A HISTORY OF HAMPSHIRE 



pomette, j hangynglaver, xj payre of Shettes, iij 

 payre blanketts, xxiij keverlytes, j crowl, j spade, j 

 shovell, j howe, j rake, j spytele, j Longpyke, 

 j whelberewe, j bounde w' Ire, ij cofor in ye 

 chambers w' munnimentes and chartes. 1 



The next entry in the Black Book, im- 

 mediately following this inventory, is the 

 record of a meeting of the assembly in the 

 house of St. John Baptist on 31 August, 

 1485. Other meetings of the Corporation 

 in the same hall are recorded in 1472, 1514, 

 1520 and 1523. 



At an assembly held in the gildhall on 6 

 January, 1524, there was 'granted to my 

 lord Suffrygan Seynt Johns house w* the 

 garden for time of his lyfe yeldying yerely for 

 the seid house xvjf. \\\}d. and for the garden 

 us.' Ten years before his death, which 

 occurred in 1528, Bishop Fox suffered from 

 blindness. Much of the diocesan work was 

 discharged by John Pinnock, Bishop of Syene, 

 who also acted as suffragan Bishop of Salis- 

 bury. 



At an assembly held in St. John's Hall on 

 2 March, 1531, it was ordained that 'from 

 hensforthe every Maire in his tyme shall 

 examyn the Inventory of all the churche 

 goodes of Saynt Jonys and all other goodes 

 belongyng to Seynt Jonys hospitall w'in iij 

 months next after the feist of Seynt Michell 

 tharchangell upon payne of forfeture of vjs. 

 viija. to the use of the Citie.' 



At an assembly held on 23 April, i535> 

 ' hit is granted to Richard Frankelyn, servant 

 of the seid Citie, to have the oversight and 

 kepying of Seynt Jonyes house and the hos- 

 pitall there as long as it shall please the 

 meare and the Citie to admyt hym.' 



The assembly of 8 August, 1546, decided 

 1 yt the supper accustomed to be kept at Seynt 

 John's house shall frome hensforthe yerelye 

 be kept there the Sonday next following the 

 Natyvyte of Saynt John the baptist in as 

 ampel maner as it hathe byn here to fore And 

 every of the beinche shall paye at the same 

 supper xiu/., and every other of the xxviij, nd. 

 apece, and of thother franches man vmd. a 

 pece, and that whether the! be present there at 

 the supper or not. And the mayor for the tyme 

 beinge to fynde a capon at the same supper 

 and thalderman of the Highe Strete another 

 capon.' 



At the dissolution of such institutions in 

 1546, this hospital fell into the hands of 

 Henry VIII., but it was not altogether sup- 

 pressed, and was by him regranted to the 

 corporation, the hall to be used by them for 

 municipal elections and the like purposes. 



1 Add. MS. 6036, f. 31. 



At that time the hospital revenue was but 

 lOOi. a year, 30*. of which was for the 

 priest's stipend. 



In 1558, Ralph Lamb bequeathed 400 

 to the master and brethren of this hospital, 

 for the purpose of adding to it as many poor 

 as the rents of the lands purchased with the 

 bequest would maintain, who were to be 

 called ' The Almsfolk of Ralph Lamb.' An 

 estate was purchased at Amesbury, Wilts, as 

 well as some small properties in Winchester, 

 and six poor and needy widows were estab- 

 blished in as many almshouses in a court on 

 the north side of the main building. 



In the charter which was granted by 

 Elizabeth in 1588 to the corporation, this 

 hospital, with the addition of the Lamb alms- 

 houses, was confirmed to them as its keepers. 



In an old account book of the corporation, 

 beginning about 1688, the Charity Com- 

 missioners (in 1824) found an entry, under 

 the title of ' The poor of St. John's hos- 

 pital weekly,' of the names of twenty-two 

 persons, men and women receiving 6d. a 

 week each, and of six others receiving is. 6d. 

 each per week, the latter being probably the 

 almspeople appointed under Lamb's gifts.* 

 At the time of the Commissioners' visit, there 

 were no other almsfolk nor any doles to the 

 poor save those on Lamb's foundation. 



In 1 8 1 1 a suit was begun against the cor- 

 poration for mismanagement and abuse of 

 this and other charity trusts. After almost 

 continuous litigation for nearly twenty years, 

 the corporation surrendered, and in 1829 

 resigned their powers and responsibilities to 

 the trustees appointed by the Court of Chan- 

 cery. 



After the Reformation, when the chaplain's 

 stipend was appropriated, the chapel was dis- 

 used. It was rescued from its ruinous con- 

 dition in 1710, and turned into a schoolroom 

 for sixty poor children. It was used as a 

 school until 1838, when it was repaired and 

 restored to its original use. 



St. John's House, with its fine hall and 

 chapel, still stands at the east end of the High 

 Street, and behind it are twenty-one com- 

 modious almshouses. 



27. THE HOSPITAL OF 



ST. JULIAN OR GOD'S HOUSE, 



SOUTHAMPTON 



This hospital was founded for the poor, in 

 the reign of Richard I., about the year 1 197,* 

 by Gervase le Riche, who was a burgess of 



2 Charity Commissioners' Reports, xii. 437. 



3 Pipe Roll, 9 Rich. I. 



202 



