30. THE HOSPITAL OF ST. AUGUSTINE PAPPEY
The miserable condition to which old and infirm priests were often reduced caused three
chaplains of London, William Cleve, priest of a
chantry in St. Mary Aldermary, William Barnaby,
chantry priest in St. Paul's, and John Stafford,
to found a Fraternity of Charity and St. John
the Evangelist in their (fn. 1) aid in 1442. (fn. 2) For
their purpose they obtained from Thomas
Symmeson, the parson of Allhallows London
Wall, the chapel of St. Augustine Pappey, once a
parish church, but shortly before united to Allhallows', (fn. 3) the churchyard which had been bequeathed by William Cressewyk in 1405 to St.
Augustine's, (fn. 4) and a house and garden adjoining.
The fraternity as usual comprised both men and
women, (fn. 5) but in this case the brothers were all to
be priests (fn. 6) ; it was a corporation, having perpetual succession and a common seal. (fn. 7) The
government was in the hands of a master and
two wardens elected every year by the brothers
from their own numbers, (fn. 8) with the proviso that
no member of the fraternity of sixty priests
should be chosen for the posts. (fn. 9) These officers
made ordinances for the regulation of the society, (fn. 10)
received the money collected from the brothers
and sisters, and expended it as needed, (fn. 11) the
brothers auditing once a year the accounts, which
the wardens had to inscribe in a great register. (fn. 12)
The poor priests for whose benefit the gild
had been established were given shelter, food and
firing in the house close to the church, (fn. 13) and
those who had been masters or wardens, and
whose conduct during office had been exemplary,
received in addition an allowance of 8d. or 6d.
a week. (fn. 14)
The hospital came to an end with the suppression of the fraternities under Edward VI.
Sir Robert Foxe, the master, and five other
priests had pensions varying from 66s. 8d. to 40s.
assigned to them, (fn. 15) and four of the number were
still in receipt of these allowances in 1556. (fn. 16)
The property of the brotherhood, valued in
1548 at £24 11s. 8d. net per annum, consisted
in part of the house where the priests lived, the
farm of St. Augustine's and of the garden near,
a tenement at Baynard Castle, and two messuages
and six cottages in the parish of St. Michael-leQuerne. (fn. 17) The brothers may also have had a
messuage in Paternoster Row which had been
left to them in 1536, (fn. 18) but they had sold the
cemetery of Pappey church in 1538. (fn. 19) A
large part of their income had probably been
derived from the contributions and fines of
members of the society, (fn. 20) and bequests of money
made to them (fn. 21) for their prayers.
Masters of St. Augustine's Hospital,
Pappey (fn. 22)
John Welles held office in 1442
William Sayer, elected 1448
John Pynchebeke, elected 1449
William Leeke, elected 1459
John Colyn, elected 1460–1
Robert Gretham, elected 1462
Ralph Kytson, elected 1463–5
John Hede, elected 1466
John Bolte, elected 1479
Thomas Praty, elected 1480
John Bell, elected 1481
John Pyrules, elected 1482–3
John Sclater
William Smythe
William Hulnesdale
Peter Corffe
Ralph Creke
Thomas Ashborne, elected 1504–7
Thomas Daw, elected 1508
George Done (fn. 23)
William Robinson, elected 1519
Thomas Houghton, elected 1520–1
William Hartopp, elected 1522
George Done, elected 1523
John More, elected 1524–5
William Basse, elected 1526
George Dune, elected 1534–5
Humphrey Town, elected 1536
George Dune, elected 1537
Robert Haune, elected 1538–9
Robert Fox, elected 1540
John —
John Benson
Robert Fox (fn. 24)