Thomas Combe's Charity

Description

Extract from the will of Thomas Combe of Old Stratford, esq., dated 20 June 1656, concerning charitable bequests: i) that his cousin, William Combe, out of the rents and profits of the tithes of Drayton, should pay 50 shillings to the bailiff of the borough of Stratford-upon-Avon to provide for an annual dinner for the bailiff and burgesses on 10 June. ii) that his said cousin, out of the rents of the same and a piece of meadow ground in Drayton Meadow called Parsons Piece, provide black gowns yearly, marked with the letters T.C., for `ten poore aged and impotent men and women within the borough', but excluding almspeople or those who wore gowns the year before under his uncle's bequest (see DR535/18). iii) that his said cousin, out of the rents of the same shall `pay unto a learned preacher the summe of twentie shillinges ... to make two sermons yearelie in the parish church'.