CHARITIES.
In 1632 Sir Robert Killigrew gave
the parish £30 for the use of the poor in return for
permission to inclose part of the common. In 1696
no interest had been received for twenty years. (fn. 37)
This money may have become part of the Parish
Stock, which was later used for educational purposes. (fn. 38) In return for permission to inclose a piece of
open field and to divert a footpath George, Earl of
Pomfret (d. 1785), endowed a bread charity in 1769
known as the Courtfield charity. (fn. 39) Some 63 acres of
land between Charlton and Ashford Common were
allotted at the inclosure to provide money for the
buying of fuel for the poor. (fn. 40) This land was later
known as the Fuel estate or Parish farm. Between
about 1895 and 1926 the land was sold at various
times and the proceeds were invested in stock, of
which the income was £115 in 1950. (fn. 41)
Dorothy Wood (d. 1765), Henry Claxton (codicil
of 1813), James Cowe (d. 1842), Vicar of Sunbury,
Samuel Landon (d. 1844), James Annett (will proved
1873), and Thomas Stroud (will proved 1910) all
left or gave endowments for the distribution of
bread to the poor. In 1950 some £46 arising from
these charities and from the Courtfield charity was
used to buy bread. (fn. 42)
Other eleemosynary charities were endowed by
Roger Boehm (will dated 1801), lord of Sunbury
manor, T. P. Ford (d. 1803), Killingworth Hedges
(declaration of trust, 1843), Elizabeth Collingridge
(will proved 1858), and Francis Needham, Earl of
Kilmorey (d. 1880: gift 1864 or 1865). (fn. 43) John
Turner's charity, founded in 1761 originally for
educating and apprenticing the poor, has been used
for other charitable purposes since 1848. (fn. 44) The income from these charities amounted to some £34 in
1950. It was expended in cash payments to widows
and in provisions. (fn. 45)
William Pembroke (codicil 1813) left an endowment to repair his family's vault, the surplus income
to be received by the vicar. The tomb has been kept
in repair. (fn. 46) Isabella Wethered (will proved 1897)
left an endowment, which became available some
time after 1932, to maintain her family tomb, any
surplus income to purchase flannel for the poor.
The charity has been used to buy red flannel or
blankets. (fn. 47)
Jeremy Norcrosse left a mare and colt in 1636, to
be kept for breeding and the male offspring to be
sold for the benefit of the poor. (fn. 48) Christopher Child
(will of 1625) left £10 a year for the poor. (fn. 49) Nothing
further is recorded of either of these charities. In
1919 the urban district council took over the management of the above parochial charities except for
Stroud's Bread Charity and the charities for
repairing tombs. (fn. 50)
The four almshouses mentioned in the 1830's,
1840's, and in 1890 were probably the old parish
house. (fn. 51) In 1891 they were replaced by the present
almshouses erected on the same site behind the
Grammar School in Nursery Road. These were
built at the expense of various locally prominent
people, notably H. Vigue, Vicar of Sunbury, W. A.
Mitchison, J. P. Fletcher, and the Hedges family.
J. P. Fletcher (d. 1905), H. Hedges (d. 1906), and
Ellen M. A. Baker (d. 1929) endowed the almshouses with £516, £200, and £300 respectively. (fn. 52)