Charities
Henry White gave £100 to the
poor of Cogges in 1667; (fn. 38) by will proved in 1677
he left a further unendowed £5 to the poor of
the parish. (fn. 39) The £100 was used to buy a close
called Boy Croft in Hailey, copyhold of Witney
manor, and the rent was used for apprenticing
poor children. From 1768 the land, 6 a. of
arable, produced £4 5s. and from 1823 £10
10s. (fn. 40) By 1869 the rent had been reduced to £9
15s. which was used for education; (fn. 41) in 1875 it
supported the Sunday school and choir. Under a
Scheme of 1891 the income was to be spent on
subscriptions to infirmaries, provident clubs, or
societies for coal or clothing, and up to £3 a year
could be used to supply bedding, linen, tools, or
fuel for the poor. The rent from Boy Croft fell
again to £8 in 1914, when £4 10s. was given to
clubs; tithes and taxes amounted to £2 1s. 5d.
and quitrent to 2s. 6d. and there was a balance of
£11 13s. The balance fell to c. £5 in 1923, when
only £2 16s. of the £8 10s. rent was distributed.
In 1934 the trustees paid £8 10s. 8d. to the
marquis of Blandford in compensation for
manorial incidents on Boy Croft. (fn. 42)
William Blake, by will proved 1695, (fn. 43) left for
various charitable purposes a charge on the
future owners of his house and manor of
Cogges, and a rent charge on his estate at
Alvescot, together worth c. £66 a year, of which
£20 was to buy clothes and books for the
schoolchildren and apprentices, 10s. was to be
distributed in bread to poor people attending a
sermon on New Year's Day, and £7 16s. in
bread every Sunday at church. Blake's heirs
partly defaulted on the charges and in 1726,
after Viscount Harcourt bought the manor,
arrears of £250 were received from them by the
trustees. Most of the money was laid out in
South Sea annuities, which produced an extra
£3 10s. a year for better clothing for the children
and £4 a year for clothing three old men or
women; any surplus was to be used to teach up
to 5 girls to write and do accounts. (fn. 44) Between
1808 and 1819 the stock was forgotten and the trustees received no dividends; it was rediscovered by Lord Harcourt's agent in 1818, and
invested in £261 13s. new annuities. Arrears of
dividends worth over £123 were reclaimed and
invested to yield an extra £13 a year, part of
which was used to increase the clothing grants. (fn. 45)
In 1871 Blake's charity owned two schoolhouses
and gardens, rent-charges worth £67 6s. a year,
and £845 stock yielding £21 2s. 8d. The gross
income was £88, of which £45 15s. was used for
education, £2 2s. 8d. for clothing, and £8 6s. for
bread. (fn. 46) The income had risen to £161 11s. 2d.
by 1890 and to £248 by 1898. (fn. 47) In 1906 the
Charity Commissioners divided Blake's charity
into an educational and a non-educational charity; (fn. 48) in 1923 the former received £64 16s. 9d.
and the latter £38 16s. 3d.
(fn. 49)
William Wright of Over Norton, by will
proved 1786, (fn. 50) bequeathed to the poor of
Cogges, Over Norton, and Hailey £100 each,
the interest to be used in schooling or the
distribution of bread. In 1789 annuities at 3 per
cent were bought producing £3 18s. a year for
each parish, which was distributed in bread
every Christmas Eve; c. 70 families benefited in
Cogges. (fn. 51) A Scheme of 1862 ordered that the
share of Cogges be used for educational purposes; (fn. 52) in 1875 it was contributing to the support of the Sunday school and choir. Distributions of bread, fuel, and sickness benefit continued, however, and after 1897 were once again
the principal objects. In 1914 the income was £4
6s. 4d., of which £3 12s. was distributed to the
sick. Only £1 7s. 6d. was spent in 1922. (fn. 53)
Simon Holford, by will dated 1806, (fn. 54) left
£100, the income to be distributed yearly at
Candlemas in bread. (fn. 55) By 1869 the income had
fallen to £3 3s. a year, (fn. 56) and was only £2 17s. 8d.
in 1898. From 1914 to 1923 bread worth £2 12s
4d. was distributed each year. (fn. 57)
In 1852 Sarah Scott-Pruce left £90 stock
producing £2 14s. a year to be distributed in
bread. The income had fallen to £2 5s. by 1914,
but bread was still being distributed in 1923. (fn. 58)
Henrietta Nourse gave £200 stock in memory
of her husband A. H. Nourse, a former vicar of
Cogges, at his death in 1868. The interest was to
be divided between 12 poor families living in the
parish who were regular churchgoers. (fn. 59) The first
distribution of £6 was made in 1872. (fn. 60) In 1914
the stock produced £5, and £6 was given away
in 1923. (fn. 61)
Charles Bailey, by will dated 1868, (fn. 62) left £150
which in 1886, after the death of his widow Mary, (fn. 63) was invested in stock yielding £4 8s.
6d., of which £2 8s. 6d. was given in bread; £1
13s. 8d. out of the income of £3 13s. 8d. was
used for bread from 1914 to 1923. (fn. 64)
A Scheme was made in 1934 for the charities
called Blake's non-educational, Henry White's,
William Wright's, Simon Holford's, Henrietta
Nourse's, Charles Bailey's, and Sarah ScottPruce's. Blake's non-educational charity was
divided into an ecclesiastical charity with £100,
the first charges on which were to be £1 10s. for
the upkeep of Witney market clock, 10s. for
bread for poor people attending the Blake sermon, and £4 in kind for three old people living
in Cogges; the remaining income was to be
distributed with the other non-ecclesiastical
charities. Bailey's charity was similarly divided
into a sermon charity owning £60 stock, and a
charity for the poor with £87 12s. 11d. Nourse's
charity was deemed to be ecclesiastical, although
it was used to supply clothes, linen, bedding,
fuel, tools, and medical or other aid for poor
people living in the parish who were members of
the Church of England. The remaining charities, comprising White's, with a rent-charge of £6 a year, Wright's, with £144 5s. 3d. stock,
Holford's, with £105 stock, and Scott-Pruce's,
with £90 stock, were to be administered as nonecclesiastical charities, making payments for the
poor of the ancient parish of Cogges for such
things as subscriptions to hospitals, nursing
provision, patients' travelling expenses, the fitting out of persons under the age of 21 for a
trade, or the supply of clothes, bedding, fuel,
tools, or food. (fn. 65) All those charities were still
being implemented in 1985. (fn. 66)
By will proved in 1927 Thomas Beal of
Epworth (Lincs.) left the rents and profits of two
cottages and a garden at Epworth to be divided
in equal shares between the poor of Epworth
and Cogges every November. The first distribution of accumulated funds, £12 13s. 9d., was
made to Cogges in 1936. (fn. 67) It was still being
given in 1984. (fn. 68)
The poor of Newland received a share of
Elijah Waring's charity, comprising £1,000 divided between four parishes and bequeathed in
1813 for bread on New Year's Day. (fn. 69) There is
no mention of the charity after 1824.