READING MUNICIPAL CHARITIES RECORDS

Summary

READING MUNICIPAL GENERAL CHARITIES (READING CONSOLIDATED ALMSHOUSE CHARITY) : trustees' minutes, 1837-2006; maintenance and welfare committee minutes, 1970-1997; ledgers, 1837-1951; cash books, 1837-1945; tenants ledgers, 1837-1952; registers of payments to almspeople, 1911-1948; annual statements of accounts, 1952-2004 (incomplete); letter book, 1842-1846; register of property, 1943-1957; declarations of trustees, 1957-1982; deed of land adjoining almshouses, 1959; deeds of 98 Friar Street, 1917-2004, and 34 London Street, 1928; insurance policies, 1917-1985; regulations for almspeople, 1866, 1868; statement of property, 1838; draft Order amending Scheme, 1899; miscellaneous, 1887-1977.

READING MUNICIPAL CHURCH CHARITIES : trustees' minutes, 1837-2006; Estates Committee minutes, 1906-1915; ledgers, 1837-1955; educational charities ledger, 1904-1958; cash books, 1837-1950; tenants' ledgers, 1837-1962; annual statements of accounts, 1908-1910, 1995/6-2002/3 (incomplete); register of endowments, 19C, reports to trustees, 1889, 1948-1955; letter book, 1842-1846; insurance policies, 1920-1958; papers relating to rivers, 19C; reports to Visitors of Archbishop Laud's charity, 1947-1959 (incomplete); deeds of property in Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, 1783-1848, South Moreton, 1792, and Reading, 1865-2004; plan of Southampton Place, Reading, 1888; notice of appointment of trustees, 1898; miscellaneous, 1906-1955.

PRE-1837 COMPOSITE CHARITIES : register of leases, 1628-1779; minutes of committee to consider John Kendrick's and Sir Thomas White's charities, 1784; critical history of charities in Berkshire, 1818; Charity Commissioners' report on charities including Berkshire, 1837; deeds of property in various parishes (mostly Reading), 1574-1738; bills and vouchers, 1626-1836; miscellaneous, 1596-1802.

JOHN A' LARDER'S CHARITY : deeds of property in Reading, 1431-1953; accounts and rental, 1510-1608; bills and vouchers, 1738-1836; bill for translating will and trust deed, 1653; petition of almoner n.d. [17C]

JOHN ALLEN'S CHARITY : trustees' minutes, 1874-1998; details of apprenticeships, 1860-1905; register of apprenticeships, 1912-1958; accounts, 1948-1995; annual statement of accounts, 1998; papers relating to property in Tilehurst, 1773-1965; copy Scheme, 1909; lists of grants made, 1954-1955.

MARTIN ANNESLEY'S CHARITY : bill, 1836.

WILLIAM A' THORNE/LEGGE, MARY WORSLEY AND PETER WYBOE'S CHARITIES : deeds of former almshouse, Castle Street, Reading, 1615-1763; bill relating to repayment of property tax, 1816.

JOHN BLAGRAVE'S CHARITY : deeds of property in Reading, 1596-1850; list of applicants for gift to maidservant, 1665; miscellaneous, [1611]-1698, 1827-1830.

BLUE COAT SCHOOL : deeds of property in Reading, 1572-1841, and Sherfield upon Loddon, Hampshire, 1657; property miscellaneous, 1948-1966; appointment of schoolmaster, 1659; annual statements of accounts, 1829/30, 2001/2-2004/5; receipts for maintenance of boys, 1726-1747; bills and vouchers, 1728-1836; inventory of furniture and effects, 1929; agreements with headmasters, 1929, 1960; Blandy Prize Fund trust deed and order, 1930; papers relating to new Scheme, 1962-1964; papers relating to Sixth Form Centre Appeal Fund, 1976-1977; papers relating to overdraft for new assembly hall and music block, 1979; copy will of Richard Aldworth (1646); apprenticeship indenture, 1662; list of boys leaving, n.d. [1830s]; miscellaneous, 1659, 1959.

BOUDRY AND RICHARDS' CHARITY : deeds and papers relating to property in Reading, 1750-1889; bills and vouchers, 1825-1835.

ROBERT BOYER'S CHARITY : leases etc of land in Burghfield, 1873-1933.

ADMIRAL COFFIN'S ALMSHOUSES CHARITY : trustees' minutes, 1905-1919, 1934-1967; accounts, 1905-1925, 1946-1966 (incomplete); statements of accounts, 1900-1905; rent accounts, 1920-1933; Schemes, Orders and related papers, 1904-1998; deeds and papers relating to property in Caversham, 1694-1999; applications, 1895-1936; appointment of trustees, 1895; miscellaneous, 1905-1945.

DEANE AND POCOCK'S CHARITY : trust deeds of gifts, 1611; deeds of property in Reading, 1630-1974; petition for relief, n.d. [17 cent.]; bills and vouchers, 1813-1836.

JOHN EYRE OR AYRES' CHARITY : receipt, 1734.

GREEN GIRLS' FOUNDATION : governors' and trustees' minutes, 1783-1922, 1950-1998; accounts, 1779-1893; school superintendent's cash book, 1814-1840; treasurer's cash books, 1909-1948; audited cash accounts, 1929-1984; annual statements of accounts, 1972, 1997-1998; Schemes and Orders, 1881-1966; deeds and papers relating to property in Reading, 1611-1881; register of applications for grants, 1956-1958; letter re education offered, 1909; draft testimonial to matron, 1921; trustee's declaration, 1981.

JOHN HALL'S CHARITY : inspeximus of John Hall's will, 1722; deeds and papers relating to property in Englefield, 1606-1778, Reading, 1619-1756, Stanford Dingley, 1691, and Silchester, Hampshire, 1559-1917; bills and vouchers, 1738-1836.

ROBERT HANSON'S CHARITY : legal bill, 1835.

BERNARD HARRISON'S CHARITY : deeds of a messuage in Castle Street, Reading, 1599-1683; deeds and papers relating to property in Henwick, Thatcham, 1650-1941; bills and vouchers, 1787-1832.

JOHN IREMONGER'S CHARITY : bills and vouchers, 1818-1834.

RICHARD JEYES' CHARITY : deeds and papers relating to property in Sulhamstead Abbots and Sulhamstead Bannister, 1650-1861; receipt for money for widows, 1783.

RICHARD JOHNSON'S CHARITY : deeds and papers relating to property in Reading, 1631-1918; receipts, 1729-1825 (very incomplete); papers relating to Richard Johnson's cup, 1956-1976.

WILLIAM JONES'S CHARITY : receipts, 1734, 1749.

JOHN BALLE, RICHARD IRONSIDE AND EDWARD KEMYS' CHARITIES : duplicate and counterpart leases etc relating to property in Burghfield, 1858-1933; note of hand for loan, 1652.

JOHN KENDRICK'S CHARITY : trustees' minutes, 1837-1877; accounts, 1626-1670; bills and vouchers, 1816-1868; deeds and papers relating to property in Reading, Sulhamstead, Tilehurst and Oxfordshire, 1588-1895; securities for loans to clothiers, 1628-1768; Scheme, 1867; miscellaneous, 17C-1878.

WILLIAM KENDRICK'S CHARITY : deeds of property in Reading, 1802-1865; bills and vouchers, 1636-1835.

AUGUSTINE KNAPP'S CHARITY : deeds of property in Reading, 1576-1935.

ARCHBISHOP LAUD'S CHARITY : accounts, 1640 to date; annual statement of accounts, 2004/5; deeds of property in Appleton, n.d. [mid 13C], Binfield, n.d. [c.12-13C]-1363, Bray, n.d. [c.12-13C]-1828 (including original trust deed of charity, 1640), Clewer, 1478, Cookham, 1317-1529, Easthampstead, 1388-1608, Reading, 1855-1900, Shottesbrooke, 1322, Waltham St Lawrence, 1402, Warfield, 1339-1453, White Waltham, 1557, New Windsor, 1561, Old Windsor, 1375, Winkfield, 1325-1546, Buckinghamshire, n.d. [c.1290s]-1430, Dorset, 1386-1447, Gloucestershire, 1327, Middlesex, 1451, Oxfordshire, 1311, Surrey, 1598, and unidentified, 13C-1520; papers relating to Stroud manor and estate, Bray, 1614-1836; apprenticeship indentures, 1630-1864; register of apprentices, 1907-1957; apprentice committee minutes, 1907-1936; apprenticeship miscellaneous, 1640-1667, 1957; marriage portions register, c.1951-1956, and miscellaneous, 1617-1738; receipts for endowment of Reading St Laurence, 1645-1694; papers relating to Educational Foundation, 1645-1916; visitation papers, 1662-1668; letters from Laud, 1640-1642; miscellaneous, 1663-1937.

MARY LOVE'S CHARITY : bills and vouchers, 1784-1836; tickets for bread, 1786-n.d. [early 19C].

MARY LYNE'S ALMSHOUSES CHARITY : minutes, 2000-2002; annual or half-yearly reports, 2001/2-2004; annual statements of accounts, 1990-2004; copy trust deed (1851), 1999; surveyor's report, 1996.

THOMAS LYDALL'S CHARITY : deeds and papers relating to property in Friar Street, Reading, 1548-1890; receipts, 1818-1829.

WILLIAM MALTHUS' CHARITY : copies of William Malthus' will, 19 cent.; deeds of property in Noke, Oxfordshire, 1692-1875; plan of farmhouse at Noke, Oxfordshire, 1810; estates committee minutes, 1906-1915; Bishop of Salisbury's appointments and orders, 1708-1710; trustees' minutes, 1898-1912; accounts, 1898-1960; draft Scheme, 1897; miscellaneous bills and receipts, 1743-1835.

JOHN NOYSE'S CHARITY : miscellaneous, 1683-1906.

SIR THOMAS RICH'S CHARITY : deeds and papers re property in Streatley, 1662-1987; memorandum re apprenticeship, 1689; legal bill and receipt, 1834.

EDWARD SIMEON'S CHARITY : bills and vouchers relating to lighting the Obelisk, 1811-1835, clothing for Sunday School boys, 1817-1833, and maintenance of the donor's tomb, 1830-1835; correspondence re Scheme, 1961-1963.

SIR JOHN SIMEON'S CHARITY : letter re legacy, 1824; bills for printing bread tickets, 1829, 1834.

SOUTHERN HILL TRUST : trustees' minutes, 1901-1961; accounts, 1902-1961; letters 1904, 1949; annual reports of Reading Refuge & Laundry Home, 1912-1915 (incomplete); annual report of Reading Association of Oxford Diocesan Council for Preventive and Rescue Work, 1915.

DR SWADDON'S CHARITY : deeds and papers re property in Buckinghamshire, 1624-1675, 1835; correspondence, 1624-1664, 1836.

RICHARD TURNER'S CHARITY : leases of property in Reading, 1630-1954.

SIR THOMAS VACHELL'S CHARITY : deeds of property in Reading, 1635-1669; draft letters of attorney re property in Shinfield, 1666; recommendation of man for place, 1654; bills and vouchers, 1727-1833.

RODOLPH WARCUPP'S CHARITY : deeds and papers re property in Reading, 1625-1978.

JOHN WEBB'S CHARITY : copy of John Webb's will, 1653; deeds of property in Reading, 1639-1954; plans of proposed almshouses, 1957; application for gift, n.d. [c.1653-1654]; bills and vouchers, 1790-1836.

JOHN WEST'S CHARITY : accounts, 1725-1735; counterpart lease of land in Reading, 1752; appointment of rent collector, 1731; lists of blind beneficiaries, 1725; correspondence, 1726-1747; apprenticeship indentures, 1730-1733; memorandum book relating to disputed elections to Christ's Hospital by St Laurence's parish., 1738-1818; petition to vary terms, c.1796; Act regulating charity, 1806.

SIR THOMAS WHITE'S LOANS CHARITY : papers relatimg to loans, 1579-1814; legal bill, 1835.

SIR THOMAS WHITE'S SCHOLARSHIP CHARITY : miscellaneous, 1841-1850s.

1 Reading Municipal General Charities (Consolidated Alsmhouse Charity
2 Reading Municipal Church Charities
3 Pre-1837 composite charity records
4 John A'Larder's charity
5 John Allen's charity
6 William A'Thorne (alias Legge), Mary Worsley and Peter Wyboe's charity
7 John Blagrave's charity
8 Blue Coat School
9 Boudry and Richards' charity
10 Robert Boyer's charity
11 Admiral Coffin's Almshouses charity
12 Deane and Pocock's charity
13 Green Girls' Foundation
14 John Hall's charity
15 Bernard Harrison's charity
16 Richard Jeyes' charity
17 Richard Johnson's charity
18 John Balle, Richard Ironside and Edward Kemys' charities
19 John Kendrick's charity
20 William Kendrick's charity
21 Augustine Knapp's charity
22 Archbishop Laud's charity
23 Thomas Lydall's charity
24 William malthus' charity
25 John Noyse's charity
26 Sir Thomas Rich's charity
27 Edward Simeon's charity
28 Sir John Simeon's charity
29 Southern Hill Trust
30 Dr Swaddon's charity
31 Richard Turner's charity
32 Sir Thomas Vachell's charity
33 Rodolph Warcupp's charity
34 John Webb's charity
35 John West's charity
36 Sir Thomas White's loans charity
37 Sir Thomas White's scholarship charity
38 Martin Annesley's charity
39 John Eyre or Ayres' charity
40 Robert Hanson's charity
41 John Iremonger's charity
42 William Jones's charity
43 Mary Love's charity
44 Mary Lyne's almshouses charity

For the origins of charity administration in Reading, see the Foreword to W.E.M. Blandy's A history of the Reading Municipal Charities, including Allen's Charity and the Green Girls' Foundation (Reading, 1962), a copy of which will be found in the Record Office Library.

Under section 71 of the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, the responsibility for the old corporations' charitable functions was transferred to bodies of new trustees. In Reading, the trustees were approved and confirmed by an order of the Lord High Chancellor dated 4 March 1837. The charities concerned were divided into two main groups, General and Church. Trustees for each group met for the first time in April 1837, and separate series of records were kept, catalogued here as D/QR 1 and D/QR 2.

The General Charities (D/QR 1) comprised in 1837:John Leche alias A'Larder's charity (D/QR 4)William A'Thorne alias Legge's charity (D/QR 6)John Balle's charity (D/QR 18)Robert Boyer's charity (D/QR 10)William Brackstone's charityJoseph Carter's charityThomas Cooke's charitiesElizabeth Deane's charityThomas Deane and James Pocock's charity (D/QR 12)John Eyre or Ayres's charity (D/QR 39)Edward Hamblin's charityRobert Hanson's charity (D/QR 40)Bernard Harrison's charity (D/QR 15)William Iremonger's charityRichard Ironside's charity (D/QR 18)William Jones' charity (D/QR 42)Edward Kemys' charity (D/QR 18)Augustine Knapp's charity (D/QR 21)Thomas and George Lane's charity(John Leche : see A/Larder above)Mary Love's charity (D/QR 43)John Noyse's charity (D/QR 25)Shirley's charity [NB: not in Blandy, nor VCH]Edward Simeon's charity for the obelisk (D/QR 27)Mrs Christian Smith's charityDr William Swaddon's charity (D/QR 30)Richard Turner's charity (D/QR 31)Rodolph Warcupp's charity (D/QR 33)Sir Thomas White's charity for loans (D/QR 36)Mrs Wimbleton's charityMary Worsley's charity (D/QR 6)Peter Wyboe's charity (D/QR 6)

The Church Charities (D/QR 2) comprised in 1837:Martin Annesley's charity (D/QR 38)Richard Aldworth's charity (the Blue Coat School) (D/QR 8)John Blagrave's charity (D/QR 7)William Boudry and John Richards' charity (D/QR 9)John Hall's charity (D/QR 14)Richard Johnson's charity (D/QR 17)William Kendrick's charity (D/QR 20)Archbishop Laud's charity (D/QR 22)John Leggatt's charityThomas Lydall's charity (D/QR 23)Sir William Malthus' charity (D/QR 24)Mrs Ann Norwood's charityJohn Pottenger's charitySir Thomas Rich's charity (D/QR 26)Edward Simeon's charity (other than the obelisk)Sir John Simeon's charity (D/QR 28)Sir Thomas Vachell's charity (D/QR 32)John Webb's charity D/QR 34)John West's charity (D/QR 35)Sir Thomas White's charity for scholarships (D/QR 37)

In some instances, records survive for individual charities, including, for example, deeds of original trust properties. The relevant D/QR references are shown in brackets after the charity name in the above lists.

See also D/QR 3, for additional records surviving from before 1837 and covering more than one charity.

Similarly, see R/FA (Reading Borough Records catalogue), particularly paragraph 4 of the introduction, for instances of chamberlains' accounts, 1606-1817, relating to several of the charities above in R/FA 3, R/FA 5, R/FA 6 and R/FA 9.

Following the Charitable Trusts Act 1853 and the establishment consequently of the Charity Commissioners, the Reading charities' administration was modified by a new scheme confirmed by Private Act of Parliament in June 1861 (24 & 25 Vict. c.XXIII). A copy of this Act appears in both D/QR 1/1/1 and D/QR 2/1/1. Under this Act:(1) The General Charities, principally concerned with the support of A'Larder's and Harrison's almshouses, were renamed the Consolidated General Almshouse Charities of Reading, and the trustees purchased the site in Castle Street on which new almshouses were built. Two charities in the 1837 list were treated separately : Sir Thomas White's charity for loans, which became an educational charity (see below), and Elizabeth Deane's charity, whose funds were to benefit poor prisoners discharged from the county gaol. The General Charities trustees also remained responsible for Edward Simeon's charity for the obelisk (see Blandy, p.41.)(2) Of the Church Charities, John Hall's, William Kendrick's, and Sir Thomas Vachell's, each of which had established almshouses, together with Richard Johnson's charity and other supporting endowments, were renamed the Consolidated Church Almshouse Charities of Reading. Inmates of both general and church almshouses were to have been resident in Reading at least three years; those in the church almshouses were also to be members of the Church of England.

(3) The four charities known as Sir Thomas White's charity for loans, Thomas Lydall's charity, Edward Simeon's bread gift, and Sir John Simeon's bread gift, were called under the 1861 Act the Consolidated Municipal Educational Charities of the Borough of Reading, to support, under the responsibility of the Church Charities trustees, the borough's National Schools, the Green Girls School, and the Blue Coat School, in three equal portions. The Act did not vary the Church Charities' trustees' existing responsibility for the Blue Coat School, founded under the will of Richard Aldworth (D/QR 8) and supported also by John Hall's, John Leggatt's, Sir William Malthus', Mrs Ann Norwood's, John Pottenger's, Sir Thomas Rich's and John West's charities, together with other benefactions. The trustees similarly remained responsible for Archbishop Laud's charity.

(4) The Church Charities of John Blagrave, William Boudry and John Richards, and Martin Annesley, were named the Consolidated Charities for Female Servants at Reading, for annual gifts to deserving women.

The lengthy titles of the first two groups under the 1861 Act have been generally replaced in usage by the simpler Municipal General and Municipal Church Charities.

As the trustees for the time being continued to serve under the new scheme of 1861, the two series of records, General and Church (D/QR 1 and D/QR 2), continue through and beyond that year in uninterrupted fashion. In 1905, the trustees of the Consolidated Church Almshouse Charities took on :Richard Aldworth's non-educational charityEdward Hungerford's charityArchbishop Laud's non-educational charityJohn Webb's charity (omitted in 1861 Act)John West's charity for a sermonand in 1907 the following were placed under the management of the Consolidated General Almshouse Charities trustees :Thomas Barkshire's charityEdward Simeon's charity for the obelisk (officially)Martin Hope Sutton's charityWilliam Vine's charity.Otherwise, few changes occurred from 1837 for over a century.

From the mid-20th century, however, changing social trends rendered some charities' purposes obsolete, whilst educational charity administration was transferred by the 1944 Education Act to the Ministry of Education. By the 1950s, the funds of the Consolidated Church Almshouse Charities (or Municipal Church Charities) were proving inadequate, and by a scheme dated 31 December 1957, ratified by Private Act of Parliament dated 14 May 1958, the Church Charities' responsibilities and endowments for almshouses were merged with the Consolidated General Almshouse Charities (or Municipal General Charities) under the new name of Reading General Municipal Charities. The 1957 scheme was further confirmed by a scheme of 7 January 1970.

The remaining Reading Municipal Church Charities continued, with various revisions and modernisation of scope, and the addition of Admiral Coffin's Almshouse Charity (D/QR 11) (relating to Caversham and Emmer Green, all amended by a scheme of 10 August 1970). Edward Simeon's charity for the obelisk is now administered separately by the Head of Finance, Reading Borough Council, under a scheme of 13 November 1962.

For more details of the charity endowments and administrative arrangements outlined above, together with John Allen's charity (D/QR 5), and The Green Girls Foundation (D/QR 13)which have always been treated separately, see Blandy, op. cit., and VCH, Berks, vol. 3 pp. 378-381 (general) and vol. 2 p. 282 (Blue Coat School).

In c. 1999, the Church Charities were further rationalised under the Charities Act 1993. The Blue Coat Foundation became a separate charity, and Aldworth's Non-educational Charity was wound up. The Green Girls Foundation was merged with the Consolidated Charities for Female Servants. The Charity of Edward Simeon for Clothing for Sunday School Children (the part of his charity not relating to the Obelisk) was merged with John Allen's Charity. In 2005, the Consolidated Almshouses charity amalgamated with Mary Lyne's Almshouses Charity for Tilehurst, Burghfield and Theale.