These almshouses bearing his name, and consisting of eight tenements,
were built by him in the year 1596. Four were for aged women widows, and
four for aged men widowers. Each pensioner had £4 annually by quarterly
payments, and there was a biennial allowance of £6 for the purchase of a
gown of black frieze of 20s. value from the owners of the Stoneleigh
Estate. The latter was discontinued years ago and money given instead.
There was also £1 per annum recreation money for the Committee. They are
now closed, pending rebuilding.
It was a pleasure to talk to the inmates. One in particular, a Mrs.
Martin, loved to recall the days of her youth, which had been passed in a
village near Hatfield. She remembered when Napoleon Bonaparte was
regarded as a kind of ogre, and when naughty children were told “Boney is
coming” it reduced them to a state of abject terror. One day a man was
seen coming towards the village on a dandy horse, when the cry was raised
“Boney has come at last.” The children fled in wild alarm to hide
themselves. She and her little brother crept under a four-post bedstead,
and it was a long time before her mother could induce her to believe that
there was no cause for fear, and that she might emerge with safety, which
after much persuasion she did, but her brother refused to leave his
hiding place for the whole of that day. When she was a little older she
was put to school by a lady, and in return she had to do her needlework,
most of the school time being taken up in this way. Before sewing
machines were invented a woman’s time was fully occupied in doing the
needlework for her family. Ready-made articles were unknown. Girls were
taught to be very thorough in their work, and if they wished for
embroidery they had to make it themselves.