equal division of the residue is made.

The funds of this charity have not been applied according to the directions of the Court except the sum of 307. paid annually to St. Martin's, and distributed there as stated in the account of that parish. The further application was stopped by an information filed in the Court of Chancery in 1827, in the name of the Attorney General at the relation of Thomas Footman, William Stretton, John Bankart, and James Hudson, against the corporation as trustees of this charity. An answer was put in by the defendants, and the suit was likely to be dismissed for want of prosecution when further proceedings were suspended by the dissolution of the old corporation, and by the election of three of the relators as members of the new town council. On this change of character the relators were desirous to compromise the suit and put a stop to further proceedings, proposing that the corporation should pay part of the costs, but that the costs of the relators should be paid out of the charity funds. It appears, however, that the charity has obtained no benefit by the proceedings, and that it will be a proper question for the decision of the Court whether the relators individually, or the new corporation, should be liable to the costs. It is unnecessary to advert to the complaints contained in the information, as the question of costs is all that seems left to be decided, and it appears unreasonable that the charity should pay the expense of proceedings by which its operations have been for many years impeded.

As there is a cause already in Court, we have stated these facts to the Attorney General in order that his attention may be called to the case, and that he may not, without consideration, be led to sanction any arrangement which may diminish the funds of the charity, or prevent it from being brought into immediate operation.

As it has been made a subject of complaint in the progress of the former suit, the Master did not, as directed, take an account of the receipts of the charity land, such account having been waived by agreement, it may be right to observe that if such account had been taken there would have been found a very considerable balance due from the corporation to the charity. For upwards of 80 years after the purchase of the land the rent was only 77. a-year, of which 57. was yearly given to the charity, and 27. retained by the corporation; and this division of five-sevenths and two-sevenths was correct in proportion to the purchase money. From 1696 to 1716, the rent was 81. a-year, and from 1716 to 1770, 127. a-year; but as still 51. only was applied to the charity, the corporation had the whole benefit of the increased rent. From 1770 to 1806, a period of 36 years, the rent was 377. a-year, but 57. only thereof was paid to the account of the charity, amounting for this period only to 1807., whereas the sum properly due, being five-sevenths of the whole rent, would amount to 8807.

HEYRICK'S CHARITIES.

Leicester.

Elkington's Charity, continued,

Robert Heyrick, alderman of Leicester, who died 14th June 1618, by Will, dated 26th Heyrick's Charities, March 1617, gave forth of the house he dwelt in, to be paid yearly for ever, 5l. into the mayor's hands every year on the 2d February, and by the mayor and four justices delivered by their discretion to the several parishes in or near Leicester, St. Leonard's to be one, to the minister and churchwardens, the money to be shared by the mayor and justices as they should think fittest for every parish, and as the greater or lesser number of poor should be in the parishes, the churchwardens to distribute the same in bread, a twopenny loaf at least to every householder or old body that should receive the said alms.

He also gave forth of the Grey Friars yearly for ever 40s. to be paid into the mayor's hands yearly the 1st of December, to be given by the mayor and justices to 40 poor widows before or on St. Thomas's-day at the furthest, 20 to be of the parish of St. Martin's, and the other 20 where Mr. mayor and the justices within the town should think best.

Also he gave more "forth of the Grey Friars yearly to be paid to the schoolmaster that should teach the petties (or under usher of the free school of Leicester), or in the place wherein Mr. Thomas Hunt now teacheth,' the sum of 13s. 4d. to be paid yearly by whomsoever should have the ground, at the feast of St. Michael the Archangel."

He also gave "forth of the Spittle House Close 31. 6s. 8d. a-year for ever to such uses as doth appear in a deed before this time made, the inheritance thereof unto my son Heyricke and his heirs for ever."

With respect to the sum of 5l. first mentioned in the above Will, an entry in the old charity book states the distribution to be as follows:

This annuity is now paid by Mr. Griffin, ironmonger, as the owner of a house near the Conduit (in the Saturday market), being the corner house of the market-place and Cheapside. It is received by the mayor on the 13th February, and paid by him to a baker who supplies bread to the churchwardens of the several parishes of Leicester on the 14th February in the proportions before stated, and 4s. worth being sent to the widows of St. John's Hospital.

The sum of 40s. mentioned in the Will is paid by Beaumont Burnaby, esq., as charged

Leicester.

Heyrick's Charities, continued.

upon ground in the Grey Friars purchased by him of Mr. Pares in 1824. This money has for many years past been distributed at 8 o'clock in the morning of St. Thomas's-day, at the exchange, by the mace-bearer, to 20 poor widows of St. Martin's parish, and 20s. to 20 poor widows selected from the other four parishes of the borough. This charity has always been called the Widows' Shillings.

A note in the old charity book states that the third rent-charge of 13s. 4d. mentioned in the Will, was paid yearly to the under usher by the heirs of Robert Heyrick, out of a piece of ground called the Grey Friars in Leicester, at Michaelmas only, and the following note is

added.

"Mr. Tobias Heyrick, son and heir of the aforesaid Mr. Robert Heyrick, added to the said annuity of 13s. 4d. the sum of 6s. 8d. for the like maintenance of the under usher in the grammar school, to be paid out of his lands in Leicester at Michaelmas only."

"The within-named annuity of Mr. Tobias Heyrick is paid yearly to the under usher by the heirs of the said Mr. Tobias Heyrick, out of his lands in Leicester at Michaelmas only." These annuities are both engraved on a stone tablet on the school, but it does not appear that either of them has been paid for many years. When Mr. Burnaby purchased his house and premises in 1824 from Mr. Pares, he never heard of these payments as a charge upon that house, and has never been called upon to pay them. The Grey Friars comprised about four acres of ground, which is now covered with houses and gardens.

The deed referred to in the testator's Will respecting the uses of the annuity of 31. 6s. 8d. charged upon the Spittle House Close has not been obtained. There is, however, an ancient entry respecting it in the old charity book, which has been corrected by comparing it with an inscription written on vellum and hung up in a frame in the corporation parlour, recording all the benefactions given by the Will of Robert Heyrick, amongst which this last annuity is stated at length, incorporating, as it seems in the inscription, the provisions of the deed, as if they had been contained in the Will, which, as has been seen above, refers to the deed for them. The substance of the information thus obtained is as follows:

"Mr. Robert Heyricke gave one other annuity of 31. 6s. 8d. due and payable out of a close or pasture ground near unto the spittle house called the Spittle House Close,' which annuity of 31. 6s. 8d. is to be paid by the heirs of the said Mr. Robert Heyricke unto the mayor for the time being every third year on the 25th March, by and in one sole and entire sum of 107, which said sum of 107. is to be lent freely by the mayor and justices to one free burgess, being a man of trade and no tippler, for three years, such burgess becoming bound with two sufficient sureties at the liking of the said mayor and justices to repay the same at the end of three years, and so from three years to three years for ever."

"Memorandum-that the above-named annuity of 107. was paid by the heirs of Mr. Robert Heyricke every third year as it grew due by the said Will, until the year 1646, and then the heirs paid to Mr. Edmund Cradock, mayor, at the feast of the Annunciation, but the sum of 6l. 13s. 4d., it being all was made of the ground above said the last three years by reason of the wars." The Spittle House Close is situate at the northern end of Belgrave Gate at the back of a house anciently the spittle house and now a public house, known by the sign of the Pack Horse. It belongs to Edward Basil Farnham, esq., of Nether Hall, Quorndon, who has lately succeeded to the estate of Mrs. Willows, in whom, and two of her brothers in succession, the Spittle House Close had been for a long time vested, and by whom 10l. was paid to the mayor every third year.

From the year 1622 to the year 1754, a most accurate account of these loans was kept separately, up to which time 4447, 13s. 4d. had been received; the sum should have been 450%., but in 1646, 6l. 13s. 4d. only was paid, in consequence of the wars. During that long period only two bonds of 101. each were lost, leaving a balance then in the hands of the corporation to be accounted for in bonds or money of 426l. 13s. 4d., to which was added in 1757 another payment of 107., making in all 4367. 13s. 4d.

After that period this sum of 107. every third year is entered in Sir Thomas White's loan charity book as received in the years

Nedd's Charity.

making 1207. which has been added to the funds of that charity.

There is no entry in the accounts of Sir Thomas White's Charity of this gift since 1808, nor does it appear that any subsequent payments have been received, or even demanded. Application has been made to Mr. Farnham, whose solicitor states that they have examined the deeds and find no mention of this bequest. But as there is no doubt the owner of the close has for many years previous to 1808 paid the charge made upon it by Robert Heyrick, we think this is a proper case to be certified to the Attorney General.

NEDD'S CHARITY.

Richard Nedd, of London, scrivener, out of the love and affection he had to the town of Mount Sorrell, where he was born, and for the better maintenance and relief of the poor inhabitants of the said town for ever, by Will, dated last day of July 1617, directed his executors