This account book relates to an ancient charity within the town of Newbury, Berkshire. The Hospital of St Bartholomew is first recorded in 1215, when King John granted it the right to hold a two-day fair. The hospital was an almshouse, though, at the Reformation, it became associated too with the town’s grammar school (now a state-funded academy). By the end of the 16th century, its affairs were managed by the town’s corporation, and in 1837 it was merged into the Newbury Municipal Charities. The hospital was rebuilt in 1698 and this building still stands in Argyle Road, Newbury.
The book is written in several hands, using a variety of iron gall ink recipes, and onto antique laid French paper. Several pages are corroded but the text is legible. The sections are bound onto leather thongs and the whole housed in a single sheet parchment cover, of lower grade quality and probably from an older animal. The volume measures 316mm high by 204mm wide and with a depth of 17mm.
The accounts were presented annually each March and in the name of the trustee who had been elected proctor for the year. They follow the usual form, with lines for income, mostly from rents, followed by expenditure. The charity’s main expense was alms to the sick and those who cared for them, but there are also regular bills for repairs to the almshouse and the school. The trustees were drawn almost entirely from the Newbury Corporation and included the mayor and town clerk.
The provenance of the book is uncertain. At some point, probably centuries ago, it was orphaned from the rest of the charity’s archive, most of which survives at the Berkshire Record Office amongst the records of the Newbury Municipal Charities. Prior to deposit in the 1970s these were kept in Newbury Town Hall. They contain very few items from the 17th century, but a complete run of proctors’ account books from 1700 until 1836. This earlier volume is not mentioned by any of the town’s historians and appears to be previously unknown.
The accompanying deeds relate to tailors’ shops on the west side of Northbrook Street, Newbury. They are seemingly unrelated to the charity. Their inclusion in the lot suggests that the account book may have been discovered amongst client papers in a legal office. Whatever its origin, it is delight to acquire it as it fills a large gap in St Bartholomew’s documentary history.
