In 1712, George Fentham, of Birmingham, devised his estate by will,
consisting of about one hundred acres, in Erdington and Handsworth, of
the value then, of 20_l_. per annum, vesting the same in a trust, of
which no person could be chosen who resided more than one hundred yards
from the Old Cross. We should be inclined to think the devisor
entertained a singular predilection for the Old Cross, then in the pride
of youth. But if we unfold this whimsical clause, we shall find it
contains a shrewd intention. The choice was limited within one hundred
yards, because the town itself, in his day, did not in some directions
extend farther. Fentham had spent a life in Birmingham, knew well her
inhabitants, and like some others, had found honour as well as riches
among them: He knew also, he could with safety deposit his property in
their hands, and was determined it should never go out,--The scheme will
answer his purpose.
The uses of this estate, now about 100_l_. per annum, are for teaching
children to read, and for clothing ten poor widows of Birmingham: Those
children belonging to the charity school, in green, are upon this
foundation.
The present trust are
Francis Coales, and Edmund Wace Pattison.