The older charities of Plymouth / by R.N. Worth.

  • Worth, R. N. (Richard Nicholls), 1837-1896.
Date:
[1885]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The older charities of Plymouth / by R.N. Worth. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    BY R. N. WORTH, F.G.S., ETC. (Read October 16th, 1884.) [.Reprinted from the Transactions of the Plymouth Institution and Devon and Cornwall Natural History Society.—18S5. ] The fact that there are extant a series of official reports on the Charities of this kingdom may seem to some to render the work undertaken in this paper unnecessary. Those, however, who are familiar with these documents, and especially with the report of the first enquiry, upon which all the others are based, will know that the reports are often fragmentary, often inaccurate, often perfunctory; and moreover that in the earlier investigations, more particularly, the standard of judgment was not that which would accord with the clearer views of the present day. The original Commissioners were not wholly to blame for this. They had in hand a difficult and a novel task, and they met with hindrances on every side. Here from sheer laziness, and there of set purpose, they were kept in ignorance of matters it was essential they should know; and documents were reported to be lost, which not only did exist, but Avere easily accessible. Their report upon the Plymouth Charities, which they examined into in 1820, is neither better nor worse than most of its fellows; but it is meagre and inexact to a degree that deprives it of fully half its value, and in many points is seriously misleading. Moreover, from the necessary limitations of the enquiry, it does not deal so fully with the beginnings of the Charities as historically is desirable, and its biographical hints are scanty in the extreme. The object of this paper is to supply the deficiencies thus indicated—to trace from original sources1 the inception of the various Charities included within its scope; to indicate their first character and purpose, Avith the changes that have taken place in their operation; and to recal the memories of a host of forgotten benefactors of the ancient toAvn of Plymouth, 1 Not a single statement is given second-hand Avhere an original document is available. A