CHARITIES.
John Gibbs, of London, by his will
dated 1772, left £500 to provide six poor men of
Westbury annually with an olive-coloured coat and
waistcoat. Gibbs's poor relatives, if any, were to
receive first consideration, and after them Westbury burgage-holders. In 1833 it was not always
possible to restrict the charity to those who had
not received parochial relief. In 1954 the income
of this charity was a little over £10 and it was spent
on underclothing for deserving cases. (fn. 56)
John Matravers, of Westbury, by his will dated
1814, bequeathed £1,000 to provide clothing for
20 poor Westbury women, and £1,000 to establish
a school for boys and girls. In 1954 the income of
the clothing charity was between £30 and £40, and
was spent on 9 sets of underclothing for women. (fn. 57)
The origin of Henry Smith's charity is dealt with
elsewhere. (fn. 58) In 1832 Westbury's share in this was
about £20 and was spent on calico for 230 poor
people. A scheme for the administration of this
charity was established in 1905 when it was decided to spend the income on subscriptions to
hospitals, sick clubs, etc., or on the provision of
goods to needy persons. (fn. 59) In 1955 goods worth
about 7s. were distributed to 20 poor people. (fn. 60)
Thomas Ray, of Salisbury, by his will proved
1615, devised property in Gigant Street, Salisbury,
with £13 a year to his daughter, Martha, for life
and thereafter for the benefit of the poor clothiers
of Trowbridge, Chippenham, Westbury, and
Marlborough yearly in turn. In 1652 it was found
that the charity had been much defrauded since
the death of Martha Ray, and new trustees for
each of the towns were appointed. In 1831 the
annual rent of £25 from the property was in arrear,
although Westbury seems to have received its
share of the charity until 1832. In 1833 £100,
representing these arrears, were divided among
the four towns. The property in Salisbury was sold
in 1877 and £1,000 invested. In 1898 a scheme for
the administration of Westbury's share of the investment was made. The income was henceforth
to be spent on subscriptions to hospitals or clubs,
the purchase of certain goods, and the provision of
loans and gifts of money. The beneficiaries were
to be poor workers in the clothing industry. In
1903 some of the income was spent in maintaining
children of cloth workers at a technical school. In
1955 small sums of money were given to 19 needy
clothworkers in Westbury. (fn. 61)
In 1845 Richard Gaisford formed a trust and
endowed it with £1,200 to provide clothing for
poor men over 40 years old and women over 30 in
alternate years. In 1857, after the death of Gaisford's wife, the endowment was increased to
£2,000. In 1954 the charity was still being administered in accordance with Gaisford's wishes.
That year clothing was given to 15 women, and the
following year the recipients were 15 men. (fn. 62)
By his will, dated 1851, Robert Haynes
bequeathed a sum, which when invested would
yield £42 a year. Out of this, besides the benefactions to the Baptist chapel at Westbury Leigh, and
the Upper Meeting in Warminster Road, (fn. 63) £18
was to be spent annually on clothing for six poor
old men of Westbury, and £3 was to be paid
annually to the Westbury Bible Society. In 1957 in
addition to a payment to the minister of the Westbury Leigh chapel, about £5 was paid to the poor
of that congregation. (fn. 64)
ALMSHOUSES.
Prospect Buildings, Laverton Almshouses. In 1886
William Henry Laverton, acting on the wish of his
uncle, Abraham Laverton, conveyed in trust the
group of 39 houses called Prospect Buildings, then
recently built along three sides of a square in Bratton Road. The 7 houses at the south-east end of the
quadrangle were to be almshouses, maintained by
the rents from the remaining 32 houses. At the
beginning of the 20th century the almspeople,
who could be either married couples or single
persons, and who often were former employees at
the Laverton Mills, received a weekly pension of
5s. Two of the almshouses had five rooms, the
remaining five had four rooms. In 1923 pensions
and maintenance expenses amounted to more
than £150. (fn. 65)
Stafford Brown, Ivy Court Almshouses. In 1890
Mary Brown, daughter of Stafford Brown, Vicar
of Westbury 1845-7, conveyed in trust 14 cottages
adjoining the Warminster road near its junction
with Edward Street. Four of the cottages which
fronted the Warminster road were to be let and
their rents used to maintain the entire property.
The remaining ten cottages, known as Stafford
Brown Almshouses, Ivy Court, were to be almshouses for poor parishioners who were members
of the Church of England. The charity was to be
managed by the vicar and churchwardens. In 1903
rents from the four cottages totalled £24 and the
almspeople paid 6d. a year for their cottages. These
formed a double row of two-roomed dwellings in a
small court extending back from the Warminster
road frontage. In 1937 the cottages facing the Warminster road had been converted into a house and
shop and produced a rent of £25. The almshouses
behind were dilapidated and plans were considered
for pulling them down. Nothing was done until
1955 when the site with the disused almshouses on
it was sold for £560. A scheme was then drawn up
for the administration of the charity to provide
pensions to persons who would have been qualified
for admission to an almshouse. (fn. 66)
CHARITIES FOR THE POOR OF BRATTON.
Among the bequests of Jeffery Whitaker, in his
will dated 1775, (fn. 67) £50 were assigned for the poor
of Bratton and £50 for the education of poor
children there. In 1833 the stock had been improperly sold and only £1 15s. was spent on these
two objects annually. The trustees, however, agreed
to put the matter right. In 1913 a sum was set
aside from the bequest to form a fund for educational purposes. In 1961 this brought in just over
£2 and in the same year a little over £15 was paid to
deserving persons within the parish. (fn. 68)
CHARITY FOR THE POOR OF DILTON.
In 1697 12 a. of land in Beckington (Som.),
known as the Castley Poor Ground, and a paddock
there were bought with £97 representing legacies
for the poor of Dilton bequeathed by Anthony
Self, Christopher Pearce, John Cable, and William
Turner, all of Dilton, and William Gilbert, of
Portsmouth. In 1833 the paddock had been lost
to the charity, but an annual rent of £13 from the
12 a. was used to buy bread and clothing for the
poor of Dilton. A scheme for the administration of
this charity was established in 1888 and arrangements made for the income to be spent in the same
was as that of Thomas Ray's charity (see above).
In 1903 the annual income was £15 rent and £2
from investment. (fn. 69) In 1914 another scheme for
the regulation of the charity along the same lines
was prepared. (fn. 70) All the remaining land was sold in
1918 for £340, and in 1950 grants of money were
made from this charity to 77 poor people. (fn. 71)
CHARITY FOR THE POOR OF WESTBURY, DILTON MARSH, AND BEATTON.
Charles Nicholas Paul Phipps, by his will dated
1875, bequeathed £650 to his wife Emma Mary
Phipps to be applied in a fixed proportion by her
for the benefit of the poor of Westbury, Dilton
Marsh, and Bratton. Emma Mary Phipps later
conveyed the money to trustees to be invested and
asked that the income should be used to buy
blankets once a year for the poor of these three
places. From time to time the interest on this
investment was allowed to accumulate and in 1956
15 pairs of blankets could be bought for distribution. (fn. 72)