Tag: harrington

The Harrington bequest – Part 2. The Oakham Parish Library

ANNE Barroness HARRINGTON, by Indenture bearing date 20th June 1616 assign’d a Rent Charge upon he Manor of Cottesmore in perpetuity for the annual payment of THIRTY-TWO pounds to the Vicar of the Parish Church of OAKHAM, and the Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish being Tenants or under Tenants of any of the Lands parcel of the Manor of the said LADT HARRINGTON in Oakham Lords-hold payable at the four usual quarterly days, in the south porch of the said Parish Church of OAKHAM. – The said LADY HARRINGTON gave a small Library for the use of the Vicar.

The inscribed board in the vestry of All Saints church in Oakham (photograph by Richard Adams)

Anne, Lady Harrington

Anne Keilway was a daughter of Robert Keilway of Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire. She married John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton, in 1573. After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, she was appointed as a Lady of the Bedchamber and was made Governess to Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of James 1, travelling with Elizabeth in 1613 to Heidelberg for her wedding to Frederick V of the Palatinate. Anne died in May 1620. The younger Anne is depicted on a memorial to her Father in Exton parish church (right).

The Harrington bequest

In 1616 Lady Anne Harringtom made a two part bequest, which is recorded on a an inscribed wooden board in the vestry of All Saints Parish church in Oakham shown above. This involved an annual bequest of £32 to support the poor of the township of Oakham Lordshold, and the bequest of a small library for the use of the vicar of All Saints church. This post describes the second part of the bequest – what was to become known as the Oakham Parish library. The support for the poor of Oakham is addressed in a related post.

The Oakham Parish Library

In 1616 Anne bequeathed a collection of books to All Saints Oakham, and these formed the core of the parish library. a number of volumes were added to the library over the years, mainly service books and bibles, This collection, numbering 115 volumes was transferred in October 1980 on indefinite loan into the custody of the Department of Special Collections of Nottingham University Library. The Oakham Parish Library is well described in the paper “Oakham Parish Library” by Anne Herbert. This paper is however not easily available (unless one has a University Library access or is prepared to pay £35 for a copy), so I quote below the most relevant passages.

……Until their removal to Nottingham the books were housed in two oak presses 176 cm. in height, 183 cm. in width and 39 cm. in depth, with three shelves apiece and a central vertical divide of a later date. The craftsman ship is rather crude and lacking in decoration with the exception of a single strip of carving along the top of each press……

…..Oakham parish library …… comprises almost exclusively works of theology with a sprinkling of history, mainly ecclesiastical, and canon law…… It is strongest in the Greek and Latin fathers-Athanasius, Chrysostom, Epiphanius, John of Damascus, Origen; Augustine, Gregory, Hilary, Jerome, Tertullian……. But the medieval schoolmen, the Protestant reformers and pre-Reformation theology and law are also represented….

…..The books were originally shelved with the spines innermost but there is no evidence to suggest they were ever chained. All but the late additions to the library have fore-edge numbers and some also have author and title information on the fore-edge…..

…..A printed book label, which survives in 46 of the volumes, pasted at the base of the title-page, commemorates Lady Harington’s bequest and bears the inscription ‘Ex dono Dominae ANNAE HARINGTONAE Baronissae….

…..The books are for the most part fairly uniformly bound in calf decorated only with fillets round the edges of the covers. The incunables and early sixteenth century volumes, however, have blind-stamped leather bindings over wooden boards…..

….Oakham parish library seems to have been rather neglected durng the subsequent centuries. There is very little documentation relating to its establishment or history-no extant loan records and little evidence that it was ever used by the incumbents of Oakham for whose benefit the books were originally given…..

In an appendix to her paper, Herbert lists 67 books that belong to or were contemporary with the Harrington bequest, the remaining items being later additions to the library. The library is also discussed by Aaron T Pratt “A Baroness and her books” which contains a photograph of the printed book label shown to the left, and also some examples from elsewhere that show how the books might have looked on their shelves.

The library at the University of Nottingham

81 items from the Oakham Parish Library are listed in the Nottingham University Catalogue. As Herbert states that 115 volumes were transferred in 1980, it is likely that some catalogue entries relate to multiple documents – most likely those referring to bibles or prayer books.

The Harrington bequest – Part 1, The Charity

ANNE Barroness HARRINGTON, by Indenture bearing date 20th June 1616 assign’d a Rent Charge upon he Manor of Cottesmore in perpetuity for the annual payment of THIRTY-TWO pounds to the Vicar of the Parish Church of OAKHAM, and the Overseers of the Poor of the said Parish being Tenants or under Tenants of any of the Lands parcel of the Manor of the said LADT HARRINGTON in Oakham Lords-hold payable at the four usual quarterly days, in the south porch of the said Parish Church of OAKHAM. – The said LADY HARRINGTON gave a small Library for the use of the Vicar.

The inscribed board in the vestry of All Saints church in Oakham (photograph by Richard Adams)

Anne, Lady Harrington

Anne Keilway was a daughter of Robert Keilway of Minster Lovell in Oxfordshire. She married John Harington, 1st Baron Harington of Exton, in 1573. After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, she was appointed as a Lady of the Bedchamber and was made Governess to Princess Elizabeth, the daughter of James 1, travelling with Elizabeth in 1613 to Heidelberg for her wedding to Frederick V of the Palatinate. Anne died in May 1620. The younger Anne is depicted on a memorial to her Father in Exton parish church (right).

The Harrington bequest

In 1616 Lady Anne made a two part bequest, which is recorded on an inscribed wooden board in the vestry of All Saints Parish church in Oakham shown above. This involved an annual bequest of £32 to support the poor of the township of Oakham Lordshold, and the bequest of a small library for the use of the vicar of All Saints church. This post describes the first part of the bequest. The library bequest is addressed in a related post.

The Harrington Charity

As set out on the board in the vestry of All Saints church shown above, the original bequest was for £32 per annum to the vicar of All Saints and to the Overseers of the Poor, to be distributed to the poor in the township of Oakham Lords-hold. The distinction between Oakham Lords-hold and Oakham Deans-hold is an ancient one and in well described by T H McK Clough in “Oakham Lordshold in 1787”. The distribution was to be made on the quarter days from the south porch of the church. In 1915 the administration of the bequest was formalised by the Charity Commission. The Trustees of the Charity were to be the Vicar of All Saints, and four others appointed by the (then) Urban District Council. Procedures for meetings of the Trustees and for their appointment are also set out. The income is specified as £32 per year from the Earl of Gainsborough, which shall be spent as follows

As set out on the board in the vestry of All Saints church shown above, the original bequest was for £32 per annum to the vicar of All Saints and to the Overseers of the Poor, to be distributed to the poor in the township of Oakham Lords-hold. The distinction between Oakham Lords-hold and Oakham Deans-hold is an ancient one and in well described by T H McK Clough in “Oakham Lordshold in 1787”. The distribution was to be made on the quarter days from the south porch of the church. In 1915 the administration of the bequest was formalised by the Charity Commission. The Trustees of the Charity were to be the Vicar of All Saints, and four others appointed by the (then) Urban District Council. Procedures for meetings of the Trustees and for their appointment are also set out. The income is specified as £32 per year from the Earl of Gainsborough, which shall be spent as follows.

I. Grants or contributions for or towards the the provision of Nurses, and of medical and surgical assistance for the Sick and Infirm, including medical and surgical appliances, medicines, and comforts or necessaries :
II The supply of
(a) Clothes. Linen. Bedding, Fuel, or Food or other articles in kind
(b) Temporary assistance in money by way of loan or otherwise.
III Weekly allowances. being in no case, except with the approval of the Charity Commissioners, less in value than 1s 6d a week or more than 3s a week, during the pleasure of the Trustees, to or for the benefit or persons qualified, as aforesaid, and not in receipt of Poor-law relief other than medical relief, who have attained the age of 60 years, and become wholly or part unable to maintain themselves by their own exertions, in augmentation of any means of support possessed by the beneficiaries – which shall be proved to the satisfaction of the Trustees to be reasonably assured. and to be sufficient, when so augmented, to enable the beneficiaries to live in reasonable comfort.

The Minute Book 1925 to 2000

A minute book for the Harrington charity has recently come to light, during a clear out of old financial documents. this runs from 1925 to 2000, and contains some interesting information on the development, and the running down of the charity over that period. In this section we will look at the general trends over that period. In the following section we will look in more detail at the entries for 1925.

The annual entries in the minute book are largely routine, reporting the appointment of trustees, and giving a list of those to whom payments were made. Each year from 1925 to 2001 the total payments were close to the income of £32. There were a few other points of interest however. In 1933, it was decided to make payments directly to individuals rather than requiring them to congregate in the Church School – which had replaced the south Porch of the church as the distribution centre at some point. In 1935 grocery vouchers worth 2s 6d and redeemable at G. W. Peesgood, were also distributed alongside the cash dole. In 1954 enquiries were made as to whether it was possible to support those outside the Lordshold area, which seem to have been inconclusive. No meetings were held in 1998, 1999 and 2000 and the final meeting in 2001 discussed the possibility of amalgamation with the Morren charity. It also resolved to request the last three years payment from the Exton Estate (still of £32 / year). How these two issues were, or were not resolved is not recorded. Note however that the distribution in this form is not a good match with that specified in the 1915 document – and indeed there are no indications that regaulr weekly payments were made over the period.

The minute book also enables us to look in more detail at some aspects of the dole. The figure to the right shows the number of recipients of the dole over the years. It can be seen that this falls from just under 90 in 1925 to around 60 by 1930, and remains at that number until 1960, when a gradual decline sets in. Up until 1930, different amounts were given to different people – either 2s 6d, 5s, 7s 6d or 10s. From 1933 a standard amount was paid. this was 10s to each recipient to 1960, and then increasing gradually as the number of recipients fell from then on. In the mid 1990s £8 was paid to each four recipients.

The number of recipients of the Harrington dole from 1925 to 1997

Value of the average dole between 1925 and 1997 in today’s prices, using three different inflation measures.

But how much were such payments worth in todays prices? There are various ways of calculating this as set out by the Measuring Worth website. The right hand figure shows the value of the average dole payment from 1925 onwards at today’s prices, as calculated using price inflation, labour cost inflation and income inflation. The last two are probably the most relevant to this study. These show that the average dole payment in the 1920s and 1930 was worth somewhere between £100 and £200 in today’s terms – not a massive amount, but perhaps something like the Winter Fuel allowance.

Using the same method, the value of £32 in 1603 when the charity was set up was £127,000 based on labour cost inflation and £228,000 based on income inflation. On the assumption that there were around 100 recipients of the dole, this gives the worth of an average payment of between £1000 and £2000 in today’s terms, which would be quite substantial.

The 1925 Dole

We now look at the information for the 1925 payments in more detail. This year is on the limit of the 100 year period usually applied to the release of individual names, and the entries in the minute book may be of interest to Family Historians.

The 1925 pages have been scanned and transcribed, and both the scan and the transcriptions are shown below in pdf viewers. The original writing is not easy to read, so I can’t be certain about the accuracy of the transcripts – but I have done my best! In general terms, the large majority of the recipients were women, usually identified as Widows.

1925 scansDownload
Allett WidowDownload

Oakahm 1910

Brooke Rd
Cold Overton Rd
Cross St
Crown St
Gaol St
Gas St
John St
Johns court
Jubilee Buildings
Mill St
Mount Pleasant
New St
Northgate St
Park Lane
Pullins Yard
Simper St
South St
Westgate

1
7
3
5
4
7
10
7
3
3
2
2
5
1
1
10
5
10

A breakdown of the streets where those who recieved the 1925 lived is given to the left. Most of these are shown on the map from 1910above. Some of these streets no longer exist, specifically those streets in the area between New St., Melton Rd. and the railway line – Cross St., Gas St., and Simper St., with John St. being much curtailed. Others cannot be precisely located – Pullins Yard and Johns Court, although they are likley to be in the same area. Bedehouse Row on the map is referred to as Westgate in the minute book. In total 58 of the dole recipients (around two thirds of the total) lived in the area bounded by South St, Gaol St., High St., Melton Rd. and the railway.