s were combined, amounting (with the addition of £13 contributed by the parishioners) to £100, which was lent out at interest and the income used to buy bread for the poor. (fn. 512) The principal was later reduced by the insolvency of a person to whom it had been lent, and by the early 19th century the balance was more securely invested in stock. (fn. 513) It continued to be distributed in bread every week. (fn. 514) In 1857 the capital was transferred to the Official Trustee, when the income was £2 10s. 4d. The dividend continued to be used for the same purpose until at least the end of the Second World War, when the income was £2 2s. (fn. 515)
Edward Whitton, who was born at Wicken and died at Northampton in 1774, left £100 to be invested in Old South Sea Annuities in the name of the rector and churchwardens of Wicken. The stock purchased amounted to £114 12s. 3d., the dividend on which was to be distributed in bread, to be given annually on 5 January (Whitton's birthday) by the rector and wardens as they thought fit, to such poor people of Wicken as did not receive alms or other collection from the parish. (fn. 516) The charity lapsed in 1815, following the departure from the parish of one of the wardens, and when the arrears were collected ten years later the extra money was used to buy clothing, blankets etc. for the poor. Thereafter the annual distribution of bread was resumed. (fn. 517) In 1857 the stock was transferred to the Official Trustee. The gross income was then £4 10s. 6d. The income continued to be spent on bread until at least the end of the Second World War, when the amount received annually was £3 15s. 4d. In 1936-7 no fewer than 76 people received bread from the charity. (fn. 518)
The two bread charities, renamed the Wicken Relief in Need Charity, remained in existence at the time of writing. (fn. 519)
Miss Sharp's Charity.
In 1747 Anna Maria Sharp, the daughter of Charles Hosier of Wicken Park and widow of John Sharp, left £100 to the poor of Wicken. (fn. 520) In the early 19th century the capital was in the hands of Sir John Mordaunt, who paid 5 guineas a year to the churchwardens, which was distributed in bread after church every Sunday, in doles of 2s. to each recipient. (fn. 521) After Sir John's death in 1845 the trustees of his heir, Sir Charles Mordaunt, a minor, maintained the payment, although they reduced other charitable subscriptions. (fn. 522) The benefaction was not capitalised when the parish's other charities were transferred to the Official Trustee in 1857, although the payment of 5 guineas continued to be received annually from the Mordaunts and, after 1877, the Douglas-Pennants. (fn. 523) The payment may have ended with the death of Blanche Lady Penrhyn in 1944, since it appears not to have been continued by the Society of Merchant Venturers. (fn. 524)
The Whittlewood Coal Charity.
In 1854 the Whittlebury Disafforesting Commission, following the intervention of the 5th duke of Grafton, accepted that seven local parishes had established a claim to compensation for the loss of the right to collect sere (or broken) wood as fuel in Whittlewood and awarded them a total of £868, of which Wicken, as one of three out-towns, was entitled to £57 17s. 4d. The money was raised by the sale of a parcel of woodland in Passenham near Wicken Hurst. (fn. 525) The following year stock worth £63 3s. 1d. was transferred to the rector and churchwardens to endow the new charity, (fn. 526) which in 1857 was passed the Official Trustee, when the annual income was £1 17s. 10d. (fn. 527) At first, the Whittlewood money, like the three older charities in the parish, was used to buy bread for the poor, but from 1867 the income was handed to a coal club to buy fuel. This arrangement had ended by the 1880s, when the money was being given to the rector. From 1896 it was handed to the parish council but by 1907 it was once again being paid to the rector. In 1936-7 16 individuals received coal but thereafter, until at least the end of the Second World War, no disbursements were made and the annual income of £1 11