St James Workhouse Westminster

[steven781]

My maternal great-grandfather was in the St James Workhouse, Westminster from 1865-72 and he received an apprenticeship courtesy of a bequest from a wealthy widow, Mrs Ann Newton. It would be nice to recognise the generosity of Ann Newton in my report writing, does anybody have any information as to who she was? How large the bequest was and how many boys benefited?

[goldie61]

http://archive.org/stream/allaboutbatters00simmgoog/allaboutbatters00simmgoog_djvu.txt

tells you a bit about it


Near the southern boundary of the parish and not far from
Wandsworth Common Bailway Station, are situated St. James'
Industrial Schools. *This Institution stands on a portion of 22
acres of land purchased of the Bight Honourable Frederick Earl
Spencer, K.G., and conveyed to the Governors and Directors of the
Poor of the Parish of St. James', Westminster, by Deed bearing
dates, the thirtieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred
and fifty. The first stone laid 24th September, 1851. The School
opened 22nd June, 1852. F. Parkis, Superintendent. There are
now 141 boys in the schools. On leaving a premium of £10 is
given to each boy to learn a trade. Mrs. Anne Newton, late of
Upper Harley Street in the Parish of Mary-le-bone, widow,
deceased, by her Will left, dated the 12th of March, 1806, £1,000.
£429 19s. 3d. has been received through the Court of Chancery.
The interest is given to the best boy selected by his fellow scholars,
on condition th at the Superintendent agrees with their decision.

Looks like it would be a good idea to look at her will.

Added:
You're lucky.
Her will is here on The National Archives Discovery wills search page
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D204161
Although in the book it says it was of 1806, that was when she first started to write it. She was still adding to in June 1811, and it was proved in July 1812, and that's the date always given in any listing now. So she must have died some time between June 1811 and July 1812.
You're also lucky that you can download it for free from The NAtional Archives at the moment because of Covid.
It runs to several pages. She leaves many bequests, and 'Lady Elizabeth Loftus' is one of the executors.
It mentions the name name of her husband and many relatives.

She leaves bequests to several schools, and gives great instructions about the sort of boy who should receive such an apprenticeship
Well worth a read! 

If you can't decipher it, you can always ask for help here on Rootschat.

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/handwriting-deciphering-recognition/

[steven781]

Thank you Goldie61 I will check out those links.

Steve

[steven781]

Those links were a wealth of information, thank you.

I have never really used Google books before but will consider it a useful resource for future research. I have also downloaded Ann Newton's will from the National Archives (free of charge due to Covid), I see what you mean about the writing, reading glasses will be in order.

 

Super result.

[goldie61]

Glad they were useful.
Give a shout out if you want help with the will.
I have not yet deleted it from my computer. I will do eventually to save it getting full of stuff I don't need for my own research