In 1422, Henry Chichele, the Archbishop of Canterbury, founded ‘in a place adjoining the Vicarage and the Churchyard’ his Bede House. It was a dwelling for 12 men over the age of 50 to live in ‘close company’ with the support of one woman to look after them.

The woman chosen to be the Bedeswoman was required to be ‘honest, of good name and character that shall be 50 years old to help the poor men if they fall sick and to be ready to help them. The said woman shall be quiet and honest, no brawler or chider, and be glad to please every man to the best of her ability.’

The Bede House was Henry Chichele’s provision for the poor of his birthplace. The word ‘bede’ means ‘prayer’. In services throughout the day, the Bedesmens’ role was to intercede ‘for the King’s majesties and for the founder of the same hospital and for all others that there shall fare the better for.’ For this they were paid a pension, the Bedeswoman equally to the Bedesmen.

They were expected to obey the rules laid down by Henry Chichele. The following are regulations that relate to the Bedeswoman:

‘Every poor man that is chosen if he has no gown of his own shall have the best gown of any dead poor man and he to pay 3s 4d and 4d for putting it on to the other poor men to make merry with & also 6d for wheatmeal and salt & two pence to the woman for making up his bed and a penny to the barber.

Every poor man shall buy his food on Saturday and bring it home and deliver it to the woman and she to ask them what they want on Sunday and she to cook enough on Sunday to make them enough to have their own piece of meat and mess of potage, and the rest to be saved for Monday, when they come home for dinner.

The woman shall take the meat that is left on Wednesday and put a pot on the fire to make another good potage and give each his meat and potage and the woman shall go to town on Friday to get good food to make them potage for Friday and Saturday.

The woman shall on Monday gather all the poor men’s clothes together and see them washed and [pretty] and she may hire help on wash days only.

Also in spring time the poor men shall go into the garden and shall dig and dress the garden at their own cost but if they are away they are to pay those who do work a penny a day and there will be a key to the garden given to the woman and she to see that there is no waste in the house or garden.

The woman shall every morning make the poor men a fire before they rise and give them a pan of water and a dish by it to wash their hands and also she shall see the house is swept clean every day & also tend every man taken sick in the night to see what he needs & to give it to him at his own cost, and to do her duty to help that poor man.

Every poor man and the woman shall have their wages on Friday at noon to be given out by the Prior so they might buy what they need on Saturday.

There shall only be twelve men maintained in the hospital and the woman.

The woman shall have as much [wages] for her trouble as the men in every respect.

These poor men and the woman shall have allowed as wages every man 7d and the woman 7d a week so long as they keep these orders as set down & they shall have as much cloth as will make each man and the the woman a gown given to them near Christmas & 5s yearly for the lamp & 5s to the barber and 8 loads of wood to be brought home yearly without charge to them & 10s for fuel to wash them.’

The institution that Henry Chichele set up nearly six hundred years ago still exists, albeit in a modified form. The Bedesmen and current Bedeswoman, Mrs. Marian Knott, remain an important presence on Civic occasions. A special service and lunch is held each December to mark their feast day of St Thomas.

Sources:

The Bede House, A Guide to the Medieval Hospital at Higham Ferrers
by Norman Groome (1950)

Higham Ferrers 1251-1914, A portrait of the town and people through its historic charters
by Brenda Lofthouse with Gwen Tobin (2019)

The names of the first Bedeswomen are lost to history. The earliest name from church records is Alice Owine, buried 23/07/1757. [When the Northamptonshire Record Office is reopened Brenda Lofthouse will make a further search of records.]

21/12/1907 Bedesday: Mrs Kilsby was the Bedeswoman

In the 1901 census there were two Mrs Kilsby's in Higham Ferrers, both Mary A. aged 63* and 65**.

There are two deaths recorded in Wellingborough district for Mary A. Kilsby between 1907 – 1914: in June 1908 age 70 * and in December 1911 age 78 **.

When United Charities was established 1914 Jane Wilby was in place as Bedeswoman.