Dear Sir

We have the Deeds relating to May's otherwise Meye's Charity Rushden, in our hands and on referring to the last Deed of Apportionment and Conveyance dated the 17th May 1834 we find that the Land at Wollaston was Con[vesin] by Mr William Smith who is described as the heir in law (after 3 or 4 ...) of a Mr Thomas Smith formerly of Rushden who was the survivor of a set of Trustees of this charity appointed by a deed dated in 1746, the Conveyance was made by Mr Wm Smith in 1834 on the Nomination deed at the request of the Churchwardens and Overseers of the poor of Rushden of that time (to whom we see the land was allotted on the ... of Wollaston) To the use of seven Trustees viz Charles Hill, Thomas Williams, John Smith, William Achurch, Alfred Manning, Michael Mason and Samuel Boltin — Seven seems to have been the number of Trustees since the first Record of the Charity Deed.

As we understand you have one of the seven Trustees now living so that you seem to be much in the same position that they were in 1834. There is no power of new appointment given to the Trustees by this last Deed it being evident the intentions that new trustees should always be appointed by the Churchwardens and Overseers for the time being and the Conveyance be at their request and on their nominations.

We are Dear Sir
Yours faithfully
Burnham Henry

The Revd J T Barker
Rushden Rectory

Charity Commission
14^th July 1876

Revd Sir,

In reply to your letter of the 27^th unto I am to state that the desired appointment of new Trustees of May’s Charity can be effected by an Order of this Board, to be obtained upon application of the surviving Trustees, or of any two or more inhabitants of the Parish. There are three other Charities in the Parish to which it appears desirable that the proposed appointment should extend viz. The Bull Money or Mrs Mary Greave’s Gift, Latham’s Dole, and The School house.

The proposed Order may also extend to the establishment of a Scheme giving to the trustees to be appointed a wider discretion in the future administration of the several Charities and making provision for the filling up of vacancies in their body subject to the approval of this Board.

A form of Application and two prints indicating the provisions of the suggested Scheme are enclosed.

I am Revd Sir
Your obedient Servant
Hen M Vane
Secretary

The Revd John T Barker
Rectory
Rushden

Revd Sir

The application which accompanied your letter of 2nd inst is not sufficient to enable the Commissioners to include in the proposed proceedings the several charities mentioned in my letter of 14th July. I am accordingly to request that the inclosed form may be returned to me when signed as indicated in pencil.

Having regard to the small amount of the annual income of these charities it is unnecessary to have so large a number of Trustees for their administration as the 9 nominated at the Vestry.

The Vicar & Churchwardens in their ex-officio character & 2 or 3 men official Trustees to be selected from those appointed at the Vestry will probably be found sufficient for the purpose.

It should be explained when & under what authority a Vestry Hall was built on the site of the Old School House, & also by what instrument it is now vested, as represented, in the Churchwardens & Overseers for ever.

In 1869 at the date of the Inquiry by Mr Good the Inspector of Charities this School house was used for Vestry, Club & other meetings & for lectures & other entertainments as well as for the purposes of a day & Sunday School.

I am Revd Sir
Your obedient Servt
Henry M Vane
Secretary

The Revd John T Barker
Rectory
Rushden

Revd Sir,

In reply to your letter of 15th September last I am to state that it is for the present administration of the Trust to select for appointment as new Trustees such persons, able and willing to act in the trust, as they may have reason to consider will be acceptable to the Parish generally.

The inclosed acceptance should then be signed by the proposed Trustees. The rector and Churchwardens would also be appointed as ex-officio Trustees, but, considering that the office of Constable is fallen into disuse, it is un-necessary to continue that officer as a Trustee of Maye's Charity.

Latham’s dole does not appear to have any legally appointed Trustees and should be included in the proposed order. You do not assign any reason for its omission and there are no persons at present capable of enforcing its payment, if, though not probable, such payment should be at any time disputed.

The form which accompanied my letter of the 23rd August last should be returned when completed.

I am Revd Sir
Your Obedient Servant
Henry M Vane

The Revd John T Barker
Rectory
Rushden

Charity Commission
3^rd January 1877

Revd Sir,

Although the acceptance of trust which accompanied your letter of the 6^th ulto referred to the Bull Money and to the Latham Dole as well as to May’s Charity, yet the application for the Order of the Board is confirmed to that latter Charity only, the two former having been struck out. I have accordingly to request that the accompanying form may be signed by any two inhabitants, yourself and the Churchwardens, will be sufficient, so as to secure the appointment of one body of trustees for the several Parish Charities in question.

The Vicar & Churchwardens by whom it appears the income of the Latham Dole is applied will be appointed to be Trustees. The Resolution passed at the meeting of 9^th November last expressed the desire that the proposed appointment of Trustees should embrace not only May’s but also the other Charities of the Parish.

I am Revd Sir
Your obedient Servant
Rev W Vane
Secretary

The Revd John T Barker
Rectory
Rushden

On the 15th February they sent again - "to establish a Scheme for the future regulation" and gave details of how to proceed.

Charity Commission
11^th June 1877

Sir,

This case has been under consideration together with the copy Minutes of the Vestry Meeting of 1^st March last, which accompanied your letter of the 2^nd and the Order of the Board has been passed establishing the Scheme in the matter.

The Commissioners have made some alterations in the proposed Scheme with the View of meeting the objections which have been made as far as is consistent with a due regard to the terms of the Foundation and rendering the Charity of the greatest benefit to the Poor inhabitants.

With regard to the Trustees it would be to a great extent a departure from the original terms of the foundations, as well as from the recognized practice for a long series of years, to omit, as ex-officio Trustees, those specified in the scheme as now prepared. The Rector and the Churchwardens have been always the administrators of Latham’s Dole. The 9a 0r 28p of land in Wollaston were expressly awarded under the Act of the 28^th George 3^rd to the Churchwardens and Overseers. The Constables were in some cases taken as concurrent administrators.

Trustees of the land were appointed by deed up to the year 1834, the retiring Trustees conveying the same to their successors.

Under the altered circumstances of the present time it has not been thought necessary to introduce the Overseers and Constables as Trustees, but the Commissioners see no ground for excluding the rector or Churchwardens.

There does not appear to have been any instance of election by the Parish of the administrators of the Charities, and the election of such distributors, if frequent, would probably be liable to much objection, where some of the electing body may seek to be participators in the gifts. The Commissioners are, however, disposed to assent to the election by the Vestry at reasonable intervals of a certain number of Trustees to fill up the number as they are casually reduced. An alteration in the 4^th Clause of the scheme has therefore been made with that object.

The intention of the founders mentioned in the resolution which has been forwarded refers it is presumed to William May’s Charity. The Commissioners have, to remove all such ground of objection, added to the 15^th Clause the precise words of the will as stated in the Parliamentary Report of the Charity – By the same Clause any interest which may be claimed, by the poor kindred of the founder is preserved.

The Scheme now proposed (Clause 15 subsection 1) differs in few respects from the Clause No. 72 which was suggested as a form sometimes in use, and an addition has now been made of some words that had been omitted. The introduction of subsections 2 and 3 in the present Scheme does not alter the first subsection, but only enables the Trustees to exercise a wider discretion in rendering the Charities as far as possible beneficial.

The distribution of doles of a few shillings a-piece among a number of persons is found to be universally of a demoralising character encouraging the poor in habits of solicitation and opposed to self dependence. The subsections 2 and 3 are designed to promote an application of the fund which by improving the condition of the poor and raising their standards of well being shall tend to remove or diminish the causes of poverty. There does not seem any reason why the Trustees should not be authorised to deal with the Charities in this direction when they see their way to doing so.

A print of the Order establishing the Scheme as altered is now transmitted and your explanation to the memorialists of the changes which have been made and of the reasons for adhering in other respects to the proposed Scheme will, it is hoped, be satisfactory.

I am Sir
Your obedient Servant
Hen M Vane
Secretary

Mr Wm Wilkins
Rushden

Helping Rushden’s poor - Details written on wall

William Maye, of Rushden, died on April 19, 1631, and left £100 to the people of the town to buy freehold land for the benefit of the poor.

The writing

Executor

The executor of William Maye’s wishes is now the Rushden Parochial Charities Committee, and each year it contributes 6s 8d to the church for the upkeep of the transcription on the wooden framed plaque.

As can be seen land was bought at Wollaston soon after William Maye’s death and produced £4 10s.

In 1798 the poor benefited from the rent by £12 a year and in 1875 this figure was increased to £25 a year.

Now the figure is £30 a year, from the same land.