Robert Harrington

1589-1654

Philanthropists of past centuries are the unsung heroes of many community facilities in Bourne that are still in use today. It was through their unselfish acts that education, housing and health took hold at a time when state provision was minimal and many of them who gave time and money are commemorated today in the names of our streets although few who live there are aware of the connection. 

Robert Harrington, who was born here in the late 16th century, is one such person whose inheritance from the London area continues to produce an income for the benefit of the town because the investments he made, although they appeared to be quite modest when he died, have grown through the rapid expansion of the capital during the past two centuries. He was the son of Robert Harrington, a wealthy landowner who had derived his main income from farming and benefited particularly from the rise in land value and rents that took place during the 16th century. His children were baptised in the Abbey Church, including Robert junior in 1589, and it was he who was to become perhaps the most prominent of the town's benefactors in subsequent years and after whom Harrington Street is named. 

It is not recorded why he moved to London but Joseph J Davies speculates in his 1909 book Historic Bourne that he left his home as a youth and "trudged to London to make his fortune and happily he succeeded". He was a self-made man, says Davies, "one of those whose sturdy perseverance and upright life is typical of the British merchant". His business interests were in what is now Leytonstone but towards the end of his life he was living at Gray's Inn, Middlesex, the address that appears on his will made in 1654. This document was proved three years later and in it Robert bequeathed his estate "for the benefit of his own people" in Bourne and although keenly contested at law, it was eventually legally confirmed. 

It provided for the "freehold and copyright lands and tenements at Low Leyton and Leyton-stone, in the County of Essex, now let at a yearly rent of Eight pounds, unto the Minister, Churchwardens, and Overseers of the Poor, in Trust, for the use and benefit of the Poor in this Parish of Bourn". At this time, Leytonstone was a rural area but the development of the London suburbs later brought shops and dwelling houses to the district and this, especially in recent years, has greatly added to the value of his charity. Robert's will also provided for "an annuity of Twenty Pounds for ever, issuing out of the Home Woods and Dobbin Woods, in or near the Parish of Witham-on-the-Hill, in this County, to be laid out in Bread to be distributed every Sunday morning amongst the Poor of this Parish by the Minister, Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor". 

The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834 provided for the welfare and relief of the poor with the workhouse as the final destination for those who persistently could not make ends meet but local charities played an important role by making cash grants and even providing homes in the form of almshouses to deserving cases. It was during this period when the welfare state was unheard of, that philanthropic work by individuals or voluntary organisations was greatly esteemed. The charity founded under the will of Robert Harrington was the most important in Bourne. In 1830, it was bringing in £300 a year and this soon increased to £500 a year but by the end of the century, as Harrington's estate at Leytonstone began to be developed, the value of his charity started to increase in a spectacular way and by 1909 it had reached more than £2,000 a year. Some of the income was distributed in quarterly or half-yearly payments to "the deserving poor" who did not receive parish relief, by the provision of clothing and coal at Christmas time while a fraction of it was devoted to educational purposes. 

There were also benefits for the occupants of two almshouses in South Street, one for six men and the other for six women, and these persons received payments from Harrington's charity. A further 12 almshouses were built in West Street in 1931 to provide homes for elderly inhabitants and tenancies are still much sought after because these houses are situated in an attractive setting just off the main road and ranged on four sides around lawns and flowers beds. A bronze plaque has been erected at the front of the almshouses to perpetuate the memory of local benefactors whose money helped finance the scheme, among them Robert Harrington. 

Money from his charity was also used to assist in the furtherance of education in the town and when the National School in North Street was built in 1829, an annual grant of £42 was made from Harrington's charity and this was most likely provided to cover the schoolmaster's salary. 

The charity continues to produce income and, together with several others, is today administered by Bourne United Charities based in the Red Hall and which is responsible for a large number of facilities in the town and so Robert Harrington's generosity is still being enjoyed 350 years after his death. 
 

See also

Where Bourne's charitable wealth comes from

Legacy of a local boy who made good