THE MONEY administered today by Bourne United Charities is almost entirely
due to the boom in London property prices during the past 100 years.
Most of it comes from the terms of the will made by Robert Harrington in 1654. He originated in
Bourne and went to London as a boy to seek his fortune and left it for the benefit of
the town when he died. The income from his properties at Leytonstone that now
forms a substantial part of the portfolio was not fully realised for many years
because the will was disputed by members of the testator’s family with the
result that the revenue was wholly spent in litigation. In fact, it was not
until 1827 that the residents of Bourne derived any benefit at all from the
bequest that had been made 160 years before.
The net income was then £420 and in 1826, the vestry meeting, forerunner of our
present local authority system, drew up a scheme which was sanctioned by the
Court of Chancery allocating it in tenths as follows:
1. Three tenths of £126 to be distributed
among decayed tradesmen and mechanics belonging to the parish of Bourne;
2. Two tenths of £84 to the aged poor of the parish who were not tradesmen;
3. One and a half tenths of £63 to the poor, in money, to enable them pay rents;
4. One tenth of £42 for clothing for the deserving poor;
5. One and a half tenths of £63 for coal for persons belonging to Bourne;
6. One tenth of £42 to educate poor children.
This scheme was administered by the overseers of the poor, the vicar and
the churchwardens as trustees mentioned by the testator and at that time were
the recognised parish officers and not infrequently the parish authority. It was
not until the passing of the Local Government Act of 1894 that local councils
came into being and churchwardens as such ceased to be the trustees of the
charity, being superseded by four persons elected by the then parish council and
subsequently, according to a new scheme, by Bourne Urban District Council when
it was constituted five years later in 1899.
In little more than a century, the £420 had increased to nearly £4,000 per annum
from property which, when it was left by Harrington, was not valued at more than
£50 per annum, and it was the expansion of London which played such a prominent
part in this massive revaluation.
Large houses with a small paddock at the rear were interspersed with smaller
commercial premises but Leytonstone was not the trade and business centre it is
today. The main railway line was the London and North Eastern Railway (the old
Great Eastern) with easy access to either Liverpool Street or Fenchurch Street
stations. The estate, however, profited when the London, Midland and Scottish
Railway (then the Midland) cut across a corner of the holdings which happened to
be copyhold, a tenure of land less than freehold.
Just before the line was built, the lord of the manor compelled the
enfranchisement of the estate and what might have been a valuable addition to
the income of the charity was swallowed up by the sum payable to the lord of the
manor. But with the advent of the railway and Leytonstone becoming a residential
suburb of London, the development of the estate commenced and the increase in
income followed.
The appointment of Alderman William Wherry (1841-1915), an astute businessman,
as one of the overseers of the poor, and as such a trustee, was a major
influence in the development of the estate. It was mainly through his work
that the income of the charities was increased by the rents being made
proportionate to the growing value of the properties. When he retired,
Councillor Thomas Baxter (1854-1920), who had served as a trustee with him, paid a glowing
tribute to his work in the development of the Leytonstone properties and it was
acknowledged that without his foresight, the remarkable rise in its monetary
value would not have been realised.
Two other people have made major contributions to the success of BUC. Horace
Stanton (1897-1977), who was clerk to the trustees for almost 40 years, steering
through the purchase and development of the War Memorial, the open air swimming
pool, the Wellhead Gardens and the Abbey Lawn, while Councillor Jack Burchnell
(1909-73) was instrumental in saving the Red Hall from demolition and acquiring
it for the community.
Charities now administered by BUC include Robert Harrington, John Brown, William
Fisher for Almshouses and Bread, Jeremiah Ives, Nicholas Rand, William Trollope,
Poor Land (North Fen & South Fen) and several small charities including
Constable’s Land at Bourne, Dyke and Cawthorpe, Emma Searson Nursing Fund
Charity, Thomas Whyment Atkinston Charity, Lucy Ellen Story Trust, Bourne
Christian Fund and Friendly Society and the Thomas Mee Trust.
The trustees are currently the vicar, who is ex-officio, five nominated by the
town council for a four-year term, three permanent trustees and the remaining
six co-opted for a period of five years, the objective being that the board
consists of members embracing all aspects of life in the town.
BUC now has assets worth more than £11 million. The gross annual income
continues to increase as the years go by and is today in excess of £500,000, the
bulk of it from the Harrington estate which currently consists of eight
residential and 21 commercial properties valued at £6.3 million. One property
was sold in 1931 to make way for a street widening scheme and so provided £6,000
for the construction of the almshouses in West Road. An impressive investment
portfolio of stocks and shares has also been built up to safeguard future
activities.
Coal and clothing is no longer distributed to the poor and needy but 200
deserving old people in Bourne have benefited with a weekly payment of £9 each,
recently increased to £10, a handout known affectionately as The Essex, after
the county in which Leytonstone is situated. This figure is currently being
reduced to 175 and will in future account for £91,000 of the annual income but
other regular grants are also made to local organisations and for educational
purposes. Charity, it seems, still begins at home.
WRITTEN FEBRUARY 2007 |
