27. HOSPITAL OF ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST AND ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST, SHERBORNE
A hospital here of comparatively late foundation 'was begun,' according to Leland, 'by devotion of the good people of Sherborne in the
fourth year of Henry VI, and the king is taken
for founder of it.' (fn. 110) On 11 July, 1437,
eleven years after the date given of its inception,
Henry VI granted a licence to Robert Neville,
bishop of Salisbury, Humphrey Stafford, knt.,
Margaret Gogh, John Fauntleroy, and John
Baret, to incorporate and establish a certain
house of perpetual charity in Sherborne to the
honour of God and St. John the Baptist and St.
John the Evangelist for the reception of twenty
brethren, twelve 'poor sick and impotent' men
and four women, with a chaplain who should
pray for the good estate of the king and of the
brethren of the house and their benefactors while
they lived, and for their souls and those of all
the faithful departed 'when they shall have
withdrawn from this light.' The brethren were
yearly, or whenever it should be convenient, to
elect a master from among themselves, and were
empowered to fill up any vacancy that should
occur in their number, and to remove or expel
the master from his office or any of the poor
men or women from the house; all the inmates
should live under the rule and government
ordained by the said bishop, Sir Humphrey
Stafford, Margaret Gogh, John Fauntleroy, John
Baret, or any four, three, or two of them. The
master and brethren were declared capable of
holding lands in the name of the society, and of
pleading and being impleaded in the law courts
of the land, they should use one common seal,
and might hold lands and rents in socage
or in burgage to the annual value of 40 marks
for the benefit of the poor men and women
in the hospital, while the perpetual chaplain
and his successors might acquire and hold the
same to the value of 10 marks, notwithstanding mortmain and all previous statutes to the
contrary. (fn. 111)
Henry VI in October, 1448, made a further
grant to the brethren of the house that for a
fine of £10 they might acquire lands and tenements to the annual value of £33 6s. 8d., (fn. 112)
and by a later deed reciting his former grant
he licensed William Combe, John Downton of
Folke, and William Couland to give and assign
to William Smyth, then master of the hospital,
thirty-nine messuages, two tofts, one dovecot,
39½ acres of land, 19 acres and one rood of
meadow and 1 acre of grove situated in Sherborne, Beer Hackett, and Caundle, of the yearly
value of £5 3s. 4d., to be held in part satisfaction
of the £33 6s. 8d. (fn. 113) Bishop Richard Beauchamp of Salisbury is mentioned as a great
benefactor to the house, (fn. 114) which, indeed, was
situated within his 'vill' of Sherborne, but he
can hardly have been the founder as one report
states; (fn. 115) his predecessor Aiscough, according
to an entry in his official register, dedicated an
altar in the chapel of the hospital in 1442, five
years after its incorporation by royal charter. (fn. 116)
On the confiscation of colleges and chantries
under Edward VI the house entered as 'the
hospital or house of leprosy of St. John the
Evangelist in Sherborne' was found worth
£35 8s. 6d., out of which £4 3s. 6d. was
deducted in rents resolute, leaving a clear income
of £31 5s. which the officiating priest received
half-yearly, £5 6s. 8d., the residue, being applied
'to the finding of eleven poor and impotent
men and four poor women according to the
foundation thereof.' (fn. 117) The name of the last
incumbent is not given, nor is he entered among
those who received pensions. (fn. 118)
Masters of the Hospital of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist, Sherborne
John Deen, occurs 1448 (fn. 119)
William Smyth, occurs 1454 (fn. 120)
Henry Borman, occurs 1468 (fn. 121)