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The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Mrs ELEANOR HUXHAM'S GIFT
Mrs Eleanor Huxham died in 1796 and bequeathed to the vicar of Charles Church and his successors, the sum of £700 3% stock. Upon every New Year's Day, the vicar was to pay thirty shillings to each of ten poor widows or other deserving poor women of the Town; and on the same day he was to provide bread to the twelve poor widows living in the almshouses at Coxside. He was given some discretion to distribute bread to other deserving women, if he wishes. The vicar of Saint Andrew's Church was also provided with some money with which to provide bread for the women in the almshouses next to the Corporation Grammar School or any other deserving women in his parish. At the time of her death, the vicar of Charles Church was the Reverend Doctor Robert Hawker. Out of the original legacy of £700 he had to pay duty of £40. The remain g£660 earned an annual dividend of £19 14s 4d but Doctor Hawker actually paid out £21 each year, thus contributing an additional £1 5s 8d each year from his own pocket. In 1820 the money was expended as follows:
In fact, the vicar of Saint Andrew's used to pass the £3 on to the churchwardens, who distributed the bread in the prescribed manner soon after Christmas Day. Mrs Huxham also gave a further sum of £100 to the vicar of Charles Church for the purpose of placing a girl from his Household of Faith School into an apprenticeship. The legacy enabled him to purchase £200-worth of 3% Consols. Although the money was presumably still earning interest, by 1820 this practice had ceased. By an Order of the Charity Commissioners dated August 5th 1864, Huxham's Gifts were combined with others and split so as to take into account the creation of new parishes of Sutton-on-Plym, Saint Jude's and Saint Luke's. Another Order, dated October 29th 1878, transferred the Gifts of £660 to the Official Trustees of Charitable Funds. The total income from the Huxham's Gift ion 1907 was £16 10s. Out of that sum, the vicar of Saint Andrew's received £2 0s 11d; the vicar of Charles, 17s 4d; the vicar of Sutton-on-Plym, 10s 3d; the vicar of Saint Luke's, 6s 10d; and the vicar of Saint Jude's, also 6s 10d. The vicar of Charles spent the 17s 4d on the distribution of bread in the parish church on New Year's day and also expended £12 7s 10d on pensions (nine at 13s 2d and one at 5s 5d) to 10 poor women resident in the parish almshouses in Green Street. In the cases of the other parishes, their monies were added to other charitable receipts and also used for the distribution of bread. Principal Source:
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