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In St. Leonard's Parish, where between 1719 and 1774
there were 458 appeals, the churchwardens charged 3s. for this method of
collection.
Carter, a controversialist, and not averse to calling a
spade a spade, did not hide his feelings in his written utterances. In
November, 1720, 8s. 1d., as against St. Leonard's 3s. 9 1/2d., was
gathered towards the estimated loss of £1609 at Shrawdine Church and
Parsonage in Salop. He thus lets us into his political sympathies.
"In ye civil wars anno 1644 Shrawdine Castle was made a Garrison by
ye King's Forces & while ye said Garrison continued there they burnt
ye greatest Part of ye Town & demolished ye Steeple, Chancel, &
most of ye Church, together wth. ye Parsonage House, for yer Safty
against ye Rebells." In 1732 the damage at Stourbridge Church was
£2000 or so. St. George's gave 1s. 11d., St. Leonard's 2s. 6d. Carter
comments: "This Brief was for ye building of a new Church or Chapel
of Ease in Stowerbridge in ye Parish of Old Swinford; & not for ye
Repairing of an old one: and therefore unusual, if not
unreasonable."
In July, 1749, a Brief to aid an assessed loss of £1177 at
Berkeley Church, Glos., came under Carter's ire. Nothing was collected
perhaps because he animadverted, "The Title of this Brief is—Berkeley
Church whereas the Brief itself is not for ye Church, but
for ye Tower of ye Church, and which Stands about 40 yards from
ye Parish Church. Nor is there one word in ye Brief mentioning ye use of
such Tower. Quare; why |
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then was there a Brief to rebuild such Tower?" Towards this appeal Cranbrook
subscribed 3s. 2½d.
On August 1st, 1742, Carter noted that he "read in
Deal chapel his Majesty's Letter to ye two Archbishops, & the
Archbishop of Canterbury's Letter to his Clergy concerning a Collection
to be made for ye Use of ye Corporation for ye Propagation of ye Gospel
in foreign Parts". This Society had its origin in 1701.
Appeals to St. George's for relief outside this country
were, in 1729, for Protestants in Copenhagen. No sum is given but St.
Leonard's raised £4 6s. 4d. In 1762 help was asked to reimburse a loss
of £2733 Sterling suffered by Saarbruck Church and School; rather later
the scholastic claims of the "Colledges" of Philadelphia and
New York reached Deal. In 1764 the charitable were urged to help "Philippen
Colony in Turkish Moldavia". They raised 7s. 3½d. An earlier
appeal which reached St. Leonard's in 1739 came from "Bobi and
Villar in ye Valley of Lucerne in Piedmont". They were sufferers to
the value of £2354 by an inundation.
For the study of these Registers and Parish Books thanks
are due to the Rector of Deal, the Rev. Canon E. D. Bowser, and the
Vicar of St. George's, the Rev. H. W. Lea-Wilson. Also to Mr. W. E.
Tate, F.R.Hist.S., who has done much work on the subject. Happily at St.
George's the book suffered no damage when the Victorian East window of
the church was blown out. How tastes change when the |