38. THE HOSPITAL OF ILFORD
It appears from a list (fn. 1) of the abbesses of
Barking preserved in the Ashmolean Library that
the hospital of St. Mary, Ilford, was founded by
Adeliza the sister of Payn Fitz John, who was
made abbess by King Stephen. Lysons, quoting
from Mr. Lethieullier's manuscript history of
Barking, says (fn. 2) that Stephen confirmed the
foundation, and that Abbess Maud also confirmed
it under the condition that the prior and brethren should maintain a priest and pay him 10s.
yearly to celebrate divine service in the chapel of
the hospital and to say mass for her after her
death. In 1219, disputes having arisen as to the
endowment, it was agreed that the brethren of
the hospital should receive 40s. yearly from the
vicar of Barking; that on the death of a prior
they should elect three of their body, one of
whom the abbess should nominate; that he
might be either a layman or an ecclesiastic; that
the lepers should be chosen out of houses belonging to the abbey, if such could be found,
and that they should swear obedience to the
abbess; and that the hospital should nominate
a priest for the daily service of the chapel and
the abbess another to say mass for the deceased.
The possessions of the hospital were also increased.
The warden of the lepers was defendant in a
suit of 1226. (fn. 3)
Land in Ilford was acquired in 1235 (fn. 4) and
1385. (fn. 5) The king on 20 November, 1340,
granted remission of taxation to the warden and
brethren, as in times past, on account of their
slender endowment. (fn. 6)
Bishop Ralph Stratford, in consequence of
what he had found at a visitation, drew up new
statutes (fn. 7) for the hospital on 4 December, 1346,
with the assent of the abbess and convent and of
the master and brethren. The proper number
of thirteen leprous brethren was to be kept up as
far as the goods of the hospital would suffice;
and for this effect a leper was to be introduced
at each vacancy by the death or cession of a
non-leprous brother or corrodary until the number should be complete. The leper was to be
chosen from Barking if possible, or if not then
from any place of the domain of the abbess and convent if possible and then from anywhere else, and
this rule was to be followed at all vacancies. The
old mode of admission—that the lepers were to
be chosen alternately by the abbess and by the
master and brethren at her will—was not
altered. The brethren were to take an oath
not to grant any pension or corrody and not to
alienate any of the immovable goods of the hospital. Restrictions were placed on the admission
of married men. The lepers were not to omit
to go to their church, and their devotions were
prescribed. The provision made for two priests
and a clerk in the hospital, as contained in an indenture between Abbess Mabel and the brethren
by authority of Bishop William and in other
instruments, was confirmed; and lest the lepers
should have excuse to wander, their chaplain was
given full power of absolution and of administration of the sacrament of the eucharist and of
extreme unction. The lepers were to have free
burial by themselves. So far as their infirmity
permitted they were to sleep and eat in common,
apart from the chaplains and clerk. No woman
was to enter the hospital except the abbess and
the nuns with her, the kinswomen of the
brethren and chaplains in cases of sickness, and
the laundress for her duties. The lepers were
not to go out of the hospital without leave of the
master, called the prior, or the other master.
There was to be a weekly chapter of the leprous
master and his brethren. As in the above indenture it was provided that the abbess should
appoint a clerk or layman for the business as
master, the bishop decreed that she should appoint
a secular master and that he and the leprous
master should on appointment take oath of good
management. An oath was also to be taken by
each leper at his admission.
Edward III granted (fn. 8) a corrody in the hospital
on 23 April, 1345, as his father had done before; but when in 1374 he sent one Thomas de
Illeford to receive the corrody which Simon
Sirebeux used to have, the master refused to
admit him and the abbess denied the king's
right. (fn. 9)
The bishop's statutes seem to have been disregarded, for it was found by inquisition (fn. 10) on
Monday after St. Edmund, 1397, that, although
there used to be maintained in the hospital a
prior and twelve lepers or other poor and feeble
persons and two chaplains, the abbess took all
the issues and profits belonging to it, so that
only one chaplain and one poor man were then
maintained there, nor had there been more for a
long time. Probably this inquisition was taken
in connexion with a claim of the crown to
the patronage of the hospital. Edward III
on 2 June, 1358, had granted (fn. 11) the wardenship
to William de Wode for life as being in his gift
by reason of the late voidance of the abbey; but
the grant was revoked on 4 July because the
collation did not belong to him. Richard II on
4 June, 1389, granted (fn. 12) the wardenship for life to
Henry Assheburn, and ordered the sheriff to put
him in possession. The sheriff returned that he
went there on Friday in Whitsun week to do so
and found there the prioress of Barking and men
with her, who said that the hospital was not
vacant, but one John had been prior for six years
of the collation of the abbess, and they showed
the prior and said that the hospital was of the
foundation of the abbey and the abbess had the
removal of the priors, and they refused to induct
Henry, so nothing was done. In spite of the
inquisition the abbess managed to hold her own,
and the king on 5 August, 1398, ratified (fn. 13) her
estate in the advowson of the hospital, founded
by her predecessors, the priors, masters, or wardens of which she and they had appointed and
removed, and to which she had appointed one
Stephen as prior. Henry IV confirmed (fn. 14) this
on 14 December, 1400. Nevertheless, on 12 November, 1405, he made a grant (fn. 15) of the wardenship to John Tilbery.
Robert Bekyngham was pardoned (fn. 16) on 24 November, 1401, for having on Saturday, the
feast of St. Ethelburga, 1399, broken the church
of the hospital and stolen a missal, a chalice, two
breviaries, an altar-cloth, and vestments from the
custody of Sir John, the chaplain.
In 1504 the hospital was possessed of the
tithes of Eastbury, Westbury, and Loxford, a
portion of the tithes of Warley, a portion of the
tithes of Jenkins, Clayberry, Wyfields and some
other estates in Barking, and lands and rents
principally in this parish. (fn. 17) Its net value is
given in the Valor as £16 13s. 4d. yearly. In
the certificates of colleges and chantries it is described (fn. 18) as 'The hospitall ther foundid to find
13 pore men beyng lepars, 2 pryests and one
clerke, wherof ther is at this daye but on priest
and 2 pore men. The said hospitall is distant
from the paroche churche a myle and more, and
is worthe by yere £23 4s. 11d. besides 9 acres
wode cauled Spetell Helle wherof for rents resolute 18s. 8½d., for the fyndyng of 2 pore men
£4 11s. 4d., for the tenth 33s. 4d. and so rem'
clere £16 1s. 6½d.'
Ilford appears not to have fallen at the dissolution. By an indenture (fn. 19) dated 23 April, 1572,
Queen Elizabeth granted the patronage of the
hospital and all her rights as patron to Thomas
Fanshawe, remembrancer in the Exchequer, and
his heirs and assigns, and he agreed to find a
suitable master or warden, who was to keep the
chapel and buildings in repair and provide four
separate mansions within the precincts for the
habitation of four poor persons in addition to the
two already there, and to maintain the six mansions and six poor persons in them, paying to
each 45s. yearly as the present two had. By
another indenture (fn. 20) dated 29 October he agreed
that the master should celebrate divine service in
the chapel on Sundays, feasts and other accustomed days, or maintain a competent person to
do so. He granted (fn. 21) the mastership to Godfrey
Fanshawe for life on 6 June, 1578, and to William Fisher for life on 22 May, 1588. A suit (fn. 22)
by the latter for the recovery of tithes belonging
to the hospital in Eastbury and North Grange in
Barking is recorded.
At the time of the civil wars Sir Thomas
Fanshawe, the patron, and Richard Fanshawe, the
master of the hospital, were strong royalists, and
the tithes of the hospital were consequently
sequestrated under the Commonwealth. Richard
Wilcox was appointed master, and in 1651-2-3
made applications for a discharge of the sequestration. (fn. 23) In 1653, however, John Reading,
counsellor to the Commissioners for Sequestrations, obtained a presentation to the mastership
and contested the matter with Wilcox. Reading
was successful, and obtained a discharge on
8 September, 1654. (fn. 24) Six years' tithes from
Claybury, amounting to £40, were in arrear in
1652, (fn. 25) and it is likely that the hospital suffered
considerably from the confusion of the wars.
The tithes were let at £90 yearly, but in 1654
an offer of £120 yearly was made for them. (fn. 26)
The Committee for Plundered Ministers made
an order on 23 April, 1651, that £50 yearly
from the tithes should be paid to a minister at
Ilford, but this would seem not to have been
carried out, for an order for the payment was
made in 1653. (fn. 27) In 1655 the inhabitants of
Great Ilford complained that they had erected a
chapel for the minister, but John Reading had
seized the maintenance to his own use by the
discharge of the sequestration. (fn. 28) After the restora
tion the Fanshawes appear to have recovered
possession.
Ilford is included in a list of hospitals which were
to be visited by a commission (fn. 29) appointed in January,
1691, for the correction of abuses.
It was determined by a decree of the Court
of Exchequer in 1711 (fn. 30) that there were 1,200
acres of land in Barking which should pay tithe
to the hospital, and that there was a quit rent
of £1 13s. 4d. due to it out of Claybury, £2
yearly out of Barking mills and £2 out of the
vicarage.
A report on the state of the hospital was made
by the commissioners appointed to inquire into
charities in 1840. (fn. 31) Viscount Fanshawe, of
Dromore in Ireland, heir of the said Thomas
Fanshawe and seised in fee of the patronage of
the hospital, by an indenture of mortgage dated
20 March, 1668, granted to Thomas Allen the
hospital and its possessions, including the site,
parcels of land amounting to ninety-six acres
and tithes of 1,330 acres of arable, meadow and
pasture ground and 320 acres of marsh and mead
in Barking, East Ham and Great and Little
Ilford, and its patronage for a term of one thousand years at a peppercorn rent. The interest in
the hospital and its estates passed through several
hands to Sir Crisp Gascoyne, who foreclosed the
mortgage, and is said to have separated by will a
part of the tithes from the rest of the hospital
property. The remainder devolved on his
grandson Bamber Gascoyne, from whom they
passed to his daughter and heiress and through
her by marriage to the marquess of Salisbury.
The almspeople, who were appointed by the
marquess of Salisbury, received £2 11s. 0d. each
yearly, and the sacramental money collected in
the chapel was divided between them. The
chaplain was paid a salary of £14 yearly, and
was permitted to let two rooms in the wings, not
occupied by the almspeople, for his own benefit,
and to receive the pew rents of the chapel, the
former producing £3 yearly and the latter £30
yearly. The marquess, besides making these
payments, kept the chapel and hospital buildings
in repair.
The hospital exists thus to the present day,
each of the six almshouses accommodating an
aged couple, though on the death of one of these
the survivor is generally allowed to remain for
life.
Priors, Masters or Wardens of Ilford
Eudo, occurs 1235. (fn. 32)
Adam, occurs 1334. (fn. 33)
William de Wode. (fn. 34)
Robert, occurs 1374. (fn. 35)
John, appointed 1383. (fn. 36)
Henry Assheburn. (fn. 36)
John Ikelyngton, appointed 1394. (fn. 37)
Stephen, occurs 1398. (fn. 38)
John Tilbery. (fn. 36)
John Smyth, died 1475. (fn. 39)
Godfrey Fanshawe, appointed 1578.
William Fisher, appointed 1588. (fn. 40)
Richard Fanshawe, (fn. 36) deprived 1651.(?)
Richard Wilcox, (fn. 36) appointed 1651.(?)
John Reading, (fn. 36) appointed 1653.