Exploring Wotton-under-Edge last week, I chanced upon an alleyway I’d not seen before. Inside was a peaceful courtyard surrounded by a hodgepodge of old stone buildings and, to one side, a small chapel. It felt like a place where time has stood still, where the rhythms of life have continued, unchanged, for hundreds of years. Only the television aerials and occasional plastic plant pots tell a different story.
Now known as the Perry and Dawes Almshouses, they actually comprise three separate institutions: Hugh Perry’s Foundation, built in 1638; Thomas Dawes’ Hospital, constructed between 1722 and 1723; and the General Hospital, which dates from slightly later still. Perry has found his fortune in London but remembered his home town of Wotton-under-Edge in his will, leaving £300 “for an Almshouse, to be laid with gardens etc. as the Trustees should think fit, for six poor men and six poor women.” Space for a further six individuals, or families, was made available after the proceeds from the sale of property that had been left for the poor of the town by Thomas Dawes enabled further construction. Finally an almshouse elsewhere in the town, which had been demolished to make way for a school, was replaced by a building connecting Perry’s original almshouses with those established in memory of Dawes.
Almshouses are an ancient form of charity and it’s this charitable nature that separates them from other similar institutions, such as workhouses. They primarily accepted older residents and some even had live-in wardens or matrons, perhaps similar to today’s sheltered housing. John Loosley’s 2010 survey identified a total of 48 almshouses in the historic county of Gloucestershire and estimated that during the 1800s approximately 1% of people over the age of 60 in Gloucestershire were resident in almshouses. Some almshouses are still in operation today, including the Perry and Dawes Almshouses. Some have have existed for centuries, such as the St Lawrence Hospital in Cirencester which was founded in 1235, whilst others are more recent establishments, including the Fitzhardinge Almshouses in Berkeley which were built in 1899.
Initially up to 30 people could be accommodated in the combined Perry and Dawes Almshouses (modernisation work in the 1970s means there are now just nine apartments). Potential residents would be assessed by Trustees on the basis of need but the primary requirement was that they had to demonstrate some connection with Wotton-under-Edge. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the Almshouses became to some extent a microcosm of the town. In Census returns of the 1800s and early 1900s residents are described as former clothworkers, weavers, carpenters, shopkeepers, agricultural labourers, shoemakers and domestic servants, showing just some of the main trades that might have been found in Wotton-under-Edge at this time. In recognition of the charity that they received, those living in the Almshouses were expected to live by certain rules, as a large sign painted in the courtyard still reminds residents today:
“ARTICLES AND CONDITIONS TO BE OBSERVED BY THOSE POOR MEN AND WOMEN THAT ENJOY THE CHARITY OF HUGH PERRY ESQ And ALDERMAN OF LONDON.
If any Persons in this Almshouse shall behave themselves in carriage or conversation as to be thought unfit & unworthy of the Charity of this Gift; then their part & portion of Apparel Fuel & Money shall be given to such persons as the Mayor & his Brethren shall think fit. The Persons enjoying this Charity shall constantly attend upon the Public Prayers at the time appointed for them to be read. Those neglecting to attend on the Prayer, shall be deemed as unworthy of the Charity aforesaid, which shall be distributed to other poor people as the Mayor and his Brethren shall think fit. That the Lecturer should not be absent without the leave & consent of the Mayor. The Chapel shall be kept clean & decent by some one Almsman to be appointed by the Mayor who shall pay for the same. The poor scholars taught by the Gift are to be always present when the Prayers are read.”
Looking at the names of the Almshouse residents (sometimes described as “patients” or “inmates”) in Census returns, I was struck by just how important this form of charity must have been. Many of those living in the Almshouses would have spent most of their life in tied accommodation; where else would they live when, for whatever reason, they were no longer able to work? Take Fanny Perkins, who was living in the Almshouses in 1911. Fanny was born in Wotton-under-Edge in 1839 but was in domestic service probably from her late teens until she was into her 60s. Her employers included Fenwick Richards, a tobacco manufacturer and philanthropist who was well-known in Bristol, and William Powell, a glass bottle manufacturer and Justice of the Peace. By 1901, Fanny had returned to Wotton-under-Edge and was living on her own means. We can perhaps only speculate as to what happened next, but it seems possible Fanny met some unexpected costs or had simply not saved enough for her retirement. By 1911 she had turned to the Almshouses for assistance and saw out the remainder of her life there. She died in 1913 at the age of 73 and was buried on 22 March.
One resident in 1871 was Eliza Matilda Richings, who is described as “formerly [a] beerhouse keeper”. Along with her husband Thomas, she had run a slightly sinister sounding pub on Church Street, The Jolly Reaper (I suppose for people living in the countryside it wouldn’t have seemed such an unusual name, just a happy agricultural labourer, but I can’t help think of pirate ships). Eliza was baptised in Minchinhampton on 29 September 1816, the daughter of Thomas and Mary West, and had been a servant to John Burland at Bradley House prior to marrying Thomas Richings on 7 August 1849. Thomas died at the end of 1866 and perhaps it was then that Eliza sought help from the Trustees of the Almshouses. She remained at the Almshouses until her death at the age of 1881. The Jolly Reaper pub appears to have continued with a different landlord until finally closing around 1911.
One final story about the residents of the Perry and Dawes Almshouses concerns two further names found in the 1871 Census: Francesco (Francis) and Eliza Formenti. Eliza had been born in Wotton-under-Edge in 1795, the daughter of John and Mary Smith. Francesco was born in Lombardy, Italy in 1790. I have not been able to find any record of Francesco’s arrival in England, however he was certainly in Wotton-under-Edge in 1826 when he was recorded as renting a house from Catharine Page. Eliza and Francesco married on 17 June 1827. In the 1830 Pigot’s Directory of Gloucestershire, Francesco was listed as being a hardware dealer. Always resident at Market Street, in 1841 he was described as an ironmonger and in 1851 as a general dealer. The 1861 Census return shows that, alongside his shop, Francesco had started to manufacture barometers. Indeed, one of his barometers was sold at auction last year. In the first half of the 1800s, there were approximately 4,000 Italians living in England, of whom 50% lived in London. Many came from Northern Italy and had left following the Napoleonic Wars and subsequent decline in the agricultural economy, travelling on foot across France to England. Migrants from different regions had their own particular skills and, amongst the early wave of Italians in England, were barometer makers from Como in Lombardy. Perhaps they included Francesco in their number. We will perhaps never know why Francesco came to settle in Wotton-under-Edge when the majority of his countrymen ended up in larger towns and cities, however he had spent at least half his life in the town when he and Eliza moved to the Almshouses. In the 1870 Post Office Directory he is listed as a toy dealer, but a year later he was resident in the Perry and Dawes Almshouses. It seems likely that he continued to rent his premises throughout his time in Wotton-under-Edge and when age or ill health prevented him from working perhaps he could no longer continue to make the rental payments. Eliza was buried on 1 February 1873 and Francesco on 5 March 1874. They do not appear to have had any children, thus bringing to an end the temporary Italian community in Wotton-under-Edge.
There must be countless other stories over the nearly 400 year history of the Perry and Dawes Almshouses. In a world without the welfare state and where, for some people, retirement was not an option, the Almshouses provided a safety net so that those who found themselves on hard times or unable to work could maintain a degree of independence and stay living in their home (or adopted home) town. The charitable acts of Hugh Perry and Thomas Dawes have created this amazing community where, over centuries, residents of Wotton-under-Edge have been able to live out the final years of their life in dignity.
Sources
Loosley, John. “Gloucestershire Almshouses.” Gloucestershire History 24 (2010): 19-32.
Wotton-under-Edge General Charities. Perry and Dawes Almshouses. Wotton-under-Edge: Wotton-under-Edge General Charities, n.d.
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