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THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
LOS ANGELES
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M E M O 1 11
OF
JOHN CARPENTER,
Cotnn Clerft of iLotiDon
IN THE REIGNS OF
HENRY V. AND HENRY VI.
COMPILED
FROM ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS AND OTHER AUTHENTIC SOURCES,
BY
THOMAS BREWER,
OF THE TOWN C L E R K ' S OFFICE.
t«^»*«
LONDON:
PRINTED BY ARTHUR TAYLOR, 39, COLEMAN STREET,
Printer to the Honourable City of London.
183G.
/il
DA
TO
WARREN STORMES HALE, Esq. Chairman,
AND
THE MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE
FOR ESTABLISHING THE CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL,
THIS MEMOIR,
COMPILED FOR THEIR INFORMATION, AND PRINTED
BY THEIR DESIRE,
IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,
BY THEIR OBLIGED AND FAITHFUL SERVANT
THOMAS BREWER.
62984S
PREFACE.
HE establishment of the
City of London School,
and its endowment by
the Corporation with the
sum of Nine hundred
pounds //e/' annum out of
the produce of the estates left by John
Carpenter, in the reign of Henry the
Sixth, for the limited purpose of educating,
clothing, and maintaining four poor Boys,
haying giyen to the name of that individual
an interest that did not formerly attach to
it, the following brief Memoir of him has
( vi )
been compiled, with a view of satisfying in
some measure the desire whieh must na-
turally be felt to know something of the
history of a man whose benevolence has
afforded the means of effeeting a purpose
which promises such beneficial and impor-
tant results.
The idea of preparing such an account
first suggested itself about the time that
the Act for establishing the school was pend-
ing in Parliament, in consequence of an
application being made to the Compiler by
Mr. Warren Stormes Hale, the then Chair-
man of the Committee who had the super-
intendance of the business, for some par-
ticulars connected with Carpenter's bequest
and the date of his death. A considerable
portion of his leisure time, for upwards of
a year past, has accordingly been devoted
by the Compiler to the task of searching
( vii )
for and collecting, from a variety of sources,
all the information in his power that was
calculated to be of use in the accomplish-
ment of this design. Although he has
succeeded in obtaining a body of facts far
exceeding his expectations, and which he
trusts will be found to give a tolerable idea
of the personal history of the individual to
whom they relate, he cannot but feel^ with
some degree of regret, that a very great
disparity exists between the labours he has
found it necessary to employ, and the re-
sult of those labours as exhibited in the
following pages.
Some estimate of the difficulties which
he has met with may be formed, when it is
stated that the person who was the sub-
ject of his enquiries lived upwards of four
hundred years ago, and that the present
was the first attempt that had ever been
( viii )
made to collect any the least particulars
of his history ; and that, moreover, the
materials were principally to be acquired
from various ancient manuscripts which,
besides being written in the Latin hmguage,
and in a style and character that retpiirc
some experience and patient investigation
to comprehend, were without any satisfac-
tory means of reference to those particular
parts which contained the information
sought for. This latter circumstance ren-
dered necessary a minute examination of
several entire volumes, containing many
hundreds of pages of miscellaneous matter,
as well as of a mass of documents of a lesal
character, such as charters, deeds of con-
veyance, wills, <§T., and imposed a labour
which to a great extent was unattended
with the slightest success.
The manuscript;^ rcfen-ed to, from which
( ix )
the principal facts have been gathered, are
those venerable and authentic sources of
civic history existing in the archives of the
Corporation, and the Patent Rolls in the
Tower of London. But, besides these, re-
course has been had to a variety of other
sources of information, comprehending all
the works illustrative of the subject to which
the Compiler had access, and of which those
that he has had occasion to cite are enu-
merated in the subjoined list.
In closing this prefatory statement, the
Compiler has great pleasure in acknow-
ledging the honour conferred upon his
humble effort, by the Chairman of the Com-
mittee for establishing the City of London
School having caused a copy of the follow-
ing "Memoir" to be enclosed with the other
documents in the glass vase, deposited
under the first stone of the new building.
( X )
which was laid on Wednesday, the 21st
day of October last, by the Rii^^ht Honou-
rable Henry Lord Brougham and Vaux.
GuildhaU, Nov. 1835.
LIST OF AUTHORITIES
CITED OR MADE USE OF IN THE FOLLOWING MEMOIR.
MSS. in the Archives of the Corporation of London.
Journals, Nos. 3, 4, 5, 8.
Liber Albus.
Liber Dunthora.
Liber Horn.
Liber I.
Liber K.
Repertory, No. 20.
Hustings Rolls of Deeds and Wills, Nos. 150,
151, 152, 153, 186.
MSS. in the Tower of London.
Patent Rolls, 1, 3, 8, 9, 19 Hen. VI.
Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum.
Acts of Parhament, 13 and 14 Chas. H., c. 12;
10 Geo. IV., c. 43 ; 4 and 5 WiU. IV., c. 35.
Brayley's Londiniana.
Charity Commissioners' Report, No. 10.
Cotton's Abridgment of the Records in the Tower.
Douce' s Dance of Death.
Dugdale's History of St. Paul's.
Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum.
Edinburgh Review, vol. 34.
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Green's History of Worcester.
( xii )
Herbert's Histor}' of the Livery Companies.
Heyliii's History of the Reformation.
Holbein's Dance of Death, by Hollar.
Introduction to Statutes of the Realm.
Lysons's Environs of London.
Maitland's Histon^ of London.
Malcolm's Londinium Redivivum.
More's (Sir Thomas) Works.
Nicolas's Synopsis of the Peerage,
Nicolas's Proceedings, &-c. of the Privy Council.
Pennant's Loudon.
Proceedings of the Common Council, 1 826, 1S27, 1 833,
1834.
Rolls of Parliament.
Shakspeare's Works.
Stow's Survey of London.
Strype's Survey.
Tanner's Notitia Monastica.
Thomas's Account of the Bishops of Worcester.
Walpole's Anecdotes of Painting.
Warton's Histor}- of English Poetry.
Wood's Historv of the Universitv of Oxford.
MEMOIR.
Of the parentage of John Carpenter nothing
further is kno^^ni than that his father's name
was Richard, and his mother's Christina.
His father was a citizen of London, whose
trade was, it is beheved, that of a Chandler^.
Though it is not possible to state precisely
what family they possessed, it is e\ddent that
they had several children, both male and fe-
male, some of whom, who died before John,
were buried, together with their parents, in
the parish church of Saint Martin Outwich,
in Tlireadneedle street 2.
The subject of the following account ap-
pears to have received a liberal education and
to have possessed a considerable share of
' Liber I. fo. 97 b.
2 Will of Katherine Carpenter, vide post, p. 42.
B
( 2 )
learning. Amongst other subjects, it is evi-
dent that he had an extensive acquaintance
with the law ; but though he had probably
deeply studied that branch of knowledge, it
is not clear whether he at any time followed
it as a profession. The description which is
very generally appended to his name, in the
numerous deeds to which he was a party
that are still extant in the rolls of the Court
of Hustings, is that of " Clerk" (Clericus), a
term which, besides being used to designate
ecclesiastical persons, was formerly employed
to signify in a general sense a learned man,
or man of letters^, in which sense it was
doubtless applied to Carpenter. He is also
often described as a " Citizen of London,"
and very frequently as " John Carpenter ju-
nior." This latter appellation, considering
that his father's name was Richard, it is not
easy to account for ; an opinion however will
be hazarded upon the subject when it again
comes under notice in a subsequent part of
this account.
3 Encyclopsedia Britannica, 7th edition, vol, vi. p. 74.
( 3 )
No further information has been disco-
vered, relating to John Carpenter, until his
election, in the year 1417, to the office of
Common Clerk, or Town Clerk, of the city.
This officer, during his time, was also fre-
quently called the " Secretary" of the city^ a
term which, though not inappropriate at any
other period, has not been met with in the
records of the city as being applied to any
Town Clerk but Carpenter. His election took
place upon an arrangement between him and
John Marchaunt, who then held the office,
and to whom Carpenter was at the time a
clerk. By this arrangement, to which the
Common Council of the city w^ere also par-
ties, as having the patronage of the office, it
was agreed that Marchaunt should, during his
life, continue to enjoy a certain portion of the
income of the office, together with other ad-
vantages, though Carpenter was to execute
its duties. This singularity, which probably
can scarcely be paralleled by the election of
any other officer, w'ill justify the insertion of
-« Liber K. fo. 1 65, 1 89 ; and Journal No. 3, fo. 64 b. 65.
B 2
( 4 )
the following translation of the entire entry
as it stands in the records of the city^.
" A Common Council held on the twentieth
day of April, in the fifth year of the reign of
King Henry the Fifth after the Conquest, in
the presence of Henry Barton, Mayor, John
Barton, Recorder, Richard Merlawx, Robert
Chichele, William Crowmer, Thomas Fauco-
ner, Nicholas Wotton, William Louth, Wil-
liam Norton, William Chichele, John Penne,
William Sevenok, John Michel, Thomas
Pyke, Thomas Aleyn, Alan Everard, William
Cambrigge, John Reinwell, Ralph Barton,
and John Perneys, Aldermen, and John Co-
ventre, one of the Sherijffs, and an immense
multitude of Commoners of the said city.
" The same day it ^vas granted by the said
Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, at
the cordial and diligent instance of John Car-
penter, that John Marchaunt, for the good
and laudable service which hitherto and of
long time, in the office of Common Clerk of
the said city, he hath faithfully exercised and
s Liber I. fo. 194 b.
( 5 )
occupied, shall have and hold, for the term
of his life, to him and his assigns, one man-
sion which he inhabiteth, situate above the
middle Q-ate of entrance to the Guildhall of
the said city, between the tenement of Tho-
mas Wotton on the east part, and the ceme-
tery of the church of Saint Lawrence on the
west part, without anything rendering for the
same. And also, at the instance and by the
consent of the said John Carpenter, it was
then and there granted by the said Mayor,
Aldermen, and Common Council, that the
said John Marchaunt shall have and receive
annually during his life, at the four principal
terms in the year, and usual in the City of
London, of the Commonalty of the aforesaid
city, by the hands of the Chamberlain for the
time being, ten pounds sterling, pertaining
to the office and the ancient fee of the Com-
mon Clerk of the said city ; and that John
Carpenter, his clerk, who then and there into
the same office was elected and admitted,
shall have and receive annually, of the Com-
monalty aforesaid, the rewards and robes and
the other fees, commodities, and profits and
( 6 )
emoluments whatsoever to the office afore-
said belonging and pertaining, together with
the fee of ten pounds aforesaid which shall
fall after the death of the said John Mar-
chaunt, S^c. And it was granted by the same
John Carpenter, then and there, in full Coun-
cil aforesaid, that he, during the life of the
said John Marchaunt, would not demand, or
procure to be demanded, any of the fee of ten
pounds aforesaid to the said officepertaining."
The death of Marchaunt happened about
four years afterwards, namely in 1421, and as
he constituted Carpenter one of the executors
of his will, thereby showing that he reposed
great trust and confidence in him, it will pro-
bably not be deemed irrelevant to state the
manner in which he disposed of his property.
The will is dated the 18th of July, 1421,
in the ninth year of the reign of Henry the
Fifth, and was proved and enrolled in the Hus-
tings of Pleas of Land, held on the Monday
after the feast of Saint James the Apostle
(25th July), in the year following^. The tes-
6 Rolls of Deeds and Wills, No. 150, m. 9.
( 7 )
tator describes himself as "Citizen, and many
years Common Clerk, of the City of London,"
and, after directing that he should be buried
in the church of the convent of the Holy Tri-
nity within Aldgate, he bequeaths to the rec-
tor and churchwardens of Saint Margaret
Lothbury five marks ;?er annum,io be received
out of his lands and tenements, consisting of
a messuage and eight shops, which were for-
merly of John le Botener, senior, in the pa-
rishes of Saint Olave in the Old Je^^Ty, Saint
Stephen, Coleman street, and Saint Margaret,
Lothbury, on condition that the said rector,
&-C. should maintain a chaplain to pray for his
soul, and the souls of the said John le Bote-
ner and Margery and Mabely his wdves, and
all the faithful deceased ; in default of this
condition being fulfilled the said payment to
cease. He also bequeaths to the Prior and
Convent of the said church of the Holy
Trinity the aforesaid lands and tenements,
charged with the payment of the said five
marks per annum, and the reversion of two
tenements adjoining the same, upon condition
to sustain and keep in repair all the said lands
( 8 )
and tenements, and every week to assign three
canons of the said convent to celebrate daily
for his soul, and the souls of Letitia his wife,
his father, mother, brothers, and sisters, and
all their benefactors ; paying to each of the
said canons, for every day on which they
should so celebrate, one penny; the said Prior
and Convent also distributing, every Friday,
one penny each to three poor persons within
the parish of Saint Catherine Cree Church,
to pray for the souls abovesaid. The said
Prior and Convent were also directed to make
and hold every year for ever his anniversary
on Thursday and Friday in Easter week ;
namely, to say on the Thursday, in the after-
noon, "Placebo et Dirige, cum Obsequiis Mor-
tuorum,^'' and to celebrate on the Friday a
mass of Requiem by note for the said souls,
and to distribute on the same Friday an-
niversary, thirty pence to thirty poor per-
sons in the wards of Portsoken and Aldgate ;
and further, to pay to Richard Osbarn '^ and
John Carpenter, his executors, forty pence
7 Osbarn held the office of Clerk of the Chamber.
( 9 )
each on the feast of the nativity of Saint John
the Baptist in every year during their hves,
and after their decease to make a hke pay-
ment to the Common" Clerk and the Common
Orator (or Common Serjeant) for the time
being of the city, to see that his will was duly
performed. In default of compliance with
any of these directions, by the said Prior and
Convent, the bequest to them was to cease,
and to go to the Mayor and Commonalty of
the city, to the use of the keeper and chap-
lains of the chapel of Guildhall, who were to
perform the services and receive the rewards
above specified ; and, in case of their default,
the said lands and tenements were to remain
to the said Mayor and Commonalty for the
sustentation of the Conduits and other bur-
thens of the said city for ever.
Another instance of the reputation for trust-
worthiness which Carpenter enjoyed, is to be
found in his appointment, in the same year,
as an executor of the will of William Est, a
citizen of London^, who directed part of his
®Rolls of Deeds and Wills, No. 150, m. 4, dors, and m. 7.
( 10 )
property to be sold by his executors, and the
produce distributed to pious uses, namely, in
releasing poor prisoners confined for debt ;
in marrying- poor girls of good fame and ho-
nest conversation, not having any marriage
portion of themselves ; in mending the ways
about the City of London, and in other works
of charity, as might best seem to please God,
and save the testator's soul, and the souls of
his father and mother, and all the faithful
deceased.
Within two or three years after his elec-
tion as Town Clerk, Carpenter found time,
notwithstanding his other important avoca-
tions, to compile a large volume on matters
relating to the city, which displays much
research, and knowledge of the subjects on
which it treats, and has always been regarded
as a book of great value and authority. It is
still preserved in the archives of the Corpo-
ration, together with a transcript or duplicate
copy of it, made by Robert Smith, Comp-
^ For making this copy, Smith was rewarded by the
Court of Aldermen, on the 25th of October, 1592, with
the sum of thirty pounds. Repertory, No. 20, fo. 370 b.
( II )
troUcr of the Chamber in the reign of Queen
Elizabeth^. The vohime was at first called
''Liber Albus' (or the White Book), but that
name is now generally applied to the tran-
script, and the original designated as "Libe?-
Niger'' (or the Black Book). This change in the
name was most likely not adopted until after
the copy of the book had been made ; and it
is not improbable that both the change and
the copy owed their origin to the following-
lines, written by some person, evidently prior
to the reign of Elizabeth, on the first leaf.
" Qui Liber Albus erat, nunc est contrarius albo,
Factus et est unctis pollicibusque niger ;
Dum tamen est extans, istiim describite librum,
Ne semel aniisso postea nullus erit :
Quod si nullus erit (nonnulla est nostraque culpa),
Hei ! pretii sumroi perdita gemma, Vale'*^ !"
^^ These lines have been rendered into English verse
at the request of the Compiler, by his friend Mr. Josiah
Temple, of Guildhall, as follows : —
This book, which once was white, has black become,
Mark'd through and through by many a greasy thumb ;
Copy its leaves while yet you have the power.
Which may be lost if left beyond this hour :
For if through fault of ours the book be lost.
Farewell ! a gem is gone of greatest cost !
( 12 )
The volume purports to be a collection of
the laws, customs, privileges, and usages of
the city, principally extracted from the rolls,
charters, and documents of authority which
were then in possession of the Corporation.
The contents of the several treatises and col-
lections regarding the city's rights, are, at
the end of the compilation, digested by Avay
of calendar, and an index is given to the
pages of the volumes from which these con-
tents are extracted. The motives which led
to the compilation being made, and the end
that it was designed to answer, are explained
with much force and clearness in a short
preface or introduction, a translation of
which is here introduced as tending to throw
some light upon the character and pursuits of
its author, whose unostentatious disposition
would not allow him to record to whom the
merit of the compilation was due, in any
other way than by modestly inscribing his
name " Carpenter," on the inner side of the
first leaf, in much the same way that persons
are now in the habit of inscribing their name
in books to denote to whom they belong : —
( l^^ )
((
Because the fallibility of human memory,
and the shortness of life, do not allow us to
attain a proper knowledge of everything
worthy of remembrance, even where we pos-
sess the written evidence of facts^ especially
if this appear without order or regularity, —
yet is this still more the case with regard to
those things whereof no written account ex-
ists ; and when, as not unfrequently it hap-
pens, all the aged, the more skilful and dis-
creet rulers of the Koyal City of London are
carried off by pestilence, almost we may say
at once, the younger persons who succeed
them in the government of the city are often-
times, in various instances, surrounded with
difficulties, from the very want of such a
writing: and thus perplexity and controversy
are many times caused amongst them in
rendering their judgements. It has been
therefore long deemed necessary, not by the
governors of the city only, but by those also
who are subject to their rule, that some
volume, which, from its containing the regu-
lations of the city, might be designated a
Repertory, should be compiled from the re-
( 14 )
markable notices and memoranda scattered
without order or distinction through the
several books, rolls, and charters of the said
city ; and because such a design, — for what
cause it is not known, without it be from the
excessive labour it must demand, — has not
been hitherto carried into effect, a volume
of such a description is now compiled in the
mayoralty of the illustrious Richard Whitpig-
ton, Mayor of the said city, that is to say,
in the month of November, in the year of Our
Lord's incarnation One thousand four hun-
dred and nineteen, and in the seventh year
^' Carpenter is not the only officer of the city who
has left such a memorial of his industry and research.
There are in the archives of the Corporation two other
manuscript volumes of great value and antiquity, one of
which, called " Liber Horn," was compiled by Andrew
Horn, Chamberlain of London, in the year 1311, in the
reign of Edward H., and purports to contain "all the
statutes, ordinances, charters, liberties, and customs of
the city, and orders of the Justices Itinerant at the Tower
of London and at their iters, together with the charter
of the Liberties of England, and the statutes made by
Henry HL and Edward I." This is an exceedingly cu-
rious volume, and its value as a register of some of the
early statutes (authentic copies of which are in many cases
( 15 )
of the reign of King Henry the Fifth after
the Conquest; containing in itself not only
those laudable observances which, albeit they
are not written, have yet been accustomed
and approved in the said city, that they may
not hereafter be destroyed and lost in oblivion,
as likewise such things, worthy of note and
remembrance, as are ^^Titten, but scattered
about, and without order, in the manner be-
fore described ; that, by their being kno\\ii,
as well the rulers of the city as the ruled,
may know with greater security what hence-
forth should be done in rare and unusual
cases^^"
very scarce) is particularly noticed in the edition of the
Statutes of the Realm, printed under the authority of
the Commissioners for Public Records [Folio, 1810,
vol. i. Introduction, pp. xxxviii. xxxix.]. Horn was
also the compiler of the well-known treatise on the an-
cient common law of the realm, entitled " The Mirror of
Justices," [Edinburgh Review, vol. xxxiv. p. 187, note].
The other MS. volume above alluded to is styled " Liber
Dunthorn," and was written by William Dunthora, Town
Clerk, between the years 1461 and 1490. In its contents
it is similar to " Liber Albus." The City rewarded Dun-
thorn, for his labour in making it, with the sum of
115/. 35. Zd. [Jomnal, No. 8. fo. 91.]
( 16 )
It has been already stated that, in the year
1422, Carpenter was called upon to act as
executor of the wills of two of his friends,
and that their selection of him for that pur-
pose may be regarded as a strong proof of
the high opinion which was entertained of his
integrity and discretion. Another such tri-
bute of respect (though it imposed a far
hea\aer burthen) was paid him by his ap-
pointment to the important and responsible
duty of an executor of the will of the famous
Richard Whityngton, who was several times
Lord Mayor, and a great benefactor of the
city. In the execution of the trusts of this
will. Carpenter appears to have acted with
great diligence and fidelity, qualities which
evidently characterized him throughout the
whole of his life. The other executors were
John Coventrc, alderman, John White, clerk,
and William Grove. Coventrc was an ances-
tor of the present Earl of Coventry^^, he was
Sheriff of the city in 1417, and Lord Mayor
'2 Herbert's History of the Livery Companies, p. 249.
'SLiber K. fo. 71."
'■* Stow's Survay of London, 1613, p. 259.
( 17 )
in 1425. He died on Easter Monday (13tli
April), 1429^-^, and was buried in the church
of Saint Mary-le-bow, Cheapside, where a
monument was erected to his memory ^'*.
White died in or about the month of Janu-
ary, 14241^.
Whityngton, by his will, which is dated the
5th of September, 1421, 9th of Henry V. and
was proved and inroUed in the Court of Hus-
tings, in London, on Monday next after the
feast of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas, 1st
of Henry VI. 1423 ^^ left all his lands and
tenements in London, which were very con-
siderable, to his executors, with directions to
dispose of the same in works of charity, Sfc.
In fulfilment of this trust. Carpenter and his
colleagues, after procuring the necessary
licences from the King and the Archbishop
of Canterbury, completed the foundation,
which Whityngton had begun in his life-time,
of a college in the church of Saint Michael
Royal for five chaplains, one of whom was to
15 RoUs of Deeds and Wills, No. 152, m. 13 ; and
No. 153, m. 9, compared.
16 Rolls of Deeds and Wills, No. 151, m. 9, dors.
( 18 )
be the master, and an alms-house adjoming
to the church for thh'teen poor men, of whom
one was to be called tutor; on these establish-
ments they settled an ample endowment, and
after makmg ordinances and statutes for their
regulation, they twice procured a confirma-
tion from the King and the Parliament ^'^.
Malcolm, quoting Strype, says^^, "There
are extant in the custody of the Mercers the
original Ordinances of Richard Whittington's
charity, made by his executors Coventry,
Carpenter, and Grove, fairly \NTitten ; where,
on the first page, is curiously illumined the
said Whittington lying on his death bed, a
very lean, consumed, meagre body, and his
three executors and a priest, and divers
others, standing by his bed side." Malcolm
adds, "The Ordinances begin thus. To alle,
S^c: the letter C is adorned with the arms
of Whittington. The other figures mentioned
by Strype are a physician holding an urinal,
"7 These Charters and Ordinances, dated in the 3rd,
5th, and 10th of Henry VI., are printed in Dugdale's Mo-
nasticon Anghcanum, vol. iii. part 2, pp. 177, 178, 189,
and Addit. p. 99. See also Rot. Pari. vol. iv. p. 392.
( 19 )
and a groupe of thirteen figures, the front
one of which is doubtless Robert Chesterton
the first tutor of the alms-house (his hair is
distinguished from the rest, being grey), and
his twelve alms-men attending him. The
head-piece of the Ordinances, which Strype
says is curiously illumined, is really a draw-
ing with a fine-pointed pen ; the ink by time
is changed to a brown, and the faces and
hands are tinted with red, heightened with
white, and the hair with brown ; the emaci-
ated figure of Whittington is tinted with a
sallow pale brown. The names of Carpenter,
Coventry, and Grove are written on the
figures intended for them." Malcolm illus-
trates this description by an engraving taken
from a drawing furnished him by Richard
Gough, Esq. F. S. A.
On the 12th of May, 1423, Whityngton's
executors obtained letters patent from the
King^^, authorizing them to pull down and
'^ Malcolm's Londinium Redivivum, 4to. 1807, vol.iv.
p. 515.
'^ Rotuli Patentium in Turri Londinensi, 1° Henrici
Sexti, m. 31.
C 2
( 20 )
rebuild the prison of Newgate. The grounds
on which this measure was rendered neces-
sary arc stated to have been, that the prison
was "feble" (or decayed), "over htel, and
so contagious of eyre that it caused the deth
of many men^"." Besides executing this pub-
he and expensive work, and several others
that might be mentioned, such as building or
repairing conduit-heads, S)C. they contributed
largely to the building of the hospital of Saint
Bartholomew in West Smithfield, and the
present Guildhall ; and, adjoining to the cha-
pel attached to the last-mentioned building,
they, in conjunction with the executors of
William Bury, erected "a fayre and large
liberarye" for preserving the books and other
documents of the Corporation in^i. They
likewise obtained a charter from the King,
dated the 14th of February, 3d of Henry VI.
20 Rotuli Parliamentorum, vol. iv. p. 370.
21 Stow, speaking of this library (Survay, p. 276), says,
" The books were, in the raign of Edward the 6. sent for
by Edward Duke of Somerset, Lorde Protector, with
promise to be restored shortly. Men laded from thence
three carres with them, but thev were never returned."
( 2\ )
1425", confirming a grant of Richard II.
whereby the Mercers of London (of which
mistery Whityngton was a member) were
created a brotherhood, with a chaplain and
four keepers for the relief of such of their
mistery as should come to decay from mis-
fortunes of the sea and other casualties ; and
granting that the keepers and commonalty of
the said mistery should have a common seal
and be able in law to plead and be impleaded.
In 1430, Carpenter obtained a licence from
the King, dated 12th of January, to found
a chantry for one chaplain, in the chapel of
the Virgin Mary over the charnel on the
north side of the church of Saint Paul, with an
endowment of eight marks a year 2^; which he
accordingly founded by an ordinance dated
on the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross (14th September) following^.
It was probably about the same time that
he " caused" (as Stow relates^^) "with great
22 Rot. Pat. 3 Hen. VI. p. 2, m. 18.
23 Rot. Pat. 8 Hen. VI. m. 21.
2-^ Dugdale's History of St. Paul's (1638), p. 274, App.
25 Stow's Survay, p. 1 10.
( 22 )
expenses, to bee curiously painted upon boord
about the north cloyster of Paules, a monu-
ment of Death leading all estates, with the
speeches of Death, and answere of everie
state." Concerning which painting a more
particular account is given by the same au-
thor, in another place, as foUows^^ : " There
was also one great cloyster on the north side
of this church [St. Paul's], invironing a plot
of ground, of old time called Pardon church-
yard, whereof Thomas More, deane of Paul's,
was either the first builder or a most especial
benefactor, and was buried there. About this
cloyster was artificially and richly painted the
^6 Stow's Survay, p. 329.
27 This designation has been generally understood to
have been derived from the name of Machabre, or Ma-
caber, "who is said to have been a German poet and phy-
sician, and to have been the original author of the verses
that have usually accompanied the painting of the Dance
of Death (vide Pennant's London, vol. ii. p. 135 ; Bray-
ley's Londiniana, vol. iii. p. 171) ; but the late Francis
Douce, Esq. F. S. A. in a very learned work entitled
"The Dance of Death, exhibited in elegant engravings on
wood ; with a Dissertation on the several representations
of that subject, but more particularly of those ascribed
to Macaber and Hans Holbein" (1833, 8vo.), takes great
pains to prove this to be an error, and maintains that
( 23 )
Dance of Macliabray^^, or Dance of Death,
commonly called the Dance of Paul's ; the
like whereof was painted about St. Innocent's
cloyster at Paris, in France. The meters or
poesie of this dance were translated out of
French into English by John Lidgate, monke
of Bury ; the picture of Death leading all es-
tates; at the dispence of Jenken^^ Carpenter,
in the reign of Henry the Sixt." He adds that
" in this cloyster were buryed many persons,
some of worship and others of honour ; the
monuments of whom, in number and curious
workmanship, passed all other that were in
that church." After giving some further par-
" there never was a German or any poet whatever bear-
ing such a name as Macaber." His opinion is that " Ma-
caber" is a corruption of " Macaire" (the French mode
of speUing Macarius) the name of a saint who was
one of the principal figures in a painting by Andrew
Orgagna, in the Campo Santo at Pisa, representing the
story of a French metrical work of the thirteenth cen-
tury, entitled " Les trois Morts et les trois Vifs." He also
states that " the earliest authority that has been traced
for the name of ' Danse Macabre,' belongs to the painting
at the church of the Innocents at Paris," A. D. 1424 ;
and that that painting has prefixed to it the story of "Les
trois Morts et les trois Vifs," chap. iii. p. 28-34.
2S Jenken or Janken, diminutive of John.
( 24 )
ticulars respecting a library and chapel which
occupied part of the same site, he concludes
by stating that "in the year 1549, on the 10th
of April, the said chappell, by commaunde-
ment of the Duke of Sommerset, was begun to
bee pulled downe, w^itli the whole cloystrie,
the Daunce of Death, the tombes and monu-
ments, so that nothing thereof was left but
the bare plot of ground, which is since con-
verted into a garden for the pettie canons^^."
Stow says that the bones of the dead which
had been " couched up in a charnell under
the chapel were convaied from thence into
Finsbery field (by report of him who paid
for the carriage), amounting to more than a
thousand cart loads, and there laid on a
moorish ground, in short space after raised by
soylage of the citie to beare three milles."
"This indecorous disinterment and removal
of the dead (says Mr. Brayley^^), was the oc-
casion of exciting much odium against the
2^ This spoliation was made by the Protector Somer-
set in order to obtain materials for building his palace in
the Strand. — Heylin's History of the Reformation, p. 73.
^•^ Londiniana, vol. iii. p. 138.
( 25 )
Protector Somerset ; and his great enemy,
the Earl of Warwick, made it one of the
means of accelerating his ruin."
Although Stow only mentions one place
besides Saint Paul's where a painted repre-
sentation of the Dance of Death was exhi-
bited, it appears from Mr. Douce's Dis-
sertation-'^* that " the subject was very often
represented, not only on the walls, but in the
windows of many churches, in the cloisters
of monasteries, and even on bridges, especi-
ally in Germany and Switzerland ; it was also
sometimes painted on church screens, and oc-
casionally sculptured on them, as well as upon
the fronts of domestic dwellings ^■^." Previ-
ously to its becoming a subject of pictorial
art, we learn from Warton's History of En-
glish Poetry^ that it used to be represented
in a kind of spiritual masquerade by ecclesi-
astics, habited in person and character ; and
as thus acted it is supposed that it may have
31 Chap. ii. p. 17.
32 A mutilated can-ing of it in wood still exists in the
cemetery of Saint Maclou at Rouen.
33 Vol. ii. pp. 43 and 364, 8vo, edition.
( 26 )
been alluded to in the Visions of Pierce Plow-
man, written perhaps as early as 1350. Tlie
most celebrated of the paintings of the Death
dance (and which was in existence until about
the year 1806) was that at Basil in Switzer-
land, in the churchyard formerly belonging
to the convent of Dominicans. The name of
the artist who executed this painting is un-
known ; it was for a long period attributed
to Hans Holbein, but Walpole, in his Anec-
dotes of Painting, has clearly shown this to
be an error, it having been executed some
years before Holbein was born ; it, however,
probably suggested to that artist, who was a
native of the place, the painting on that
subject which he did execute, though it seems
doubtful whether that which has been repea-
tedly engraved and published as his was
really his production. The immediate cause
of this representation at Basil is stated, by
Walpole^, to have arisen from the plague
which raged there, and carried off people of
3"* Anecdotes of Painting, vol. i. p. 123.
^^ Mr. Douce states that nearly all the convents of the
Dominicans had a Dance of Death ; and remarks that, as
( 27 )
all degrees, during the sitting of the General
Council at Basil, which began to meet in 1 4 3 1 .
On the cessation of that calamity, the paint-
ing was executed on the walls of a cloister,
and is said to have been intended both as a
memorial and a warning-^^. And, on the sup-
position that the date of the painting at Saint
Paul's was subsequent to the year 1438, in
which year the pestilence extended its ra-
vages into this country, with the addition of
of a famine, it is not improbable that, in
having this appalling dance pourtrayed in
the new cloisters at Saint Paul's, Carpenter
was actuated by the same motives that are
ascribed to the inhabitants of Basil, and that
it was intended both as a memorial and a
moral lesson-^^. This far-famed piece con-
sisted of a long train of all orders of mankind,
from the Pope to the very lowest of the spe-
these fi-iars were Preachers by profession, the subject
must have been exceedingly useful in supplying texts and
matter for their sermons. — Dissertation, p. 36.
36 In the latter character, reference is made by Sir
Thomas More, in treating of the Remembrance of Death,
to " the Daunce of Death pictured in Poules ;" — Works,
p. 77, edit. 1557, folio.
( '28 )
cies, each figure having for a partner the
spectral personification of Death, who was re-
presented leading the sepulchral dance, and
shaking the last sands from his waning hour-
glass. The colloquial stanzas between Death
and his victims, which existed both in Ger-
man and Latin, were translated into French ;
and it was from the latter language that Lid-
gate made his English versification for the
picture about Saint Paul's'^'^ ; a copy of which
verses are to be found in Dugdale's History
of that church (1818, p. 419), as well as in
his Monasticon Anglicanum, tom. iii. p. 367.
The Rolls of the Parliament held in the
9th of Henry VL, 1430^^, contain a petition
from Carpenter complaining of the non-pay-
ment of a sum of four marks per annum, which
had been devised by Sir John Pulteney,
Knight, formerly Mayor of London, for the
relief of the prisoners in Newgate, and pray-
27 Brayley's Londiniana, vol. iii. pp. 1 73-4 ; " The
Dance of Death, from the original designs of Hans
Holbein, engraved by W. Hollar ; with descriptions in
English and French," 1818, pp. 14, 15 ; and Donee's
Dissertation on the Dance of Death, 1833, passim. M.
( 29 )
ing a remedy by the grant of a power to
distrain for the same upon the lands charged
with the payment thereof. The petition was
comphed with, and letters patent were ac-
cordingly issued, dated the 1 2th of January,
in the 9th of Henry VI., 1431, authorizing
the mayor and chamberlain of the city for
the time being to distrain for the amount
whenever it should be in arrear^^.
On the 23d of February, in the year last
mentioned, the City granted to Carpenter and
his wife, Katherine, a lease of some premises
in the parish of Saint Peter, Cornhill, in the
ward of Lime Street, for a term of eighty
years, at the annual service of a red rose
for the first thirty years, and a yearly rent of
twenty shillings for the remainder of the
term"*^.
On the 14th of December, 1436, the City,
in order to show their sense of the value of
Langlois of Rouen is said to be engaged upon a work on
the same subject.
38 Rot. ParL vol. iv. p. 370.
39 Rot. Pat. 9 Hen.VI.partl,m.l4,andLib.K.fo. 86.
40 Liber K. fo. 86b.
( 30 )
the services he had rendered tliem, and that
he might thereafter enjoy the greater quiet
and tranquilhty, granted him a patent of ex-
emption, under their common seal, from all
summonses, watches, assizes, juries, recog-
nizances, inquisitions, and assemblies what-
soever, within the city, and from being com-
pellable against his will to take any other
burthen or office than that which he then
sustained^^ This pri\'ilege, which must have
been a very important one in those days, was
possessed by but very few persons, and was
never conferred on any one but under some
special circumstances, such as the rendering
of important public services, and not unfre-
quently in return for the payment of a con-
siderable sum of money.
In this year he was elected one of the re-
presentatives of the city in Parliaments^ ; an
honour which was again conferred upon him
41 Liber K. fo. 165.
42 Journal No. 3. fo. 1 and 129b.
43 Journal No. 3, fo. 25 b. This last election is not
mentioned in the List of Representatives in Maitland's
History of London, vol. ii. p. 1197.
( 31 )
in 143^^-^. Shortly previous to this second
election he appears to have resigned his office
of Town Clerk, as there is an entry in the
City's records of the appointment of Richard
Barnet, or Bernat, as his successor, on the
4th of October, 1438'^'*.
In 1439 he obtained letters patent from the
King, dated 3d of December, 18th of Henry
VI. exempting him for the whole of his life
from all military and civil duties whatsoever,
among which are included being returned
to Parliament, and receiving the honour of
Knighthood. This patent, the original of
which is still extant amongst the Cottonian
Manuscripts in the British Museum^^, is to
the following effect :
" R. H46.
" The King to all his bailiffs and faithful
people greeting. Know ye that of our spe-
cial grace, at the humble request and for the
ease of our dearly beloved John Carpenter
the younger, late Secretary of our City of
4-1 Journal No. 3, fo. 164.
'^^ Bibl. Cotton., Vespasian, C. xiv. fo. 277.
46 These initials are in the King's autograph.
( '^2 )
London, who in services to us and our pro-
genitors there and elsewhere, from the times
of his youth, not without great pains and un-
wearied loyalty, as well commendably as
faithfully hath laboured earnestly, we have
given and granted, for us and our heirs, as
much as in us is, to the same John, that he
for the whole of his life shall have these liber-
ties, that is to say. That he shall not be placed
nor impanelled in any great assize arrayed or
to be arrayed within our realm of England,
nor in any other assizes, juries, inquisitions,
attaints, or reviews whatsoever, although
they may affect us or our heirs ; nor be sworn
or placed upon the trial of any arraignment,
assize, or panel, before whatsoever justices of
us or our heirs to be taken. And that he shall
not be appointed nor assigned a leader, try-
er, or array er of men at arms, hobellers, or
archers ; nor custumer, searcher, comptroller,
taxer, or collector of any customs, taxes, tal-
liages, aids, or subsidies whatsoever, to us or
our heirs howsoever granted or to be granted.
And that henceforth he shall not be nor be
elected knight for any county, nor citizen for
( 33 )
any city, to come to the parliaments of us or
our heirs. And that he shall not be made
mayor, sheriff, escheator, coroner, constable,
bailiff, justice of the peace or of sewers, nor
other commissioner, officer, or minister what-
soever of us or our heirs. And that he shall
not by any means be constrained or com-
pelled by us or our heirs, nor by the justices
or ministers of us or our heirs whatsoever,
to take upon him the degree of knighthood,
or any of the burthens, offices, or employ-
ments aforesaid, or hereafter to undergo,
perform, or occupy any other office, but
therefrom shall be wholly free and entirely
exempted by these presents. And further of
our abundant grace we have given and grant-
ed to the same John, for us and our heirs,
that although he may be hereafter chosen,
ordained, or assigned to any of the burthens,
offices, or employments aforesaid, or to un-
dergo, perfonn, or occupy any other office,
contrary to the force, form, or effect of this
our present grant, and shall refuse to under-
take, perform, or occupy such offices or bur-
thens, yet by occasion of such contempt he
D
( 34 )
shall not in any wise incur any fine, forfeiture,
loss, or damage, in body or goods, but that
our own present charter of exemption by the
aforesaid John, or any other whomsover in his
name, before whatsoever justices and minis-
ters of us and our heirs in whatsoever place
of record through our whole realm afore-
said, shown, upon such showing shall surely
take effect and be allowed to the same John
without any other writ or process for that
purpose further to be prosecuted, or procla-
mation to be made. And therefore we com-
mand that the same John be not contrary to
our present grant in any manner disturbed
or burthened. In testimony whereof, &jc.
Witness, S^c. W. P. le Bardolf,
Chamberlain^'^."
On the 10th of June, 1440, the mayor and
aldermen voted Carpenter twenty marks for
certain labours which he had performed for
the city, but what they were is not specified'*^.
^'^ Tliis Document, which is in Latin, has been recent-
ly pubhshcd in the " Proceedings and Ordinances of the
Privy Council,'' edited by Sir Harris Nicolas, 8vo. 1835,
A'Cl. V. p. 11 1.
( 35 )
In the following year he was engaged as
counsel for the city m the Star-chamber, in a
suit instituted by the Dean of the collegiate
church of Saint Martin-le-grand, complaining
of the Sheriffs of the city having violated the
privilege of sanctuary belonging to that
church, by thcforcible seizure of an offender
who had fled thither after being rescued from
the custody of one of their ofiicers. Stow
says^^, on the authority of a book written by
one of the officers of the place about the year
1442, that "the complaint and suit was learn-
edly answered by the citizens, by their coun-
sel Markham, Serjeant at Law, and John
Carpenter, late Common Clerk of the City,
who offered to prove that the said place of
Saint Martin had no such immunity or liberty
as was pretended;" and that "Carpenter
offered to lose his livelihood if that church
had more immunity than the least church in
London." The matter terminated, however,
in judgement being given in favour of the
Dean and against the City. The arguments
48 Journal No. 3, fo. 44. ^u Survay, p. 309.
D 2
( 36 )
which were employed on the occasion are set
out at some length in Kempe's " Historical
Notices of the Collegiate Church of Saint
Martin-le-grand," (publ. 1825).
In the same year in which the last-men-
tioned event occurred, namely 1441, it ap-
pears a grant was made by the King, of the
manor of Thebaudes (or Theobalds), in the
village of Cheshunt in the county of Hertford,
with its appurtenances, to John Carpenter,
Master of Saint Anthony's Hospital in Lon-
don, John Somerset, Chancellor of the King's
Exchequer, and John Carpenter, junior, Citi-
zen of London; to hold the same of the crown
by the annual render of one bow of the value
of two shillings, or two shillings in money,
and one barbed arrow of the value of three-
pence, or three-pence in money^^. And short-
ly afterwards the same persons received from
the king a grant of divers privileges and ex-
emptions in the said manor^^ The person
here styled "John Carpenter, junior," there
"''^ Lysons's Environs of London, vol. iv. p. 29 ; Ca-
lendarium Rotulorum Patentium, p. 283, 19 Hen. VI.
5]
Rot. Pat. 19 Hen. VI. part 2, m. 27.
( 37 )
is no doubt, was the subject of the present
memoir ; the other person of the same name
was a man of some note, who had been Pro-
vost of Oriel College in Oxford, and in 1437
was Chancellor of that university ; in 1444 he
was appointed Bishop of Worcester, and filled
that see until his death in 1476. He was a
great benefactor to the cathedral church and
diocese of Worcester, as well as to the Univer-
sity of Oxford, in which he had been brought
up. He was buried at his native village of
Westbury upon Trin, near Bristol, where a
plain altar monument was erected to his me-
mory, with a skeleton lying on the top of it^^.
The hospital of Saint Anthony, for whose
benefit the above grants were made, was an
establishment in Threadneedle street, found-
ed in the reign of Henry the Third, by the
brethren of Saint Anthony of Vienne in
France ; it consisted of a master, two priests,
a schoolmaster, and twelve poor brethren,
*2 Thomas's Account of the Bishops of Worcester,
1736, p. 196; Green's History of Worcester, 1796, vol. i.
p. 196 ; A. Wood's Hist, of the University of Oxford, by
Gutch, 1786, pp. 96, 124-6, 674, and App.p. 47.
( .'38 )
besides their proctors and other officers and
servants'''', and it would appear that our John
Carpenter was at this time connected with it
as one of the members or officers. This con-
nection may have been the cause of the word
"junior" being added to his name, in order
to distinguish him from the other John Car-
penter, who might have been his senior in
years ; and yet, though there would be a de-
gree of propriety in this addition whenever
the two persons were named together, it
seems to have been scarcely necessary, on
this account merely, in those cases where
they were not associated with each other;
especially as other descriptive words, such
as "Citizen of London," "Common Clerk
of the City of London," and " Executor of
the will of Richard Whityngton," were fre-
quently used to denote the party intended.
Taking these circumstances into considera-
tion, it seems likely that there was some other
reason for the employment of the word in
question than the connection above referred
^3 Tanner's Notitia Monastica, by Nasmith, 1 787: Mid-
dlesex, viii. London, 28.
( 39 )
to ; and it is not impossible that the reason
may have been that the parties were nearly
related to each other, perhaps even brothers.
In support of this conjecture, reference may
be made to a deed, recently met with by the
Compiler, dated the 10th of August, 1424,
in which, two persons of the name of Richard
Turk, who are distinguished from each other
as " senior," and "junior," being parties, it
is expressly stated that they were brothers^*.
Subsequent to this date (1441), nothing
can be traced respecting Carpenter until after
his death, neither can it be ascertained with
certainty when that event took place. There
are, however, several entries in the City's
records which afford material assistance in
arriving at a near acquaintance with the time
when it occurred. By one of these entries,
dated the 19th of August, 1447^^ it appears
that his executors were to be spoken to about
a sum of one thousand pounds, which had
come to his hands during his life, having been
given by the late Lord Cardinal for the use
5-» Rolls of Deeds and Wills, No. 153, m. 5.
^* Journal, No. 4, p. 205.
( 40 )
of London Bridge. The person here referred
to was Henry Beaufort, third son of John of
Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and consequently
great uncle to King Henry the Sixth ; he was
made Bishop of Lincoln in 1398, and trans-
lated to the see of Winchester in 1405^^ ; he
was subsequently raised to the degree of a
Cardinal, and also several times held the office
of Lord Chancellor. He died on the 1 1th of
April, 1447. From the prominent part which
he sustained in public affairs, he forms one
of the principal characters in Shakspeare's
play of King Henry the Sixth, and one of
the scenes contains an interesting descrip-
tion of his death bed^^''.
If, as seems probable. Carpenter survived
Beaufort, his own death must have occurred
between April and December in the same
year ; and as the will of his wife, which will
shortly be noticed, directs an anniversary to
be observed for his soul on the 12th of May
in every year, we may almost conclude that
that was the day on which his decease hap-
^^ Nicolas's Synopsis of the Peerage, vol. ii.pp. 860, 887.
^' Second part of Henry the Sixth, Act iii. scene 3.
( 41 )
pened. Great pains have been taken to dis-
cover his will, but hitherto without effect ; it
appears however, by another entry on the
above-mentioned subject in the City's re-
cords ^^, that his executors were his wife
Katherine, David Fyvian, clerk, and William
Chadworth. He was buried under a tomb
in the church of Saint Peter, Cornhill, of
which parish it may be inferred, from the
grant made to him and his wife, by the City,
as before-mentioned, he was an inhabitant.
In 1448 the City purchased of his wife
some property belonging to her near Leaden-
hall, for the purpose of enlarging the common
garner there for the store of corn, for the sup-
ply of the city^^ ; and in 1453 she sold them
some other ground there, which was occu-
pied by a chapel that had been erected by
Simon Eyre, late mayor of the city^*^.
Carpenter's widow died in or about the
year 1458. Her will is dated the 30th of
March, 1457, and was proved and enrolled in
58 Journal, No. 5, fo. 31.
59 Journal, No. 4, fo. 231, 242.
60 Journal No. 5, fo. 114.
( 42 )
the Court of Hustings on the Monday next
after the feast of Saint Petronilla the Virgin,
36th of Henry VL, 1458^^ She left by this
will, to the church of Saint Peter, Cornhill,
the sum of thirty-three shihings per annum,
for the observance of an anniversary for the
souls of her husband and herself, and all the
faithful deceased, on the 1 2th day of May in
every year, and for payment of the sum of
three pence each to thirteen poor people of
either sex who should attend on the occasion,
namely, seven of the parish of Saint Peter,
and six of the parish of Saint Martin Out-
wich ; she also left thirteen shillings and four-
pence per annum, to the church of Saint Mar-
tin Outwich, for the observance of an anni-
versary in that church, on the feast of Saints
Cosmas andDamian (27th of September), in
every year, for the soul of her husband and
her own soul, and the souls of Richard, the
father, Christina, the mother, and all the
brothers, sisters, and relations of her husband
buried in the said church, and of all the faith-
«i Rolls of Deeds and Wills, No. 186, m. 9.
( 4:s )
fill deceased ; with directions to pay three-
pence each to thirteen poor persons of either
sex who should be present on the occasion,
namely, seven of that parish, and six of the
parish of Saint Peter, Cornhill. She further
left to the college of Saint Michael Royal the
sum of seventeen shillings per annum for an
anniversary on the 1 3th of June in every year,
for the soul of her husband and her own soul,
and the souls of John White and William
Grove, late co-executors Tvdth her husband
of the testament of Richard Whitpigton,
and for the souls of all the faithful deceased ;
with directions to pay twelve pence to the
tutor, and sixpence each to the twelve other
poor persons in the almshouses of the said
Richard Whityngton, situate next to the
aforesaid college, for their attendance on the
occasion. She also left to the said church of
Saint Peter, Cornhill, the further sum of
twenty marks per annum for a daily mass for
the souls of her husband and herself, and of
their parents, friends, and benefactors, and
all the faithful deceased ; with directions to
distribute four pounds per annum amongst the
( 44 )
poor and virtuous parishioners of the said
parishes of Saint Peter, and Saint Martin
Outwich, namely, amongst the poor of each
parish forty shilhngs, to wit, on the vigils of
Easter, the nativity of Saint John the Bap-
tist, Saint Michael the Archangel, and the
nativity of our Lord, in equal portions.
Another circumstance connected with the
history of Carpenter still remains to be men-
tioned, and it is one which has not only con-
tributed more than any other to preserve his
name from oblivion, but, from the important
results to which it has led, and the advan-
tages that are likely to accrue from it to the
present and future generations, will cause his
memory to be cherished with increased and
lasting interest. Allusion is made to the
charity which is understood to have been
founded by Carpenter, and has always borne
his name. The account given of it by Stow
is^^, that " he gave tenements to the citie for
the finding and bringing up of foure poore
men's children with meate, drinke, apparell,
62 Survay, p. 110.
( 45 )
learning at the schooles in the universities, •
8)'c.untill they be preferred, and then others in
their places for ever." How far this account,
which is the earliest that has been discovered,
is correct, it is impossible, for want of the
will or deed which created the trust, to de-
termine ; its general accuracy, however, ap-
pears highly probable, from the following
particulars given of it in the year 1 823, by the
Commissioners for inquiring into Charities,
in their Report on the charities under the ma-
nagement of the Corporation of London^^ :
"JOHN carpenter's DONATION.
"Great pains are stated to have been taken
by searching the archives of the corporation,
and other places, for the will of John Car-
penter, hitherto mthout effect ; but it is un-
derstood that John Carpenter charged cer-
tain payments for charitable purposes upon
lands and tenements, in Thames street,
Bridge street, St. Giles's in the fields. West
Cheap, and Houndsditch. The earliest book
63 Tenth Report (dated 28th June, 1823), p. 180.
( 46- ;
of accounts of the corporation in the posses-
sion of the Chani])crlain contains an account
of payments under this will, for the year
1633, of which the following is an extract :
" Paid to this accomptant for oversee^ foure
poore children being found at schoole and
learning, by the bequest of the said Mr. John
Carpenter, due for this year, 6s. Sd. and to
the Comptroller of the Chamber, for like
consideration, 6s. 8d 13 4
" Paid to the Rent-gatherer for gathering the
rents, and potation money, of the said Mr.
John Carpenter 1 3 4
" Paid to the friends of the said foure children
for barber, schoole, hose, shoes, and other
necessaries for the said foui-e children, due
for this year." 4
" Paid for the comons of the said foure chil-
dren, due for 52 weeks ended at Michael-
mas, 1 633, after the rate of 3s. 6d. the week 9 2
" Paid to the friends of the said foure children
for 6 yards of London russett, for the coats
of the said foure children, against Chris-
tide, 1G32, 365. And for 6 yards of new
cuUor for the coats of the said foure chil-
dren against Whitsuntide, 1633, 36^. and
for 24 yards of cotton, with buttons, and
making the said coats, 26s." 4 18
't>
" In the same book," the Report goes on to
state, " there is an account headed as follows :
( -47 )
*A rental of the lands and tenements some
time Mr. John Carpenter's, some time Town
Clerk of the City of London/ which account
enumerates premises in the several places
above-mentioned; and it appears that the
Corporation have property in those several
places, answering, or pretty nearly so, to the
description of the property as contained in
that book.
" The same payments continue to be made
under the will of John Carpenter, except the
sum of 6s. 8d. formerly payable to the Comp-
troller of the Chamber, which is now merged
in the general compensation he receives for
his duties, being a total of 19/. \0s. This
\9L lOs. is payable in the following manner :
To the Chamberlain, as receiver of the rents,
and for attending to the application of the
charity, II. 10s.; the remainder, being 18Z.
is paid by the Chamberlain in four sums quar-
terly, to four persons, freemen of London,
selected by him as proper objects, to enable
each one to pay for the education of a son,
from the age of seven to fourteen.
The Chamberlain requires the parents from
f«i
( 48 )
time to time to bring the copy-books of tlieir
children and other specimens of their pro-
gress, to satisfy him of the proper apphcation
of the testator's bounty, and this has been the
practice for many years back. Very httle re-
mains out of the respective shares of the per-
sons benefited, after the object of education
is satisfied, to be appUed in clothing. The
parents or friends of the children are required,
quarterly, to give to the Chamberlain receipts
for the payment of their children's education,
which receipts are entered in the City's ac-
quittance book."
The attention of the Corporation being di-
rected, in consequence of the Commissioners'
Report, to the state of the several charities
under their management, and the possibility
of increasing their efficiency, the Common
Council, on the 18th of January, 1827, after
several reports from the Committee for let-
ting the City's Lands, to whom the considera-
tion of the subject had been referred, agreed
that the management and appropriation of
Carpenter's charity should be altered and ex-
( 49 )
tended in the following manner, namely, that
four boys from the age of eight to sixteen
years, sons of freemen of London, to be nomi-
nated from time to time by the Lord Mayor,
should be sent to the grammar school at Ton-
bridge, in Kent, under the management of the
Skinners' Company and the superintendance
of Dr. Knox, there to receive the benefit of a
classical and commercial education, and re-
ligious instruction in the principles of the
Established Church of England, and to be
boarded and clothed, at the City's expense;
and that the parents or friends of each boy, on
his attaining the age of sixteen, upon certifi-
cate of his merit and good conduct during the
period of his being at the school, should be en-
titled to the sum of one hundred pounds, to be
applied toward his advancement in life ; and
that the general superintendance of the cha-
rity, and the providing of clothing for the
boys, should be under the direction of the
Committee of City Lands, assisted by the
Chamberlain of London for the time being.
By this arrangement, the annual expendi-
ture in respect of the charity was increased
E
( 50 )
from 19/. 10s. to about 420/.'"^ But this
change in the administration of the charity,
although a great improvement, yet having
from the first been objected to on the ground
of the expenditure of such a sum upon so in-
considerable a number of beneficiaries, and
of the religious restriction, has been recently
superseded by another alteration which me-
rits still higher commendation, and deserves
to be particularly detailed.
Until about the year 1829, there existed
in the city, under the authority of an Act of
Parliament passed in the reign of Charles the
Second^^, an establishment called the " Lon-
don Workhouse," which was for the relief
and employment of the poor, the punishment
of vagrants and disorderly persons, and the
maintenance, education, and apprenticing of
poor children. This establishment was sup-
ported by assessments upon the inhabitants
of the several parishes in the city, the pro-
^4 Vide Proceedings of Common Council, 21st June,
1826, p. 69 ; 20th July, 1826, p. 82 ; 14tli December,
1826, p. 126 ; 18th Januaiy, 1827, p. 13 ; 5th Decem-
ber, 1833, p. 160.
( 51 )
duce of tlic labour performed by the inmates,
and some property which it had become
possessed of by several bequests ; but the
institution having gradually decayed and
ceased to be of any real utility, the inhabi-
tants of the city became anxious to be re-
lieved from the expense of its continuance.
The Corporation therefore, in the year 1829,
applied to Parliament and obtained an Act ^^'
for discontinuing the workhouse, and appro-
priating the produce of the property with
which it had been endowed, amounting to
about three hundred pounds per annum, for
the support of a school for the maintenance
and education of poor and destitute children,
and for apprenticing such children to honest
and industrious trades ; and in furtherance
of that object, the Corporation also agreed to
contribute out of their own funds the sum of
two thousand pounds.
Under the authority of this act, an attempt
has been made to found a school of the de-
scription therein mentioned, and for that pur-
65 13 and 14 Charles II. cap 12.
^'^ 10 George IV. cap. 53, private.
( 52 )
pose to raise funds in aid of the above en-
dowTiient by voluntary contril)utions ; but
though the Corporation agreed, as already
mentioned, to contribute the sum of two
thousand pounds, and upwards of a thousand
pounds more were received from other
sources, principally in sums of twenty pounds
each, which is the qualification for a gover-
nor, the attempt has, from a variety of causes,
been hitherto unsuccessful.
The governors, having been unable to pro-
cure suitable premises in the city whereon to
erect a school, presented a memorial to the
Common Council on the 1st of August, 1833,
requesting their assistance in obtaining that
object by a grant of a part of the City's
estates. The Committee for letting the City's
Lands, to whom the memorial was referred
by the court, finding, upon examination, that
there were many difficulties in the way of
the establishment of the institution in the
manner then contemplated, presented a re-
port on the subject, recommending that, as
Honey-lane Market yielded but little profit
to the Corporation and afforded no conve-
( 53 )
nience to the public, the market should be
discontinued, and the site thereof appropri-
ated as requested, provided an Act of Parlia-
ment could be obtained to authorize the
same, and such alterations were made in the
general arrangements of the school as to
secure to the citizens of London the edu-
cation of children on the most liberal and
improved principles, and upon a more exten-
sive scale than that contemplated by the ex-
isting Act of Parliament. The same commit-
tee subsequently presented another report
(in consequence of a reference which had
been made to them on the 30tli of May,
1833, respecting the propriety of consoli-
dating Carpenter's charity with the intended
school), in which they stated that, although it
appeared that the trust required to be per-
formed under the will of Carpenter extended
only to the providing of education, clothing,
and commons for four boys, yet, as the estates
bequeathed for the purpose had considerably
increased in value and then produced up-
wards of 900/. per annum, they were of opi-
nion that, provided the alterations in the
( 54 )
constitution of the school were effected which
were recommended in their former report, the
sum of 900/. should, after its opening, be an-
nually contributed by the Corporation to-
wards its support ; and that, instead of four
boys being sent to Tonbridge school, a like
number should be selected, according to
merit, as vacancies might arise, to be clothed,
boarded, and educated at the expense of the
new establishment, up to the age of sixteen
years, and upon quitting, become entitled to
the sum of lOOZ. each, upon recei\dng a cer-
tificate of merit and good conduct while at
the school. The Court of Common Council
havine: ao:reed to these several recommenda-
tions, and to a further report recommending
an application to Parliament to carry the ar-
rangement into effect'''', a bill was introduced
into the House of Lords for the purpose. This
bill met with considerable opposition in the
upper house, which led to the omission of
those parts of it relating to the funds original-
•57 Vide Proceedings of Common Council, 7th Novem-
ber, 1833, p. 153; 5th December, 1833, p. 160; lyth
February, 1834, p. 25.
( 55 )
ly belonging to the London Workhouse, thus
leaving the institution in the same imperfect
state that it was then in, but at the same time
authorizing the carrying into effect all the
other arrangements proposed, by the esta-
blishment of a school altogether separate and
distinct from it. Having afterwards passed
both houses, the bill received the royal as-
sent on the 13th day of August, 1834.
It is intituled "An Act to establish a school
on the site of Honey-lane Market in the City
of London ^^." It recites that the Corporation
were desirous of establishing a school in the
city for the instruction of boys in the higher
branches of literature ; that the yearly sum
of 191. 105. had for many years been paid
out of the rents and profits of lands and tene-
ments belonging to them, which were usually
called the estates of John Carpenter, for-
merly Town Clerk, towards the education
and clothing of four boys, sons of freemen
of the city, which payment was believed to
be made in pursuance of the will of the said
John Carpenter, but that such will could not
68
4 and 5 Will. IV. cap. 35, private.
( 56 )
be found; cand that the Corporation were
wilhng, instead of paying the said annual
sum, to charge the property called the Car-
penter estates, together with other property
belonging to them, with the payment of the
perpetual annual sum of 900/. towards the
support of such school, and also that the
market called Honey-lane Market, which be-
longed to them, should be aboHshed, and the
site thereof appropriated for the purposes of
such school. The enactments Avhich follow,
for the purpose of carrying these objects into
effect, declare (amongst other things) that
the market shall be discontinued from the
25th day of December, 1834, and the site
appropriated for a school, which shall be
for ever maintained by the Corporation " for
the religious and virtuous education of boys,
and for instructing them in the higher
branches of literature, and all other useful
learning^^." That the Common Council shall
make regulations for the management of the
school (in Avhich regulations provision shall
*''•' For an outline of the courses of instruction intended
to be adopted in the school, vide Appendix, p. Gl.
( 57 )
be made that the authorized version of the
Holy Bible be used and taught, and that
morning and evening prayers be read in the
school), and shall also elect masters, the first
and second masters being chosen from such
persons only as shall be examined and cer-
tified to be fit for the duties by the professors
of Divinity, Classical literature, and Mathe-
matics, at King's College, London, and of the
Greek language, literature, and antiquities.
Mathematics, and Natural Philosophy and
Astronomy, at the University of London.
That the estates derived from Carpenter
shall be charged with the payment of 9001.
per annum towards the support of the school,
and the yearly sums payable in pursuance of
his will be deemed to be included in such
sum of 900Z. The Act also authorizes the
Common Council to appoint a committee to
carry the several powers thereby created, or
so many thereof as they shall think proper
to delegate, into execution ; and in pursuance
of this authority, the Corporation have ap-
pointed a committee consisting of the Lord
Mayor, twelve Aldermen, and one Commoner
l»
( 58 )
from each ward in the city (making in all
forty-three members), to Avhom they have
delegated all the powers of the Act, except
the election and removal of the two principal
masters'"^.
The basis has thus been formed for an
institution where the sons of those who are
concerned in the various trading, commer-
cial, and professional pursuits that constitute
the wealth and importance of London, may
receive a sound and liberal education, suited
to the present advanced state of society, and
calculated to qualify them for any of the va-
rious situations in life that they may be called
to fill ; an establishment which, while it will
reflect honour upon the Corporation for their
liberality, will shed an additional lustre upon
the memory of the individual whose chari-
table bequest has enabled them to accom-
plish so laudable an object.
But there is one member of the Corpora-
tion in particular, from whom it would be
injustice to withhold the meed of praise in
70 Vide Proceedings of Common Council, 9th Septem-
ber, 1834, p. 125 ; 9th October, 1834, p. 151.
( oO )
connection with this event, seeing that it was
principally through his public-spirited and
indefatigable exertions that the arrangement
which promises such important benefits to
the citizens of London has been effected. The
gentleman here alluded to is Mr. Warren
Stormes Hale, who has for several years
been a highly respected, active, and useful
member of the Corporation, as a representa-
tive in Common Council of the ward of
Coleman street. During the years 1833 and
1834, in which this subject was under the
notice of the Committee of City Lands,he had
the honour of presiding over the committee
as chairman, and in that character he evinced
a zeal for the accomplishment of the object
only equalled by that which (holding the
same situation in the committee appointed
to superintend the affairs of the institution)
he still continues to display in its behalf.
APPENDIX.
CITY OF LONDON SCHOOL.
GENERAL COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.
To read well, with due modulation and appropriate
emphasis.
English Grammar and Composition.
Latin language. French language.
Writing, Arithmetic, and Book-keeping.
Elements of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.
Geography and Natural History.
Ancient and Modem History.
Elements of Choral Singing.
Lectures on Chemistry, and other branches of Expe-
rimental Philosophy.
The authorized version of the Holy Bible to be used
and taught in the School ; and, on every morning and
evening, prayers to be read therein.
SPECIAL COURSES.
In addition to the preceding general course, applicable
to the whole school. Pupils, whose Parents or Guardians
wish it, will be instracted in the Greek and Hebrew
languages, and, at a moderate extra charge, in the Ger-
man, Spanish, and Italian languages, and Drawing.
Pupils who distinguish themselves in the elementary
course, and desire to avail themselves of instruction in the
higher branches of Literature and Science, will be formed
( 62 )
into superior classes, and receive instruction, without
any extra charge, ia the study of
The Poetry and Antiquities of Greece and Rome.
The higher branches of Mathematical science, and
the application of it to the study of Physics.
Logic and Ethics.
All the Senior Pupils to be practised in Recitation.
The Masters to have discretion in the application of
these courses of instruction, according to the progress of
the Pupils.
ARTHUR TAYLOR,
PRINTER TO THE HONOURABLE CITY OF LONDON.
M.DCCC.XXXVI.
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