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EAP 1364 St Helena

Document Name and Date

minutes of widows and orphans fund 1766-1837

Photographer

Aidan Photo

Date photographed

25th April 2022

Additional comments

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Island St. Helena 1st. April 1766

The Gentlemen in the Service of the

Honorable East India Company in this Island

whose Names are hereunto Subscribed, having come

to a Resolution of establishing a Fund for the

Maintenance of such Widows and Orphans of

Deceased Company Servants in this Island

Subscribers to the said Fund as may become

so from this Time, have agreed upon the

following Regulations relative to the said

Fund and Establishment [...]

That every married Company's

Servant who chooses to become a Subscriber to

the Fund do annually contribute and pay

into the Hands of the Treasurer of this Society

the Sum of Five Pounds Sterling.

That each unmarried Company's

Servant do whilst he continues such contribute

the annual Sum of Two Pounds Sterling, to

be paid as before mentioned. And if he should

Margin Notes:

CX 16 3/9

On 1 April 1766 a group of gentlemen in the East India Company's service at St Helena agreed to set up a fund to support the widows and orphans of Company servants on the island who died while subscribing to it. Having resolved to establish the fund, they signed their names to a set of rules for running it.

Every married Company servant who chose to join was to pay £5 0s 0d a year to the treasurer of the society. Each unmarried servant was to pay £2 0s 0d a year for as long as he kept up his subscription, paid in the same way.

Interpretations

The fund was a private scheme of mutual insurance, set up by the Company's servants themselves, not by the Company. The Company paid its servants in life and made no provision recorded here for their families after death. The subscribers pooled their own money to cover that gap, and only the families of men who had paid in could claim. Membership was voluntary. A servant who did not subscribe left his widow and children with no call on the fund.

The rules charged married and unmarried men at different rates. A single subscription for everyone was the simpler course, and the founders did not take it. A married man's widow was a present risk to the fund, since she could fall on it as soon as he died. A single man's was only a future one. He paid £2 0s 0d a year to keep his place, so that he would not marry later and claim the full benefit without having contributed. The lower rate meant that young unmarried clerks could afford to join early, building up the fund before they brought any claim on it.

The sums were substantial by the island's measure. A married subscriber's £5 0s 0d a year equalled the rent on 20 acres of the best farmland, which the lease registers of the same year charged at 5s 0d an acre. Only the Company's salaried officers and senior servants could easily carry such a payment, and the fund was in practice an arrangement for the island's official class.

The fund outlived its founders by many decades. The lease register recorded that leases renewed to William Sales on 11 March 1830 were handed over to the managers of the Widows' Fund, a transfer approved on 17 June 1831. By then the fund held town property and invested its capital in land, 65 years after these rules were drawn up.

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afterwards Marry he shall immediately become

liable to the Annual Payment expressed in

the first Article.

3dly That every new Company's

Servant shall have the space of one Month

allowed him to enter into the Society, and upon

his declining it he shall not afterwards be at

liberty to do so, but shall be excluded from being

a Member of this Society for ever.

4thly That every Subscriber shall

regularly pay into the Hands of the Treasurer

of the Society his Annual Subscription on the

first Day of April, and that every Member,

who shall delay making the said payment six

Months after the said first day of April shall

forfeit what he has already paid, and shall

be excluded the Society.

5thly That any Subscriber who may

afterwards leave the Island shall have it in

his Option, to continue a Member of this Society

and to enjoy the Advantages arising from it,

upon his regular Payment of the Annual

Subscription.

6thly That the Money arising from

the several Yearly Payments shall be employed

in

An unmarried subscriber who later married became liable at once for the full yearly payment set by the first article, £5 0s 0d.

3: Every new Company servant was allowed one month in which to join the society. A man who declined in that time lost the right to join later and was shut out of membership for good.

4: Every subscriber had to pay his yearly subscription to the treasurer on 1 April. A member who let six months pass after that date without paying lost everything he had already paid in and was struck out of the society.

5: A subscriber who later left the island could choose to remain a member and keep his share in the benefits of the fund, provided he went on paying the yearly subscription regularly.

6: The sixth rule dealt with the use to be made of the money raised from the yearly payments.

Interpretations

The rules closed every door through which a man could take the benefit of the fund without having borne its cost. The obvious course was to let any Company servant join whenever he wished. The founders refused that. A man free to come in at any time would wait until he married, fell ill or saw danger ahead, and then claim the full protection for his family after a year or two of payments. A single month's window at the start of his service obliged each newcomer to decide while his risk was still remote, and a refusal was final. The same reasoning lay behind the second article, which kept unmarried men paying at a lower rate so that they did not join only on marriage.

Arrears were punished by forfeiture, not by suspension. A member six months late lost all his past contributions and his place. A milder rule would have let him pay what he owed and carry on. The founders chose the harsher one because a fund of this kind depended on a steady and predictable income, and on every member sharing the risk in every year. A man who could lapse while young and healthy and catch up when trouble threatened would undermine both. The loss of what he had paid in also stayed in the fund, so the default of one member added to the security of the rest.

Departure from the island did not end membership. The Company's servants were often moved to other stations or returned to England, and a rule tying the benefit to residence would have made the fund worthless to many of them. Allowing a departed member to keep paying treated the subscription as provision for a whole career, and kept his money flowing into the fund wherever he went.

The yearly payment fell on 1 April, the date on which the society was founded in 1766. Rents on the Company's land fell due at Michaelmas, so the fund's year ran six months out of step with the island's other regular payments.

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in the manner most conducive to the increase of the

Society's Fund, under the direction of the Persons

appointed to have the Management of the

Society's Affairs

7thly That no Money once paid into this

Fund, be afterwards recoverable, but shall remain

for the support of the Establishment.

8thly That every Widow of a Subscriber

(whilst she remains such) shall receive for the

support of her self and Children, an Annual

Pension from the Fund of Thirty Pounds to

commence from the Death of her Husband;

But, if She afterwards Marries, she shall be no

longer intitled to the said Pension

9thly That if a Subscriber dies, and

leaves one, or more Orphans, such Orphan or

Orphans shall in like manner be intitled to

the said Pension of Thirty Pounds P Annum, to

be divided equally amongst them, and to continue

till (if Male Orphans) they come of Age, and

if Female whilst they remain unmarried.

10thly That there shall be a General

Annual Meeting of the Subscribers on the first

Day of April in Order to examine the

Treasurers Accounts, and to transact what

other

The sixth rule required the money from the yearly payments to be invested in whatever way would best increase the society's fund, under the direction of the persons appointed to manage its affairs.

7: No money once paid into the fund could ever be taken back. Every payment stayed in the fund for the support of the society.

8: Every widow of a subscriber was to receive a pension of £30 0s 0d a year from the fund to support herself and her children, starting from her husband's death and lasting as long as she remained a widow. If she married again, she lost her right to the pension.

9: If a subscriber died leaving one or more orphans, those children were entitled in the same way to the pension of £30 0s 0d a year, shared equally among them. Sons received their share until they came of age, and daughters for as long as they stayed unmarried.

10: A general meeting of the subscribers was to be held every year on 1 April to examine the treasurer's accounts and to deal with any other business.

Interpretations

One pension of £30 0s 0d a year consumed the yearly payments of six married subscribers. A fund that simply paid out what came in each year would have been exhausted by two or three deaths among a small body of members. The founders therefore put the investment of the money first, in the sixth rule, and gave the managers discretion over how to do it, asking only that the fund be made to grow. The pension was to be met from a capital stock and its income, not from the subscriptions of the year. The fund's later holding of town leases, handed over to its managers on 17 June 1831, was the outcome of that rule.

The pension was a single sum for each dead subscriber, shared by his widow and children, and not a separate allowance for each. The ninth rule did not add the orphans' pensions to the widow's. It passed the same £30 0s 0d to the children where no widow remained to draw it. The fund's liability for any one death was thus fixed in advance, whatever the size of the family, and the managers could reckon their obligations with some certainty.

A widow lost her pension on remarrying. The lease registers showed why the rule made sense on the island. A married woman's property passed under her husband's control, as Captain Barker held the Sprall lease in right of his wife and as Mary Harper's plot was put in trust on 4 March 1771 to keep it from a second husband's family. A widow who remarried thus had a new husband bound to maintain her, and the fund withdrew.

The rule for orphans treated sons and daughters differently. A son's share ended when he came of age, when he could be expected to earn his living. A daughter's ran for as long as she remained unmarried, with no age limit. The fund thus provided for a daughter until a husband took over her support, on the same reasoning that ended her mother's pension at remarriage.

The seventh rule, that no payment could be recovered, completed the forfeiture in the fourth. A member who fell into arrears, left the society or outlived his wife and children got nothing back. Every payment became the property of the common fund, which was what allowed it to accumulate capital in the first place.

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other Business may be laid before them relative

to the Society

11thly That the more immediate

Management of the Society's Affairs, be vested in

the hands of a Committee chosen for this purpose

at the above annual Meeting of the Society, who

are to make a Report to the Annual Meeting

of the Transactions of the foregoing Year, and

are empowered to call a General Meeting whenever

the Affairs of the Society may require it.

Lastly That nothing is to be done by the

Committee contrary to the said Laws, which can

only be altered by the Majority of the Subscribers

at a General Meeting, who are to determine all

Disputes, or Difficulties, that may arise relative

to the Management of the Society's Affairs.

John Skottowe.

Dan Corneille

Purling

Thos. Kirkpatrick

Robt. Barclay

Saml. Desfountain

John Goodwin,

Richd. Beale Senr.

Jno. Prichard

A further rule completed the tenth article, allowing the annual meeting to deal with any other business concerning the society laid before it.

11: The day-to-day management of the society's affairs was placed in the hands of a committee chosen for the purpose at the annual meeting. The committee was to report to each annual meeting on what it had done in the year before, and had power to call a general meeting whenever the society's affairs required one.

As a final rule, the committee could do nothing against these rules. Only a majority of the subscribers at a general meeting could alter them, and the general meeting was to settle every dispute or difficulty that arose over the management of the society.

The following men signed the rules.

John Skottowe

Daniel Corneille

Purling

Thomas Kirkpatrick

Robert Barclay

Samuel Desfountain

John Goodwin

Richard Beale senior

John Pritchard

Interpretations

The last rule kept every dispute inside the society. On an island where the Governor and Council granted every lease, approved every sale and settled the affairs of dead men's estates, the natural course was to refer quarrels over the fund to them. The founders did not. They made the general meeting of subscribers the only body able to change the rules or decide a dispute, and bound their own committee to the rules as written. The fund was thus a private association governed by its members, standing apart from the Company's administration although every member was the Company's servant. A widow refused her pension, or a member struck out for arrears, had his remedy before his fellow subscribers and nowhere else.

The committee managed and the members ruled. Rule 11 gave the committee control of the fund's daily business and its investments under the sixth rule, but obliged it to account each year and allowed it to call the members together at any time. The arrangement checked a small group handling a growing stock of money that no single member could watch.

The signatories included men already met as tenants in the lease registers. Matthew Purling, the Esquire with land near Halley's Mount from 2 September 1766, signed by surname alone. Thomas Kirkpatrick took 12 acres in James's Valley as a captain on 8 May 1769. Samuel Desfountain was a lieutenant with a house in the valley by 19 December 1768. John Goodwin was the writer who witnessed leases in the 1760s, and Richard Beale senior and John Pritchard held the yards on either side of Matthew Bazett's plot of 16 February 1767. Senior officials, garrison officers, a junior clerk and townsmen with property thus joined together. The lower rate for unmarried men made room for a writer such as Goodwin, whose rise to factor and storekeeper the later leases recorded.

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Henry Bazett

John Thackeray Jam. Greentree

Sol. St. Maurice

Willm. Wrangham

Jona. Doveton

J. Powell

Thos. Bazett

Jno. Howard

Richd. Beale Junr.

Brit. Wright

Mitchell.

Thos. Leech

Michl. Frost

Sol. Jacob

Thos. Lambert

Nathn. Sampell

[...] Lauze

[...] Bazett

John Welch

Jno. Bridgwaters.

Will. Bearcroft.

John Shirley

Robt. Gillson

[...] Bazett

The list of subscribers who signed the rules continued with the following names.

Henry Bazett

John Thackeray

James Greentree

Solomon St Maurice

William Wrangham

Jonathan Doveton

J. Powell

Thomas Bazett

John Howard

Richard Beale junior

Britannicus Wright

Mitchell

Thomas Leech

Michael Frost

Solomon Jacob

Thomas Lambert

Nathan Sampell

[...] Lawe

M. Bazett

John Welch

John Bridgwaters

William [...]

John Shirley

Robert Gillson

[...] Bazett

Interpretations

The rules admitted only Company servants, yet planters signed. James Greentree and Nathan Sampell appeared in the lease registers as planters, Greentree with 37 acres at Sandy Bay from 16 February 1767 and Sampell with land in the East Division from 28 August 1769. Either both held some post in the Company's service that the leases did not mention, or the founders read the term widely enough to take in settled landholders. The registers showed several men called planter in one lease and carpenter or lieutenant in another. The fund's membership thus confirmed what the leases suggested, that the line between the Company's servants and the island's farmers was loosely drawn, and that a planter of standing was treated as one of the official body.

Garrison officers subscribed beside the civil servants. Michael Frost took a town plot as a lieutenant on 31 August 1767, Thomas Leech another on 9 January 1769 and John Shirley a third on the same day. Solomon St Maurice was a lieutenant with a farm in the West Division from 12 October 1767. The fund covered the soldiers of the Company as well as its clerks and factors, and their families faced the same risk.

The Bazett family supplied at least four subscribers, Henry, Thomas, M. Bazett and one more. Matthew Bazett was the Secretary and Henry Bazett a captain who rose to major. Thomas Bazett, who witnessed the Harper trust leases on 30 September 1779, was already an adult subscriber in 1766. The family that took the most land in the registers also had the largest stake in the fund, and Henry Bazett served as a trustee for four estates of dead tenants between 1767 and 1782.

Britannicus Wright signed in 1766, when he was Bazett's deputy and witnessed the Secretary's own leases. J. Powell was probably the James Powell named in the Society for the purchase and sale of spirituous liquors on 11 December 1769, with Purling, both Bazetts, Wrangham and Jonathan Doveton. Six of the founders of the widows' fund thus traded together in spirits three years later.

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The Society having met this 1st day of

April 1766, have Voted that the following

Gentlemen do form the Committee for the ensuing

Year vizt.

John Skottowe Esqr. President

Daniel Corneille Esqr.
Matthew Purling Esqr.
Thomas Kirkpatrick Esqr.
Matthew Bazett
Managers

And have also Voted that Matthew Bazett

be Treasurer to the said Society until the 1st day

of April 1767.

The society met on 1 April 1766 and elected a committee to manage its affairs for the coming year. John Skottowe Esquire was chosen as president.

John Skottowe Esquire, President

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

Matthew Purling Esquire, Manager

Thomas Kirkpatrick Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett, Manager

The meeting also chose Matthew Bazett as treasurer of the society until 1 April 1767.

Interpretations

The committee was the first five men to sign the rules, in the same order. Those who drew up the fund thus took charge of it, and the signatures that headed the list marked the men of highest standing among the subscribers. Four of the five were styled Esquire. Matthew Bazett, the only one without that style, was the Company's Secretary and the youngest in rank among them.

Bazett held two posts in the society at once, manager and treasurer. The rules made the committee answerable to the annual meeting for the year's transactions, and the treasurer answerable for his accounts. As a manager he sat on the body that supervised the money he kept. The founders could have separated the two roles, and did not. Bazett already kept the Company's records and drew up its leases, and a man practised in accounts and documents was the obvious choice to hold the fund's cash. The safeguard lay in the term, which ran for one year only, so that the members could review his accounts on 1 April 1767 and choose again.

Thomas Kirkpatrick was styled Esquire here and captain in his lease of 8 May 1769. Matthew Purling carried the style of Esquire in every lease from 2 September 1766. The committee of 1766 therefore comprised the island's leading civil and military men, and its president headed the signatories as the senior figure among them.

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To the Honorable the Court of

Directors of the United Company of

Merchants of England, trading to

the East Indies

Honorable Sirs

As we are persuaded that every Scheme

for the advantage of your Servants will always meet

with your approbation and countenance, Induces Us

to lay before your Honors the inclosed Plan for the

relief of Widows, and Orphans, Unanimously enter'd

into by the Civil, and Military branches of this

Settlement, and flatter ourselves from the future

benefit that may arise to the distressed by this

laudable Institution, will meet with all due

incouragement from your Honors, particularly as

the Sum arising from the Subscription amounting

to one hundred and six Pounds is as much as can

be expected considering the incomes of your Servants

and the numerous Familys they have to maintain

We have the Honour to be

Honorable Sirs

Your most Obedient Humble Servants

(Signed) John Skottowe

Dan: Corneille

Purling

Thos. Kirkpatrick

St. Helena

25th May 1766.

On 25 May 1766 the committee wrote to the Court of Directors of the Company in London. The committee was confident that the Directors always approved any scheme for the benefit of their servants. It therefore sent them the enclosed plan for the relief of widows and orphans, which the civil and military branches of the settlement had joined unanimously.

The committee hoped that the Directors would give the scheme every encouragement, in view of the help it would bring to families in distress. The subscriptions came to £106 0s 0d a year. The committee pointed out that this was as much as could be expected, given the incomes of the Company's servants on the island and the large families they had to support.

The letter was signed by John Skottowe, Daniel Corneille, Matthew Purling and Thomas Kirkpatrick.

Interpretations

The letter asked for money without saying so. The committee could have reported the fund and left it there, since the scheme was private and needed no permission from London. It chose instead to stress how little the servants could raise, set their £106 0s 0d against their small incomes and large families, and ask for the Directors' encouragement. The obvious reading was a request for a grant or a yearly contribution from the Company, put in terms the Directors could grant or ignore without a refusal on record.

The figure showed why help was needed. One widow's pension under the eighth rule was £30 0s 0d a year. The whole subscription income would carry three such pensions and a little more. Two or three deaths among the 34 subscribers would absorb the year's money and leave nothing to build the capital on which the sixth rule depended. Without outside support or several years free of claims, the fund could not keep its promises.

The plan was described as taken up unanimously by the civil and military branches. The list of subscribers bore that out, with the Secretary, factors and writers signing beside captains and lieutenants of the garrison. Presenting the whole official body as united behind the scheme gave the request more weight in London.

The letter went from the committee and not from the Governor and Council, although the society's president and managers were among the island's senior men. The fund kept to the independence its last rule gave it, approaching the Company as a body of its servants and not through the island's government.

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Agreeable to the Orders of the Society

for holding an Annual meeting, the Gentlemen

accordingly assembled this 1st day of April 1767 at

the Castle, when they paid their several Subscriptions

amounting to £109, Examined the Treasurers

Accounts &ca. They likewise unanimously

agreed that the Gentlemen who formed the

Committee the preceding Year, should continue

to be the Committee until the 1st day of April

1768, and likewise the same Treasurer.

Lieutenant Bridgwater declining to

continue a Member of the Society, it was put to

the Vote, whether he should remain one or not, when

the Majority carried it in the Negative; And he

was Ordered to be excluded the Society accordingly,

and the Treasurer to return him the £2 .. he had

Subscribed the last Year, And it was further Agreed

that in future, if any one of the Society should by

his misbehaviour be thought by the Majority

unworthy of being a Member, that he should be

excluded the Society for ever, & it remain at the

option of the Subscribers whether the Money he

had Subscribed should be returned him, or continue

as part of the said Fund

The subscribers held their annual meeting at the Castle on 1 April 1767, as the society's rules required. They paid their subscriptions, which came to £109 0s 0d, and examined the treasurer's accounts. They agreed unanimously that the committee of the previous year should continue in office until 1 April 1768, with the same treasurer.

Lieutenant Bridgwater asked to remain a member of the society. The question was put to the vote, and the majority decided against him. He was excluded from the society, and the treasurer was ordered to return the £2 0s 0d he had subscribed the year before.

The meeting further agreed that in future any member whom the majority judged unworthy of membership because of his misconduct would be excluded for good. The subscribers would decide in each case whether the money he had paid in should be returned to him or kept as part of the fund.

Interpretations

The rules of 1766 gave the society no power to expel a member who paid his subscription on time. A man could lose his place only by falling six months into arrears. The meeting nonetheless voted Bridgwater out, using the last rule, which let a majority of subscribers at a general meeting alter the rules and settle disputes. It then made the power general, so that any member could be expelled for misconduct. The record gave no account of what Bridgwater had done. A society whose members' widows would draw on one another's money had reason to exclude a man it did not trust, and the founders' own rule allowed them to make the power when they found they needed it.

The meeting returned Bridgwater's £2 0s 0d. The seventh rule declared that no money paid into the fund could ever be recovered, and the plain course was to keep it. The subscribers set the rule aside. A member who left of his own accord or fell into arrears had chosen his loss. Bridgwater was put out against his wish and had broken no rule on payment, and keeping his money would have looked like confiscation. The new rule then left the refund to the members' discretion in each case, so that a man expelled for serious misconduct could lose his contributions as well.

The amount refunded showed that Bridgwater subscribed at the unmarried rate. John Bridgwaters signed the rules among the founders in 1766.

The subscription income rose from £106 0s 0d to £109 0s 0d in the first year. The fund was growing slowly, with no sign in the record of any help from the Directors.

The society met at the Castle, the seat of the island's government. A private association of the Company's servants used the Company's own building for its meetings, while keeping its affairs in its own hands.

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The Society having met the 1st Day of April

1768 paid their several Subscriptions Amounting

to £110.. and have voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year vizt.

John Skottowe Esqr.
Mattw. Purling Esqr.
Mr. Mattw. Bazett
Captain Henry Bazett
Mr. William Wrangham
Managers

And have also voted William

Wrangham Treasurer for the ensuing Year

It appearing to the Subscribers that the

8th Article is deficient in not mentioning that the

£30.. P Annum is to be continued to the Children

of the Deceased Subscriber after the Marriage of

the Widow agreeable to the intention of the Subscribers,

It is hereby unanimously agreed by the Gentlemen

of the Society that (to prevent any dispute hereafter)

the said Sum of £30.. shall be paid to the Children

of the said Widow by the first Marriage in the like

manner as it is mentioned in the 9th Article

The Society have unanimously agreed

that the Managers shall be chosen Annually by

Ballot.

The society met on 1 April 1768, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £110 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Matthew Purling Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett, Manager

Captain Henry Bazett, Manager

William Wrangham, Manager

The meeting also chose William Wrangham as treasurer for the coming year.

The subscribers found a gap in the eighth rule. It did not state that the pension of £30 0s 0d a year was to continue to the children of a dead subscriber after his widow remarried, although that had been the members' intention. To prevent any dispute later, the society agreed unanimously that in such a case the £30 0s 0d should be paid to the widow's children by her first marriage, in the way the ninth rule laid down.

The society also agreed unanimously that the managers should in future be chosen every year by ballot.

Interpretations

The eighth rule ended a widow's pension when she remarried, and the ninth gave the pension to orphans. Neither covered children whose mother had married again. Read strictly, they were not orphans, since their mother lived, and the pension had stopped with her remarriage. The children of a subscriber would then have depended on a stepfather who owed them nothing. The members closed the gap by passing the £30 0s 0d to the children of the first marriage. The limit was deliberate. Children of the widow's second husband had no claim, since he had paid nothing into the fund. The benefit followed the subscriber's own blood.

The members chose to vote for their managers by ballot. The committee of 1767 was kept on by an open and unanimous vote, and the first committee was simply the first five men to sign. A secret vote let a member oppose a senior official without being seen to do it. Two Bazetts sat on the committee of five, with the Esquire who headed the signatures and the leading planter of the 1760s. Bridgwater had been expelled by an open vote the year before. A ballot was perhaps the members' protection against the weight of those few men in the island's small official society.

The treasurer changed after two years. Matthew Bazett gave up the office and stayed a manager, and William Wrangham took it. Wrangham was a gentleman in his lease of December 1766 and a factor in that of 29 August 1768, a commercial servant used to handling the Company's goods and money. Daniel Corneille and Thomas Kirkpatrick left the committee, and Henry Bazett and Wrangham joined it.

The subscriptions rose to £110 0s 0d, a gain of £1 0s 0d on the year before.

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The Society at the Annual meeting on the

1st April 1769 paid their several Subscriptions Amounting

to £119 .. and have Unanimously Voted the last Years

Managers and Treasurer to remain as such until the 1st

April 1770. They have likewise come to the following

Resolution.

That if any Subscriber marries at any Time

within the Year, it shall be at his Option to make up the last

Years Payment five Pounds and so become immediately

entitled to the Benefits arising from the Fund, otherwise if he

Dies at any Time before the next Subscription his Family will

not receive the above Benefit.

It being put to the Vote whether Mr. Thomas

Kirkpatrick should be allowed to remain as a Subscriber to

the Fund it was Settled in the Affirmative

The following Gentlemen having Entered

into the Companys Service have signed their Names as

Subscribers to this Fund.

Chas. Ross Stewart

Wilm. Cockwell

Thos. Statham

John Bazett

Robt. Purling

Will. Roberts

James Desfountain

Willm. Doveton

[...]

[...]

Margin Notes:

[...]

The society held its annual meeting on 1 April 1769, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £119 0s 0d. They voted unanimously that the managers and treasurer of the previous year should remain in office until 1 April 1770.

The meeting also resolved that a subscriber who married during the year could choose to make up his last payment to £5 0s 0d, and so become entitled at once to the benefits of the fund. If he did not, and died before the next subscription fell due, his family would receive nothing.

The meeting voted on whether Mr Thomas Kirkpatrick should be allowed to remain a subscriber, and decided that he should.

The following gentlemen, having entered the Company's service, signed their names as subscribers to the fund.

Charles Ross Stewart

William [...]

Thomas Statham

John Bazett

Robert Gurling

William [...]

James Desfountain

William Doveton

Richard [...]

[...]

Interpretations

The second rule made a single man liable for the married rate as soon as he married, but did not say when his wife became covered. A subscriber who married in June had paid £2 0s 0d that April and would not pay £5 0s 0d until the next. If he died in between, his widow's claim rested on the lower payment. The society could have covered her at once without further payment, or left her uncovered until the next 1 April. It chose a middle course. The new husband could pay the £3 0s 0d difference at once and protect his wife from the day of the wedding, or keep his money and take the risk. The fund was paid in full for every widow it supported, and the choice of when to begin the cover rested with the member.

Kirkpatrick's place was put to the vote. He was one of the founding managers in 1766 and a captain by 8 May 1769, and he had been dropped from the committee in 1768. The record gave no reason for the question. The power to expel for misconduct, created when Bridgwater was voted out on 1 April 1767, was here tested on a founder, and the majority kept him.

Robert Gurling was styled a planter when he took 15½ acres in the East Division on 20 March 1769, twelve days before this meeting. He signed here among men who had newly entered the Company's service, and the lease of 30 September 1771 called him a lieutenant. He had just taken a commission, and the third rule allowed him a month to join the fund. The lease clerk described him by his earlier condition.

John Bazett joined as a new servant in 1769. Lieutenant John Bazett was dead by 28 November 1785, when his widow Mary and his heirs took a lease of the family's house plot. If he kept up his payments, his was among the families the fund then supported.

Charles Ross Stewart, later lieutenant and adjutant, Thomas Statham, later captain lieutenant, James Desfountain and William Webber Doveton all appeared as tenants in the lease registers. The new entrants of 1769 were the men who held the island's commissions and offices in the 1780s.

15

11

The Revd. Mr. William Bearcroft being Married since the

last general meeting has made up his Subscription

five Pounds according to an Article then agreed on

The Reverend William Bearcroft married after the last general meeting. He made up his subscription to £5 0s 0d under the rule agreed at that meeting.

Interpretations

The resolution of 1 April 1769 was used within the year it was made. Bearcroft, the Company's chaplain, married some time after that meeting and chose to pay the extra £3 0s 0d at once, so that his wife was covered from the time of the wedding. The rule left the choice to him, and he took the protection. The chaplain was thus a subscriber, almost certainly at the unmarried rate before his marriage, and the fund counted the Company's clergy among its servants.

Bearcroft took 61 acres in the West Division on 17 September 1770 at 1s 6d an acre, with a clause protecting the water of the neighbouring common. The newly married chaplain was providing for his household in both ways in the same period, securing a pension for his widow through the fund and a large farm through the Company's lease.

16

12

1770 The Society at the Annual meeting in the year

1770 paid their several Subscriptions Amounting to

£136 .. and have unanimously Voted that the last

Years Managers do remain as such until the 1st.

Day of April 1771 and have also Voted Henry

Bazett Treasurer.

The third Article of the year 1766

having been thought to want explanation with regard

to the Time of paying the first Subscription, It

was agreed that for the future every new Member

shall at the Time of Entering pay in proportion to

the number of Quarters unexpired from the last general

meeting &ca. If a married Man for three Quarters

£3 : 15 .. for two Quarters £2 . 10 .. and one Quarter

£1 . 5 .. ; Or if a Batchelor for three Quarters £1 . 10 ..

two Quarters £1 .. and one Quarter £ .. 10 ..

It having been put to the Question

whether the 2d. Article of the year 1769 should remain

in force or be erased it was carried for the latter

May 31st. The following Gentlemen having entered the Companys

Service, have Signed their Names, as Subscribers to

this Fund, and paid their proportions.

John Congreve

James Tippet

July 20th. Lieut. William Caldsell, being married since the

last General Meeting, has made up his Subscription

five Pounds.

Augt. 1st Daniel Corneille Esqr. and Lieut. Stewart, being married

since the last General Meeting, have made up their

Subscriptions five Pounds.

The society held its annual meeting in 1770, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £136 0s 0d. They voted unanimously that the managers of the previous year should stay in office until 1 April 1771, and chose Henry Bazett as treasurer.

The members thought that the third rule of 1766 needed clarifying on when a new member should make his first payment. They agreed that in future a new member should pay, on joining, a share of the yearly subscription in proportion to the number of quarters still to run until the next general meeting, as follows.

Married man, 3 quarters remaining, £3 15s 0d

Married man, 2 quarters remaining, £2 10s 0d

Married man, 1 quarter remaining, £1 5s 0d

Unmarried man, 3 quarters remaining, £1 10s 0d

Unmarried man, 2 quarters remaining, £1 0s 0d

Unmarried man, 1 quarter remaining, £0 10s 0d

The meeting then voted on whether the second rule agreed in 1769 should stand or be struck out, and decided to strike it out.

On 31 May 1770 John Congreve and James Tippet, having entered the Company's service, signed as subscribers and paid their proportions.

On 20 July 1770 Lieutenant William Caldwell, who had married since the last general meeting, made up his subscription to £5 0s 0d.

Later in 1770 Daniel Corneille Esquire and Lieutenant Stewart, both married since the last general meeting, made up their subscriptions to £5 0s 0d.

Interpretations

The rule of 1769 gave a man who married during the year a choice. He could pay the difference and cover his wife at once, or wait and leave her unprotected until the next April. The members voted to strike that rule out a year later. The entries that followed showed what replaced it. Caldwell, Corneille and Stewart all made up their payments after marrying, with no option recorded. Striking out the choice returned the society to its second rule of 1766, under which a man became liable for the married rate as soon as he married. The members could have kept the option, which cost the fund nothing when a member declined it. They removed it because it left widows uncovered by the husband's choice, the very hardship the fund existed to prevent. Every new wife was now protected, and every new husband paid for it.

The scale of first payments answered a question the rules of 1766 left open. A servant joining in October and one joining in March both paid a full year's subscription under the old wording, though one had six months' cover to the next April and the other one month. The members charged each by the quarters remaining, so that a late joiner paid only for the cover he received. The fund gave up some income in exchange for fairness, and a man arriving late in the year had no reason to put off joining. Under the third rule's one month limit, delay would have barred him for ever.

Daniel Corneille was a founding manager in 1766 and signed the rules second. He was unmarried then, subscribing at the lower rate. Charles Ross Stewart joined as a new servant in 1769 and married within the year after.

The subscriptions rose from £119 0s 0d to £136 0s 0d, the largest increase since the fund began. New members joining from the Company's service, and men moving to the married rate, both added to the income.

17

13

April 1st. 1771

The Society met this day, paid their Several

Subscriptions amounting to £152 .. and Voted

the following Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing

Year.

John Skottowe Esqr.
Daniel Corneille Esqr.
Matthew Purling Esqr.
William Wrangham
Henry Bazett ...
Managers

And have also Voted that Henry Bazett be

Treasurer to the said Society until the 1st day

of April 1772.

October 1st. Lieut. Lachlan Leslie, has Signed his Name this

day as a Subscriber to this Fund.

Lachl. Leslie

The society met on 1 April 1771, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £152 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

Matthew Purling Esquire, Manager

William Wrangham, Manager

Henry Bazett, Manager

The meeting also chose Henry Bazett as treasurer of the society until 1 April 1772.

On 1 October 1771 Lieutenant Lachlan Leslie signed his name as a subscriber to the fund.

Interpretations

The yearly subscriptions had risen in every year since the fund began, from £106 0s 0d in 1766 to £109 0s 0d, £110 0s 0d, £119 0s 0d, £136 0s 0d and now £152 0s 0d. The growth quickened from 1769, when new servants joined from the garrison and several unmarried members moved to the married rate on marrying. No pension to a widow or orphan had yet been recorded. Five years of income had thus gone wholly to building the capital that the sixth rule required, and the fund was approaching the point where its income from investment could begin to carry pensions without drawing on the subscriptions alone.

Matthew Bazett left the committee, and Daniel Corneille returned to it. Henry Bazett remained treasurer and manager, so the family kept its place in the management through the captain.

Leslie joined on 1 October, two quarters before the next meeting. Under the scale agreed in 1770 he paid only half a year's subscription for his first half year of cover.

18

14

April 1st 1772

The Society met this day paid their Several

Subscriptions amounting to £165, and Voted

the following Gentlemen Managers for the

ensuing Year.

John Skottowe Esqr.
Daniel Corneille Esqr.
Matthew Purling Esqr.
William Wrangham Esqr.
Mattw. Bazett Esqr.
Managers

And have appointed Matthew Bazett Treasurer

for the ensuing Year.

August 7th Mr. Thomas Stroud having entered into the

Company's Service has Signed his Name as

a Subscriber to this Fund & being Married has

paid £2 . 10 . half a Years Subscription

Thos. Stroud

Augt. 22d Mr. James Farrell having entered into the

Company's Service has Signed his Name

as a Subscriber to this Fund & paid £1 . for

half a Years Subscription

James Farrell

Decr. 7th Mr. Robert Leech this day Signed his Name

as a Subscriber to this Fund, and paid £2 . 10

for half Years Subscription.

Robt. Leech

The society met on 1 April 1772, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £165 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

Matthew Purling Esquire, Manager

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett Esquire, Manager

The meeting also appointed Matthew Bazett treasurer for the coming year.

On 7 August 1772 Thomas Stroud, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber. Being married, he paid £2 10s 0d for half a year's subscription.

On 22 August 1772 James Farrell, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber and paid £1 0s 0d for half a year's subscription.

On 7 December 1772 Robert Leech signed as a subscriber and paid £2 10s 0d for half a year's subscription.

Interpretations

The new members did not pay exactly by the scale of 1770. Stroud and Farrell joined in August, about eight months before the next meeting, and each was charged for two quarters. Leech joined in December, with barely four months to run, and was also charged for two quarters. Every newcomer of 1772 paid for half a year, whatever the date. The careful table of 1770 gave way in practice to a single round charge, which over-charged a late joiner like Leech and under-charged those of August. The treasurer evidently found the half year simpler to collect and record.

Matthew Bazett returned as treasurer and manager, styled Esquire for the first time in the society's book. He witnessed his last lease as Secretary on 9 March 1772, three weeks before this meeting, and the leases called him Esquire from 27 March 1775. The style given here fitted the change in his position that removed him from the Secretary's office in the spring of 1772. Wrangham was likewise styled Esquire, six years before the leases did so.

Stroud and Farrell were recorded as entering the Company's service before they joined, as the third rule required. Leech's entry did not say so. Robert Leech held a joint lease of town ground with Jane Willson on 29 October 1770, so he was on the island two years before he subscribed. He had perhaps only now taken a post with the Company, or the society was admitting men outside the strict terms of its third rule. He paid the married rate. By 1782 he was a factor and among the most frequent witnesses of the Council's leases.

The subscriptions rose to £165 0s 0d, a gain of £13 0s 0d on 1771.

19

15

[Left-hand edge of the page cut off in the image, with the first letter of several lines lost.]

April 1st. 1773

The Society met this Day paid their several

[...]ubscriptions Amounting to £156 and have voted the

[...]ame Gentlemen to be Managers and Treasurer as the

[...]receding Year; and have Unanimously Agreed to meet

again on the 3d day of next Month in Order to make

[...]me Alteration with respect to this Society.

Messrs. John Doveton and Nathaniel Kennedy

having entered into the Company's Service have Signed

their Names as Subscribers to this Fund, and paid

£1 . 10 . Each for three Quarters of a Year Subscription

John Doveton

Nathl. Kennedy

The society met on 1 April 1773, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £156 0s 0d. They voted that the same managers and treasurer should serve as in the previous year. They also agreed unanimously to meet again on 3 May 1773 to make some changes to the society.

John Doveton and Nathaniel Kennedy, having entered the Company's service, signed as subscribers to the fund and paid £1 10s 0d each for three quarters of a year's subscription.

Interpretations

The subscriptions fell for the first time, from £165 0s 0d to £156 0s 0d. Every year from 1766 had shown a rise. A drop of £9 0s 0d meant that members had been lost, by death, by leaving the island without keeping up their payments, or by falling into arrears and being struck out under the fourth rule. In the same meeting the members agreed to meet again within the month to alter the society's arrangements. A special meeting called for that purpose, at the moment the income first declined, pointed to concern among the subscribers about the fund's footing. The record gave no reason, but a fund whose income had begun to shrink, with pensions still to come, gave them cause to look again at its terms.

Doveton and Kennedy joined at the unmarried rate. Both became clerks under the Secretary. John Doveton was sub-secretary by 4 September 1780, and Kennedy held that post by 11 February 1782. They entered the Company's service together in 1772 or 1773 and rose through the same office, each later taking land under the leases his office recorded.

Each paid for three quarters of a year. Under the scale of 1770 that meant they had joined about three quarters of a year before the next meeting, in the summer of the previous year, and were recorded here when the book was written up.

20

16

The Society met this 1st day of April 1774, paid

their several Subscriptions Amounting to £145

and voted the following Gentlemen Managers for the

ensuing Year vizt.

John Skottowe Esqr.
Daniel Corneille Esqr.
Matthew Bazett Esqr.
Mr. William Wrangham
Captn. Henry Bazett
Managers

The Managers voted Daniel Corneille Esqr.

Treasurer for the present Year.

Mr. Richard Masons Subscription being tendered

to the Treasurer, it was put to the Vote (as he was

dismissed the Companys Service) whether he should

be continued a Subscriber to the Fund, it was Agreed to

defer receiving his Subscription until the Companys

pleasure was known, with respect to his being restored

to the Service

It was then put to the Vote in case the

said Mr. Mason was not restored to the Service whether

he should remain a Subscriber to the Fund or not,

it was determined in the Negative

Another Question was then put that in

case the said Mr. Mason should not be continued a

Member of the Society, whether he should be returned

the Money he had Subscribed to the Fund, or whether

his Subscription should remain a part of the said

Fund, it was Unanimously Agreed that he should

be returned the whole of his Subscription amounting

to Eleven Pounds

The society met on 1 April 1774, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £145 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett Esquire, Manager

William Wrangham, Manager

Captain Henry Bazett, Manager

The managers chose Daniel Corneille Esquire as treasurer for the year.

Richard Mason offered his subscription to the treasurer. He had been dismissed from the Company's service, and the meeting voted on whether he should remain a subscriber. It agreed to hold back from accepting his payment until the Company's decision on whether to restore him to the service was known.

The meeting then voted on whether Mason should remain a subscriber if he was not restored, and decided that he should not.

A further question was put, on whether Mason, if he ceased to be a member, should have his money returned or whether his payments should stay in the fund. The meeting agreed unanimously that the whole of his subscriptions, amounting to £11 0s 0d, should be returned to him.

Interpretations

The rules let a member who left the island keep his place by going on paying, and said nothing of a man dismissed. Mason was ready to pay, and nothing in the rules plainly barred him. The members took the stricter view that the fund belonged to the Company's servants and that a man put out of the service fell outside it. They did not act at once. His appeal against dismissal lay with the Company, and they held his payment in suspense until its decision came, so that a man restored to the service would not have been struck from the fund in the meantime. Only if the dismissal stood was he to go.

His money was to be returned in full. The seventh rule forbade the recovery of any payment, and in 1767 the members reserved to themselves the choice of keeping the subscriptions of a man expelled for misconduct. They chose to refund Mason, as they refunded Bridgwater, a man removed against his will rather than one who had broken the society's rules. Whatever led to his dismissal, the members did not treat it as misbehaviour towards the fund.

The £11 0s 0d returned was about five and a half years' payments at the unmarried rate, so Mason joined around 1768. Richard Mason appeared in the lease registers from 20 April 1778 as a planter with 11 acres in the East Division. By 1787 he held Desfountain's farm called Sextons, the farm called Pledgers and a freehold, some 60 acres in all. The dismissed servant of 1774 became one of the larger landholders of the East Division, and the leases' description of him as a planter reflected his life outside the Company's service.

The managers, not the general meeting, chose the treasurer this year. Rule 11 gave the committee the day-to-day management, and the members let it fill its own principal office.

The subscriptions fell again, from £156 0s 0d to £145 0s 0d. The meeting called for 3 May 1773 to make changes left no record in the book.

21

17

It was Agreed at the last Years Meeting that

the Society should Assemble again on the 3d of the next

Month in Order to make some Alterations with respect

to the Fund, but as the Gentlemen of the Society did

not meet agreable to the said Resolution; It is now

Determined that if any of the Members have any

thing to Offer respecting the said Fund, they are to

send their proposals in Writing to the Treasurer of

the Society as soon as possible, and the said Treasurer

will Advertise a day for the Members of the said Society

Meeting in Order to Adjust and Settle the same

At a Meeting of the Managers and Subscribers to

the Fund for the Support and Maintenance of the Widows and

Orphans of the Companys Servants of this Island on Tuesday

the 12th day of April 1774, to consider of such further regulations

respecting the Introduction of new Subscribers And Several

proposals being read to the Subscribers relative thereto, it

was agreed to reduce to a Question before any alterations should

take place 1st. Whether any increase to the Pension

that the Widows and Orphans are entitled to by

the Original Articles, should take place, or remain

as it is at present untill the Fund is hereafter

by a Majority thought to admit of an increase

without any injury to said Fund

Determined that no increase shall at present take place

2d. Whether the Subscribers that hereafter may

become Members to the said Fund, should be

entitled to the same Benefit for their Familys

as those Subscribers who have contributed to

the same from its original Establishment

Unanimously determined that the new Subscribers Widows & Orphans should

not be entitled to the same Advantage as the original Subscribers untill

after a certain term of Years, or paying in Monies, Qualifying

At the meeting of the previous year the members agreed to assemble again on 3 May 1773 to make changes to the fund. They did not meet as resolved. The society therefore decided that any member with proposals about the fund should send them in writing to the treasurer as soon as possible. The treasurer would then give public notice of a day on which the members would meet to settle the matter.

The managers and subscribers of the fund for the support of the widows and orphans of the Company's servants on the island met on Tuesday 12 April 1774 to consider further rules on the admission of new subscribers. Several proposals were read to the meeting. The members agreed to put the matter in the form of questions before making any change.

1: The first question was whether the pensions given to widows and orphans under the original rules should be increased, or left as they were until a majority judged that the fund could bear an increase without harm. The meeting decided that there should be no increase for the present.

2: The second question was whether subscribers joining in future should secure the same benefit for their families as those who had contributed since the fund was founded. The meeting decided unanimously that the widows and orphans of new subscribers should not be entitled to the same benefit as those of the original members until a set number of years had passed, or until a qualifying sum had been paid.

Interpretations

The founders separated themselves from those who came after. Under the rules of 1766 every subscriber's family had the same claim from the day he joined. The obvious course was to keep that equality. The members rejected it unanimously. By 1774 the fund held eight years of the original members' payments, built up with no pension yet recorded against it. A married man joining that year could die within months and leave his widow £30 0s 0d a year drawn from capital he had done almost nothing to create. The founders protected the stock they had built by making newcomers wait, or buy their way in with a lump sum equal to the contributions they had missed.

The pension was held at £30 0s 0d. Proposals to raise it were evidently among those read, and the members put the question formally. They refused, and set the test for any later increase as a majority's judgement that the fund could bear it without harm. Subscriptions had fallen for two years running, from £165 0s 0d in 1772 to £145 0s 0d in 1774. The members chose to strengthen the fund's terms against new claims and to hold its promises steady, not to extend them.

The meeting planned for 3 May 1773 never took place. The members left the call for proposals and the date of the next meeting to the treasurer, who was to advertise it. Public notice was needed because the subscribers included men in the garrison and the civil service and some who had left the island, and the fifth rule kept those absent members in the society.

The meeting was held eleven days after the annual meeting of 1 April 1774, and was the first in the book to name the day of the week.

22

18

themselves according to the terms as under mentioned

The several Proposals being again read, it was then

determined upon what Terms the future Subscribers should

be Admitted into the said Society, and are as follows

That the Widows & Orphans of every Member Subscribing £5

as a Married Man, Shall be entitled on the following terms

To the first Year Subscription Widows & Orphans intitled to

£10 ..

2d Year do do do

15 ..

3d Year do do do

20 ..

4th & 5 Years do do do

25 ..

6 Year do do do

30 ..

And it was farther determined that if any Subscriber chusing

to intitle himself on his Marriage by paying a Sum of Money

in Advance equal to the above regulations, shall be permitted so to do.

May 17th 1774 The Revd. Mr. Carr having entered into the Companys Service

has signed his Name as a Subscriber to this Fund and

paid the Annual Subscription for the Year 1774 of £2 . 0 . 0

Robert Carr

1st Lt. James Elgin having entered into the Companys Service

has signed his Name as a Subscriber to this Fund and

paid the Annual Subscription for Year 1774 of £2 . 0 . 0

Jas. Elgin

2d Lt. Robt. Gilson absent from the Island at the Annual

meeting on his return to the Island paid his Subscription

for the Year 1774 of £2 . 0 . 0

1st Lt. Wathen Greentree having entered into the Companys

Service has signed his Name as a Subscriber to this Fund

and paid the Annual Subscription for the Year 1774 of £2 . 0 . 0

Wat Greentree

Margin Notes:

17

A new subscriber could also qualify his family for the full benefit by paying a sum under the terms set out next.

The members read the various proposals again and settled the terms on which future subscribers would be admitted. The widows and orphans of every new member paying £5 0s 0d a year as a married man were to receive a yearly pension on the following scale, according to the number of years he had paid at that rate.

After 1 year's subscription, pension of £10 0s 0d

After 2 years' subscription, pension of £15 0s 0d

After 3 years' subscription, pension of £20 0s 0d

After 4 or 5 years' subscription, pension of £25 0s 0d

After 6 years' subscription, pension of £30 0s 0d

The meeting further agreed that a subscriber who wished to secure the full benefit for his family on his marriage could do so by paying in advance a sum equal to what the scale required.

On 17 May 1774 the Reverend Robert Carr, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber to the fund and paid the yearly subscription for 1774 of £2 0s 0d.

First Lieutenant James Elgin, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber and paid the yearly subscription for 1774 of £2 0s 0d.

Second Lieutenant Robert Gillson, who was away from the island at the time of the annual meeting, paid his subscription for 1774 of £2 0s 0d on his return.

First Lieutenant Wathen Greentree, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber and paid the yearly subscription for 1774 of £2 0s 0d.

Interpretations

The scale tied a widow's pension to her husband's years of payment at the married rate. A man who died in his first year left her £10 0s 0d, a third of the full sum, and only six years of payments secured the £30 0s 0d the founders enjoyed from the start. The years counted were those paid at £5 0s 0d as a married man. A newcomer's years at the bachelor rate did not count, so a man who joined single and married later began the scale from his wedding. That was the purpose of the option to pay in advance. A new husband could buy the full benefit at once by paying the contributions the scale would otherwise take six years to collect. The fund was thus protected against the case it most feared, a man marrying and dying before he had paid enough to cover what his widow would draw.

The original members stood outside the scale. Their families kept the full £30 0s 0d from the day they joined, the term on which they had built the fund since 1766. Those who came after paid the same subscription for a smaller benefit in their early years.

The garrison lieutenants were now distinguished as first and second lieutenants. Robert Gillson signed the rules among the founders in 1766. He was away from the island at the annual meeting and paid on his return, and the fifth rule had been written for such cases.

Wathen Greentree entered the Company's service in 1774 as a lieutenant. He held the 37 acres at Sandy Bay by 11 April 1785, renewed them in his own name on 29 June 1789, and was an executor of James Greentree's will on 16 August 1790. The young officer who joined the fund at the unmarried rate in 1774 was the planter's heir of the 1780s.

The Reverend Robert Carr was the second clergyman to subscribe, after the Reverend William Bearcroft, the chaplain, who married in 1769.

23

19

April 5th 1775

At a General meeting of the Managers & Subscribers of

the Fund for the support of Widows and Orphans the several

Subscriptions were paid to the amount of £154 .. and the

following Gentlemen chose Managers for the ensuing Year Vizt.

John Skottowe Esqr.
Mattw. Bazett do
Wm. Wrangham .. do
Mr. Jonath. Doveton
Capt. James Tippet,
Managers

The Managers Voted Mr. Jonathn. Doveton Treasurer & Secretary for this Year

The late Treasurer & Secretary laid before the meeting the Rules

and orders of the Society, together with the Cash Accts. to March 1775

which were Approved of. Also read a Letter from Mr. Thos. Leech dismissed

the Honble Compys. Service to request being continued a Member of said

Society Unanimously Voted that the said Thos. Leech should

continue a Member for the advantage of his Family

June 10. 1775. Mr. Robt. Barclay being Married. Mr.

Thomas Stroud has made up his

Subscription five pounds

July 1st. The following Gentlemen having entered the

Companys Service, have signed their Names, as Subscribers

to this Fund, and paid their proportions for 3 Quarters

Dav: Kay

Jas. Molloy

Richd. Knipe

Arthur Upton.

The managers and subscribers of the fund for the support of widows and orphans held a general meeting on 5 April 1775. The members paid their subscriptions, which came to £154 0s 0d, and elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett Esquire, Manager

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Jonathan Doveton, Manager

Captain James Tippet, Manager

The managers chose Jonathan Doveton as treasurer and secretary for the year.

The outgoing treasurer and secretary laid before the meeting the society's rules and orders and its cash account up to March 1775, which the meeting approved. A letter was also read from Thomas Leech, who had been dismissed from the Company's service, asking to remain a member of the society. The meeting voted unanimously that Leech should remain a member for the benefit of his family.

On 10 June 1775 the book recorded Robert Barclay's marriage, and noted that Thomas Stroud had made up his subscription to £5 0s 0d.

On 1 July 1775 the following gentlemen, having entered the Company's service, signed as subscribers and paid their share for three quarters of a year.

David Kay

James Molloy

Richard Knipe

[...] Upton

Interpretations

Thomas Leech was kept in the society although he had been dismissed from the Company's service. A year earlier, on 1 April 1774, the members ruled that Richard Mason, also dismissed, should cease to be a subscriber if the Company did not restore him, and returned his money. The same course was open with Leech, and the members did not take it. The record gave the reason. Leech had a family, and he was kept on for its benefit. Mason's £11 0s 0d showed that he had paid only at the unmarried rate, so his removal left no wife or child without cover. The members treated the fund's purpose as decisive. Where expelling a man would leave his widow and orphans unprovided for, they let him stay, whatever had ended his service.

Lieutenant Thomas Leech took a town plot on 9 January 1769 and had built on it by 4 March 1771. His dismissal from the Company's service did not remove him from the island, and the Leech family went on holding land there.

The society now had a secretary as well as a treasurer, both offices held by Jonathan Doveton. The outgoing officer laid before the meeting the written rules and a cash account, so the society kept formal books and audited them each year as its tenth rule required. Doveton was the storekeeper by 18 December 1786, and his skill with accounts suited him for both posts.

The subscriptions rose to £154 0s 0d after two years of decline. New members continued to come in from the Company's service.

David Kay, who joined at the unmarried rate in 1775, was the Company's surgeon when he took land near the head of James's Valley on 23 October 1786. Richard Knipe was a lieutenant with a house in the valley by 15 January 1787.

24

20

April 1th. 1776

The Society met this day paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £172 and voted the

following Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing

Year.

John Skottowe Esqr.
Danl. Corneille Esqr.
Mattw. Bazett Esqr.
Willm. Wrangham Esqr.
Robert Carr
Managers

And have voted the Revd. Robert Carr Treasurer

By the second Article of the Year 1767, it was determined

that if any Member of the Society by misbehaviour be

thought by the Majority, unworthy of being a member

that he should be excluded the Society for ever.

Now as the above Article is

thought to destroy the Benevolent intention of

the Original Establishment, as the Innocent Party

may suffer by the Ill conduct of the Subscriber,

It is therefore agreed, that hereafter no consideration

shall cause any Member or a Subscriber to be

excluded, but that of Non payment

The society met on 1 April 1776, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £172 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett Esquire, Manager

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Robert Carr, Manager

The meeting also chose the Reverend Robert Carr as treasurer.

The second rule agreed in 1767 provided that any member whom the majority judged unworthy because of his misconduct should be excluded from the society for good. The members now held that this rule defeated the charitable purpose of the fund, since the innocent family could suffer for the subscriber's bad conduct. They therefore agreed that in future nothing but failure to pay would cause a member to be excluded.

Interpretations

The members gave up their power to expel. They created it in 1767 to remove Bridgwater, and used it in 1769 to question Thomas Kirkpatrick's place. In 1774 they removed Richard Mason on his dismissal from the service, and in 1775 kept Thomas Leech, also dismissed, for his family's sake. The rule left them judging each man's conduct and weighing it against his family's need. They chose instead to end the power altogether, and stated their reason in the record. The fund existed for widows and orphans. To strike out a husband for his own faults was to strip the cover from a wife and children who had done nothing. Only one ground for exclusion remained, the failure to pay, which the fourth rule of 1766 already covered.

The new rule also settled the question raised by dismissal from the Company's service. Mason was put out because he ceased to be a Company servant, and Leech was kept as an exception. With non-payment the only bar, a dismissed servant who went on paying could no longer be removed. The members thus brought their practice round to the reasoning they applied to Leech, and made it general.

Robert Carr joined the fund on 17 May 1774 at the unmarried rate as a newly arrived clergyman. Within two years he was a manager and its treasurer, the first clergyman to hold either office.

The subscriptions rose to £172 0s 0d, the highest yet, a gain of £18 0s 0d on 1775.

25

21

June 29th. 1776.

Lieutenant John Potts having entered into the

Honorable Company's Service, has signed his Name

as a Subscriber to this Fund, & paid his Proportion

for three Quarters, being the Sum of 1 : 10 : 0

J Potts

April 4th 1777.

The Society met this Day paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £163 .. 10 ..

and voted the following Gentlemen

Managers for the ensuing Year.

John Skottowe Esqr.

Dan Corneille Esqr.

Wm. Wrangham Esqr.

Hen Bazett Esqr.

B. A. Wright Esqr.

Who have voted Mr. Wright Treasurer.

Mr. John Leech's Proportion for 1 Quarter, nothing

paid on his first Entering into the Hon. Compys. Service, he

has now signed his Name as Subscriber and made up

his Subscription £2 .. 10 ..

John Leech

On 29 June 1776 Lieutenant John Potts, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber to the fund and paid his share for three quarters of a year, £1 10s 0d.

The society met on 4 April 1777, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £163 10s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Henry Bazett Esquire, Manager

B. A. Wright Esquire, Manager

The managers chose Mr Wright as treasurer.

John Leech paid nothing when he first entered the Company's service, although his share for one quarter was then due. He now signed as a subscriber and paid £2 10s 0d, making up what he owed.

Interpretations

The third rule of 1766 gave a new servant one month to join and barred him for ever if he let it pass. Leech entered the service without paying anything and signed only at the next annual meeting. The strict course was to refuse him. The members took his arrears for the quarter he had missed together with the year's subscription, £0 10s 0d and £2 0s 0d at the unmarried rate, and admitted him. As with Robert Leech in 1772, whose entry did not record his entering the service, the one month limit was not enforced against a man willing to pay for the time he had been covered.

Britannicus Alexander Wright, styled Esquire, became a manager and treasurer. The lease registers showed him as the Company's Secretary from at least 27 March 1775, having succeeded Matthew Bazett. He signed the rules in 1766 as Bazett's deputy. Bazett left the committee in the same year, and the Secretary of the day again kept the society's money, as Bazett had done in 1766 and 1767. The officer who kept the Company's books on the island was the natural keeper of the fund's.

The subscriptions fell from £172 0s 0d to £163 10s 0d. The odd ten shillings came from part year payments, which the scale of 1770 allowed and which made the yearly totals less round than in the first years.

Henry Bazett was styled Esquire. He was a captain in the leases and in the society's earlier lists, and a major by 22 June 1778.

26

22

April 1st. 1778.

The Society met this day paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £ and Voted the

following Gentlemen Managers for the Ensuing Year.

John Skottowe Esqr.
Daniel Corneille Esqr.
Matw. Bazett Esqr.
Wm. Wrangham Esqr.
Hen. Bazett Esqr.
Managers

And have also Voted That Hen. Bazett be Treasurer for the

ensuing Year.

It appearing to the Members of this Society That

the Annuity extending to the Sons of Subscribers, until

the age of twenty one Years, and to the Daughters until

Marriage, agreeable to the 9th Article of the institution,

is more than the Fund will in all probability be able

to Support, do therefore Unanimously Agree That the

Sons of all Subscribers in future, be Limitted to Sixteen

Years, and their Daughters to twenty one Years, for

receiving the said Annuity, and no longer. It was

farther Unanimously agreed, That no Annuity be paid

to any Widows, or Orphans, not residing upon the said

Island, or to any Person or Persons intrusted for them, unless

a Certificate of their Lives properly Attested be Sent to

the Treasurer of the said Society. And the Treasurer

to the Society, for the time being, is required to Notify the

same to the absentees.

The society met on 1 April 1778 and the members paid their subscriptions, although the total was not entered in the book. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett Esquire, Manager

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Henry Bazett Esquire, Manager

The meeting also chose Henry Bazett as treasurer for the coming year.

The members judged that the pension paid under the ninth rule to the sons of subscribers until they reached 21, and to their daughters until they married, was more than the fund was likely to be able to bear. They therefore agreed unanimously that in future the sons of all subscribers should receive the pension only until the age of 16, and their daughters only until 21.

The members further agreed unanimously that no pension should be paid to any widow or orphan living off the island, or to anyone acting for them, unless a properly attested certificate that they were alive was sent to the treasurer. The treasurer of the day was to inform those living away of the requirement.

Interpretations

The fund cut its benefits for the first time. The founders had promised sons support to the age of 21 and daughters until marriage, with no limit of age. The members kept the pension itself at £30 0s 0d, as they did in 1774, and shortened the time it ran. Sons lost five years and daughters gained a fixed end at 21, where before a daughter who never married could draw for life. The members could have raised the subscription or lowered the pension, and chose neither. Cutting the term reduced the fund's liability without touching the yearly sum a widow received while her children were small, when her need was greatest.

The rule on certificates showed that pensions were by then being paid. Widows and orphans of subscribers were living away from the island, most probably in England, and drawing their money through agents. Neither the treasurer nor anyone on St Helena could see whether a pensioner overseas was still alive. A pension paid to an agent for a widow who had died, or a daughter who had married, would go on unnoticed for years. The fund demanded a sworn certificate of life before each payment, putting the burden of proof on the claimant. The fifth rule had allowed subscribers to leave the island and keep their membership. Their families, once pensioned, were now subject to the same distance.

The total of the year's subscriptions was left blank. Every earlier meeting recorded it, and the space was never filled.

27

23

April 16th 1778 Captain William Pierce and Lieutenant

Francis Seale this day Signed their Names, as Subscribers to

this Fund, and Paid £5 each.

Wm. Pierce

Fran Seale

September 29th 1778 Lieut. Robert Hodson this day Signed his

name as a Subscriber to this Fund and paid £5 as a

married man.

Robt. Hodson

October 4th. 1778 Mr. Thomas Bazett this day Signed his Name

as a Subscriber to this Fund, and paid the Sum of £1

his Proportion for half a year.

Thos. Bazett

On 16 April 1778 Captain William Pierie and Lieutenant Francis Seale signed as subscribers to the fund and paid £5 0s 0d each.

On 29 September 1778 Lieutenant Robert Hodson signed as a subscriber and paid £5 0s 0d as a married man.

On 4 October 1778 Thomas Bazett signed as a subscriber and paid £1 0s 0d, his share for half a year.

Interpretations

A Thomas Bazett signed the rules among the founders in 1766. A man of that name signed again in 1778 as a new subscriber, paying the unmarried rate for half a year. The third rule allowed a member who lapsed no way back in, and a founder would not have joined afresh at the bachelor's rate twelve years later. The subscriber of 1778 was a younger Thomas Bazett, entering the Company's service in his own right. He was the Thomas Bazett who witnessed the Harper trust leases on 30 September 1779 and served as an administrator for Lieutenant John Bazett's heirs on 28 November 1785. The family thus had members of two generations in the fund.

Pierie, Seale and Hodson each paid the full married rate of £5 0s 0d. Under the scale of 1774 their widows would receive £10 0s 0d a year if they died within the first year, rising to the full £30 0s 0d only after six years' payments. Each could have bought the full benefit at once by paying in advance, and the record showed none of them doing so. Married officers joining after 1774 thus accepted a smaller cover in their first years in return for the ordinary subscription.

Captain William Pierie took the renewal of Francis's Plain, 32¼ acres in the West Division, on 19 January 1789, and held land beside Jonathan Doveton and Sarah Harper from 1786. Lieutenant Francis Seale took land in the East Division from 1780 and 40 acres in the South on 23 January 1786. Both appeared in the lease registers as landholders of some substance in the decade after joining the fund.

28

24

April 1st. 1779

The Society met this day, paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £174 .. and Voted the

following Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year

John Skottowe Esqr.
William Wrangham Esqr.
Jonathan Doveton
Thomas Stroud
W. Web. Doveton ....
Managers

And have Voted W. Web. Doveton Treasurer for the

ensuing Year.

The following Gentlemen having Entered into the

Company's Service, have Signed their Names as Subscribers to this

Fund and paid their respective Proportions for half a Year, Messrs.

Sowle, Greentree, Beale and Mason's being £1 .. each as Batchelors

and Lieut. Browne's £2 . 10 .. as a Married Man

November 1779. W. Sowle

Thos. Greentree

Onis. Beale

Saml. Mason

H. Browne

The society met on 1 April 1779, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £174 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Jonathan Doveton, Manager

Thomas Stroud, Manager

William Webber Doveton, Manager

The meeting also chose William Webber Doveton as treasurer for the coming year.

In November 1779 the following gentlemen, having entered the Company's service, signed as subscribers to the fund and paid their shares for half a year. Sowle, Greentree, Beale and Mason each paid £1 0s 0d as unmarried men, and Lieutenant Browne paid £2 10s 0d as a married man.

W. Sowle

Thomas Greentree

Onesiphorus Beale

Samuel Mason

H. Browne

Interpretations

Two of the new subscribers were orphans of the 1760s. Thomas Greentree, planter, died within months of taking the farm called Taylors in August 1766, and seven executors held land in trust for his heirs from 5 October 1767. Onesiphorus Beale was dead by 16 November 1767, when his orphans were named as landholders, and Richard Goodwin still took land for the estate in 1780. Neither father appeared among the subscribers of 1766, and neither widow drew on the fund. Their sons entered the Company's service in 1779 and joined it at once. The families whose lack of provision the fund was meant to prevent were now its members. Both sons rose to lieutenant, Greentree by 4 December 1780 and Beale by 8 August 1785, and each then took his inheritance in his own name.

Samuel Mason joined in the same group. He witnessed leases from December 1780, signed as a writer on 5 June 1782 and as a factor on 13 September 1784. He was thus a junior clerk from 1779, entering the service with the Greentree and Beale heirs.

The committee was largely new. Of the founders only John Skottowe and William Wrangham remained. Jonathan Doveton, William Webber Doveton and Thomas Stroud, who joined as a married servant on 7 August 1772, filled the other places, and William Webber Doveton took the treasurer's office. The Bazetts, who held places on the committee in every year from 1766, had none.

The subscriptions rose to £174 0s 0d, the highest yet recorded.

29

25

April 5th. 1780

The Society met this day, paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £190 .. and Voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year

John Skottowe Esqr.
Thos. Bazett Senr.
David Kay
Robert Leech
John Doveton
Managers

And have Voted John Doveton Treasurer for the

ensuing Year

April 2d 1781

The Society met this day, paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £188 .. and Voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year

John Skottowe Esqr.
Thomas Stroud
Chas. Ross Stewart
James Desfountain
Nathaniel Kennedy
Managers

Who have Voted Mr. Nathaniel

Kennedy Treasurer for the ensuing Year

The society met on 5 April 1780, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £190 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Thomas Bazett senior, Manager

David Kay, Manager

Robert Leech, Manager

John Doveton, Manager

The meeting also chose John Doveton as treasurer for the coming year.

The society met on 2 April 1781, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £188 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Skottowe Esquire, Manager

Thomas Stroud, Manager

Charles Ross Stewart, Manager

James Desfountain, Manager

Nathaniel Kennedy, Manager

The managers chose Nathaniel Kennedy as treasurer for the coming year.

Interpretations

The treasurer's office passed in three successive years to young men of the Secretary's department. William Webber Doveton held it from 1779, John Doveton from 1780 and Nathaniel Kennedy from 1781. John Doveton was sub-secretary by 4 September 1780, and Kennedy held that post by 11 February 1782. Both joined the fund together as unmarried servants in 1773. The founders entrusted the fund to its senior members, a Secretary, a factor and a clergyman. By 1780 it was kept by the Secretary's clerks, who handled the Company's accounts and leases daily and were at hand to receive payments and keep the book. The fund's money and the Company's records were thus held in the same office, by the men who also witnessed most of the leases of those years.

Thomas Bazett was styled senior on the committee of 1780. The younger Thomas Bazett joined the fund on 4 October 1778. The style confirmed that the founder of 1766 and the subscriber of 1778 were different men, father and son or uncle and nephew.

John Skottowe sat on every committee from 1766, the only member to do so. Every other founder had left the committee by 1781, and its places were taken by men who joined in 1769 and after, Charles Ross Stewart, James Desfountain, Thomas Stroud and the clerks. The management had passed to a second generation of the Company's servants within 15 years.

The subscriptions held near £190 0s 0d in both years, after the steady rise of the 1770s.

30

26

April the 8th 1782

The Society met this Day, paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £192 and Voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year.

William Wrangham Esqr.
Thomas Stroud
David Kay
Charles Ross Stewart
John Goodwin
Managers

Who have Voted Mr. John Goodwin

Treasurer for the ensuing Year.

Messrs. John Wilson and Tuffen

Shepherd having entered into the Companys Service have signed

their Names as Subscribers to this Fund and paid £3 each for

one Year and an half Subscription

John Wilson

Tuffen Shepherd.

Messrs. Henry Graeme Esqr. and Mr. Caleb

Broadway having entered into the Companys Service have signed their

Names as Subscribers to this Fund the former paying £5 .. and the latter

£2 . 2 . 0 for five Months Subscription

Henry Graeme

Caleb Broadway

[...] Jany. 1783

The society met on 8 April 1782, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £192 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Thomas Stroud, Manager

David Kay, Manager

Charles Ross Stewart, Manager

John Goodwin, Manager

The managers chose John Goodwin as treasurer for the coming year.

John Wilson and Tuffin Shepherd, having entered the Company's service, signed as subscribers to the fund and paid £3 0s 0d each for a year and a half's subscription.

On 7 January 1783 Henry Graeme Esquire and Caleb Broadway, having entered the Company's service, signed as subscribers. Graeme paid £5 0s 0d, and Broadway paid £2 2s 0d for five months' subscription.

Interpretations

Wilson and Shepherd each paid £3 0s 0d, a year and a half at the unmarried rate. A man joining within a month of entering the service, as the third rule required, owed at most a year's payment. These two had been in the service for longer and were admitted on paying the whole period since they arrived. John Leech was taken in the same way in 1777, paying for the quarter he had missed. The one month limit, which the founders made absolute, had become in practice a requirement to pay back to the date of entry. The fund lost nothing, since the late joiner paid for every month he could have been covered, and a servant who delayed was no longer shut out for good.

Broadway's payment was reckoned by the month. Five months at the married rate came to a little over £2 1s 0d, and he paid £2 2s 0d. The scale of 1770 charged by the quarter, and in 1772 the treasurer charged every newcomer a flat half year. By 1783 the charge followed the exact time to the next meeting, the closest reckoning the fund had yet used.

John Skottowe was absent from the committee for the first time since 1766. John Goodwin, who signed the rules as a junior clerk in 1766 and was a factor by 1782, became treasurer, the fourth of the Secretary's former clerks in five years to hold the office.

Caleb Broadway signed for Robert Ballard on 19 November 1787 and 24 November 1788. The later Jamestown register recorded a Lieutenant Broadway as holder of lease 126.

The subscriptions rose to £192 0s 0d.

31

27

6th Jany. 1783

Mr. William Seale 2d Lieutenant having Entered into the

Company's Service have signed his Name as Subscriber to this Fund

and paid £ .. 3 .. 4 his proportion for 1 Month Subscription

Willm. Seale

April the 7th 1783

The Society met this day, paid their Subscriptions

amounting to £ and Voted the following Gentlemen

Managers for the ensuing Year

Major Henry Graeme
William Wrangham Esqr.
Major Bazett
Captn. Thos. Bazett
William Webber Doveton
Managers

Who have Voted Mr. Willm. Webber Doveton

Treasurer for the ensuing Year

On 6 [...] 1783 William Seale, a second lieutenant, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber to the fund and paid £0 3s 4d, his share for one month's subscription.

The society met on 7 April 1783 and the members paid their subscriptions, although the total was not entered in the book. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

Major Henry Graeme, Manager

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Major Bazett, Manager

Captain Thomas Bazett, Manager

William Webber Doveton, Manager

The managers chose William Webber Doveton as treasurer for the coming year.

Interpretations

Seale paid exactly one twelfth of the unmarried subscription, £0 3s 4d for one month. The treasurer had moved from charging by the quarter in 1770, and by a flat half year in 1772, to reckoning each newcomer's share to the month, as he did for Caleb Broadway. A young officer joining weeks before the annual meeting paid only for the weeks of cover he received, and then the full year from April.

Henry Graeme joined in January 1783, styled Esquire, and paid £5 0s 0d. Three months later he was a major and the first-named manager. A senior officer newly arrived on the island was placed at once at the head of the society's committee, ahead of Wrangham, a member since 1766. The fund's management followed rank in the island's service as well as length of membership.

The Bazetts returned to the committee after an absence in 1779, 1781 and 1782, with the major and a captain. Thomas Bazett senior was a manager in 1780, and the younger Thomas joined in 1778. The record did not say which of them was the captain.

The total of the year's subscriptions was again left blank, as in 1778.

32

28

April 12th. 1784

The Society met this Day paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £207 .... and Voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year.

Henry Graeme Esqr.
Jonathan Doveton
Robert Leech
John Doveton
Nathaniel Kennedy
Managers

Who have Voted Mr. Robert Leech Treasurer

2 The Reverend Isaac Sewell and Mr. Martin

Harper having Entered the Company's Service have signed their

Names as Subscribers to this Fund

Isa: Jos: Sewell

M A Harper

28th March 1785

The society met on 12 April 1784, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £207 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

Henry Graeme Esquire, Manager

Jonathan Doveton, Manager

Robert Leech, Manager

John Doveton, Manager

Nathaniel Kennedy, Manager

The managers chose Robert Leech as treasurer.

On 28 March 1785 the Reverend Isaac Joseph Sewell and Martin Harper, having entered the Company's service, signed as subscribers to the fund.

Interpretations

The subscriptions passed £200 0s 0d for the first time. The fund's yearly income had nearly doubled since 1766, when the founders told the Directors that £106 0s 0d was as much as could be expected. The growth came from new entrants to the Company's service, almost all of whom joined, and from the men who moved to the married rate as they married. Seven pensions at £30 0s 0d a year now cost less than one year's subscriptions, where in 1766 three would have consumed them.

Martin Harper, planter, was dead by 9 November 1778, when Margaret Harper and Samuel Alexander took 11 acres at the Half Moon in trust for his heirs, with a further 12 acres in Peak Gut on 30 September 1779. Margaret Harper, the widow, held the Harper land in Peak Gut in her own name by 15 November 1784. A Martin Harper entered the Company's service in 1785 and joined the fund at once. He was in all probability the dead man's son, the third heir of a planting family named in the lease registers to enter the service and join the fund, after Thomas Greentree and Onesiphorus Beale in 1779.

No payment was recorded for either new member. Every earlier entry of a newcomer stated his share. The two joined five days before the next annual meeting, and their first payment was evidently taken with the year's subscriptions.

The Reverend Isaac Joseph Sewell was the third clergyman to join the fund, after William Bearcroft and Robert Carr.

Robert Leech, who joined in December 1772, became treasurer. He was a factor and a frequent witness of the Council's leases in the same years. The treasurer's office remained with the factors and the Secretary's clerks, with the two Dovetons and Kennedy beside Leech on the committee.

33

29

April 5. 1785

The Society met this day, paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £195 and Voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year

Daniel Corneille Esqr.
Mattw. Bazett Esqr.
Revd. John Wilson
Captn. Bazett
Mr. David Kay
Managers

Who have Voted Mr. David Kay

Treasurer

It having been put to the Vote this Day

whether a Batchelor paying £2 annual Subscription, might be

permitted to make up that Subscription £5 so as to entitle

his Widow or Orphans (should he Marry and Die) to the Benefits

arising from the Fund. It was carried in the Affirmative,

and Determined, that any Batchelor wishing to Subscribe

as a Married Man, paying the same, and Marrying, his

Widow or Orphans should be entitled to the Benefits and

Advantages arising from the Fund, as Stated in Articles

made in the Years 1774 and 1778

The society met on 5 April 1785, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £195 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett Esquire, Manager

The Reverend John Wilson, Manager

Captain Bazett, Manager

David Kay, Manager

The managers chose David Kay as treasurer.

The meeting voted on whether an unmarried man paying the yearly subscription of £2 0s 0d might raise it to £5 0s 0d, so that his widow or orphans would be entitled to the benefits of the fund if he married and died. The vote was carried. The meeting decided that any unmarried man who chose to subscribe at the married rate, and later married, should secure for his widow or orphans the benefits set out in the rules of 1774 and 1778.

Interpretations

The scale of 1774 counted only the years a newcomer paid £5 0s 0d as a married man. A man who joined single and married after ten years in the fund began the scale at his wedding, and his widow would receive £10 0s 0d if he died within the year. The rule of 1774 let him buy the full benefit on marrying by paying in advance, a large sum to find at once. The members now offered a gentler route. A bachelor could pay the married rate from the start, building up countable years before he had a wife, so that she was well up the scale when he married. The fund received two and a half times his ordinary subscription for years in which it bore no risk on his account. The prudent single man gained security for a future family, and the fund gained capital.

The Reverend John Wilson sat on the committee. A John Wilson joined the fund with Tuffin Shepherd in 1782 as a single man. The Reverend John Wilson took 12 acres called Clough's Plain on 15 December 1788, with the clause allowing him to bring water to the ground. The subscriber of 1782 was thus probably the clergyman, the fourth to belong to the fund and the second to serve as a manager.

David Kay, the surgeon who joined in 1775, became treasurer. The office passed from the factors and clerks to a medical officer for the first time.

The subscriptions fell from £207 0s 0d to £195 0s 0d.

34

30

April 2d. 1786

The Society met this day paid their

Subscriptions amounting to £205 and voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year

Daniel Corneille Esqr.
Matthew Bazett Esqr.
The Revd. Mr. Wilson
Capt. Bazett
Mr. Leech
Managers

Who have chosen the Revd. Mr. Wilson Treasurer

April 9th. 1787.

This Day the Society met

paid their Subscriptions amounting to £191

& voted the following Gentlemen Managers

for the present Year

Vizt. The Governor ..
Mr. Mattw. Bazett
Mr. Willm. Wrangham
Captain Bazett
Mr. Sewell
Managers

Who have chosen Captain Bazett .. Treasurer.

The society met on 2 April 1786, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £205 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

Daniel Corneille Esquire, Manager

Matthew Bazett Esquire, Manager

The Reverend Mr Wilson, Manager

Captain Bazett, Manager

Mr Leech, Manager

The managers chose the Reverend Mr Wilson as treasurer.

The society met on 9 April 1787, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £191 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the present year.

The Governor, Manager

Matthew Bazett, Manager

William Wrangham, Manager

Captain Bazett, Manager

Mr Sewell, Manager

The managers chose Captain Bazett as treasurer.

Interpretations

The Governor was elected a manager in 1787, named by his office. The founders placed every dispute over the fund in the hands of the general meeting and gave the Governor and Council no part in it. In the same year the lease registers described Matthew Bazett as a member of the Council, on 20 August and 8 October 1787. The committee of 1787 thus held the head of the island's government and one of his councillors among its five members. The society did not surrender its independence, since the members still chose the managers each year by ballot and the rules gave the general meeting the last word. In practice, however, the private fund of the Company's servants was by then managed by the men who governed the island.

The clergy now held a regular place on the committee. The Reverend John Wilson served in 1785 and 1786 and was treasurer in 1786, and the Reverend Isaac Joseph Sewell, who joined on 28 March 1785, was elected in 1787. A body founded by officials and officers had come to rely on its clerical members for its management and accounts.

The Bazetts had at least one place on every committee from 1783. Captain Bazett, treasurer in 1787, was probably the younger Thomas Bazett, who joined in 1778 and was named captain by 1783.

The subscriptions fell from £205 0s 0d to £191 0s 0d. Income had held between £190 0s 0d and £207 0s 0d for eight years, after the steady growth of the 1770s.

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The following Gentlemen having entered into the Company's Service have Signed their Names

as Subscribers to this Fund, and have paid their Subscriptions

Rob. Brooke

£30 ..

F. Robson

£5 .. 0 .. 0

Jno. F. Howard

£1 ..

T. Lester

£5

Jno. Taylor

£10

H. Beale

Richd. Goodwin Junr.

£1 ..

Jno. Chas. Dunn

£1 . 10

E. C. Smith

£1 . 10

£55

April 7th. 1788

This Day the Society met paid their Subscriptions

Amounting to £182. and Voted the Following Gentlemen Managers

for the Present Year.

The Governor

Major Robson

Capt. Greentree

L. Watn. Greentree

L. Thos. Greentree

Who have Chose L. Thos. Greentree Treasurer

The following gentlemen, having entered the Company's service, signed as subscribers to the fund and paid their subscriptions.

Robert Brooke, £30 0s 0d

T. Robson, £5 0s 0d

John F. Howard, £1 0s 0d

T. Lester, £5 0s 0d

John Taylor, £10 0s 0d

H. Beale, £0 0s 0d

Richard Goodwin junior, £1 0s 0d

John Charles Dunn, £1 10s 0d

E. C. Smith, £1 10s 0d

Total, £55 0s 0d

The society met on 7 April 1788, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £182 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the present year.

The Governor, Manager

Major Robson, Manager

Captain Greentree, Manager

Lieutenant Wathen Greentree, Manager

Lieutenant Thomas Greentree, Manager

The managers chose Lieutenant Thomas Greentree as treasurer.

Interpretations

Robert Brooke paid £30 0s 0d on joining. The rule of 1774 gave a new married member's widow £10 0s 0d a year at first, rising to the full £30 0s 0d only after six years at the married rate, and allowed him to buy the full benefit at once by paying in advance. Six years at £5 0s 0d came to exactly £30 0s 0d. Brooke paid it all on entry, the first member recorded as doing so. A married man arriving from England could leave his wife unprotected for six years or find the whole sum at once, and Brooke chose the second. John Taylor's £10 0s 0d bought two years' standing on the same terms, enough to place his widow at £20 0s 0d after one more year's payment.

The other entries followed the ordinary scale. Robson and Lester paid a full year at the married rate. Howard and Goodwin paid half a year, and Dunn and Smith three quarters, at the unmarried rate. Nothing was entered against Beale's name.

Several of the new members appeared in the lease registers within months. Thomas Lester took Bird's old plot as town adjutant on 29 September 1788. Lieutenant John Taylor took two acres at 6d an acre on 7 January 1788. John Charles Dunn took ground by the garrison hospital as surgeon's assistant on 30 September 1789. Richard Goodwin junior witnessed most of the Council's leases from January 1788, and John F. Howard most of those of 1787.

Three Greentrees held places on the committee of 1788, with the Governor and Major Robson. Lieutenant Thomas Greentree, the heir for whom seven executors took land in trust in 1767, became treasurer of the fund his father never joined. Lieutenant Wathen Greentree, who joined in 1774, renewed the Sandy Bay farm on 29 June 1789. The family that took the earliest trust leases in the volume had by 1788 three officers in the Company's service and the management of the widows' fund among them.

The subscriptions fell for the second year, to £182 0s 0d.

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April 1. 1789

Mr. John Newton [...] being Married

has made up his Subscription £5 for the last Year

April 1. 89 This day the Society met paid their Subscriptions

Amounting to £181 and voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the Present Year

Vizt. The Governor
Lieut. Governor
Captn. Pierce
Lt. W. Greentree
Mr. Wright
Managers

We have Chosen Captn. Pierce Treasurer

1st Septr. 1789

Lieut. Smith being Married has made up his

Subscription £5 for this Year

The Interest of the Bonds, together with the Subscriptions being

insufficient to pay the Annuities We have ordered the

past Treasurer Lt. T. Greentree to call upon Mr. Worrall for

80£ being part of the Money due on his Bond to make up

the Deficiency

On 1 April 1789 John Newton, having married, made up his subscription for the past year to £5 0s 0d. Under the society's rules an unmarried member paid £2 0s 0d a year and a married member £5 0s 0d, since only a married man left a widow for the fund to support. A member who married had to start paying the higher rate at once, and Newton's payment of the difference brought his wife within the fund's protection.

The society met on 1 April 1789, when the members paid their subscriptions, which came to £181 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the present year.

The Governor, Manager

The Lieutenant Governor, Manager

Captain Pierie, Manager

Lieutenant W. Greentree, Manager

Mr Wright, Manager

The managers chose Captain Pierie as treasurer.

On 1 September 1789 Lieutenant Smith, having married, likewise made up his subscription for the year to £5 0s 0d, so that his new wife would be entitled to a pension if he died.

The interest on the fund's bonds, together with the subscriptions, was not enough to pay the pensions. The managers therefore ordered the previous treasurer, Lieutenant Thomas Greentree, to call on Mr Worrall for £80 0s 0d, part of the money owed on his bond, to make up the shortfall.

Interpretations

The fund had invested its capital by lending it on bond, at interest, to men on the island. The sixth rule of 1766 left the managers free to employ the money as they judged best. With no bank on St Helena, loans to landholders against their written promise to repay were the obvious way to make the stock earn. John Worrall, a planter in the East Division since 1766, was one borrower. He renewed and enlarged his farm to 33 acres on 21 July 1788, and the fund's money had probably helped him carry it.

The fund recorded a shortfall for the first time. For 23 years income had exceeded what was paid out, and the capital grew. By 1789 the pensions owed to widows and orphans cost more than the year's subscriptions and interest together. Subscriptions had fallen from £207 0s 0d in 1784 to £181 0s 0d, while the number of families drawing on the fund had risen as the founders died. The managers had three courses open. They could cut the pensions, raise the subscriptions, or draw on the capital. They chose the last, recalling £80 0s 0d of Worrall's loan. The pensions were protected for the present, but the stock built up since 1766 now began to be spent, and the interest it earned would fall with it.

Newton and Smith both joined as single men. Smith was probably the E. C. Smith who paid £1 10s 0d at the unmarried rate in 1788. Under the rule of 1774, a newcomer's widow received a pension that rose with each year he had paid at the married rate, from £10 0s 0d after one year to the full £30 0s 0d after six. Marriage therefore did more than raise a member's payment. It started the count of years on which his widow's pension would depend.

The duty of recovering Worrall's money fell to Thomas Greentree, the treasurer of the year before, under whom the payment fell due. The managers held each treasurer answerable for the money in his charge after his term ended.

John Newton was the plumber living in William Wrangham's house at the foot of Ladder Hill Road on 23 November 1789. A tradesman in a rented house was among the subscribers.

The Governor and the Lieutenant Governor both sat on the committee of 1789. Captain William Pierie, who joined on 16 April 1778, became treasurer, and renewed Francis's Plain on 19 January 1789.

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33

April 6th. 1789

This Day the Society being met, agreed

on the following Regulations

That in Order to render this Institution

more generally useful and to Extend the Benefits arising

from it to the whole Community, every Inhabitant or

Others, shall be permitted to enter himself a Subscriber

to this Fund

And as there is another Society of a

Similar nature now subsisting on this Island, it is

Agreed, that the said Society shall be permitted to

consolidate their Stock with this Fund of the

Honble Company's Servants, and the Members of it

Allowed to enter their Names as Subscribers to the

said Fund

Benjn. Mason Senr. Orld. Bagley Senr.

Richd. Torbett from 1st Apl.

1790

James Pritchard

John Sampell

John Worrall

John Legg

Thomas Yates

Gabriel Isacke

W. Chamberlain

Thomas Powell

On 6 April 1789 the society met and agreed on the following rules.

To make the fund more widely useful and to extend its benefits to the whole community, every inhabitant of the island, and others, would in future be allowed to join as a subscriber.

Another society of the same kind then existed on the island. It was agreed that this other society could merge its funds with the fund of the Company's servants, and that its members could enter their names as subscribers.

The following men signed as subscribers.

Benjamin Mason senior

James Pritchard

John Sampell

John Worrall

John Legg

Thomas Yates

Gabriel Isacke

W. Chamberlain

Thomas Powell

Orlando Bagley senior

Richard Torbett, from August 1790

Interpretations

For 23 years the fund admitted only the Company's servants, its officials, clerks, officers and clergy. The society now opened it to every inhabitant. Its income had fallen from £207 0s 0d in 1784 to £181 0s 0d in 1789, while pensions to the families of dead members were rising, and in September of the same year the managers had to call in part of a loan to meet them. The Company's establishment on the island was too small to keep the fund growing. The planters and tradesmen were the obvious source of new subscribers, and the members admitted them. The reason recorded was the benefit of the whole community, but the fund's own need was plain from its accounts.

The second society brought its stock as well as its members. The planters and townsmen had evidently set up a fund of their own on the same lines, outside the Company's service. Merging the two gave the Company's fund a fresh capital sum at once, and gave the smaller society's members the security of a larger fund to draw on. The island's two schemes for widows and orphans became one.

The new subscribers were the farmers and tradesmen of the lease registers. James Pritchard was a tailor in 1771 and a shopkeeper by 1785, John Sampell a publican and planter, John Legg a joiner, and Benjamin Mason, John Worrall, Gabriel Isacke and Orlando Bagley planters. Thomas Yates later laid out 460 feet of Jamestown frontage in plots. John Worrall was also the fund's debtor on bond. Within months the managers ordered £80 0s 0d of his loan recalled.

Gabriel Isacke died within months of joining. On 21 December 1789 his widow Sarah renewed his eight acres in Lemon Valley for his heirs. Under the scale of 1774 a widow whose husband died in his first year at the married rate was entitled to £10 0s 0d a year, so the Isacke family was perhaps among the first of the newly admitted to draw on the fund.

Richard Torbett's membership was to begin in August 1790. He was an administrator of John Young's estate on 23 November 1789.

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34

1790 April 12th

This Day the Society met, paid

their annual Subscription amounting to £

and Voted the following Gentlemen Managers for

the present Year Vizt.

The Governor
Lt. Governor
B A Wright Esqr.
Lt. W. Greentree
Lt. Caleb Broadway
Managers

Who have chosen Lieut.

Caleb Broadway Treasurer

A Letter from Major Mitchell addressed

to Captn. Bazett being read to a Majority of the Members of the

Widows Fund requesting he might be allowed to defer the

Payment of his subscription until next Year, and that Mrs.

Mitchell will receive the benefit of the Fund upon his paying

the Annual subscription, on the contrary to be excluded and

Major Mitchel struck off the List.

The Managers desire Captn. Bazett to acquaint

Major Mitchell his request is granted and that Mrs. Mitchell

will be entitled to the benefit of the Fund upon paying the

annual subscription, at same time she will be excluded if a

punctual answer is not given and the subscriptions for the

Year are not sent by the first conveyance.

The Interest of the Bonds together with the

subscriptions being insufficient to pay the Annuities, we have

ordered the present Treasurer Capt. Wm. Pierce to call upon Mr. Jno.

Sampell, Mr. Thos. Bagley and Mr. Elisha Isacke for part of the

Money due on their Bonds to make up the deficiency

The society met on 12 April 1790 and the members paid their yearly subscriptions, although the total was not entered in the book. They elected the following managers for the present year.

The Governor, Manager

The Lieutenant Governor, Manager

B. A. Wright Esquire, Manager

Lieutenant W. Greentree, Manager

Lieutenant Caleb Broadway, Manager

The managers chose Lieutenant Caleb Broadway as treasurer.

A letter from Major Mitchell to Captain Bazett was read to a majority of the members of the widows' fund. Mitchell asked to be allowed to put off paying his subscription until the next year. He also asked whether, if he went on paying the yearly subscription, his wife would remain entitled to the benefit of the fund, or whether he would instead be struck off the list.

The managers asked Captain Bazett to tell Major Mitchell that his request was granted, and that Mrs Mitchell would remain entitled to the benefit of the fund so long as the yearly subscription was paid. At the same time Mitchell was to be warned that he would be excluded if he did not reply promptly and send the year's subscription by the first ship.

The interest on the fund's bonds, together with the subscriptions, was again not enough to pay the pensions. The managers ordered the treasurer of the past year, Captain William Pierie, to call on John Sampell, Thomas Bagley and Elisha Isacke for part of the money owed on their bonds, to make up the shortfall.

Interpretations

Major Mitchell was away from the island and wrote to ask for time. The fourth rule of 1766 struck out any member six months behind with his payment, and he had fallen into that position. The obvious course was to apply the rule. The managers granted him time instead. The rule of 1776 made non-payment the only ground for exclusion, so his place depended wholly on the money, but the fund existed to protect wives such as Mrs Mitchell. Striking off a member of 24 years' standing over a delay at sea would have cost her the pension he had paid for since 1766, when a Mitchell signed the rules among the founders. The managers kept her covered and set a firm limit, the first ship from the island back to him, so that the delay could not run on.

The fund ran short a second year. The managers again turned to the capital lent on bond, recalling part of three loans this time instead of one. Sampell, Bagley and Isacke were all planters. Sampell had joined the fund only in April 1789, when it was opened to all inhabitants. The fund's stock was thus lent out widely among the island's landholders, and its pensions were now being met by recalling that money piece by piece. Each recall reduced the capital on which interest was earned, and so increased the shortfall to be met the following year.

Elisha Isacke senior took five acres in the East Division on 3 December 1787, and Gabriel Isacke's widow renewed his farm for his heirs on 21 December 1789. The family were both borrowers from the fund and, through the dead Gabriel, among those entitled to draw on it.

The order went to Captain Pierie as treasurer, although Broadway had just been chosen. The money was due on bonds taken under Pierie's management, and the managers held him to their recovery, as they held Thomas Greentree in 1789.

The total of the year's subscriptions was left blank, as in 1778 and 1783.

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35

Lieut. George Scott having entered the Company's Service

has signed his Name as a subscriber to this Fund and has

paid his Subscription of Five pounds.

Geo. Scott.

1791 April 4th

This day the Society met, paid their Annual

Subscription amounting to £221 and Voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the present Year Vizt.

The Governor
Lt. Governor
B A Wright Esqr.
Lt. Beale
Mr. Lester
Managers

Who have chosen Lieut. Beale

Treasurer

Mr. Henry Porteous having entered into the Companys Service

has signed his Name as a Subscriber to this Fund [...] has

paid his subscription of two Pounds

The Interest of the Bonds together with the Subscriptions being

insufficient to pay the Annuities, we have ordered the present Treasr.

Lieut. Caleb Broadway to call upon, Lt. Knipe, Mr. Jno. Goodwin

Mr. Jno. Scott, Mr. Fras. Seale, Mr. Jno. Alexander Jun. Mr. Jno. Sampell

Lieut. Gurling's and Mr. John Seale's Estates for part of the Money

due on their Bonds to make up the Deficiency

Lt. Desfountain having been asked if he chose to become a Subscriber he

declined the Same

Lieutenant George Scott, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber to the fund and paid his subscription of £5 0s 0d.

The society met on 4 April 1791, when the members paid their yearly subscriptions, which came to £221 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the present year.

The Governor, Manager

The Lieutenant Governor, Manager

B. A. Wright Esquire, Manager

Lieutenant Beale, Manager

Mr Lester, Manager

The managers chose Lieutenant Beale as treasurer.

Start of crossed out section

Henry Porteous, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber to the fund and paid his subscription of £2 0s 0d.

End of crossed out section

The interest on the fund's bonds, together with the subscriptions, was again not enough to pay the pensions. The managers ordered the treasurer of the past year, Lieutenant Caleb Broadway, to call for part of the money owed on their bonds from Lieutenant Knipe, John Goodwin, John Scott, Francis Seale, John Alexander junior and John Sampell, and from the estates of Lieutenant Gurling and John Seale, to make up the shortfall.

Lieutenant Desfountain was asked whether he wished to become a subscriber, and he declined.

Interpretations

The fund fell short for the third year running, although its income rose to £221 0s 0d, the highest ever recorded. Opening the fund to all inhabitants in 1789, and merging the other society's stock with it, brought in more subscribers but also more families with a claim. The managers again met the gap from capital, and this time called on eight debtors where they called on one in 1789 and three in 1790. The fund's money was lent across the island's landholding families, to the Knipes, Goodwins, Seales, Alexanders and Sampells, and two of the loans were owed by estates whose borrowers had died. Calling in part of so many bonds at once showed how far the pensions now outran the income, and how quickly the stock built up since 1766 was being drawn down.

Several of the debtors were members and officers of the fund itself. John Goodwin was treasurer in 1782, and Lieutenant Knipe joined in 1775. The society lent to its own members, which placed its managers in the position of collecting debts from their colleagues and neighbours.

The managers invited Lieutenant Desfountain to join, and he refused. Under the rules of 1766 a man who let his first month pass was barred for good. By 1791 the society was approaching men in the service and asking them to subscribe. A fund in deficit needed every new subscription it could find, and the refusal of an officer to join suggested that the fund's growing difficulties were known.

Henry Porteous's entry was struck through, at the unmarried rate of £2 0s 0d. The record gave no reason. The first page of the lease register recorded a renewal in March 1827 to the executors of H. Porteous.

Lieutenant Onesiphorus Beale, who joined the fund in 1779 as the son of a dead planter whose orphans were provided for by trustees, now became its treasurer.

40

36

16 April 1792

This day the Society met, paid their Annual

Subscriptions amounting to £219 ... and Voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the Present Year

Vizt.

The Governor ....
Major Robson ....
Wm. Wrangham Esqr.
Capt. Stewart ....
Mr. J. C. Dunn ....
Managers

Who have chosen Capt. Stewart Treasurer

Mr. James Pritchard Junr. having entered the Company's

Service, has Signed his name as a Subscriber to this

Fund as a Bachelor and paid his Subscription of £2 ..

James Pritchard

Junr.

1793 July

The Society met this day paid their subscriptions

amounting to £225 examined the Books & proceeded to take

into consideration the general business of the Fund which

has been in a declining state for some time past, from

the subscriptions, and Interest of their Bonds, being insufficient

to pay the several Annuitants

The Society then came to the following resolutions

That no money belonging to the Fund shall in future be

let at a less Interest than seven P Ct. per Ann. & That all

persons who have the Society's money at present on Bond

be acquainted that after the 1 day of April next they must

pay at the rate of 7 P Ct. for it or Discharge their Bonds.

It was unanimously agreed that a Petition be drawn up

representing the declining state of the Fund & craving Assistance

for its relief & support & that the said petition be presented

to the Board here requesting that they will recommend it

to the indulgent notice of the Honble the Court of Directors

The society met on 16 April 1792, when the members paid their yearly subscriptions, which came to £219 0s 0d. They elected the following managers for the present year.

The Governor, Manager

Major Robson, Manager

William Wrangham Esquire, Manager

Captain Stewart, Manager

Mr J. C. Dunn, Manager

The managers chose Captain Stewart as treasurer.

James Pritchard junior, having entered the Company's service, signed as a subscriber to the fund as an unmarried man and paid his subscription of £2 0s 0d.

The society met in July 1793. The members paid their subscriptions, which came to £225 0s 0d, examined the books and took into consideration the general business of the fund. For some time the fund had been in decline, since the subscriptions and the interest on its bonds were not enough to pay the pensions.

The society then made the following resolutions. In future no money belonging to the fund was to be lent at less than 7 per cent interest. Everyone holding the society's money on bond was to be told that from the following 1 April he must pay interest at 7 per cent or repay his bond.

The members agreed unanimously that a petition should be drawn up setting out the fund's declining state and asking for help to support it. The petition was to be presented to the Governor and Council, asking them to recommend it to the favourable notice of the Court of Directors.

Interpretations

The managers' first remedy for the shortfall, in 1789, 1790 and 1791, was to recall part of the money lent on bond. Each recall shrank the capital and the interest it earned, so the next year's gap was larger. In 1793 the members changed course. They raised the interest on every loan to 7 per cent and gave each borrower a choice, to pay the higher rate or repay what he owed. Either answer helped the fund. A borrower who stayed paid more income, and one who left returned capital that could be lent again at the new rate. The fund's debtors were planters and its own members, men whose farms the lease registers showed being built up in the same years, and the higher rate fell on them.

The society turned again to the Company. In 1766 the founders wrote straight to the Directors and hinted at help without asking for it. In 1793 the members admitted openly that the fund was failing and asked for assistance. They did not write to London themselves this time. They sent the petition through the Governor and Council, asking the island's government to recommend it. The founders kept the fund apart from the island's administration, but by 1793 the Governor had sat on its committee for six years, and the society now needed the Council's weight behind its request.

The meeting was held in July, three months later than the 1 April the rules required. No meeting was recorded for April 1793.

James Pritchard junior was probably the son of James Pritchard, the shopkeeper who joined as an inhabitant on 6 April 1789. A townsman's son was entering the Company's service and joining the fund in his own right.

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37

The Petition was accordingly drawn up signed by the Subscribers

and presented

The Attorney of Miss Purling Daughter of Mattw. Purling Esqr.

late deceased made application in her behalf to receive an

Annuity from the Fund But it was agreed that according

to the tenor of a Resolution of the Society under date of the

1st of April 1778 she could have no claim whatever to such

Annuity she being past the Age of twenty one Years

For the same reason Miss Bearcroft was excluded from the receipt

of any farther Annuity she being also past the Age of 21 Years.

Lieut. John Desfountain wishing to enter into the Society at

the rate of a married man has accordingly signed the Book

& paid his subscription of £5 And the following Gentlemen

Vizt. Messrs. Francis Robson Thos. H. Brooke Robt. Leech Junior

[...] Doveton, Jno. Goodwin & Jno. Shirley wishing to become

Members of the Society as Bachelors have also signed their

names & paid their subscriptions of £2 each

John Goodwin

John Shirley

Jn. Desfountain

1793 October 28th

The Society met this day and Voted the following

Persons Managers for the ensuing Year

Viz Messrs. David Kay

Thos. Bazett

Will. W. Doveton

Jno. C. Dunn

Robt. Leech Senr.

Who have chosen Mr. Kay Treasurer

1793 Novr. 13.

The Managers met this day and examined and

adjusted the Books of the Society They find that there is due

to the Fund a Sum of £69 . 18 . 5 from Mr. Broadway who

was Treasurer in the Year 1791 They find also that the Petition

The petition was drawn up as agreed, signed by the subscribers and presented.

The attorney of Miss Purling, daughter of the late Matthew Purling Esquire, applied on her behalf for a pension from the fund. The society agreed that, under its resolution of 1 April 1778, she had no claim to a pension, since she was over the age of 21. For the same reason Miss Bearcroft was excluded from receiving any further pension, being also over 21.

Lieutenant John Desfountain, wishing to join the society at the married rate, signed the book and paid his subscription of £5 0s 0d. The following gentlemen, wishing to join as unmarried men, also signed and paid £2 0s 0d each.

Francis Robson, £2 0s 0d

Thomas H. Brooke, £2 0s 0d

Robert Leech junior, £2 0s 0d

John Goodwin, £2 0s 0d

John Shirley, £2 0s 0d

Start of crossed out section

Gabriel Doveton

End of crossed out section

The society met on 29 October 1793 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

David Kay, Manager

Thomas Bazett, Manager

William Webber Doveton, Manager

J. C. Dunn, Manager

Robert Leech senior, Manager

The managers chose Mr Kay as treasurer.

On 13 November 1793 the managers met and examined and audited the society's books. They found that £69 18s 5d was owed to the fund by Lieutenant Broadway, who had been treasurer in 1791.

Interpretations

The founders promised daughters a pension for as long as they stayed unmarried. In 1778 the members cut that to the age of 21, judging the original promise more than the fund could bear. Fifteen years later the rule fell on the founders' own families. Matthew Purling was a manager of the first committee in 1766, and his daughter's attorney now claimed for her, perhaps from England, where the rule of 1778 required pensioners abroad to act through agents. William Bearcroft, the chaplain, paid the married rate from 1769, and his daughter was already drawing a pension. Both were refused. The members could have honoured the terms on which these fathers had joined, and in a fund already in deficit they chose not to. The rule of 1778 was applied to the children of the men who wrote the original promise, as it was to everyone else.

The treasurer of 1791 still held £69 18s 5d of the fund's money two years after leaving office. The treasurer kept the society's cash in his own hands, with no bank to hold it, and handed over the balance to his successor. Broadway had not done so. The managers had ordered each past treasurer to recover the bonds due in his year. The audit of 1793 showed that the money could also stop with the treasurer himself, at a time when the fund was recalling loans and petitioning the Company for help to pay its pensions.

Lieutenant Desfountain refused an invitation to join in 1791. In 1793 he joined at the married rate. A married man joining late paid the full £5 0s 0d, and under the scale of 1774 his wife would draw £10 0s 0d a year if he died in his first year.

Robert Leech senior and junior were both members by 1793, the father a manager and the son joining as a single man. Thomas H. Brooke was named in the later Jamestown register as buying ground from Government with J. C. Dunn in 1794.

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The managers also found that the following pensions remained unpaid.

Mr Skottowe's children, £214 2s 10d

Charles Sewell, £17 6s 9d

Mrs Graeme, £15 0s 0d

Mrs Congreve, £30 0s 0d

Mrs Stroud, £30 0s 0d

Total debt owed by the society, £306 9s 7d

The society met at the Castle on 14 July 1794. Considering the fund's decline, the subscribers present were unanimously of the opinion that it would be right to reduce the pensions by one third until the fund recovered. Several members were absent, however, and it was agreed to advertise a second meeting for 16 July to take the general view of the subscribers on whether to make the cut.

The Governor and Council informed the society that the Court of Directors had granted the horse tax, and the money from fines imposed under the slave laws, to the use of the fund.

The society met at the Castle on 16 July 1794 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

William Webber Doveton, Manager

Mr Scott, Manager

Mr Smith, Manager

Mr Dunn, Manager

Mr Pritchard senior, Manager

The managers chose Mr Dunn as treasurer.

The society again examined the state of the fund. Its stock was by now much reduced, having been drawn on every year for some time to pay the pensions, since the subscriptions and the interest on bonds were not enough. The members then reached a unanimous resolution.

Interpretations

The fund owed its pensioners £306 9s 7d, more than a full year's subscriptions. The largest debt, £214 2s 10d, was due to the children of John Skottowe, the founding president who signed the rules first in 1766 and sat on every committee until 1781. At £30 0s 0d a year, his children had gone unpaid for about seven years. Two widows were owed a full year each. The society had promised its pensioners payment every year, and had kept its word for two decades while its capital grew. By 1794 it was paying them late or not at all, the outcome of the shortfalls first recorded in 1789.

The petition of 1793 succeeded. The Directors granted the fund two sources of public revenue on the island, a tax on horses and the fines imposed under the slave laws. Those laws were the island's regulations governing slaves and their owners, and the fines were the penalties paid for breaking them. The Company thus took up the request first hinted at in the letter of 25 May 1766, 28 years later and in the form of island revenue, not a payment from its own treasury. The fund founded as a private association of the Company's servants was from 1794 supported in part by public money, some of it raised from the enforcement of rules over slaves, and paid out to the widows and children of the island's officials and inhabitants.

The members were ready to cut every pension by a third. Since 1766 they had protected the £30 0s 0d itself, shortening the term in 1778 and grading new members' benefits in 1774, but never touching the yearly sum. The cut was the plain remedy for a fund in debt to its pensioners, and those present favoured it unanimously. They did not impose it at once. With many members away, they called a second meeting to take the wider view, as the last rule of 1766 required for any change.

The meeting was held at the Castle, where the society met in 1767. The Governor and Council conveyed the Directors' decision to it directly.

The managers also found that the following pensions remained unpaid.

Mr Skottowe's children, £214 2s 10d

Charles Sewell, £17 6s 9d

Mrs Graeme, £15 0s 0d

Mrs Congreve, £30 0s 0d

Mrs Stroud, £30 0s 0d

Total debt owed by the society, £306 9s 7d

The society met at the Castle on 14 July 1794. Considering the fund's decline, the subscribers present were unanimously of the opinion that it would be right to reduce the pensions by one third until the fund recovered. Several members were absent, however, and it was agreed to advertise a second meeting for 16 July to take the general view of the subscribers on whether to make the cut.

The Governor and Council informed the society that the Court of Directors had granted the horse tax, and the money from fines imposed under the slave laws, to the use of the fund.

The society met at the Castle on 16 July 1794 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

William Webber Doveton, Manager

Mr Scott, Manager

Mr Smith, Manager

Mr Dunn, Manager

Mr Pritchard senior, Manager

The managers chose Mr Dunn as treasurer.

The society again examined the state of the fund. Its stock was by now much reduced, having been drawn on every year for some time to pay the pensions, since the subscriptions and the interest on bonds were not enough. The members then reached a unanimous resolution.

Interpretations

The fund owed its pensioners £306 9s 7d, more than a full year's subscriptions. The largest debt, £214 2s 10d, was due to the children of John Skottowe, the founding president who signed the rules first in 1766 and sat on every committee until 1781. At £30 0s 0d a year, his children had gone unpaid for about seven years. Two widows were owed a full year each. The society had promised its pensioners payment every year, and had kept its word for two decades while its capital grew. By 1794 it was paying them late or not at all, the outcome of the shortfalls first recorded in 1789.

The petition of 1793 succeeded. The Directors granted the fund two sources of public revenue on the island, a tax on horses and the fines imposed under the slave laws. Those laws were the island's regulations governing slaves and their owners, and the fines were the penalties paid for breaking them. The Company thus took up the request first hinted at in the letter of 25 May 1766, 28 years later and in the form of island revenue, not a payment from its own treasury. The fund founded as a private association of the Company's servants was from 1794 supported in part by public money, some of it raised from the enforcement of rules over slaves, and paid out to the widows and children of the island's officials and inhabitants.

The members were ready to cut every pension by a third. Since 1766 they had protected the £30 0s 0d itself, shortening the term in 1778 and grading new members' benefits in 1774, but never touching the yearly sum. The cut was the plain remedy for a fund in debt to its pensioners, and those present favoured it unanimously. They did not impose it at once. With many members away, they called a second meeting to take the wider view, as the last rule of 1766 required for any change.

The meeting was held at the Castle, where the society met in 1767. The Governor and Council conveyed the Directors' decision to it directly.

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"That one third part of the Pensions of the present

"Annuitants and of the pensions that may be arising

"to those that shall hereafter come upon the Fund

"shall be taken off and reduced from the 1st Day of

"April untill such time as the Fund shall again

"be in such a state of increase and improvement

"that the interest of the Stock & annual subscriptions

"are adequate to pay off the pensions at the rate

"of the original institution."

The following Gentlemen being desirous to be admitted

as subscribers to the Fund have accordingly signed the Book

& paid their subscriptions, Viz Lt. Simon Frazer at the rate

of a married Man £5 . And Mr. John Wright, Mr. John

Mason Mr. Geo: Leech & Mr. John Desfountain £2 each as

Bachelors

Frazer

Geo. Leech.

J. A. Wright

John Desfountain

Jno. Mason

1795 Apl. 6

The Society met this Day at the Castle

and voted the following Gentlemen Managers

for the ensuing Year

Viz Messrs. Jno. Wilson

Wm. Pierce

Rt. Leech

Thos. Greentree

Jno. Doveton who chose Mr. Wilson

to be Treasurer

Mr. Moses Mills being desirous to be

admitted a Subscriber to the Fund has paid his Subscription

as a married Man and paid £5

M Mills

The society resolved that one third of the pensions of all present pensioners, and of those who might come on the fund later, should be taken off from 1 April. The reduction was to last until the fund had grown and recovered so far that the interest on its stock and the yearly subscriptions together were enough to pay the pensions at the rate set when the fund was founded.

The following gentlemen, wishing to be admitted as subscribers, signed the book and paid their subscriptions. Dr Simon Fraser paid £5 0s 0d as a married man. John Wright, John Mason, George Leech and John Desfountain each paid £2 0s 0d as unmarried men.

Dr Simon Fraser, £5 0s 0d

John Wright, £2 0s 0d

John Mason, £2 0s 0d

George Leech, £2 0s 0d

John Desfountain, £2 0s 0d

The society met at the Castle on 6 April 1795 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Wilson, Manager

William Pierie, Manager

Robert Leech, Manager

Thomas Greentree, Manager

John Doveton, Manager

The managers chose Mr Leech as treasurer.

Mr Mills, wishing to be admitted as a subscriber to the fund, paid his subscription of £5 0s 0d as a married man.

Interpretations

The cut took the pension from £30 0s 0d to £20 0s 0d a year. It applied to widows and orphans already drawing as well as to those who would come on the fund later. The members' own payments stayed at £5 0s 0d and £2 0s 0d. The whole burden of the fund's recovery thus fell on those it existed to protect, women and children who had no vote in the society and no means of earning what was taken from them. The members who voted for the cut were the men whose own widows would in time receive the reduced sum, so the measure bore on their families too. The resolution promised a return to the original rate once the fund's income could carry it, and tied the restoration to a test of the accounts, not to the members' discretion.

The cut followed the Company's grant of the horse tax and the fines under the slave laws. The new revenue was evidently not enough by itself, or not yet flowing, to pay the debt of £306 9s 7d owed to pensioners and meet the pensions in full.

New members continued to join despite the cut. Dr Simon Fraser, a medical officer, paid the married rate, and Mills did the same in 1795. John Wright was probably a son of Britannicus Alexander Wright, the Secretary, and the younger John Desfountain and George Leech came from families that subscribed for a generation. Under the cut, a married newcomer's widow would draw two thirds of whatever the scale of 1774 allowed.

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4th April 1796

The Society met this Day at

the Castle and Voted the following Gentlemen

Managers for the ensuing Year Vizt.

Messrs. The Revd. John Wilson

Wm. W. Doveton

Thos. Greentree

Edwd. C. Smith

Geo. Scott

Who have chosen the Revd. John Wilson Treasurer

The following Gentlemen being desirous

to be admitted Subscribers to this Fund have

paid their Subscriptions Mr. John Weir as a Married

Man £5 and Mr. Patrick Hellery £2 and

signed their Names

J. Weir

P. Hellery

The society met at the Castle on 4 April 1796 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

The Reverend John Wilson, Manager

William Webber Doveton, Manager

Thomas Greentree, Manager

Edward C. Smith, Manager

George Scott, Manager

The managers chose the Reverend John Wilson as treasurer.

The following gentlemen, wishing to be admitted as subscribers to the fund, paid their subscriptions and signed their names. John Weir paid £5 0s 0d as a married man, and Patrick Helling paid £2 0s 0d as an unmarried man.

John Weir, £5 0s 0d

Patrick Helling, £2 0s 0d

Interpretations

The record of this meeting gave no total for the year's subscriptions. Every annual meeting from 1766 to 1793 stated one, except those of 1778, 1783 and 1790, where a space was left. From 1794 the figure ceased to be entered at all. The fund was then in debt to its pensioners, had cut their pensions by a third and was receiving the horse tax and the fines under the slave laws. Its income no longer came from subscriptions alone, and the yearly total of members' payments was no longer the measure of its health that the founders had made it.

Edward C. Smith joined at the unmarried rate in 1788 and, as Lieutenant Smith, paid the married rate on his marriage in September 1789. George Scott joined as a lieutenant in 1790. The managers of 1796 were thus largely men admitted in the years of the fund's difficulties, beside the Reverend John Wilson and the Doveton and Greentree families, who had served it since the 1770s.

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April, 1797

The Society met this day at

the Castle and Voted the following Gentlemen

Managers for the ensuing Year vizt.

Thomas Greentree Jr.

Edwd. Chas. Smith

Thomas Bazett

John Desfountain

Thomas Lester

Treasurer appointed.

Captn. John Desfountain.

It appearing that the Fund, in its present improved

State, would have a Ballance in its Favor, this year, of £200

& upwards, arising from the Subscripts. Taxes & Interest of Bonds

it was proposed that the Sum of £5 annually should be added

to the 20 already paid, & so, in Proportion, to the other Annuitts.

which was unanimously agreed to.

It was also determined that in future

no Money should be lent, nor any Resolutions finally entered into

without being first laid before the Board, for its Approbation

Mr. Henry Bazett wishing to become a Member of the

Society, was admitted & paid his Subscription of £2 ..

Henry Bazett

The society met at the Castle in April 1797 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

Thomas Greentree junior, Manager

Edward Charles Smith, Manager

Thomas Bazett, Manager

John Desfountain, Manager

Thomas Lester, Manager

Captain John Desfountain was appointed treasurer.

It appeared that the fund, now in better condition, would have a balance in its favour that year of more than £200 0s 0d, from the subscriptions, the taxes and the interest on its loans. It was proposed that £5 0s 0d a year should be added to the £20 0s 0d pensions already being paid, with a proportionate increase for the other pensioners. The members agreed unanimously.

The members also decided that in future no money should be lent, and no resolution finally adopted, without first being laid before the Governor and Council for their approval.

Henry Bazett, wishing to become a member of the society, was admitted and paid his subscription of £2 0s 0d.

Interpretations

The resolution of 1794 cut the pension from £30 0s 0d to £20 0s 0d and promised the full rate back once income could carry it. Three years later the fund expected a balance of over £200 0s 0d, the result of the horse tax, the fines under the slave laws and the 7 per cent charged on its loans from 1794. The members restored half the cut, raising the pension to £25 0s 0d. They kept the rest back while the debt owed to pensioners in 1793, £306 9s 7d, and the losses of the bad years were made good. The widows and orphans who bore the whole of the reduction thus recovered part of it as soon as the fund could pay.

The society gave up its independence. The last rule of 1766 made the general meeting the only authority over the fund's affairs, and the founders kept the Governor and Council out of them. In 1797 the members placed every loan and every resolution under the Council's approval. The reason lay in the fund's new income. Public money from taxes and fines now formed a large part of its stock, granted by the Directors through the island's government, and the Council had reason to oversee how it was lent and spent. The loans recalled piecemeal from 1789 and the £69 18s 5d left in a past treasurer's hands until 1793 showed what could go wrong without that oversight. From 1797 the fund was in effect a public charity under the Governor and Council, governed by its members only in the first instance.

John Desfountain was a captain by 1797. As a lieutenant he refused to join the fund in 1791, joined at the married rate in 1793 and was now its treasurer.

Henry Bazett joined at the unmarried rate. Major Henry Bazett was a manager of the society from 1768, and the new member was of a younger generation, the fourth Bazett to subscribe since 1766.

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Mr. Francs. Robson having left the Island, & no

Person being present to pay his Subscription his Father

was sent to & asked what should be done who answered

we might do as we pleased on which, his Name was erased.

Lieut. John Shirley being desirous that his

Wife, in case of Widowhood should be entitled to the full

Benefit of the Fund, with original Subscribers

paid in the Sum of £30. according to the Rules as

entered in Subscription Book. Anno: 1797.

2d April 1798

The Society met this Day at

the Castle and Voted the following Gentlemen Managers

for the Ensuing Year Vizt.

David Kay

Robt. Leech

Jno. Charles Dunn

Major Willm. Pierce

Captn. Andrew Dentaffe

Who have chosen Mr. Robert Leech Treasurer

A report being in Circulation that Captain Statham is married

it was unanimously agreed if it was true, that the Subscription

of £5 paid by his Children at St. Helena on the above Date, should be

returned to them again

Francis Robson had left the island, and no one came forward to pay his subscription. His father was sent to and asked what should be done. He replied that the society might do as it pleased, and Robson's name was then struck off.

Lieutenant John Shirley wished his wife, if she were widowed, to be entitled to the full benefit of the fund on the same footing as the original subscribers. He paid £30 0s 0d under the rules, as entered in the subscription book for 1797.

The society met at the Castle on 2 April 1798 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

David Kay, Manager

Robert Leech, Manager

John Charles Dunn, Manager

Major William Pierie, Manager

Captain Andrew [...], Manager

The managers chose Robert Leech as treasurer.

A report was circulating that Captain Statham had died. The members agreed unanimously that, if this proved true, the subscription of £5 0s 0d paid by his children on St Helena that day should be returned to them.

Interpretations

The fourth rule struck out any member six months behind with his payment, and Robson had left the island without arranging for anyone to pay for him. The managers did not strike him out at once. They went to his father, who as the nearest kin on the island might have kept the payments up. Only when the father declined to act was the name removed. Robson joined as a single man in 1793, so no wife lost her cover by his removal, but the managers gave his family the chance to keep his place before taking it away.

Shirley paid £30 0s 0d to secure the full benefit for his wife. Under the rule of 1774, a newcomer's widow received a pension that rose with each year he paid at the married rate, and only six years at £5 0s 0d brought her to the full sum. The rule let a member buy that standing at once by paying the six years in advance. Robert Brooke did so on joining in 1788. Shirley, who rejoined as a single man in 1793, did it on marrying. The full benefit he bought was by then £25 0s 0d a year, after the cut of 1794 and the partial restoration of 1797, though he paid the six years' contributions calculated on the original scale.

The entry on Statham is best read as concerning his death, though the word could also be taken as married. Statham's children paid his £5 0s 0d at the married rate while he was away. If he was already dead when they paid, the payment bought nothing, since his widow's claim arose from his death and not from a subscription paid after it. The seventh rule declared that no payment could be recovered. The members agreed to refund it, as they refunded Bridgwater and Mason, where keeping the money would have taken it from a family for no return.

Thomas Statham joined the fund as a new servant in 1769. As a captain lieutenant he took deep ground behind his town house on 11 August 1787.

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Ensign Saml. Knipe being desirous to be admitted a Subscriber to

this Fund has paid his Subscription as a Married Man £5 and signed

his Name

S Knipe

The Fund not being yet able to afford the Annuitants their

pensions agreeable to its first institution it was proposed their

Annuity's should continue as that of the preceding Year at £25

which was unanimously agreed to and paid accordingly

The Following Gentlemen being desirous to be admitted Subscribers

to this Fund have paid their Subscriptions £2 each and signed

their Names

J. W. Hay [...] C. Broadway

Davd. Kay Jr. R. H. Leech Robt. Statham

B A Wright B. Hodson W. Knipe

C. Sampson

Ensign Samuel Knipe, wishing to be admitted as a subscriber to the fund, paid his subscription as a married man of £5 0s 0d and signed his name.

The fund was not yet able to pay its pensioners the full pensions set when it was founded. It was proposed that their pensions should continue at £25 0s 0d, the rate of the previous year. The members agreed unanimously, and the pensions were paid accordingly.

The following gentlemen, wishing to be admitted as subscribers to the fund, paid their subscriptions of £2 0s 0d each and signed their names.

J. M. Hay

[...] Hodson

C. Broadway

David Kay junior

R. H. Leech

W. Statham

B. A. Wright

B. Hodson

W. Knipe

C. Sampson

Interpretations

The pension stayed at £25 0s 0d, five pounds below the £30 0s 0d the founders promised. The resolution of 1794 set the test for full restoration, that interest and subscriptions together should be enough to pay the original rate. The members judged in 1798 that the fund had not yet met it, despite the horse tax and the fines under the slave laws. Each year's decision was now an act of the members, renewed annually, and the widows had no fixed sum to rely on beyond it.

Ten new members joined at the unmarried rate, most of them sons of subscribers. David Kay junior was the son of the surgeon who joined in 1775. R. H. Leech carried the name of Robert Leech, a member from 1772 and several times treasurer. B. A. Wright bore the full initials of Britannicus Alexander Wright, the Secretary. W. Statham joined in the year a report of Captain Statham's death reached the island, and C. Broadway bore the surname of Caleb Broadway, treasurer in 1790. W. Knipe and Ensign Samuel Knipe came from the planting family whose members joined from 1775. The fund founded by the Company's servants of 1766 was by 1798 being carried by their sons, who joined young and single and would pay into it for their whole careers.

C. Sampson was probably the Charles Sampson who held ground cut from Thomas Yates's lease of 460 feet under Jamestown leases 120 and 121 in 1805. The Hodsons were represented in the later register by Benjamin and Charles Hodson and a Colonel Hodson, holders of town leases into the 1820s.

An ensign was the most junior commissioned rank in an infantry company. Samuel Knipe joined at the married rate while holding it, so he had married young and early in his service.

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April 1st 1799

The Society met this day at the Castle

paid their Subscriptions Amounting to £ and Voted

the following Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year

vizt.

Wm. W. Doveton
N. Kennedy
Major Greentree
Gab. Doveton
Capt. Scott
Managers

Who have chosen Mr. Kennedy

Treasurer

Messrs. Patrick Hellery & Nathan Sampell

not having paid their last Year Subscriptions, were asked

at this time, if they chose to continue as Subscribers they

refused the same.

Resolved in future that any Gentleman

entering the Companys Service, refusing to become a Member

of the Society, when being asked by the Managers, shall not

be admitted at any future period, unless he makes good

the payments from his first being asked, or entering the

Service

The society met at the Castle in April 1799. The members paid their subscriptions, although the total was not entered in the book. They elected the following managers for the coming year.

William Webber Doveton, Manager

Nathaniel Kennedy, Manager

Major Greentree, Manager

Gabriel Doveton, Manager

Captain Scott, Manager

The managers chose Mr Kennedy as treasurer.

Patrick Hellin and Nathan Sampell had not paid their subscriptions for the past year. They were asked at this meeting whether they wished to remain subscribers, and both refused.

The society resolved that in future any gentleman entering the Company's service who refused to join the society when asked by the managers would not be admitted at any later time unless he paid all the subscriptions due from the date he was first asked or entered the service.

Interpretations

The founders' third rule shut out for ever any new servant who did not join within a month. In practice the society had admitted late joiners who paid back to the date they entered the service, John Leech in 1777 and John Wilson and Tuffin Shepherd in 1782. By the 1790s the managers were going further, inviting newcomers to join, as they invited Lieutenant Desfountain in 1791. The resolution of 1799 set down the rule as it had come to work. A man could refuse when asked, and could change his mind later, but only by paying every subscription he would have paid had he joined at once. He could not enjoy the fund's protection while avoiding years of its cost. The founders' purpose, that no one should join only when he had reason to expect a claim, was kept by charging the price of delay in full.

Two members left. Patrick Hellin joined as a single man in 1796, and Nathan Sampell signed the rules among the founders in 1766. Each was in arrears and each chose not to continue. Under the fourth rule both had lost their place by falling behind, and the managers asked before striking them out. A founder of 33 years' standing leaving the fund, at a time when its pensions had been cut and held below the original rate, suggested that membership no longer seemed worth its cost to some of the older subscribers.

Gabriel Doveton's name was entered and struck out among the new subscribers of 1793. He was a manager by 1799.

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The following Gentlemen being Desirous to become Subscribers

to the Fund, have this Day paid their several Subscriptions

and signed their Names.

April 1800

The Society met this Day to pay their

Subscriptions Amounting to £ and

Voted the following Gentlemen Managers for

the Ensuing Year.

William W. Doveton Esqr.
Captain Shirley ..
Captain Smith ..
Major Greentree ..
Captain Frazer
Managers

Who have Chosen Captain Shirley

Treasurer

The book recorded that the following gentlemen, wishing to become subscribers to the fund, had paid their subscriptions and signed their names, but no names were entered below.

The society met in April 1800 to pay the members' subscriptions, although neither the day nor the total was entered in the book. The members elected the following managers for the coming year.

William Webber Doveton Esquire, Manager

Captain Shirley, Manager

Captain Smith, Manager

Major Greentree, Manager

Captain Fraser, Manager

The managers chose Captain Shirley as treasurer.

Interpretations

The record was kept with less care as the century closed. A heading for new subscribers was written with no names beneath it, the day of the meeting was left out and the total of subscriptions was left blank, as it had been every year since 1794. In the fund's first decades each meeting recorded what was paid, by whom and in what amount. After 1797 the Governor and Council approved every loan and resolution, and the money from the horse tax and the fines under the slave laws was accounted for through them. The society's own book became a record of who managed the fund each year more than of what it held.

John Shirley was a lieutenant when he paid £30 0s 0d in 1797 to give his wife the full benefit of the fund. By 1800 he was a captain and its treasurer. Edward Charles Smith, who joined single in 1788 and married in 1789, was also a captain. The managers of 1800 were officers of the garrison who had come into the fund in the 1780s and 1790s, with William Webber Doveton, a member since 1769, the only link to its earlier years.

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April 13th 1801 @ the Castle

The Society met this day at the Castle,

paid their Subscriptions, and Voted the following

Gentlemen, Managers for the ensuing Year (vizt.)

Mr. Dav: Kay Senr.
J. C. Dunn.
Thos. H. Brooke
John Goodwin
George Leech
Managers.

Who have chosen Mr. Thos. H. Brooke

Treasurer.

The following Gentlemen, being desirous of

becoming Subscribers to the Fund have this day paid their several

Subscriptions and signed their Names

H. H. Pritchard

Mr. Saml. Knipe Senr. and Mr. [...] not having paid their

Last Years Subscriptions, when asked at this time if they choosed to

Continue they refused the same

The society met at the Castle on 13 April 1801. The members paid their subscriptions, although the total was not entered, and elected the following managers for the coming year.

David Kay senior, Manager

J. C. Dunn, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

John Goodwin, Manager

George Leech, Manager

The managers chose Thomas H. Brooke as treasurer.

The following gentleman, wishing to become a subscriber to the fund, paid his subscription and signed his name.

H. H. Pritchard

Samuel Knipe senior and another member, whose name was not entered, had not paid their subscriptions for the past year. They were asked at this meeting whether they wished to remain members, and both refused.

Interpretations

Older members were leaving while their sons joined. Nathan Sampell, a founder of 1766, refused to continue in 1799, and Samuel Knipe senior did the same in 1801. Knipe was a planter whose leases ran from 1771 to 1787, and his family had joined the fund from 1775. Ensign Samuel Knipe paid the married rate in 1798, and W. Knipe joined single in the same year. A father near the end of his life, with his wife's future perhaps already provided for by other means, had less reason to keep paying into a fund that had cut its pensions. His sons, at the start of their careers and families, had more. The fund's membership was turning over from one generation to the next, family by family.

H. H. Pritchard was the third of his family to join, after James Pritchard, the shopkeeper, in 1789 and James Pritchard junior in 1792. The family that entered the fund when it was opened to the island's inhabitants had by 1801 placed two sons in it.

Thomas H. Brooke joined at the unmarried rate in 1793 and became treasurer. The later Jamestown register recorded him buying ground from Government with J. C. Dunn in 1794, and Dunn sat beside him on the committee.

David Kay was styled senior, his son having joined in 1798.

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Wednesday the 7th April 1802

The Society met this day

at the Castle, and paid their Subscriptions, and Voted the

following Gentlemen, Managers for the ensuing Year Vizt.

Messrs. Andw. Dentaffe
Simon Frazer
Moses Mills
G. Doveton
C. R. G. Hodson
Managers

Who have chosen Mr. Moses Mills

Treasurer

The following Gentlemen being desirous to

become Subscribers to the Fund, have this day paid their several

Subscriptions, and signed their Names

Thos. Greentree Junr.

Mr. R. Torbett this day declined paying

his Subscription to the Fund for the last Year.

The society met at the Castle on Wednesday 7 April 1802. The members paid their subscriptions and elected the following managers for the coming year.

Andrew Dentaffe, Manager

Simon Fraser, Manager

Moses Mills, Manager

G. Doveton, Manager

C. R. G. Hodson, Manager

The managers chose Moses Mills as treasurer.

The following gentleman, wishing to become a subscriber to the fund, paid his subscription and signed his name.

Thomas Greentree junior

R. Torbett declined on this day to pay his subscription to the fund for the past year.

Interpretations

Thomas Greentree junior was the third generation of his line in the fund's records. His grandfather, Thomas Greentree, planter, died in 1766 or early 1767, before he could join, and seven executors held land in trust for his heirs. The heir, Lieutenant Thomas Greentree, joined the fund in 1779 and was its treasurer in 1788. His son now joined in his turn. The family that had once needed provision from trustees, because the fund did not yet exist, had been inside it for 23 years and was entering a second generation of membership.

Richard Torbett refused to pay. He joined in 1789, when the fund was first opened to the island's inhabitants, with his membership to begin in August 1790. He was an administrator of John Young's estate on 23 November 1789. His refusal followed those of Nathan Sampell in 1799 and Samuel Knipe senior in 1801. Several of the planters and townsmen who came in when the fund widened its membership were leaving it a decade later, after the pensions had been cut and held below the rate on which they joined.

Moses Mills, who paid the married rate in 1795, became treasurer. Andrew Dentaffe, a captain by 1798, and Simon Fraser, the doctor who joined in 1794, sat on the committee. The managers of 1802 were all men admitted in the fund's second phase, after 1789.

The meeting was held on 7 April, six days after the date the rules set. The book named the day of the week, as it had done once before, in 1774.

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Mr. P. Hellery being desirous to return

as a Member to the Fund he accordingly paid £4 for the 2 Years

he had not paid for

Monday the 11th. April 1803.

The Society met this Day at

the Castle, and paid their Subscriptions; and Voted

the following Gentlemen, Managers for the ensuing

Year Vizt.

Messrs. Robt. Leech
" Dunn
Revd. Mr. Wilkinson
Major Greentree
Mr. Jno. Goodwin
Managers

Who have chosen the Revd. S. J. Wilkinson Treasurer

Mr. Wilkinson having declined the office of Treasurer

the Managers then elected Mr. Robt. Leech

Patrick Hellin, wishing to return to the fund as a member, paid £4 0s 0d for the two years he had not paid.

The society met at the Castle on Monday 11 April 1803. The members paid their subscriptions and elected the following managers for the coming year.

Robert Leech, Manager

Mr Dunn, Manager

The Reverend Mr Wilkinson, Manager

Major Greentree, Manager

John Goodwin, Manager

The managers chose the Reverend J. F. Wilkinson as treasurer. Wilkinson declined the office, and the managers then elected Robert Leech.

Interpretations

Hellin refused to continue in April 1799, when he was a year behind with his payments. The fourth rule of 1766 struck out any member six months in arrears, and the founders meant exclusion to be final. Four years later he asked to return, and the society took him back on payment of £4 0s 0d, two years at the unmarried rate, the subscriptions he owed when he left. It did not charge him for the years he was out of the fund, as the resolution of 1799 required of new servants who refused when asked and joined later. A former member was thus readmitted more cheaply than a newcomer who delayed. The fund needed subscribers, and a single man returning at £2 0s 0d a year brought no immediate claim. Its rules on exclusion, once absolute, were by 1803 applied to suit its need for members.

Wilkinson refused the treasurer's office, the first member recorded as doing so. Every earlier treasurer accepted. The office carried the duty of collecting subscriptions, recovering the fund's money on bond and paying the pensions, and from 1789 each treasurer had to call in loans to meet shortfalls and answer for any money left in his hands. A clergyman newly elected to the committee perhaps judged the burden too great. Robert Leech, who had held the office in 1784, 1795 and 1798, took it again. By 1803 the fund depended on a small number of members willing to carry its management year after year.

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Wednesday 11th April 1804.

The Society met this day at the Castle, and paid

their Subscriptions, and Voted the following Gentlemen Managers

for the ensuing Year

Messrs. David Kay
Thos. H. Brooke
W. W. Doveton
E. C. Smith
Wm. Seale Sr.
Managers

Who have chosen William Seale Sr. Treasurer.

Wednesday 9th Jany. 1805.

The Society met this day at the Castle

to take into Consideration, a Letter received from Mr. Richard

Skottowe, Son of Jno. Skottowe Esqr. late Governor of this Island,

and a Subscriber to the Fund. (vizt.)

Sir,

I beg leave to trouble you respecting my claim

to the Annuity Arising from the Widows Fund, being the

Youngest Child of the late Governor Skottowe of this

Island, and whatever sum may be due me, I should

be thankful if you will cause it to be paid, as

soon as Possible, as it is my intention to leave the

Island in a few days I am Sir

Your Obedt. Servt.

Sign'd

Richard Skottowe

St. Helena

7 Jany. 1805

To Majr. Wm. Seale

Treasurer of the Widows Fund

The society met at the Castle on Wednesday 11 April 1804. The members paid their subscriptions and elected the following managers for the coming year.

David Kay, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

William Webber Doveton, Manager

E. C. Smith, Manager

William Seale senior, Manager

The managers chose William Seale senior as treasurer.

The society met at the Castle on Wednesday 9 January 1805 to consider a letter from Richard Skottowe, son of John Skottowe Esquire, the late Governor of the island and a subscriber to the fund.

Richard Skottowe wrote from St Helena on 7 January 1805 to Major William Seale, treasurer of the widows' fund. He raised his claim to the pension from the fund as the youngest child of the late Governor Skottowe. He asked that whatever sum was owed to him be paid as soon as possible, since he meant to leave the island within a few days.

Interpretations

The letter named the founder's office. Governor Skottowe signed the rules first on 1 April 1766, was chosen the society's president the same day and sat on every committee until 1781. The fund's last rule kept its disputes away from the Governor and Council, yet the Governor himself founded it and led it as a subscriber. The independence the founders wrote into the rules was an independence from the island's government acting as such, not from the men who composed it. The officials of 1766 created a private body, headed by the Governor in his private capacity, to do for their families what the Company did not.

The Governor's children were among the fund's creditors. In November 1793 the managers found £214 2s 10d owed to Mr Skottowe's children, the largest of the unpaid pensions, about seven years' worth. Richard Skottowe was the youngest. Under the rule of 1778 a son's pension ended at 16, so what he could claim in 1805 was presumably his share of the arrears built up while he was entitled. The founder's own family thus waited longest for the money his rules promised.

Skottowe asked for payment before he sailed. Once off the island, he would fall under the rule of 1778, which required pensioners abroad to send attested certificates that they were alive and to act through agents. A claim pressed in person, with days to spare, was far easier to settle than one made by letter from England.

William Seale senior, chosen treasurer in 1804, was addressed in the letter as Major. He was a second lieutenant when he joined the fund in 1783.

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Contd. Wednesday 9th Jany. 1805

Upon examining the Books, it was

found that the Sum of £270 . 17 .. was due to the Orphans

of the late John Skottowe, (as appears by a Statement, entered in

the latter part of this Book) and that Richard Skottowe, the

Youngest Child was entitled to a part of the above Sum;

amounting to £162 . 1 .. which Sum (£162 . 1 ..) was unanimously agreed,

to be paid him by us whose Names are underwritten the sd. Richard Skottowe

9th Jany. 1805 Wm. Seale Treasurer

Edwd. C. Smith
Dav: Kay
Thos. H. Brooke
W. W. Doveton
Managers

Robert Leech

[...]

W. H. Bazett

T. Lester

Thos. Greentree Junr.

[...] Cole

[...]

Thos. Greentree Senr.

Thomas Cole Jun.

On further examining the books, the members found that £270 17s 0d was owed to the orphans of the late John Skottowe, as shown in a statement entered in the later part of the book. Richard Skottowe, the youngest child, was entitled to £162 1s 0d of that sum. The members agreed unanimously that this amount should be paid to him, and signed the decision as follows on 9 January 1805.

William Seale, Treasurer

Edward C. Smith, Manager

David Kay, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

William Webber Doveton, Manager

Robert Leech

[...]

W. H. Bazett

[...]

Thomas Greentree junior

[...]

[...]

Thomas Greentree senior

Thomas Cole junior

Interpretations

The debt to Governor Skottowe's children rose from £214 2s 10d in November 1793 to £270 17s 0d in 1805. The fund had cut its pensions in 1794 and restored part of them in 1797, but had not cleared what it already owed the founder's family. Richard Skottowe's share was £162 1s 0d, three fifths of the whole. The ninth rule divided the pension equally among the orphans, and the rule of 1778 ended each son's share at 16 and each daughter's at 21. As his elder brothers and sisters passed those ages one by one, the youngest child's share grew and ran longest, and so did his arrears.

The members paid the whole of his share at once, before he sailed. The fund had been short of money since 1789, had recalled its loans and had cut every pensioner's allowance. Paying £162 1s 0d in one sum, more than five years of a full pension, was a heavy call on its stock. The members could have paid by instalments, or sent the money after him through an agent under the rules for pensioners abroad. They chose to settle with him in person, on the island, and in full. The debt was old, the claimant was the founder's son, and once he left any later payment would require certificates and agents across the ocean.

The decision was signed by the treasurer, four managers and nine other members. Ordinary business in the book was recorded as the society's act without signatures. A single payment of this size, made outside the usual pensions, was evidently thought to need the members' names behind it, as warrant to the treasurer for paying out so large a sum.

Thomas Greentree senior and junior both signed. The heir of the trust leases of 1767 and his son, who joined in 1802, put their names together to a payment to the children of the Governor who founded the fund in the year their own family was left without one.

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Monday 15th Apl. 1805.

The Society met at the Castle this day to pay

their Subscriptions, and Voted the following Gentle

men Managers for the ensuing Year.

Messrs. Jno. C. Dunn

Thos. Greentree Senr.

Jno. Goodwin

Rich. Leech

C. R. G. Hodson

Who have chosen Rich. Leech Treasurer

It was voted and unanimously agreed that

Majr. Torrence should become a Member who

accordingly paid the Sum of Thirty Five Pounds

Capt. Jno. Weir, and Mr. George Blenkins being

Ask'd to Subscribe to the Fund they both refus'd

The society met at the Castle on Monday 15 April 1805 to pay the members' subscriptions, and elected the following managers for the coming year.

John C. Dunn, Manager

Thomas Greentree senior, Manager

John Goodwin, Manager

Richard Leech, Manager

C. R. G. Hodson, Manager

The managers chose Richard Leech as treasurer.

The members voted unanimously that Major Torrence should become a member, and he paid £35 0s 0d.

Captain John Weir and George Blinkins were asked to subscribe to the fund, and both refused.

Interpretations

Major Torrence paid £35 0s 0d on joining, seven years at the married rate. Under the rule of 1774, six years' payments in advance, £30 0s 0d, bought a newcomer's widow the full benefit at once, and Robert Brooke and Lieutenant John Shirley paid that sum in 1788 and 1797. Torrence paid it with his first year's subscription besides. A married officer of senior rank thus secured for his wife, from the day he joined, the pension the founders' wives held from the start. His admission was put to a vote, which no newcomer before him required. A man evidently already some time in the service could only be taken in by the members' consent under the resolution of 1799, and the payment in full answered for the years he had not paid.

John Weir joined the fund at the married rate on 4 April 1796. By 1805 he was a captain and was asked to subscribe again, which meant his membership had lapsed through non-payment. He refused, and so did Blinkins. Refusals from serving officers, and from a married member of nine years' standing, came while the pension was still held at £25 0s 0d. The founders' fund was by then one that the Company's servants could, and some did, decline.

Richard Leech joined the committee and became treasurer at once. Robert Leech held that office in 1784, 1795, 1798 and 1803, and a younger member of the same family now took it on.

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The following Gentlemen being desirous of

becoming Subscribers to the Fund have this day paid

their several Subscriptions and Sign'd their Names

Vizt.

O. Beale

F. Fitts

Andw. Brand

[...]

John Barnes

Wm. Milne

Jas. Wright

R. Mason

T. W. Cole

John B: Knipe

Ten gentlemen applied to join the fund. Each paid his subscription on the day and signed his name in the book.

O. Beale

F. Fit[...]

Andrew Brooke (marked with a cross)

[...] Ward (marked with a cross)

John Barnes

William Milne

James Wright

R. Mason

W. W. Cole

John B. Knipe (marked with a cross)

Interpretations

This entry is undated and follows directly after the meeting of 15 April 1805. If the signatures belong to that same day, the society made up for the refusals of Captain John Weir and George Blinkins by recruiting ten new members at once. This was the largest single intake recorded since the founding subscribers signed in 1766. The managers apparently decided to fill the fund with the younger servants of the Company rather than keep pressing older men who no longer wished to pay. A broad base of new subscribers paying for years before any of their wives could claim gave the fund its best chance of meeting a pension still held at £25 0s 0d.

John B. Knipe signed four years after the elder Knipe left the fund in 1801. The family's link with the society therefore passed to the next generation rather than ending. O. Beale probably belonged to the Beale family who appear as tenants in the lease registers.

The page does not explain the crosses beside three of the names. They perhaps marked the married men among the new members. A married member paid £5 0s 0d a year rather than the single man's £2 0s 0d, because his subscription had to support a widow's claim on the fund.

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53

Monday 1st April 1806.

The Society met this day at the Castle

Paid their Subscriptions £ and Voted the following Gentlemen

Managers for the ensuing Year.

Messrs. W. W. Doveton
Samuel Locke
Gabl. Doveton
Benjn. Hodson
Jno. De Fountain Junr.
Managers

Who have chosen Mr. Jno. De Fountain Treasurer

The following Gentlemen being desirous

of becoming Subscribers to the Fund, have this day paid their

Subscriptions and signed their Names.

Broadway Broadway T. Brown

Robert Grant

The society met at the Castle on Monday 1 April 1806. The members paid their subscriptions and elected the following managers for the coming year.

W. W. Doveton, Manager

Henry Locke, Manager

Gabriel Doveton, Manager

Benjamin Hodson, Manager

John De Fountain junior, Manager

The managers chose John De Fountain as treasurer.

Four gentlemen who wished to join the fund paid their subscriptions on the day and signed their names.

B. Broadway

B. Broadway

J. Brown (marked with a cross)

Robert Grant

Interpretations

The committee of 1806 shared no member with the committee of 1805, which had included Richard Leech as treasurer. Each year's managers were drawn afresh from the subscribers, so the running of the fund rotated through the Company's servants rather than staying with one group. Two of the five managers were Dovetons. The Doveton family held land and office across the island and appear repeatedly in the lease registers.

The recruitment drive of the previous year continued, although on a smaller scale. Ten new members signed after the meeting of 15 April 1805, and four signed in 1806. Two of the newcomers signed with the same name and initial, and were perhaps father and son or brothers in the Company's service.

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54

Monday, 6th April, 1807.

The Society met this day at the

Castle and Voted the following Gentlemen Managers for

the ensuing Year

Messrs. William Lane

Robert Leech

Edwd. Chs. Smith

Moses Mills

Thomas Cole

Who have Chosen Mr. Robert Leech Treasurer.

The following Gentlemen being

desirous to be admitted as Subscribers to the Fund have

accordingly Signed the Book and paid their

Subscriptions vizt. William Lane Esqr. at the rate of a

Married Man from his Arrival at this Island being

£20 ... Mr. Andrew Wilson also at the rate of a

Married Man £5 ... And Mr. William Brabazon

£2 ... as a Bachelor.

W. Lane

Andw. Wilson

Wm. Brabazon

The society met at the Castle on Monday 6 April 1807 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

William Lane, Manager

Robert Leech, Manager

Edward Charles Smith, Manager

Moses Mills, Manager

Thomas Cole, Manager

The managers chose Robert Leech as treasurer.

Three gentlemen asked to be admitted to the fund. Each signed the book and paid his subscription on the following terms.

William Lane, at the married rate from his arrival on the island, £20 0s 0d

Andrew Wilson, at the married rate, £5 0s 0d

William Brabazon, at the bachelor rate, £2 0s 0d

Interpretations

William Lane joined the fund some years after he reached the island, and the society made him pay for that delay. His £20 0s 0d represented four years' subscriptions at the married rate of £5 0s 0d, backdated to the day he arrived. This followed the resolution of 1799, under which a man who held back from the fund could later be admitted only by paying everything he would have owed had he joined at once. Without that rule an officer could wait until his health failed or his family grew before subscribing, and leave others to have carried the risk in the meantime. Lane's case differed from that of Major Torrence on 15 April 1805, who paid £35 0s 0d. Torrence bought his wife's full benefit in advance under the rule of 1774, whereas Lane settled arrears for the past.

The two rates had a direct purpose. A married man paid £5 0s 0d a year because his wife could claim a pension from the fund if he died. A bachelor such as William Brabazon paid only £2 0s 0d, since no widow yet stood to benefit. His subscription kept his place in the fund at low cost until he married and moved to the higher rate.

Lane joined the fund and became one of its managers on the same day. This suggests that he arrived with some standing in the Company's service, as the title of Esquire also indicates. Robert Leech returned as treasurer, an office he held in 1784, 1795, 1798 and 1803.

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55

No meeting held during the year 1808.

Robt. Leech Esqr. continued to act as Treasurer

Colonel Alexander Beatson Governor and

Lieut. Col. E. S. Broughton, Lieut. Governor having

been applied to to know if they wished to become

members of this Society declined But presented

each the sum of Fifty Pounds to be added to

the Funds of the Society.

The society held no meeting during 1808. Robert Leech carried on as treasurer.

The society asked Governor Alexander Beatson, a colonel, and Lieutenant Colonel E. S. Broughton, the Lieutenant Governor, whether they wished to become members. Both declined. Each instead gave £50 0s 0d to be added to the society's funds.

Interpretations

The Governor and his deputy turned down membership but gave money, and the difference mattered to the fund. Had they joined, they would have paid the married rate of £5 0s 0d a year, and their widows would have held a claim on a pension of £25 0s 0d a year for life. A single widow's pension could outweigh many years of a member's subscriptions. As outright gifts, their £100 0s 0d strengthened the fund without adding any future claim against it. The two senior officers of the island probably had no need of a pension of this size for their own families, and served on St Helena for a term rather than a career. A donation allowed them to support the Company's servants publicly while standing outside the society's obligations.

The refusal also stood apart from those of Captain John Weir and George Blinkins on 15 April 1805, who declined and gave nothing. The two gifts together were roughly equal to half a year's subscriptions from the whole membership in the 1780s.

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56

Monday 3 April 1809.

The Society met this Day at the

Castle and Voted the following Gentlemen Managers for the

ensuing Year.

Adam Baildon

Gabl. Doveton

Thos. Cole

Charles Sampson

Wm. Brabazon.

Who have chosen Mr. Thos. Cole as

Treasurer.

The following Gentlemen being desirous to be admitted Subscribers

to the Fund have accordingly signed the Book & paid their Subscriptions

Vizt.

Samuel Jones.

John Cruickshank Davd. Pritchard

T. Dunn [...] Adam Baildon

Wm. Seale

Ens.

Doctor Baildon this Day paid the Sum of

Thirty Pounds & became entitled to the full Benefit of the Fund.

Mr. Thos. H. Brooke this day Informed the Society that

Robert Brooke Esqr. did not intend to continue as a Subscriber, on which

his name was erased.

Lieut. [...] Shortis being asked to Subscribe to the

Fund refused.

The society met at the Castle on Monday 3 April 1809 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

Adam Baildon, Manager

Gabriel Doveton, Manager

Thomas Cole, Manager

Charles Sampson, Manager

William Brabazon, Manager

The managers chose Thomas Cole as treasurer.

Several gentlemen asked to be admitted to the fund. They signed the book and paid their subscriptions.

Samuel Jones

John Cruickshank

David Pritchard

[...] Dunn

G. M. Bradwick

Adam Baildon

William Seale, Ensign

Doctor Baildon paid £30 0s 0d on the same day, which entitled his wife to the full benefit of the fund.

Thomas H. Brooke told the society that Robert Brooke no longer meant to remain a subscriber. His name was struck from the list.

Lieutenant [...] Shortis was asked to subscribe to the fund and refused.

Interpretations

Doctor Adam Baildon paid £30 0s 0d in advance, six years at the married rate of £5 0s 0d. Under the rule of 1774 this bought a new member's widow the full pension at once, rather than leaving her to wait while her husband built up years of payments. Robert Brooke used the same rule in 1788, as did Lieutenant John Shirley in 1797 and Major Torrence on 15 April 1805. Baildon was also elected a manager on the day he joined, as William Lane was on 6 April 1807.

Robert Brooke's withdrawal ended a membership of 21 years that began with his own £30 0s 0d payment in 1788. The message came through Thomas H. Brooke, who was perhaps a son or other relative acting for him. Removal from the list cost Brooke everything he had paid in, since the fund made no refunds. It also ended any claim his wife might have had to a pension. A member of such long standing perhaps withdrew because he was leaving the island or no longer had a wife to provide for.

William Brabazon joined as a bachelor on 6 April 1807 at £2 0s 0d a year. Two years later he sat on the committee, which shows that the managers were drawn from the whole membership, not only from the married men whose families stood to benefit.

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Monday 2nd April 1810.

The Society met this day at the Billiard Room

and Voted the following Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year

Henry Cole

Benjamin Hodson

Thomas Brooke

Benjamin Hodson

William Knipe

Jno. A. Wright

Who have chosen Mr. Henry Cole

Treasurer.

The following Gentlemen having entered the Company's

Service were asked if they wished to subscribe Ensn. Jno. Pelham Hollis

refused, & Mr. Charles Blake paid his subscription & signed the Book

also Mr. Geo. Lott Phillips & David Leech paid their subscriptions.

2nd November

The following Letter received from the Revd. Mr.

Jones Chaplain, & Entered

St. Helena 2nd Novr. 1810

To the Manager of the Widows Fund.

Sir.

By a late Order of our Governor, all who

desired to be married privately, should pay twenty Guineas

The society met in the Billiard Room on Monday 2 April 1810 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

Henry Cole, Manager

Benjamin Hodson, Manager

Thomas Brooke, Manager

Start of crossed out section

Benjamin Hodson, Manager

End of crossed out section

William Knipe, Manager

John S. Wright, Manager

The managers chose Henry Cole as treasurer.

Several gentlemen who had recently joined the Company's service were asked whether they wished to subscribe. Ensign John Pelham Fiddes refused. Charles Blake paid his subscription and signed the book. George Lott Phillips and David Leech also paid their subscriptions.

On 2 November 1810 the society entered in the book a letter from the Reverend Mr Jones, the chaplain, written at St Helena that day and addressed to the manager of the widows' fund. Jones reported that a recent order of the government required everyone who wished to marry privately to pay a fee of 20 guineas.

Interpretations

A private marriage was one performed by licence in a house rather than in church after the banns had been read on three Sundays. It spared a couple the public announcement and the wait, and in England it carried social prestige. Twenty guineas, £21 0s 0d, was a heavy charge for the privilege. It exceeded four years' subscriptions to the fund at the married rate. The government on St Helena thus set a price high enough to keep church weddings the normal course and to make the private ceremony a mark of means. The chaplain addressed his letter to the fund's manager, so the order evidently bore on the society's affairs.

The society now approached men as they entered the Company's service rather than waiting for them to come forward. This put the question to newcomers at the point when joining was cheapest and when a refusal, such as that of Ensign Fiddes, was recorded against them from the start. Under the resolution of 1799 a man who refused and later changed his mind faced back payments for every year he had stayed out, as William Lane did on 6 April 1807.

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for a Special Licence, besides the Chaplains accustomed

Fee, this is Devoted to Charitable Purposes. I cannot

therefore perhaps better Dispose of Captain B. Hodson's

twenty Guineas than by giving it to the Widow's

Fund, accordingly I enclose twenty Guineas for the

benefit of that laudible Society.

I am Sir

Your humble Servt.

Samuel Jones.

This Letter contained the above mentioned Cash being

twenty One Pounds.

The chaplain Samuel Jones explained in his letter of 2 November 1810 that the government's order required 20 guineas for a special licence to marry privately. This charge was separate from the chaplain's usual fee, and the money was set aside for charitable purposes. Jones judged that he could find no better use for the 20 guineas paid by Captain B. Hodson than to give them to the widows' fund. He therefore enclosed 20 guineas for the benefit of the society, which he praised for its good work. The letter contained the money, amounting to £21 0s 0d.

Interpretations

The government's order turned a private wedding into a source of charitable funds. The special licence fee did not go to the chaplain or into the Company's revenue, and Jones had the discretion to choose where it went. He could have given it to the poor of the island or to the church, but he chose the widows' fund. That choice had an evident logic. Captain Benjamin Hodson, who paid the fee, was a manager of the fund in 1806 and again from 2 April 1810. His wedding therefore enriched the very society that would support his own widow. Jones also had a personal stake, since he joined the fund as a subscriber on 3 April 1809.

The gift of £21 0s 0d was worth more than four years' subscriptions from a married member. If the order produced a steady flow of such fees, private marriages among the island's officers could become a regular source of income for the fund, in the same way as the horse tax and the fines under the slave laws that the government granted to it in 1794.

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Monday 1st Apl. 1811.

The Society met this Day at

the Billiard Room and voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year.

Doctor Baildon

Mr. Charles Blake

Lieut. Jas. Torbett

Revd. Saml. Jones

Lieut. Andw. Wilson

Who have chosen Dr.

Adam Baildon Treasurer.

Mr. Henry Seale having entered the Company's

Service paid his Subscription and Signed the

Book

Some alterations having been proposed in the Rules

of this Society & there not being a sufficient number

of members present to come to a determination It

was agreed that another meeting should be held

on Monday 8th of April to take such proposals

into consideration

The society met in the Billiard Room on Monday 1 April 1811 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

Doctor Adam Baildon, Manager

Charles Blake, Manager

Lieutenant James Torbett, Manager

Reverend Samuel Jones, Manager

Lieutenant Andrew Wilson, Manager

The managers chose Doctor Adam Baildon as treasurer.

Henry Seale joined the Company's service, paid his subscription and signed the book.

Several changes to the society's rules were put forward. Too few members attended to settle them, and the meeting agreed to gather again on Monday 8 April to consider the proposals.

Interpretations

The members present declined to change the rules on their own authority and postponed the question by a week. Any alteration bound every subscriber and could affect what each widow received, so a decision by a small attendance would have exposed the society to challenge from absent members. The same principle lay behind earlier changes, which from 1797 also needed the approval of the Board.

The committee now included men who had joined only recently. Charles Blake signed the book on 2 April 1810 and became a manager a year later. Andrew Wilson joined at the married rate on 6 April 1807, and the chaplain Samuel Jones subscribed on 3 April 1809. Lieutenant James Torbett served on the committee nine years after an older Torbett left the fund in 1802.

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8th April 1811. St. Helena.

At a meeting this Day at the Session

House for the purpose of Determining wether the

Clause in the Subscribers meeting, and proceedings

dated the 6th of April 1789, shall stand, as far

as relates, respecting Inhabitants and others becoming

Subscribers. Vizt. "That in order to render this Institution

" more generally usefull, and to extend the Benefits "

" arising from it to the whole Community every Inhabi-

" tant or Others, shall be permitted to enter himself a

" Subscriber to this Fund."

It was agreed that this Clause

should be done away, and that in future no

persons but the Honble Company's Civil and

Military Servants of this Island should be admitted

as Subscribers.

Proposed That no Money should be lent in

future under Ten P Cent, and those

who have Money now at 7 P Cent

to be allowed two Years either to

pay ten P Cent, or discharge their

Bonds.

"Agreed."

The society met at the courthouse in St Helena on 8 April 1811 to decide whether a clause agreed at the subscribers' meeting of 6 April 1789 should remain in force. That clause concerned the admission of inhabitants and others as subscribers. It declared that any inhabitant or other person could join the fund, so that the society would serve a wider purpose and its benefits would reach the whole community.

The meeting agreed to abolish the clause. In future only the Company's civil and military servants on the island would be admitted as subscribers.

A proposal followed that the fund should lend no money in future at less than 10 per cent. Borrowers who currently held the society's money at 7 per cent would have two years either to begin paying 10 per cent or to repay their bonds. The meeting agreed.

Interpretations

The fund lent its capital to people on the island against bonds, which were written promises to repay with interest, and lived on the interest they brought in. The society raised its rate to 7 per cent in 1793 and now to 10 per cent. In England the usury laws capped interest at 5 per cent, so a lender at St Helena could charge double the legal limit at home. The higher rate reflected the scarcity of ready money on a remote island, where planters and traders had few other sources of credit. The two years' grace gave existing borrowers time to raise the money to repay or to adjust to the new terms. A sudden recall, like the one the fund carried out between 1789 and 1791, would have forced debtors to sell land or stock at short notice.

The meeting reversed the open admission of 1789 and limited membership once more to the Company's servants. Opening the fund to all inhabitants had promised more subscribers and more income, and the society gave that up. Planter families were settled on the island for generations, and their widows might draw a pension for decades. The Company's servants were a body the managers could ask, record and pursue through the government, as the approaches to new entrants on 2 April 1810 showed. Restricting the fund perhaps also kept it under the Board's oversight, which members had accepted since 1797.

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Proposed. No Money to be lent

by the Society, but upon Free

Hold Landed Security or Leases

upon Lives, and that the Money

at present lent on Lease hold

property shall be called in or

Transferred to Free hold Security, or

Lease upon Lives, at the Expiration

of the present Bonds.

"Agreed."

Mr. William Balcombe the Superintendant of

Sales was proposed as a member of this Society,

but was refused this Society being now confined

to the Honble Company's Servants.

Captn. Benjn. Hodson Mr. Chas. Blake

Lieut. James Torbet & Lieut. H. Broadway

paid their first subscriptions as

married men.

The meeting of 8 April 1811 went on to consider a further proposal about the society's lending. In future the society would lend money only on the security of freehold land or of leases held for lives. Money currently lent on leasehold property would be called in, or moved onto freehold or leases for lives, when the existing bonds expired. The meeting agreed.

William Balcombe, the superintendent of sales, was proposed for membership. The society refused him because it now admitted only the Company's servants.

Captain Benjamin Hodson, Charles Blake, Lieutenant James Torbett and Lieutenant H. Broadway paid their first subscriptions at the married rate.

Interpretations

The new lending rule concerned what a borrower could pledge if he failed to repay. Much land on St Helena was held from the Company on leases for a fixed term of years, as the lease registers show. Such a lease lost value as its end approached, and at expiry it was worth nothing to a creditor. A lease for lives ran until the last of several named people died, which often meant decades, while freehold belonged to the owner outright. The fund therefore moved its capital onto security that would still be worth something when a debt went bad. The managers waited for existing bonds to run out rather than recalling them at once, which avoided the disruption of the recall of 1789 to 1791.

The new limit on membership met its first test on the day it was passed. Balcombe held a public office on the island as superintendent of sales, yet the meeting evidently did not count him as one of the Company's own servants. Under the clause of 1789 he could have joined without question.

Four members moved to the married rate of £5 0s 0d a year. As bachelors they paid £2 0s 0d, which kept their place in the fund but gave no widow a claim. The higher rate now brought their wives under the fund's protection. Captain Hodson married by special licence late in 1810, and his 20 guineas reached the fund through the chaplain on 2 November 1810. Charles Blake signed the book on 2 April 1810, and a Broadway joined on 1 April 1806.

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6th April 1812.

The Society met this day in the Session

Room and chose the following Gentlemen Managers

for the ensuing year. Vizt.

W. W. Doveton

Robert Leech

Gabriel Doveton

Thomas Greentree Junr.

John Cruickshank

Who have chosen Thomas Greentree Esqr. Treasurer.

The following Gentlemen paid their first Subscription

as married men viz: Thomas Greentree Junr. John Cruickshank

Thomas Thorn, John Kay. David K. Pritchard

The Revd. Richd. Boys 2d Chaplin refused to become a

member of this Society.

Mr. John Torbett having entered the Companys Service has

been admitted a member of this Society Paid his Subscription

and signed the Book.

J. W. Torbett

The society met in the court room on 5 April 1812 and chose the following managers for the coming year.

W. W. Doveton, Manager

Robert Leech, Manager

Gabriel Doveton, Manager

Thomas Greentree junior, Manager

John Cruickshank, Manager

The managers chose Thomas Greentree as treasurer.

Five members paid their first subscriptions at the married rate.

Thomas Greentree junior

John Cruickshank

Thomas Thorn

John Kay

David K. Pritchard

The Reverend Richard Boys, the second chaplain, declined to join the society.

John W. Torbett entered the Company's service and was admitted as a member. He paid his subscription and signed the book.

Interpretations

The five men who moved to the married rate had married since their last subscription, and the change brought their wives under the fund's protection. A bachelor paid £2 0s 0d a year, which held his place in the society but gave no one a claim on it. At £5 0s 0d a year a married member secured a pension for his widow if he died. John Cruickshank and David Pritchard signed the book on 3 April 1809, presumably at the bachelor rate, and now paid for their wives' cover. Cruickshank was also elected a manager on the day he made the change.

The second chaplain's refusal stood in contrast to the first chaplain, Samuel Jones. Jones subscribed on 3 April 1809, served as a manager from 1 April 1811 and steered the special licence fee of 20 guineas into the fund on 2 November 1810. Boys was a Company servant and fully eligible under the rule of 8 April 1811, yet he chose to stay out.

John W. Torbett joined a year after Lieutenant James Torbett paid his first subscription as a married man on 8 April 1811. The family thus kept a presence in the fund that went back to the elder Torbett, who left in 1802.

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Monday 5th April 1813

The Society met this day at the

Police Office, and voted the following Gentlemen Managers

for the ensuing Year Vizt.

Thos. H. Brooke

John De Fountain

Charles Sampson

Andrew Wilson

Charles Blake

Who have chosen John De Fountain

Treasurer.

Mr. Daniel O'Connor having entered

the Honble Company's Service, has been admitted a Member of this

Society, paid his Subscription, and signed the Book.

D: O'Connor

The Treasurer having represented to

the Managers and Subscribers to the Widows Fund, the great loss

and inconvenience arising to said Fund, from the 4th Article

of the Regulations made on the 1st April 1766 by which

a Subscriber, or a person holding a Bond, is at liberty to

keep back his Subscription, or Interest of Money, Six Months

after 1st April. They resolved in consequence to put to the

Vote, whether said Regulation should not be rescinded

When it was unanimously agreed to by the undermentioned

Subscribers

The society met at the Police Office on Monday 5 April 1813 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

John De Fountain, Manager

Charles Sampson, Manager

Andrew Wilson, Manager

Charles Blake, Manager

The managers chose John De Fountain as treasurer.

Daniel O'Connor entered the Company's service and was admitted as a member. He paid his subscription and signed the book.

The treasurer told the managers and subscribers that the fund suffered serious loss and inconvenience from the fourth article of the rules made on 1 April 1766. That article allowed a subscriber to delay his subscription, and a borrower to delay the interest on his bond, for six months after 1 April. The managers therefore put to the vote whether the rule should be abolished. The subscribers whose names follow agreed unanimously.

Interpretations

The fourth article of 1766 gave every member and every borrower six months' grace beyond the annual due date. In the fund's first years, with no widows yet drawing pensions, a late payment cost little. By 1813 the fund had pensions to pay at £25 0s 0d a year each and capital lent out at the new rate of 10 per cent set on 8 April 1811. Money held back for half a year could not be paid out or lent again, and the treasurer bore the shortfall. The rule had stood for 47 years, and its removal came from the man who handled the accounts and saw the cost directly.

Thomas H. Brooke, now a manager, was the member who told the society on 3 April 1809 that Robert Brooke would no longer subscribe. The family thus remained involved in the fund after Robert Brooke's departure.

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Subscribers, who resolved that henceforward any Person who

should delay making the said payment fifteen Days after

the 1st April, should, if a Subscriber, forfeit what he had

already paid and be excluded the Society, and if a person

holding a Bond, he should immediately be called upon to

discharge it.

Thos. Lester W. W. Doveton Benjn. Hodson

Patk. Hellery Robert Leech Chs. Sampson

Andw. Wilson E. C. Smith B. Allright

Thos. Cole Gabl. Doveton Thos. Greentree

Chs. Hodson T. H. Brooke D: Kay Junr.

A. Baildon R. H. Leech Chs. Blake

Henry Cole D: K: Pritchard

On 5 April 1813 the subscribers voted unanimously to abolish the six months' grace allowed under the rules of 1766. They resolved that from then on any subscriber who failed to pay within 15 days of 1 April would lose everything he had already paid and be expelled from the society. Any borrower who failed to pay his interest within the same period would be required to repay his bond at once. The following subscribers signed the resolution.

Thomas Lester

Patrick Hellin

Andrew Wilson

Thomas Cole

Charles Hodson

A. Baildon

Henry Cole

W. W. Doveton

Robert Leech

E. C. Smith

Gabriel Doveton

T. H. Brooke

R. H. Leech

Benjamin Hodson

Charles Sampson

B. Albright

Thomas Greentree

D. Kay junior

Charles Blake

D. K. Pritchard

Interpretations

The subscribers cut the period of grace from six months to 15 days and made forfeiture the penalty. They could have kept some leniency or imposed a fine for late payment. Instead a member who missed the deadline lost every subscription he had ever paid, and his wife lost her claim to a pension. A married man of 20 years' standing stood to lose £100 0s 0d or more and his family's protection for the sake of a fortnight's delay. Such a severe penalty made punctual payment a matter of self-interest for every member, which a fine could not have achieved. For borrowers the threat was immediate repayment of the whole loan. Under the rule of 8 April 1811 the fund now lent only on freehold land or leases for lives, so it could enforce such a demand against secure property.

Patrick Hellin signed the resolution ten years after his readmission in 1803. Having once lost his place, he now agreed to a rule that would expel others more quickly than he had been.

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Monday 4th April 1814.

The Society met this day at the

Sessions House and Voted the following Gentlemen

Managers for the ensuing Year vizt.

John Mason
Richd. H. Leech
Chas. R. Hodson
John Kay
Benjamin Hodson
Managers

Who have Chosen Charles R. Hodson

Treasurer.

The following Gentlemen paid their

Subscriptions as Married Men vizt. Ones: Beale and

John W. Torbett.

The following Gentlemen entered into the

Honble Company's Service were also admitted as Members

of this Society; Paid their Subscriptions and affixed

their Signatures.

John Melliss

J. B. Spiller

James Bennett

The society met at the courthouse on Monday 4 April 1814 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

John Mason, Manager

Richard H. Leech, Manager

Charles R. Hodson, Manager

John Kay, Manager

Benjamin Hodson, Manager

The managers chose Charles R. Hodson as treasurer.

Onesiphorus Beale and John W. Torbett paid their subscriptions at the married rate.

Three gentlemen who had entered the Company's service were admitted as members. They paid their subscriptions and signed the book.

John Melliss

J. B. Spiller

James Bennett

Interpretations

Beale and Torbett had both married since their last payment and now moved from the bachelor rate of £2 0s 0d to the married rate of £5 0s 0d a year. The bachelor rate held a man's place in the fund but gave no one a claim on it. The married rate secured a pension for his widow if he died. O. Beale signed the book among the ten new members after the meeting of 15 April 1805, and paid as a single man for nine years before his marriage brought his wife under the fund's protection. John W. Torbett joined on 5 April 1812, two years before he made the same change.

These were the first subscriptions paid under the resolution of 5 April 1813. Every member now had to pay within 15 days of 1 April or lose all he had paid, so the change of rate on marriage had to be made promptly to secure a wife's cover.

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Monday 22d August, 1814.

Society Meeting at the Session House

Mr. Thomas H. Brooke by Letter of Attorney

made a demand for the Arrears of Annuity due

to the two youngest Children of Colonel Patton decd.

Resolved that the Sum of £66 . 10 . 9 calculated

to be due to them from the 18th January 1812 to the

31st March 1814 should be paid from the Balance

remaining in the Treasurers hands.

Captain P. Hellery was Voted in as a

Manager in consequence of the decease of one of the

present Managers.

The Treasurer represented to the Subscribers

his inability to deliver over the Books to the

succeeding Treasurer by reason of the difficulties he

has had to recover the Interest due on certain

Bonds particularly the Interest due on Bond

from the Estate of William Julio decd. Resolved

that the Executors to said Estate should be called

upon immediately to discharge the Interest due,

and also to pay off the Amount of said Bond

on the 1st day of April next.

The society met at the courthouse on Monday 22 August 1814.

Thomas H. Brooke, acting under a power of attorney, claimed the arrears of the annuity owed to the two youngest children of the late Colonel Patton. The meeting resolved that the sum calculated as due to them from 18 January 1812 to 31 March 1814, £66 [...]s [...]d, should be paid from the balance held by the treasurer.

Captain P. Hellin was elected a manager in place of one of the current managers, who had died.

The treasurer told the subscribers that he could not hand the books over to his successor. He had struggled to collect the interest due on certain bonds, and above all on the bond owed by the estate of the late William [...]. The meeting resolved that the executors of that estate should be called upon at once to pay the interest due. They were also to repay the whole bond on 1 April 1815.

Interpretations

The fund supported orphans as well as widows, and paid an annuity to the children of a deceased member until they reached an age set by the rules. Only the two youngest of Colonel Patton's children now qualified, so the older ones had evidently passed beyond the fund's support. The claim covered more than two years and was made through an attorney, which suggests the children were living away from the island. Brooke, a manager in 1813, acted for them.

The treasurer who could not close his accounts was John De Fountain, elected on 5 April 1813 and replaced by Charles R. Hodson on 4 April 1814. Under the resolution of 5 April 1813 a borrower who fell behind with his interest was to repay his bond at once. With the borrower dead, the managers did not enforce that rule to the letter. They demanded the arrears of interest immediately but gave the executors until the following April to repay the capital. An estate needed time to collect debts or sell property, and a forced sale would perhaps have yielded less than the bond was worth. The fund could afford to wait because the loan was secured on land under the rule of 8 April 1811.

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Monday 3d April 1815

The Society met this day at the

Sessions House and voted the following

Gentlemen Managers for the ensuing Year.

viz.

Gabriel Doveton Esqr.
Captain Lester
Captain Broadway
Lieut. James Torbett
Mr. Charles Blake.
Managers

Who have chosen Mr. Charles

Blake Treasurer

Mr. Anthony Beale paid his first

subscription as a married man.

Lieut. Cunningham who entered

the Service in June 1813 declined becoming

a Member of this Society.

The following Gentlemen on

entering the Service were admitted as

Members of this Society; paid their subscrip-

tions and affixed their Signatures. The former

as a married man.

James Renesay

Paul McMahon

The society met at the courthouse on Monday 3 April 1815 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

Gabriel Doveton, Manager

Captain Lester, Manager

Captain Broadway, Manager

Lieutenant James Torbett, Manager

Charles Blake, Manager

The managers chose Charles Blake as treasurer.

Anthony Beale paid his first subscription at the married rate.

Lieutenant Cunninghame, who entered the Company's service in June 1813, declined to join the society.

Two gentlemen who had entered the service were admitted as members. They paid their subscriptions and signed the book, the first of them at the married rate.

James [...], married rate

Paul McMahon

Interpretations

Anthony Beale's move to the married rate followed his marriage. He now paid £5 0s 0d a year instead of the bachelor's £2 0s 0d, and the higher payment gave his wife a claim to a pension if he died. Onesiphorus Beale made the same change on 4 April 1814, so two members of the family brought their wives under the fund's protection in successive years.

The first of the new entrants was already married and joined at the higher rate from the start. His wife was covered from that day, although under the rule of 1774 a newcomer's widow drew the full pension only after six years' payments, unless he paid that sum in advance as Doctor Adam Baildon did on 3 April 1809.

Lieutenant Cunninghame had been in the service for almost two years before he gave his answer. The society now asked men as they entered, and his refusal was recorded against the date he joined the service. If he changed his mind later, the resolution of 1799 obliged him to pay every year's subscription back to June 1813, as William Lane did on 6 April 1807.

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Monday 8. May 1815

The Society met this day at the

Sessions House. When the Treasurer informed

them that he had been unable to obtain

from the Administratrix, and Administrator

of Wm. Julio's Estate the Interest on the

Mortgage

Mr. Solomon being sent for

produced a General Release.

It appears by an entry in consul-

tation of the 14th December 1814 that

Mr. Green was permitted by the

Governor and Council to act as an

Administrator in the place of Mr. S.

Solomon. Mr. Green appeared before

the meeting, and declares that he

cannot pay the Interest.

Mrs. S. Doing has also made the

same declaration to the Treasurer

Resolved that the Treasurer

be directed to enforce the Bond and

he was directed to do accordingly.

Jno. Legg Robt. Leech

Fr. Lester Chs. Blake

J. B. Spiller R. H. Leech

P. McMahon T. W. Cole

The society met at the courthouse on Monday 8 May 1815. The treasurer reported that he had failed to obtain the interest due on the mortgage from the administratrix and administrator of the estate of William Julio.

Mr Solomon was sent for and produced a general release. An entry in the Council's proceedings of 14 December 1814 showed that the Governor and Council had allowed Mr Green to act as administrator in place of Mr S. Solomon. Green attended the meeting and stated that he could not pay the interest. Mrs [...] had made the same statement to the treasurer.

The meeting resolved that the treasurer should enforce the bond and instructed him to proceed. The following members signed.

John Kay

T. Lester

J. B. Spiller

P. McMahon

Robert Leech

Charles Blake

R. H. Leech

W. W. Cole

Interpretations

An administrator was the person appointed to settle the affairs of someone who died without a valid will. He collected the debts owed to the estate, paid what it owed and passed on the remainder to the heirs. Julio's estate had two, a woman acting as administratrix and a man as administrator. Solomon had held the post and produced a release clearing him of responsibility. The Governor and Council replaced him with Green on 14 December 1814, so the fund's claim passed from one man to another and neither had paid.

On 22 August 1814 the managers gave the executors until 1 April 1815 to repay the bond and demanded only the arrears of interest at once. That grace had now run out, and both administrators declared that the estate could not even meet the interest. The managers could have waited longer for the estate to be wound up, but instead told the treasurer to enforce the bond. The loan was a mortgage, secured on land as the rule of 8 April 1811 required, so enforcement meant seizing or selling the property pledged against it. The security rule thus proved its worth within four years of its adoption.

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P. Hellery M. Hunter

Dav: Kay Senr.

John De Fountain O. Beale

Robert Leech D. K. Pritchard

John Kay

Monday 8th April 1816

The Society met this day at the

Library when C. R. G. Hodson the Treasurer for

1815 reported that he had not been able to

collect the whole of the Subscriptions for the last

Year and further that the whole of the Interest

on the two following Bonds has not been paid

Vizt.

William Seale Senr. £10 . 1 . 4

Moses Mills's Estate 17

in consequence of which the Treasurer did not

feel himself justified in enforcing the penalty of

the Bond from W. Julio's estate, agreeably to

the resolution of the 8th May last, on which Bond

a second years Interest is due amounting to

£110

The following Gentlemen on entering

the Service were admitted as Members of this

Society, paid their Subscriptions as Single men &

affixed their Signatures.

Geo. Paterson

John Hammond

A. Younge

Further members signed the resolution of 8 May 1815 to enforce the bond on William Julio's estate.

P. Hellin

David Kay senior

John De Fountain

Robert Leech

W. Hunter

O. Beale

D. K. Pritchard

John Kay

The society met at the Library on Monday 8 April 1816. C. R. G. Hodson, the treasurer for 1815, reported that he had not managed to collect all the subscriptions for the past year. He added that the interest on two bonds remained partly unpaid.

William Seale senior, interest outstanding, £10 1s 4d

Estate of Moses Mills, interest outstanding, £17 0s 0d

For that reason the treasurer did not think himself justified in enforcing the penalty on the bond owed by William Julio's estate, as the resolution of 8 May 1815 directed. A second year's interest was now due on that bond, bringing the arrears to £110 0s 0d.

Three gentlemen who had entered the service were admitted as members. They paid their subscriptions at the single men's rate and signed the book.

George Paterson

John Hammond

A. Young

Interpretations

A bond of this period named a penalty, usually twice the sum lent, which became payable if the borrower defaulted. Enforcing the penalty meant taking the debtor to court for that larger sum, and in practice forcing the sale of the land pledged. The treasurer had the society's clear instruction to proceed against Julio's estate but held back. Two other borrowers were also behind, and members had failed to pay their subscriptions. Pursuing one estate to the full rigour of the law while others went unpressed would have been unequal treatment, and perhaps open to challenge in court. Hodson chose to bring the matter back to the members rather than act alone. The Julio debt had meanwhile grown to £110 0s 0d, a sum larger than a year's subscriptions from half the membership.

The unpaid subscriptions showed the limits of the resolution of 5 April 1813. That rule threatened any member who missed the 15-day deadline with expulsion and the loss of all he had paid. Three years later the treasurer reported arrears but named no one and expelled no one.

Moses Mills served as a manager in 1807. His estate now appeared among the fund's defaulting borrowers.

The three newcomers paid £2 0s 0d a year as single men. This kept their places in the fund at low cost, but gave no one a claim on it until they married and moved to the married rate of £5 0s 0d.

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Tuesday 1st April 1817

The Society met this day at the

Library and voted the following Gentlemen

Managers for the ensuing Year.

W. W. Doveton Esqr.
Robert Leech Esqr.
T. H. Brooke Esqr.
Lt. Col. Wright
Chs. Blake Esqr.
Managers

Who have chosen

Treasurer

The society met at the Library on Tuesday 1 April 1817 and elected the following managers for the coming year.

W. W. Doveton, Manager

Robert Leech, Manager

T. H. Brooke, Manager

Lieutenant Colonel Wright, Manager

Charles Blake, Manager

The record left blank the name of the treasurer the managers chose.

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Thursday 6th April 1820

At a meeting of Subscribers

held at the Library this day, the

following address was laid before

the meeting by the Treasurer viz

Gentlemen

I am concerned at

being under the necessity of stating to

this meeting that I have held the Treasurership

of this long established & useful Society for

several Years instead of resigning the

books &c at the expiration of my first

Year of office. This has been owing to

a defalcation in many of the Members

in paying their Annual Subscriptions,

and in some of the Mortgagees in

paying the Interest of money, and I am

sorry to state that a portion of both

still remains unpaid, as will appear

on reference to the Account Current.

In fact a considerable part of the

balance now in hand has only been

received within the last week which

I ought to have had at least a Year

ago. Notwithstanding the unsettled state

A meeting of subscribers took place at the Library on Thursday 6 April 1820, and the treasurer laid a written address before it.

The treasurer regretted having to tell the meeting that he had kept the accounts of the society for several years. He should have handed over the books when his first year in office ended. Many members, however, had failed to pay their annual subscriptions, and some borrowers had not paid the interest on their mortgages. Part of both sums was still outstanding, as the current account would show. Indeed, much of the balance now in his hands had arrived only in the past week, although it should have been paid at least a year earlier. The treasurer went on to speak of the unsettled state of the society's affairs despite these late payments.

Interpretations

The treasurer could not simply step down when his year ended, because a treasurer passed on his office only with a closed account in which every sum due had been collected or explained. John De Fountain met the same obstacle on 22 August 1814, when the Julio bond prevented him from handing over the books. The present treasurer stayed in post for several years rather than leave a successor to chase debts he had allowed to build up. No annual meeting appears in the record between 1 April 1817 and this one, so the arrears grew unchecked through three years without elections.

The resolution of 5 April 1813 allowed members 15 days after 1 April to pay, on pain of expulsion and the loss of everything they had paid. The treasurer's complaint showed that many members had ignored this rule and kept their places. A penalty that the managers would not impose on so many members at once had become a dead letter. The current account he cited was the running statement of everything received and paid out, and it now set out the scale of the shortfall for the members to see.

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of the Society I am compelled from

a pressure of other business to resign

my Office, and request you will

appoint a Committee of Managers

to receive the books Bonds & Balance

now in hand & to transact the business

of the present Year.

I think it advisable

that this meeting should endeavour

to impress on the minds of the members

the propriety of a more punctual

discharge of the trifling annual

subscription in order to secure

permanency to an ancient Society

which affords a small income to

the widows and orphans of our

deceased fellows.

At the request of Mr.

W. Henry Seale of the Civil Service, a

married man, I beg to propose that

he be admitted a Member on

paying the Arrears from his first

entering the Service.

This Meeting not being

sufficiently numerous to transact

business it was put & adjourned

The treasurer's address of 6 April 1820 continued with his decision to leave office. Despite the unsettled state of the society's finances, pressure of other business forced him to resign. He asked the meeting to appoint a committee of managers to take over the books, the bonds and the balance in hand, and to conduct the society's business for the current year.

The treasurer urged the meeting to impress on members the importance of paying their small annual subscriptions on time. Only punctual payment would secure the future of a long-established society that provided a modest income for the widows and orphans of deceased colleagues.

At the request of W. Henry Seale of the civil service, a married man, the treasurer proposed that Seale be admitted a member on paying all the subscriptions due since he first entered the service.

Too few members attended to conduct business, and the meeting was adjourned.

Interpretations

The treasurer called the annual subscription small, and the contrast with what it bought explained his frustration. A married member paid £5 0s 0d a year, and in return his widow could draw a pension of £25 0s 0d a year for life. Members who let their payments lapse risked their wives' protection for a trivial saving and left the fund unable to meet the claims of existing widows. The treasurer chose to resign instead of continuing to carry the accounts, but he would not leave them to a single successor. He asked for a committee to take them over, so that responsibility for the arrears would be shared.

Seale's admission followed the rule of 1799, under which a man who stayed out of the fund could later join only by paying every year he had missed. William Lane paid £20 0s 0d on that basis on 6 April 1807. As a married man Seale owed the arrears at £5 0s 0d a year, which made the cost of his delay considerable. He was perhaps the Henry Seale who entered the Company's service and subscribed on 1 April 1811, and whose membership had since lapsed. The adjournment for lack of numbers repeated what happened on 1 April 1811, and at a meeting dealing with the treasurer's resignation it showed how far the members' interest had fallen.

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Wednesday the 12th Instant

When the following Gentlemen

were chosen as Managers viz

Sir W. W. Doveton Knt.

Thos. H. Brooke Esqr.

Lieut. Col. Wright

Charles Blake Esqr.

William Brabazon Esqr.

Charles Blake Esqr. who have chosen

Treasurer

Mr. W. Henry Seale of the

Civil Service, the Revd. B. J. Vernon 2d

Chaplain, & Mr. George Blenkins of the

Civil Service, all married men having

Children, were proposed to be

admitted members of the Society

They were accordingly admitted by the

unanimous voice of the members present,

on the following conditions which were

carried by Ballot, by paying the arrears of Subscription

due with the usual Interest on the

same Also a donation to the Fund

of Twenty four (£24) pounds each, which

will place them on the same footing

as if they had been paying regularly

from

The adjourned meeting took place on Wednesday 12 April 1820, and the following gentlemen were chosen as managers.

Sir W. W. Doveton, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

Lieutenant Colonel Wright, Manager

Charles Blake, Manager

William Brabazon, Manager

The managers chose Charles Blake as treasurer.

Three married men with children were proposed for membership: W. Henry Seale of the civil service, the Reverend B. J. Vernon, the second chaplain, and George Blinkins, also of the civil service. The members present admitted them unanimously, on conditions settled by ballot. Each was to pay the arrears of his subscriptions with the usual interest on them. Each was also to give the fund £24 0s 0d, which would place him in the same position as if he had paid regularly throughout.

Interpretations

The terms set for these three men were harsher than any the society had imposed before. William Lane paid only his arrears when he joined late on 6 April 1807. Now the members added interest on every missed year and a further £24 0s 0d each. All three were married with children, and so applied at the point when their families stood to gain most from the fund. A man who joined only once he had a wife and children to protect had avoided years of payments while the risk was small. The interest made good what the fund would have earned by lending those subscriptions at 10 per cent under the rule of 8 April 1811. The donation removed any advantage left from the delay. Settling the conditions by ballot let members vote freely on terms that bore heavily on colleagues.

George Blinkins refused to subscribe when asked on 15 April 1805. Fifteen years later he sought admission, evidently because his family now gave him reason to. The second chaplain's office also changed its stance. The Reverend Richard Boys declined membership on 5 April 1812, whereas his successor in the post joined.

W. W. Doveton had been knighted since he last served as a manager on 1 April 1817.

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from their entering the Service

W. H. Seale Dep.

Treasurer

Circular to Mr. John Legg, administrators

to Wm. Julio's Estate, and Major Wm. Seale.

Sir

I enclose you a Copy of an advertisement

requiring the present years Int. on Bonds to the Widows Fund and

all arrears due on the same account to be

paid by the 1st of next month which I hope will be

done to prevent the steps therein mentioned being followed

I am &

22d May 1820. C. Blake

Treasurer

The conditions agreed on 12 April 1820 placed each of the three new members in the same position as if he had paid regularly from the day he entered the service. The record of the meeting was signed by [...] as treasurer.

On 22 May 1820 Charles Blake, the treasurer, sent a circular letter to John Legg, administrator of William Julio's estate, and to Major W. Seale. He enclosed a copy of an advertisement about the current year's interest on bonds held by the widows' fund. The advertisement required all arrears of such interest to be paid by 1 June 1820. Blake hoped that both men would pay by then, so that the measures set out in the advertisement need not be taken.

Interpretations

Blake moved against the society's two oldest debts within six weeks of taking office. The Julio bond had been in default since at least 22 August 1814, when the managers first demanded the interest. On 8 May 1815 they ordered the bond enforced, and on 8 April 1816 the treasurer held back because others were also in arrears. The estate had meanwhile passed through three administrators, Solomon, Green and now Legg, and the debt had followed it unpaid. William Seale senior owed £10 1s 4d in interest in 1816, and Major W. Seale was perhaps the same man, now promoted.

A notice in print turned a private debt into a public matter. Every borrower on the island could read the deadline and the threatened consequences, and the two defaulters knew their names would be associated with it. A treasurer whose predecessor had resigned over unpaid arrears now used publicity and a firm date to recover them, rather than another round of private requests.

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Monday 5th April 1821

At a meeting of Subscribers held at the

Library this day

The following Gentlemen were elected Managers

for the ensuing year

1 Thomas Greentree Esqr.

2 Major Pritchard

3 Captain Sampson

4 Captain Broadway and

5 Lieutenant Armstrong

who chose the latter gentleman Treasurer

It was unanimously resolved as a

measure likely to benefit the Fund that the Senior

member only of the Committee of Managers should

retire annually, that the remaining four should

continue in office and that another member should

be chosen to fill the vacancy.

That an early day should be named

for summoning a General meeting of the

Subscribers to take into consideration a plan

for extending the benefits of the said fund by

additional Subscriptions.

A meeting of subscribers took place at the Library on Monday 5 April 1821, and the following gentlemen were elected managers for the coming year.

1: Thomas Greentree, Manager

2: Major Pritchard, Manager

3: Captain Sampson, Manager

4: Captain Broadway, Manager

5: Lieutenant Armstrong, Manager

The managers chose Lieutenant Armstrong as treasurer.

The meeting resolved unanimously that only the longest-serving member of the committee should stand down each year. The other four would stay in office, and a new member would be elected to fill the single vacancy. The members expected this change to benefit the fund.

The meeting also agreed to fix an early date for a general meeting of subscribers. That meeting would consider a plan to increase the fund's benefits by means of additional subscriptions.

Interpretations

Since 1766 the society had elected a full committee every April, and the managers of one year often shared no one with those of the next. The members now gave up that practice for a rolling committee in which four of the five managers carried over each year. The record of the previous decade showed the cost of constant turnover. John De Fountain could not hand over the books on 22 August 1814, the Julio debt passed unpaid from one committee to the next, and a treasurer stayed in office for several years until he resigned on 6 April 1820. A committee with continuous membership could follow a defaulting borrower or a lapsed member from year to year instead of leaving each new set of managers to discover the problem afresh.

The plan to raise benefits through higher subscriptions came as the fund recovered its arrears. Charles Blake pressed the Julio estate and Major Seale for payment by 1 June 1820, and the three late entrants admitted on 12 April 1820 paid arrears with interest and £24 0s 0d each. The pension stood at £25 0s 0d a year, the level set in 1797, and members now looked to increase it.

Major Pritchard was perhaps David K. Pritchard, who joined on 3 April 1809 and moved to the married rate on 5 April 1812.

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The following letter was laid before the Meeting

To the Managers of the Widows Fund

Gentlemen,

not knowing for a considerable

time after my arrival in St. Helena that an

institution of this nature existed here and never

having been asked to become a Subscriber I

respectfully beg leave to suggest the hardship

I shall suffer by now becoming a Subscriber to

the Widows Fund on the same terms with those

who have been solicited to subscribe and have

refused so to do.

I venture therefore humbly to

hope that my case may be taken into your

favorable consideration, and terms proposed

for my admission somewhat more lenient

than those upon which others above alluded

to have been admitted.

I have &c

(Signed) B. J. Vernon

2d Chaplain

The Meeting decided that their resolution

of the 12th April 1820 on the same subject should

not be departed from.

The meeting of 5 April 1821 received a letter to the managers of the widows' fund from the Reverend B. J. Vernon, the second chaplain. Vernon explained that for a long time after his arrival on St Helena he did not know the fund existed, and that no one ever asked him to subscribe. He argued that it would be a hardship to admit him on the same terms as men who had been asked to join and had refused. He therefore hoped the managers would consider his case favourably and offer him rather gentler terms than those applied to the others.

The meeting decided not to depart from its resolution of 12 April 1820 on the subject.

Interpretations

Vernon's plea had real force, because the society's own practice supported it. From 2 April 1810 the managers made a point of asking men as they entered the Company's service, and a refusal was recorded against the date of entry. Blinkins refused on 15 April 1805, but nothing in the record shows that anyone approached Vernon. The penalty of arrears with interest and £24 0s 0d was designed for men who chose to stay out until they had families to protect. On his own account Vernon had made no such choice.

The members still refused to soften the terms. Seale and Blinkins were admitted on the same conditions on 12 April 1820, and any concession to Vernon would have invited them to seek the same relief. A married man with children who joined late still brought the fund the same risk, whatever his reasons for the delay. Holding to the rule protected the fund's finances at a time when the members were planning to raise benefits. A year after his admission, Vernon had evidently not yet met the conditions and hoped to have them reduced.

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Ensign William Mason on entering the

Service was admitted a member of the Society and

paid his subscription as a single man.

Thursday 15th April 1821

At a Meeting of the Subscribers

held at the Library this day

Several Propositions and regulations

having been submitted to the Subscribers assembled

Which appeared to them Calculated to benefit the

fund in a very great degree It was resolved

to have said Regulations Copied fair and sent

Round to the Subscribers in Order that it may

be ascertained how far the are approved of

The Committee of the Widows

Fund beg to submit the following propositions

and regulations to the consideration and decision

of the Subscribers earnestly entreating

them, at the same time to bestow a careful and

candid attention to them, recollecting that it is

their Wives and Children they are intended

to benefit when they are left perhaps without

protection and Friends The

Committee trust the unmarried Gentle-

men will not refuse their assent to a measure

attended as it is with so trifling an inconve-

nience to them, and when the Families of

some of their nearest Friends are likely to be

benefitted.

Ensign William Mason entered the service and was admitted to the society at the meeting of 5 April 1821. He paid his subscription at the single man's rate.

A further meeting of subscribers took place at the Library on Thursday 15 April 1821. Several proposals and new rules were laid before those present, who judged that they would greatly benefit the fund. The meeting resolved to have the rules written out in a clean copy and circulated to the subscribers, to find out how far they approved of them.

The committee of the widows' fund introduced its proposals with an appeal to the subscribers. It asked them to give the rules careful and open-minded thought, and to remember that the changes aimed to help their own wives and children. These families might one day be left without anyone to protect or support them. The committee trusted that the unmarried members would not withhold their agreement. The measure would cost them very little, and the families of some of their closest friends stood to benefit from it.

Interpretations

The managers chose to put the new rules to every subscriber in writing rather than settle them at a meeting. Twice in recent years, on 1 April 1811 and 6 April 1820, too few members attended to conduct business. A circulated copy reached the absent as well as the present and gave the result a wider authority than a vote by a handful of members could carry.

The committee's direct appeal to the bachelors showed where the cost of the plan would fall. A single member paid £2 0s 0d a year and had no wife who could claim a pension, so his subscription supported the families of married colleagues. The proposals evidently asked more of the unmarried members, while the gains went to those with wives and children. The committee could not compel their support, so it argued instead from friendship and from the small cost to each man. Most bachelors also expected to marry in time and so to need the fund themselves.

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St. Helena, May 1st 1821.

It has been suggested to me by many

of the Subscribers of this long established Society

for the benefit of the Widows and Orphans

of deceased Company's Servants, that they are

desirous of increasing the annual Subscription

with a view of affording our future Widows and

Orphans a more ample means of maintenance

than they are by the present regulations entitled

to and as I most cordially accord in that

sentiment, I have committed the following

proposals to paper, and with submission request

you will take the necessary means of ascertaining

the sentiments of all the Members of the Society

in order that the proposals may be carried

into effect if they appear proper, or with such

modifications as may seem conducive to the

advantage of the Society.

Proposal 1st. That every married Member shall

make his Subscription up to £30, to the 1st April

1821 in order that all may be on an equality

in regard to annuity in case of Death.

2nd That henceforth the annual Subscription

shall be £12, married and £6, unmarried

Members.

3rd That in case of the death of a married

Subscriber having a Widow, or Orphans under

the prescribed age, after the first year of such

additional subscription, the Annuitant shall

receive £44, a year after the second year £51,

A letter dated at St Helena on 1 May 1821 set out the proposals for the fund. Its writer reported that many subscribers had suggested raising the annual subscription. They wished to give future widows and orphans a more adequate income than the existing rules allowed. The writer agreed with them and put the following proposals in writing. He asked that the views of every member be collected, so that the proposals could be adopted as they stood or with whatever changes seemed best for the society.

1: Every married member should bring his total payments up to £30 0s 0d, calculated to 1 April 1821. All married members would then stand equal in their widows' claim to the annuity if they died.

2: From then on the annual subscription should be £12 0s 0d for married members and £6 0s 0d for unmarried members.

3: If a married subscriber died leaving a widow, or orphans under the age set by the rules, the annuity would rise with the number of years he had paid at the higher rate. After the first year of the increased subscription, the widow or orphans would receive £44 0s 0d a year. After the second year, they would receive £57 0s 0d a year.

Interpretations

The proposals more than doubled the married rate, from £5 0s 0d to £12 0s 0d a year, and tripled the bachelor rate from £2 0s 0d to £6 0s 0d. This explained the committee's appeal to the unmarried members on 15 April 1821. Bachelors faced the steepest rise in proportion, for a benefit that would go to other men's families until they married themselves.

The first proposal applied to all married members a principle the fund had used since 1774. Under that rule a newcomer paid £30 0s 0d, six years at the married rate, to secure his widow the full pension at once, as Doctor Adam Baildon did on 3 April 1809. Many married members had joined recently or moved to the married rate only a year or two earlier, and had paid far less. Requiring each to make up the difference to £30 0s 0d removed the advantage a short-standing member would otherwise gain from a fund built up by others.

The third proposal tied the higher annuity to years of payment at the new rate. A widow would not receive the increased pension the moment her husband began paying more, but only as his contributions accumulated. This protected the fund against a member who might pay the higher rate for a single year and leave a widow drawing £44 0s 0d or more for life. The pension had stood at £25 0s 0d since 1797, and the scheme aimed to more than double it.

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after the third £58, after the fourth and fifth

£65, and after the sixth year £72 a year,

the highest annuity.

4th All future married Members

to commence the Subscription of £12, a

year, and in case of death in the first

year, the Annuitant to receive £24, a year,

after the second £36, after the third £48,

after the fourth and fifth £60, and after the

sixth £72 a year.

5th A Gentleman henceforth on

entering the Service, refusing to become a

Subscriber, shall not afterwards be admitted

but by Ballot, one third to exclude and

then not without paying up all arrears from

the time of entering the Service to the time

of admission, with interest on the same and

making a donation to the Fund of Fifty

Pounds.

6th Any Gentleman in the Service

having been once a Member, and having

withdrawn from the Society can only be re-ad-

mitted under the same restrictions.

7th It being most desirable and

necessary to have the Subscriptions regularly

and punctually paid, it is proposed to make

a request of His Excellency The Governor

The third proposal of 1 May 1821 set out the full scale of annuities for existing married members. After the third year at the new rate the widow or orphans would receive £58 0s 0d a year. After the fourth and fifth years they would receive £65 0s 0d. After the sixth year they would receive £72 0s 0d a year, the highest annuity the scheme allowed.

4: Every married man joining in future would pay £12 0s 0d a year from the start. If he died in his first year, his widow or orphans would receive £24 0s 0d a year. The annuity would rise to £36 0s 0d after his second year, £48 0s 0d after his third, £60 0s 0d after his fourth and fifth, and £72 0s 0d a year after his sixth.

5: A gentleman who entered the service and refused to subscribe could not later join except by ballot, in which one third of the votes would be enough to exclude him. Even if admitted, he would have to pay every subscription due from his entry into the service to his admission, with interest. He would also have to give the fund £50 0s 0d.

6: Any gentleman in the service who had once been a member and then left the society could rejoin only under the same restrictions.

7: Because the subscriptions needed to be paid regularly and on time, the committee proposed to put a request to the Governor.

Interpretations

The scheme ran two scales side by side. Existing married members, who would first bring their payments up to £30 0s 0d, started at an annuity of £44 0s 0d and rose by £7 0s 0d with each year to £72 0s 0d. A newcomer started at £24 0s 0d and climbed by £12 0s 0d a year to the same ceiling. The difference gave long-standing members credit for what they had already put into the fund, while a new man had to earn the full pension through six years of payment. At its top the annuity was nearly three times the £25 0s 0d fixed in 1797.

The fifth proposal turned the society's recent practice into a fixed rule and made it harsher. Seale, Vernon and Blinkins were admitted on 12 April 1820 on payment of arrears with interest and £24 0s 0d. The new penalty more than doubled the donation to £50 0s 0d. A vote of one third against was enough to exclude an applicant, so a determined minority could keep out a man who had stayed out until his family needed protection. The sixth proposal closed a gap the existing rules left open. Without it a member could withdraw, save his subscriptions for some years and return on ordinary terms when the risk of leaving a widow grew, as Robert Brooke's departure on 3 April 1809 and others had shown was possible.

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Governor and Council to sanction it as a

part of the Pay Office duty (The Paymaster

having kindly consented) to stop monthly

from every married Subscriber the sum

of twenty Shillings, and from every

unmarried one ten shillings, and to deliver

the same to the Treasurer of the Society

monthly.

8th That half yearly receipts

and disbursements shall be made

viz 1st April and 1st October but

the annual General Meeting to be

held as heretofore, on the 1st April.

9th That the Committee of

five Managers shall not retire from office

as heretofore, but in rotation the first

on the list going out on the first of

April, and a new one chosen in his

place who shall be placed at the bottom

of the list the first always to be the

President.

10th That His Excellency

The Governor and Council be requested to

forward a Memorial from the body

of Subscribers, to The Honorable Court

of Directors setting forth the inconvenien-

cies attending the Loans on Security to

The seventh proposal of 1 May 1821 set out what the request to the Governor and Council would be. They would be asked to make it part of the Pay Office's duties to deduct 20 shillings each month from every married subscriber's pay and 10 shillings from every unmarried subscriber's. The Pay Office would then hand the money to the society's treasurer each month. The Paymaster had already agreed to this arrangement.

8: The society would receive and pay out money every half year, on 1 April and 1 October. The annual general meeting would still be held on 1 April as before.

9: The committee of five managers would no longer stand down together as in the past, but in rotation. The manager at the head of the list would retire on 1 April each year. His successor would be added at the foot of the list, and the manager at the head would always act as President.

10: The Governor and Council would be asked to forward a petition from the subscribers to the Court of Directors. It would set out the difficulties the fund faced in lending its money on security.

Interpretations

The deduction from pay was the most significant change in the scheme. Twenty shillings a month came to £12 0s 0d a year, and ten shillings to £6 0s 0d, the new rates set by the second proposal. Taken at source by the Pay Office, the subscription would reach the fund before a member could spend it or fall behind. The society had struggled with arrears for years. The rule of 5 April 1813 threatened forfeiture within 15 days but went unenforced, and on 6 April 1820 the treasurer resigned over unpaid subscriptions. Deduction from salary removed the problem at its root. It required the Company's machinery and the Governor and Council's approval, and it was workable only because the fund had limited membership to the Company's servants on 8 April 1811. A planter or merchant drew no pay from the Company and could not have been included.

The ninth proposal formalised the rotation adopted on 5 April 1821, and gave the longest-serving manager the title of President. The tenth proposal took the fund's lending problems beyond the island to the Company's directors in London. Recovering the Julio debt had taken years and passed through three administrators, and the society evidently wanted a remedy that only the Court of Directors could provide.

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Individuals on the Island, and praying

that such surplus money as the Treasurer

may have in hand half yearly, may be

received into the Honble Company's Treasury,

to bear such Interest as the Honble Court

may be pleased to allow, at the same time

soliciting, that as it is for the benefit and

continuance of a long established institution

to succour the Widows and Orphans of their

Civil and Military Officers on the Island

they will be pleased to make the Interest

as great as they consistently can.

11th That it shall always be at the

option of the Managers for the time being

(provided they are unanimous) to lend sums

of Money on good security to Individuals

at the Interest generally paid.

12th That the foregoing proposals

be not carried into effect without the consent

of seven eighths of the Members present

on the Island.

13th That the dissenting Members

(if any there be) may be allowed to continue

the present subscription and in case of

death their Widows and Orphans to receive

the annuity under the old regulation.

(Signed) C. R. G. Hodson

To

Sir W. W. Doveton

Thos. H. Brooke Esqr.

Lieut. Col. Wright

Charles Blake Esqr.

Willm. Brabazon Esqr. Managing Committee

The tenth proposal of 1 May 1821 went on to describe the trouble the fund had in lending to individuals on the island. The petition would ask the Court of Directors to take into the Company's Treasury any surplus money the treasurer held each half year, at whatever interest the Court thought fit to allow. It would also point out that the fund existed to support the widows and orphans of the Company's own civil and military officers on the island. On that ground the directors would be asked to set the rate as high as their practice allowed.

11: The managers in office could always lend money to individuals on good security at the usual rate of interest, provided they agreed unanimously.

12: None of these proposals would take effect without the consent of seven eighths of the members then on the island.

13: Any members who disagreed could keep paying the existing subscription. If they died, their widows and orphans would receive the annuity under the old rules.

The proposals were signed by C. R. G. Hodson and by the committee of managers.

Sir W. W. Doveton, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

Lieutenant Colonel Wright, Manager

Charles Blake, Manager

William Brabazon, Manager

Interpretations

The tenth proposal would have moved the fund's spare capital out of private hands and into the Company's Treasury. Since its early years the fund had lived by lending to people on the island, at 7 per cent from 1793 and 10 per cent from 8 April 1811. That income came with the risk of default, and the Julio bond had drained the managers' time and money since 1814. A deposit with the Company would almost certainly earn less, but it would be safe and paid without chasing. The society was prepared to trade yield for security, and asked the directors to be generous on the grounds that the widows were those of their own officers. The eleventh proposal kept private lending available, but only if all five managers agreed, so that no single manager could commit the fund to a doubtful borrower.

The last two proposals made a sweeping change possible without forcing it on anyone. A seven-eighths majority set a high bar, but counting only members on the island stopped absent subscribers from blocking it. The thirteenth proposal let any objector stay on the old terms of £5 0s 0d a year and a £25 0s 0d pension. A member who disliked the higher rates had no reason to vote against the scheme, since rejecting it would not save him money. This made a near-unanimous vote much easier to reach.

The signatories were the managers elected on 12 April 1820. Hodson, who signed first, was evidently the author of the covering letter of 1 May 1821. He had served as treasurer in 1814 and 1815, and had seen the fund's arrears at first hand.

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The Gentlemen who compose the Committee

for the present year (1821) have to request that

such Subscribers as may approve of the fore-

going Regulations will affix their Signatures

accordingly.

C. R. G. Hodson Agreed

C. Sampson do

D. K. Pritchard do

Wm. Brabazon do

J. A. Wright do

Thos. Greentree do

Thos. Greentree for Lieut. Colonel

Greentree Agreed

Thos. H. Brooke do

John Desfountain do

M. D. Livingstone do

David Kay do

Wm. Seale Senr. do

Henry Broadway do

T. Lester do

P. McMahon do

Robert Armstrong do

W. O. Kennedy do

Wm. Mason do

H. S. Cole do

H. H. Pritchard do

Jno. Worrall Talbot do

Ensign Beale do

J. B. Spiller do

J. M. Hunter Agreed

John Geo. Doveton do

Thos. B. Brooke do

G. Younge do

J. L. Hammond do

S. S. B. Cole do

Thos. Thorn do

F. Seale do

J. Bennett do

J. B. Mason do

G. V. Lamb do

[...] do

Robt. Brooke do

Wm. Dawson McRitchie do

Jno. Legg do

J. A. Dentaffe do

G. Lorrimer do

A. Beale do

Danl. O'Connor do

Mathew O'Connor do

Chs. Desfountain do

Wm. Doveton do

R. M. Statham do

G. Blenkins do

The managers serving in 1821 asked every subscriber who approved of the new rules to sign his name. The following members signed, and each recorded his agreement.

C. R. G. Hodson, agreed

C. Sampson, agreed

D. K. Pritchard, agreed

William Brabazon, agreed

J. A. Wright, agreed

Thomas Greentree, agreed

Thomas Greentree for Lieutenant Colonel Greentree, agreed

Thomas H. Brooke, agreed

John De Fountain, agreed

M. D. Livingstone, agreed

David Kay, agreed

William Seale senior, agreed

Henry Broadway, agreed

T. Lester, agreed

P. McMahon, agreed

Robert Armstrong, agreed

W. O. Kennedy, agreed

William Mason, agreed

H. S. Cole, agreed

H. H. Pritchard, agreed

John Worrall Talbot, agreed

Onesiphorus Beale, agreed

J. B. Spiller, agreed

J. M. Hunter, agreed

John George Doveton, agreed

Thomas B. Brooke, agreed

J. Younge, agreed

J. L. Hammond, agreed

[...] B. Cole, agreed

Thomas Thorn, agreed

F. Seale, agreed

J. Bennett, agreed

J. B. Mason, agreed

G. V. Lamb, agreed

Start of crossed out section

[...], agreed

End of crossed out section

Robert Brooke, agreed

William Dawson McRitchie, agreed

J. Legg, agreed

J. A. [...] Taaff, agreed

G. Lorimer, agreed

A. Beale, agreed

Daniel O'Connor, agreed

Matthew O'Connor, agreed

Charles De Fountain, agreed

William Doveton, agreed

R. M. Statham, agreed

G. Blinkins, agreed

Interpretations

The scheme needed the consent of seven eighths of the members on the island, and the list shows how that threshold was met. Every member who signed agreed, and none recorded an objection. The thirteenth proposal had made opposition pointless, since any member who disliked the new rates could stay on the old ones. Thomas Greentree signed on behalf of Lieutenant Colonel Greentree, who was perhaps absent from the island but whose consent the managers still wished to record.

The Reverend B. J. Vernon did not sign. On 5 April 1821 he asked for gentler terms of admission than those set on 12 April 1820, and the meeting refused. George Blinkins and W. Henry Seale accepted those terms, and Blinkins signed here among the full members. Vernon perhaps had not yet completed his admission, or chose to stay on the old terms.

Robert Brooke withdrew from the fund on 3 April 1809, when Thomas H. Brooke told the society he would no longer subscribe. His signature now appeared among those approving the new rules. Under the rules in force he could have rejoined only by paying his arrears in full. J. Legg also signed, and was probably the John Legg who administered the Julio estate when Charles Blake wrote to him on 22 May 1820. A man who represented the fund's most troublesome debtor thus sat among its members.

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The following Gentlemen having entered into

the Service have become Subscribers [...]

1st Apl. 22 Doctor Price

" Haggerty } as Married men

Mr. Andrews writer

Monday April 1st 1822.

At a Meeting of the Subscribers held this day

at the Police Office, the following Subjects were laid

before the Subscribers by the Committee of Managers

1st It is requested a Member may be chosen

to replace the one going out by Rotation

2d The Committee beg to propose that application

shall be made to the Acting President in

Council to authorize the Paymaster to stop

such Sums as may be due from Subscribers,

at his Office.

3d The Committee beg to Report that the Sum

of £139 . 8 . 9 is due to the Fund on Account

of Bonds up to the last Year. They

Submit whether the Bonds are to be enforced

as they find it in vain applying for the Amount.

4th It is submitted to the Subscribers that unless

a certain proportion of them, pay the full Amt.

of their Subscriptions at Once. The Widows will

have to wait the greatest part of the Year

before they receive their annuities.

5th This last Question not having been provided

for in the Regulations lately framed. It

is proposed that any Subscriber paying in

his full Subscription. His Widow shall thereby

be entitled to all the benefit arising from the

Fund

Three gentlemen who had entered the service became subscribers on 1 April 1822.

Doctor Price, married rate

Doctor Haggerty, married rate

Mr Andrews, writer

A meeting of subscribers took place at the Police Office on Monday 1 April 1822. The committee of managers laid the following matters before it.

1: The committee asked the meeting to elect a member to replace the manager retiring in rotation.

2: The committee proposed to ask the Acting President in Council to authorise the Paymaster to deduct the sums owed by subscribers at the Pay Office.

3: The committee reported that £139 8s 9d was owed to the fund on bonds up to the previous year. It had asked for payment without success, and put to the meeting whether the bonds should be enforced.

4: The committee warned that unless enough subscribers paid their whole year's subscription at once, the widows would have to wait most of the year for their annuities.

5: The rules recently drawn up had not provided for this situation. The committee proposed that any subscriber who paid his full subscription in one sum would thereby secure for his widow the whole benefit of the fund.

Interpretations

The deduction from pay had created a new difficulty. Under the scheme of 1 May 1821 the Pay Office would take 20 shillings a month from each married member and 10 shillings from each bachelor. The money would therefore reach the fund in small monthly sums, while the larger annuities of up to £72 0s 0d had to be paid to widows from the start of the year. A fund that collected slowly could not pay promptly. The committee's answer was to reward members who paid the year in advance by guaranteeing their widows the full benefit. This drew in a lump of cash at the start of the year without forcing anyone to give up the convenience of monthly deduction.

A year after the scheme was approved, the deduction still lacked official authority. The committee now addressed its request to the Acting President in Council, which suggests that the Governor was absent from the island and his deputy presided. The arrears on bonds also persisted. Charles Blake's printed demand of 22 May 1820 had evidently failed to clear them, and £139 8s 9d remained outstanding. The tenth proposal of 1821 had asked the Court of Directors to take the fund's money into the Company's Treasury, and these unpaid bonds showed why the managers wanted to stop lending privately.

The two doctors joined at the married rate, so their wives were covered from the start under the new scale for newcomers, beginning at £24 0s 0d a year. Andrews was a writer, the most junior rank of the Company's civil servants, and probably joined as a single man.

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Fund, in the same way as if her husband

had paid his Years Subscription by twelve

equal Monthly Instalments.

6th A late Regulation has specified that no person

shall be admitted as a Subscriber who had

once refused, unless he paid all Sums due

to the Fund, as well as a Fine of £24.

This has proved an effectual bar to their

availing themselves of the indulgence granted

them. It is therefore proposed to do

away with this part of the Regulation, and

admit all such as are now inclined to

become Subscribers, who must announce

their determination within one Month

from this date, and pay the Sum due,

otherwise be excluded altogether.

7th As it is however necessary to guard against

the Fund being injured by interested persons

becoming Subscribers, it is hereby Resolved

that in the event of a Company's Servant

refusing to become a Subscriber when first

entering the Service, & it afterwards hap-

pening that such Co.'s Servant shall suffer

materially in health, & on that account

he then wishes to become a Subscriber, he

shall not be permitted so to do.

The above resolutions were agreed to by the following

Persons present.

Thos. Greentree Thos. Thorn J. B. Spiller

Jno. A. Wright Fras. Seale R. Armstrong

Chs. Blake Richd. Mason D. Kay Junr.

Chs. Sampson G. V. Lambe Ones. Beale

T. S. B. Cole C. R. G. Hodson Toll Hunter

H. Broadway A. Beale

The fifth matter laid before the meeting of 1 April 1822 completed the committee's proposal on advance payment. A member who paid his whole year's subscription in one sum would secure for his widow exactly the same benefit as if he had paid it in 12 equal monthly instalments.

6: A recent rule barred anyone who had once refused to subscribe from joining unless he paid everything due to the fund and a fine of £24 0s 0d. This had proved an effective obstacle to such men taking up the concession offered to them. The committee therefore proposed to abolish that part of the rule and admit anyone now willing to subscribe. Each such man had to declare his intention within one month and pay the sum owed, or be shut out permanently.

7: The fund still needed protection from men who joined only for their own advantage. The meeting therefore resolved that a Company servant who refused to subscribe when he first entered the service could not join later if his health had since declined seriously and he applied for that reason.

The members present agreed to these resolutions.

Thomas Greentree

John A. Wright

Charles Blake

Charles Sampson

T. T. B. Cole

Thomas Thorn

Francis Seale

Richard Mason

G. V. Lambe

C. R. G. Hodson

H. Broadway

J. B. Spiller

R. Armstrong

D. [...]

Onesiphorus Beale

[...] Hamilton

A. Beale

Interpretations

The members reversed their own policy within two years. On 12 April 1820 they set arrears with interest and a £24 0s 0d donation as the price of late admission, and on 5 April 1821 they refused the Reverend B. J. Vernon's plea for gentler terms. The scheme of 1 May 1821 then raised the donation to £50 0s 0d. Now the committee admitted that the fine kept men out altogether. The new scheme of higher subscriptions and pensions needed a broad membership to pay for it, and a fund that excluded potential subscribers by its own penalties was defeating its purpose. The managers chose a short amnesty instead. Late applicants still paid their arrears, but the fine was dropped, and a one-month limit stopped anyone from waiting to see how his health or family developed.

The seventh resolution named directly the risk that the earlier penalties had been designed to address. A man who stayed out while healthy and applied only when illness made his death likely would leave the fund a widow to support after paying almost nothing. Rather than deter such men with a general fine that also discouraged honest latecomers, the members excluded the specific case. This aimed the restriction precisely at the danger, while the amnesty brought in those who posed no special risk.

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Thomas Greentree Esqr. going out by Rotation

Major T. Cole was chosen a Member of

the Committee in his place

The following Gentlemen form the Committee

of Managers for the present Year.

Major Pritchard President

Captain Sampson

Captain Broadway

Lieut. Armstrong

Major Cole.

And who have chosen Captain Broadway as Treasurer

Agreeable to the 6th resolution of the General Meeting

the following Letter was addressed to the under

mentioned Gentlemen who have not been Subscribers

Sir

At a Meeting of Subscribers to the Widows Fund

on Monday 1st Inst. the new Regulations for the

Institution commenced, when it was agreed and

determined that those Gentlemen in the Hon. Comp.

Service, who have not been Members of it, may

now be offered the option of becoming Subscribers,

on condition only of paying up the full Subscription

with the usual Interest thereon, from the time of

their entering the Service, in order that the Fund

may not sustain a loss by such omission.

The Annual Subscription for an unmarried

Member has been £2 . & for a Married one £5

By the new Regulations the former is increased

to £6 . & the latter to £12 . to be paid in equal

monthly payments. You have one Month

from 1st Inst. to consider of this proposal. Your

determination in writing is requested to be made to me

by 10 O'Clock on 1st May next & if this offer is accepted

the money must accompany it.

I am Sir

H. Broadway Treasr.

Margin Notes:

To

Lieut. Cunningham

Ensn. Young

Revd. R. Boys

Revd. B. J. Vernon

C. F. Seale Esqr.

[...]

Capt. Shortis

[...]

Thomas Greentree retired from the committee in rotation, and Major T. Cole was elected in his place. The committee of managers for the current year was as follows.

Major Pritchard, President

Captain Sampson, Manager

Captain Broadway, Manager

Lieutenant Armstrong, Manager

Major Cole, Manager

The managers chose Captain Broadway as treasurer.

In line with the sixth resolution of the general meeting, Broadway wrote to each Company servant who had not subscribed. He explained that the new rules took effect at the meeting of subscribers on Monday 1 April 1822. That meeting agreed that gentlemen in the service who had never joined should now be offered membership. The only condition was that each must pay all his subscriptions since entering the service, with the usual interest, so that the fund lost nothing by his absence. The annual subscription had been £2 0s 0d for an unmarried member and £5 0s 0d for a married one. Under the new rules these rose to £6 0s 0d and £12 0s 0d, payable in equal monthly instalments. Each recipient had one month from 1 April to consider the offer. His answer was to reach the treasurer in writing by 10 o'clock on 1 May 1822, and if he accepted, the money had to come with it.

The letter went to the following gentlemen.

Lieutenant Cunninghame

Ensign Young

Reverend R. Boys

Reverend B. J. Vernon

C. F. Seale

Lieutenant [...]

Captain Shortis

[...]

Interpretations

The list of recipients read as a roll of the society's past refusals. Lieutenant [...] Shortis refused on 3 April 1809, the Reverend Richard Boys on 5 April 1812 and Lieutenant Cunninghame on 3 April 1815. The Reverend B. J. Vernon appeared among them too. On 5 April 1821 the meeting refused him gentler terms than arrears, interest and £24 0s 0d. A year later the society offered him and everyone else admission without the £24 0s 0d, almost exactly the relief he had asked for.

The letter made acceptance precise and binding. Each man had to answer in writing by a fixed hour, and an acceptance without payment counted for nothing. Past experience explained the firmness. The society had seen men delay, change their minds and apply only when their circumstances made the fund worth joining. A written answer accompanied by the money closed off any such manoeuvre, and the one-month limit prevented anyone from waiting to see how his health developed.

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To

The Worshipful the Acting President

and the Council

Worshipful Sirs

The Committee of Managers for the Widows Fund

respectfully beg leave to state that considerable

inconvenience has been experienced in paying

the Widows their Annuities, through the neglect

of several Subscribers not paying for two & three Years

past, the Amount of their Subscriptions though

repeatedly applied to for it. The Committee therefore

humbly Solicit your Worshipful Board will be pleased

(agreeable to a Resolution of the Subscribers at the last

General Meeting, and in conformity to the New

Code of Regulations entered into by the Subscribers)

humbly Solicit Your Worshipful Board will be

pleased to authorize the Pay Master to stop at his

Office the several Amounts due the Fund, and

likewise to stop the Amount of Subscriptions Monthly

from each Subscriber according to a list which will

be furnished him by the Treasurer.

I have the Honor to be

Worshipful Sirs

Your Most Obedt. humble Servt.

H. Broadway Treasurer

29 April 1822.

On 29 April 1822 Captain Broadway, the treasurer, wrote to the Acting President and the Council on behalf of the committee of managers. He reported that the fund had found it very difficult to pay the widows their annuities. Several subscribers had paid nothing for two or three years, despite repeated requests.

Start of crossed out section

The committee therefore asked the Board to agree.

End of crossed out section

The committee was acting on a resolution of the subscribers at their last general meeting and in keeping with the new rules they had adopted. It asked the Board to authorise the Paymaster to deduct at the Pay Office the various sums owed to the fund. The Paymaster was also to deduct the monthly subscription from each member's pay, following a list the treasurer would supply.

Interpretations

The committee asked the government to collect old debts as well as future subscriptions. The deduction from pay first proposed on 1 May 1821 covered only the new monthly rates. Broadway now sought authority to take members' arrears of two or three years directly from their salaries as well. The rule of 5 April 1813 offered another course, since a member who failed to pay within 15 days could be expelled and lose everything he had paid. The managers set that penalty aside. Expelling defaulters would have shrunk the membership just as the new scheme needed every subscriber, and would have left their wives unprotected. Collection through the Pay Office recovered the money and kept the members.

The request depended on the limit to membership set on 8 April 1811. Every subscriber was now a Company servant drawing pay from the Company, so the government could take what he owed before it reached his hands. The fund thereby gained an enforcement power that no private society could have exercised.

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Thursday 1st May 1823.

At a Meeting of the Subscribers held this day at

the Library. The following propositions was made and

Resolved Unanimously 1st That the Paymaster

General be furnished with a List of all Arrears

of Subscription due the Fund and that he be

Solicited to deduct the Amount from the Salaries

of the respective Subscribers in conformity to a former

Resolution of the Subscribers submitted & agreed to

by the Governor & Council.

A Letter with the List of Arrears was accordingly

Sent and the Request acceded to.

2d A Letter being presented by the President of the

Committee from Lieut. Chs. De Fountain setting

forth his inability immediately to discharge the

Amount of Interest and Subscription due the Fund

and proposing to give up his pay till the amount

should be discharged.

It was unanimously agreed that Fifteen Pounds

a Month instead of the whole as offered should be

demanded from him made payable by the Pay-

master General.

The above Resolutions were agreed to by the following

Persons.

T. H. Brooke Esqr. } M. C. J. B. Spiller

Thos. Greentree Esqr. P. McMahon

C. R. G. Hodson D. O'Connor

G. Blenkins W. H. Seale

H. H. Pritchard G. V. Lambe

D. K. Pritchard D. Haggerty

C. Sampson W. Brabazon

H. Broadway T. B. Brooke

T. M. Hunter G. Price

W. D. McRitchie

Margin Notes:

Major Pritchard going out of the Committee in rotation, Thos. H. Brooke Esqr. is chosen a Member in his stead.

The Committee, for this Year consists of the following (viz.) Capt. Sampson

" Broadway

Lieut. Armstrong

Major Cole

Thos. H. Brooke Esqr.

The subscribers met at the Library on Thursday 1 May 1823. Major Pritchard retired from the committee in rotation, and Thomas H. Brooke was elected in his place. The committee for the year was as follows.

Captain Sampson, Manager

Captain Broadway, Manager

Lieutenant Armstrong, Manager

Major Cole, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

The meeting made the following resolutions unanimously.

1: The Paymaster General would receive a list of all subscriptions owed to the fund and be asked to deduct the amounts from the salaries of the members concerned. This followed an earlier resolution of the subscribers, which the Governor and Council had approved. A letter enclosing the list was sent, and the Paymaster General agreed to the request.

2: The President laid before the meeting a letter from Lieutenant Charles De Fountain. He explained that he could not pay at once the interest and subscriptions he owed the fund, and offered to give up his whole pay until the debt was cleared. The meeting agreed unanimously to take £15 0s 0d a month from him instead of his entire pay, to be paid over by the Paymaster General.

The following members agreed to these resolutions.

T. H. Brooke

Thomas Greentree

C. R. G. Hodson

G. Blinkins

H. H. Pritchard

D. K. Pritchard

C. Sampson

H. Broadway

J. M. Hunter

J. B. Spiller

P. McMahon

D. O'Connor

W. H. Seale

G. V. Lambe

D. Haggerty

W. Brabazon

T. B. Brooke

G. Price

W. D. McRitchie

Interpretations

The request of 29 April 1822 had succeeded, and the government now collected the fund's debts directly from the Company's payroll. A society that had struggled for years to extract payment from its members gained, through the Company's own pay system, a method of collection that no member could avoid.

Lieutenant Charles De Fountain owed both subscriptions as a member and interest as a borrower. He offered his entire pay to clear the debt, which would have repaid the fund fastest. The members refused the offer and took only £15 0s 0d a month. A lieutenant stripped of all his income could not have kept himself, and a man driven into hardship might default again or leave the service with the debt unpaid. A regular deduction he could bear made full recovery more certain. The fund also existed for the protection of members' families, and reducing one of its own subscribers to destitution would have worked against that purpose. Charles De Fountain signed the new rules in 1821, and John De Fountain served as treasurer in 1813 and 1814.

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Thursday 13th November 1823

At a Meeting of the Subscribers held this day at

the Library the following proposition was made

Resolved. That the Interest due upon

the Bonds shall be collected [...]

hereafter [...] by the Paymaster,

he having consented thereto.

The above resolution was agreed to

Unanimously by the following Subscribers being present

T. H. Brooke Esqr. C. Sampson

Thos. Greentree Esqr. T. M. Hunter

C. R. G. Hodson G. Mason

C. Blake J. Torbett

G. Blenkins D. K. Pritchard

G. V. Lambe J. A. Wright

O. Beale P. McMahon

W. H. Seale H. S. Cole

A. Beale J. Bennett.

G. Price

F. Seale

Major Cole is elected as the Treasurer for the ensuing

Year.

The following Proposition was also made.

When it is considered that Writers and Cadets on entering

the Service usually commence subscribing to the Fund

and that for many years before their Widows may

become entitled to the benefit of the Fund, the husband

must have previously paid a much larger Sum

towards it than a man (suppose Forty or fifty Years

of age) who may just join the Service from England,

it does not appear equitable that these two descriptions

of persons should be put on the same footing.

The subscribers met at the Library on Thursday 13 November 1823 and passed the following resolution. The interest due on the fund's bonds would in future be collected by the Paymaster, who had agreed to undertake it.

Start of crossed out section

The interest had hitherto been collected, and would be collected.

End of crossed out section

The following subscribers, all present, agreed to the resolution unanimously.

T. H. Brooke

Thomas Greentree

C. R. G. Hodson

C. Blake

G. Blinkins

G. V. Lambe

O. Beale

W. H. Seale

A. Beale

G. Price

F. Seale

C. Sampson

J. M. Hunter

G. Watson

J. Torbett

D. K. Pritchard

J. A. Wright

P. McMahon

H. S. Cole

J. Bennett

Major Cole was elected treasurer for the coming year.

A further proposal was put to the meeting. Writers and cadets usually began subscribing as soon as they entered the service, and many years passed before their widows could claim. By then such a member had paid far more into the fund than a man of 40 or 50 who joined the service directly from England. The proposal held that it was unfair to treat these two kinds of member on the same terms.

Interpretations

The Paymaster now collected the interest on bonds as well as members' subscriptions and arrears. The managers had spent a decade pursuing defaulting borrowers, from the Julio bond in 1814 to the £139 8s 9d reported unpaid on 1 April 1822. Handing the task to the Pay Office ended the treasurer's role as debt collector, at least for borrowers who drew Company pay.

The new proposal raised the question of age, which the fund had never addressed. Writers and cadets were the youngest entrants to the civil and military services, usually in their teens, and a young man might pay for 20 years or more before he married and died. A man who arrived at 40 or 50, often already married, might leave a widow on the fund after a handful of payments. Under the scale of 1 May 1821 both earned the full annuity of £72 0s 0d after six years. In England the leading life assurance offices had already begun charging premiums according to age at entry. The proposal sought to bring the same principle to St Helena, so that older entrants paid in proportion to the shorter time they were likely to contribute.

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and it would not be unreasonable to expect that in future

the person who entered the Service at an advanced period

of life should pay in an extra Sum previous to his

being admitted as a Subscriber.

Resolved unanimously that the above principle

be adopted, and that a Law to that effect be framed

and drawn out for consideration or approval at a

future meeting.

This resolution agreed to by the aforementioned

Subscribers with the addition of Wm. Brabazon.

The proposal of 13 November 1823 concluded that it would be reasonable to require a man who entered the service later in life to pay an additional sum before he could be admitted as a subscriber. The meeting resolved unanimously to adopt this principle. A rule giving effect to it would be drafted and laid before a future meeting for discussion and approval. The subscribers who agreed to the earlier resolution also agreed to this one, joined by William Brabazon.

Interpretations

The members chose to charge older entrants a single payment on admission rather than a higher yearly rate. A lump sum reached the fund at once and did not depend on the member surviving to pay it, which mattered most for a man whose age made an early claim more probable. The same reasoning lay behind the rule of 1774, under which six years' payments in advance bought a newcomer's widow the full pension, and behind the amnesty of 1 April 1822, which required arrears to be paid in full on joining. The members agreed the principle but left the amount for a later meeting, in keeping with the practice since 15 April 1821 of drafting rules first and settling them only after the subscribers had considered them.

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Thursday 15th April 1824.

At a Meeting of the Subscribers held this day at the

Library. The Secretary informed the Meeting

he had received an Application from Mr. John Fermin

first Assistant to the Hon. Comp. Head School, and

from Mr. Nathaniel Collyer, Register Master, requesting

to be admitted Subscribers to the Fund.

Mr. William Mitchell Conductor of Artillery was

also proposed for Admission, and Lieut. Alexr. Young

for readmission as Subscriber.

Resolved. That the above applications lay over for

One Month for further consideration and that in

future no new Law be passed, or former Law changed

till at least one month after it has been laid before

the General Meeting.

The above Resolution agreed to Unanimously the

following Subscribers being present. (vizt.)

C. R. G. Hodson T. Thorn Wm. Brabazon

C. Sampson J. Torbett O. Beale

H. Broadway J. Bennet J. B. Mason

D. K. Pritchard D. McMahon M. Johnson

H. S. Cole G. Watson

Ensigns William Sampson & Charles Bond & Henry Doveton Commenced

Subscribers to the Fund, as Single Members from 1st May

Captain Sampson going out by Rotation. Mr. Brabazon

is chosen a Member of the Committee for the present Year

The following Gentlemen Compose the Committee

for the present Year, (vizt.)

Captain Broadway

Lieut. Armstrong

Major Cole

Thos. H. Brooke Esqr. M. C.

Wm. Brabazon.

The subscribers met at the Library on Thursday 15 April 1824. The secretary reported applications for membership from John Firmin, first assistant at the Company's head school, and from Nathaniel Collyer, the register master. William Metcalfe, conductor of artillery, was also proposed for admission, and Lieutenant Alexander Young applied to rejoin.

The meeting resolved to hold these applications over for a month for further consideration. It also resolved that in future no new rule should be passed, and no existing rule changed, until at least a month after it had been laid before a general meeting. The following subscribers, all present, agreed unanimously.

C. R. G. Hodson

C. Sampson

H. Broadway

D. K. Pritchard

H. S. Cole

T. Thorn

J. Torbett

J. Bennett

P. McMahon

G. Watson

William Brabazon

O. Beale

J. B. Mason

M. Johnson

Ensigns William Simpson, Charles Bond and Henry Dunton became subscribers at the single members' rate from 1 May 1824.

Captain Sampson retired from the committee in rotation, and William Brabazon was elected in his place. The committee for the current year was as follows.

Captain Broadway, Manager

Lieutenant Armstrong, Manager

Major Cole, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

William Brabazon, Manager

Interpretations

The three new applicants tested the limit set on 8 April 1811, which confined membership to the Company's civil and military servants. A schoolmaster's assistant and a register master held posts paid by the Company but stood well below the writers and officers who made up the fund. A conductor of artillery was a senior non-commissioned rank responsible for stores and ordnance, not a commissioned officer. William Balcombe had been refused on the day the 1811 rule passed, although he held a public office as superintendent of sales. The members now chose to defer judgement rather than admit or reject at once. Their decision would settle how far down the Company's ranks the fund extended.

Lieutenant Alexander Young was probably the Ensign Young who received Broadway's letter in April 1822, offering admission on payment of arrears within a month. He evidently let that chance pass and now sought to rejoin. Deferring his case gave the members time to decide whether the seventh resolution of 1 April 1822, barring late entrants whose health had declined, applied to him.

The rule requiring a month's notice for any change of the rules formalised the practice of drafting and circulating that began on 15 April 1821. It protected the fund from sweeping changes carried by a small meeting.

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Monday 3d May 1824

At a Meeting of Subscribers to the Widows Fund

held this day at the Session House.

Major T. A. Cole who was Elected Treasurer at the

Meeting of 13th November 1823 refused to act.

Proposed That any Subscriber who may be elected

either a member of the Committee or a Treasurer, &

shall refuse to act, shall pay a Fine of £20

or forfeit the privileges of the Society.

Resolved Unanimously.

Notwithstanding the above Resolution it is agreed

that it shall not be acted upon in regard to Major Cole

until he shall have time to consider further, & that

this day week shall be the day fixed for his Determination

Proposed. That considering the great difficulty

that always occurs in obtaining a numerous & regular

Meeting of the Widows Fund is evidently highly injurious

& inconvenient to the Society particularly to that branch

the benefit of it (ie) the Delay in paying the Widows

their Pension, a circumstance much to be Committed

& more so as it reflects upon the energies of the Society.

It is therefore proposed that in future the Annual Meeting

shall be held on the first Monday in April in every Year

at 11 O'Clock precisely. That the Secretary of the Society

warn each Member in writing at least three days

previous to the day of Meeting. That the names of

the Subscribers be called over & all absentees fined in

the Sum of One Guinea (unless they furnish such excuse

as may be deemed sufficient by the Committee). And

that the Pay Master be requested to collect the same

when

The subscribers to the widows' fund met at the courthouse on Monday 3 May 1824. Major T. T. B. Cole, elected treasurer at the meeting of 13 November 1823, declined to serve.

A proposal followed that any subscriber elected as a manager or as treasurer who refused to serve should pay a fine of £20 0s 0d or lose his rights in the society. The meeting resolved unanimously to adopt it. It agreed, however, not to apply the rule to Major Cole until he had more time to reconsider, and gave him until 10 May 1824 to decide.

A second proposal addressed the persistent difficulty of gathering a full and regular meeting of the fund. Poor attendance plainly harmed the society and caused it real trouble. It hurt most those the fund existed to help, since the widows' pensions were paid late as a result. The meeting regretted this and felt it reflected poorly on the members' commitment. The proposal therefore set out new arrangements. The annual meeting would be held on the first Monday in April each year at exactly 11 o'clock. The secretary would notify every member in writing at least three days beforehand. The names of the subscribers would be read out, and every absent member would be fined one guinea unless the committee accepted his excuse. The Paymaster would be asked to collect these fines.

Interpretations

The members passed the fine for refusing office on the same day it was proposed. On 15 April 1824 they had resolved that no new rule should take effect until a month after it was laid before a general meeting. They set that safeguard aside within three weeks, and then at once suspended the new rule for the man whose refusal prompted it. The gap between the two decisions showed the pressure the society faced. It needed a treasurer to collect and pay out money, and the widows were waiting. A rule that could not be enforced for a month would not have produced one. Applying it at once to Major Cole, however, would have punished him under a rule that did not exist when he declined, and the week's grace allowed him to accept without penalty.

Both new fines rested on the Pay Office. The guinea for absence, £1 1s 0d, could be deducted from a member's salary like his subscription, so it would be collected rather than merely threatened. The society had learnt from the unenforced forfeiture rule of 5 April 1813 that a penalty it could not collect had no effect. A fixed day and hour, written notice and a roll call left an absent member no excuse of ignorance. The proposal tied attendance directly to the widows' welfare, since without a quorum the meeting could not authorise payments.

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when collecting the Monthly Subscriptions.

The above Propositions Resolved Unanimously

by the Undermentioned Subscribers present.

C. R. G. Hodson

T. Thorn

A. Beale

W. O. Kennedy

M. J. Johnson

M. O'Connor

R. Armstrong

W. H. Seale

T. H. Brooke Esqr.

H. H. Pritchard

G. A. Dentaffe

W. Mason

J. Price

W. Sampson

W. Brabazon

G. Blenkins Esqr.

C. Sampson

D. O'Connor

H. Broadway

J. W. Torbett

H. Knipe

G. V. Lambe

The Paymaster would collect the fines for absence at the same time as the monthly subscriptions. The subscribers present resolved unanimously to adopt the proposals of 3 May 1824, and signed as follows.

C. R. G. Hodson

T. Thorn

A. Beale

W. O. Kennedy

M. J. Johnson

M. O'Connor

R. Armstrong

W. H. Seale

T. H. Brooke

H. H. Pritchard

G. A. Den Taaffe

W. Mason

J. Price

W. Sampson

W. Brabazon

G. Blinkins

C. Sampson

D. O'Connor

H. Broadway

J. W. Torbett

H. Knipe

G. V. Lambe

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Monday 25th April 1825

At a meeting of the Subscribers to the Widows Fund

held this day at the Sessions Hall

The following letter was read from the Treasurer

To Thos. H. Brooke Esqr. President and Members of the

Committee

Gentlemen

I am sorry indisposition still prevents me

from leaving my house, but I forward the Books of the

Fund with the Book Mr. Beale used to receive the

Subscriptions & interest, but the arrears are so great

there, that it will take a better accountant than

myself to shew a plain Statement of the present

Funds. One out shews the Interest recd. & the other

the Interest, and it will appear upwards of two

hundred Pounds have accumulated there, since

I drew the last Sum, Captn. B. would be able to

explain any thing, as there has been but little

done since he gave up the Books the Farmers

all pleading inability to pay

I have the honor &c

(Signed) G. S. B. Cole

Tr.

Sea Point

18th Apl. 1825

Proposed & carried unanimously that the

following letter be addressed to the Treasurer

The subscribers to the widows' fund met at the court hall on Monday 25 April 1825. The treasurer's letter to Thomas H. Brooke, the President, and the members of the committee was read.

T. T. B. Cole wrote on 19 April 1825 that illness still kept him at home. He sent the fund's books, together with the book in which Mr Beale, his assistant, recorded the subscriptions and interest received. The arrears in that book were so large, he wrote, that it would take a better accountant than he was to produce a clear statement of the fund's position. One book showed the interest received and the other the interest owing. More than £200 0s 0d had built up in unpaid interest since he last drew money. Captain [...] could explain any point, since little had been done since he handed over the books. The farmers who owed interest all claimed they could not pay.

The meeting proposed and carried unanimously that a letter be sent in reply to the treasurer.

Interpretations

Major Cole had declined the treasurership on 3 May 1824 and was given a week to reconsider before the new fine of £20 0s 0d applied to him. He evidently took the office, and a year later he handed back the books in disorder, pleading illness and his own lack of skill with accounts. The fine compelled a reluctant member to serve but could not make him competent or willing. The society had exchanged an empty office for one held in name only.

The arrears exposed the limit of collection through the Pay Office. On 13 November 1823 the members handed the collection of bond interest to the Paymaster. Deduction from pay, however, worked only against the Company's own servants. The fund's borrowers were farmers, landholders who drew no salary from the Company and could not be reached through its payroll. Their debts were secured on their land under the rule of 8 April 1811. Recovering the £200 0s 0d still meant pressing each farmer and, in the last resort, enforcing his bond against his property, the remedy the society had been reluctant to use since the Julio case.

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To

T. S. B. Cole Esqr.

Treasurer

Sir

The annual meeting of the Subscribers of the

Widows fund took place this day but as it appears

the books are not brought up, it cannot be

expected that a new treasurer will take charge

of them, until they are put in proper order. At

the desire of the meeting therefore and in their

name I have now to request you will have the

goodness to close the books up to the present date

with as little delay as possible. Should you

require assistance Captn. Broadway & Lieut. Armstrong

will with pleasure afford their aid, and as many

distressed Widows are now waiting to receive their

pensions it is hoped that the books will be

in a proper state to lay before another general

meeting on Monday next

I am &c

(Signed) Thos. H. Brooke

President

25th Apl. 1825

The following Proposition was submitted

to the meeting by the President

It may deserve consideration whether

it be expedient to continue the present rate

The meeting of 25 April 1825 replied to T. T. B. Cole, the treasurer, through a letter from Thomas H. Brooke as President. Brooke told him that the subscribers' annual meeting had taken place that day. The books, however, had not been brought up to date, and no new treasurer could be expected to take them over until they were in order. On behalf of the meeting, Brooke asked Cole to close the accounts to the present date as quickly as possible. Captain Broadway and Lieutenant Armstrong would gladly help him if he needed it. Many widows in hardship were waiting for their pensions. The meeting therefore hoped the books would be ready to lay before another general meeting on Monday 2 May 1825.

The President then put a proposal to the meeting. He suggested that the members should consider whether it was wise to keep the existing rate.

Interpretations

Cole had sent the books in as he found them and left it to others to make sense of them. The meeting refused to accept them on those terms. It could have passed them to a new treasurer or to a more skilled member, as Cole himself suggested. Instead it returned the task to him, because a successor who took over unbalanced accounts would inherit responsibility for arrears he had not created. John De Fountain could not hand over the books on 22 August 1814 for the same reason, and the treasurer who resigned on 6 April 1820 had stayed in office for years until his accounts were clear. The offer of help named the two men best placed to give it. Lieutenant Armstrong served as treasurer from 5 April 1821 and Captain Broadway from 1 April 1822, so between them they had kept the books immediately before Cole. The widows' need made delay costly, and a week's deadline pressed Cole to finish quickly.

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of interest. It was raised to ten per cent when the

value of land was infinitely higher than it is now

Some lands are mortgaged I believe for a larger

Sum than they would now sell for and if upon

such Sum an interest of ten per cent is paid what

profit can be left for the occupier. Will it

or will it not be for his advantage, to surrender

the security, rather than to continue labouring

under the pressure of a debt, the interest of which

swallows up the profits of the land which is

mortgaged for it

It will be well for the Subscribers to the

fund to give their serious attention to this

subject & be prepared to decide at a future

meeting, whether the present rate of interest

shall be reduced or whether it shall remain

as it is at present.

Captain Broadway going out by rotation

Mr. Blenkins is chosen a member of the Committee

for the present Year.

The Committee is as follows

Lt. Armstrong

Major Cole

Thos. H. Brooke Esqr.

Wm. Brabazon

G. Blenkins

The President's proposal of 25 April 1825 concerned the rate of interest charged on the fund's loans. The society raised it to 10 per cent at a time when land was worth far more than it was now. Brooke believed that some estates were mortgaged for more than they would now fetch if sold. If a farmer paid 10 per cent on such a debt, his land could leave him nothing to live on. He might then find it better to give up the land to the fund than to go on working under a debt whose interest consumed all the land produced. Brooke urged the subscribers to think seriously about the matter. They should come to a future meeting ready to decide whether to lower the rate or keep it as it stood.

Captain Broadway retired from the committee in rotation, and George Blinkins was elected in his place. The committee for the current year was as follows.

Lieutenant Armstrong, Manager

Major Cole, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

William Brabazon, Manager

G. Blinkins, Manager

Interpretations

Brooke identified the danger hidden in the farmers' pleas of poverty that Cole reported on 19 April 1825. When the society set its rate at 10 per cent on 8 April 1811, island land was valuable and a mortgage on it seemed the safest security available. Land values had since fallen, so that some estates were now worth less than the sums borrowed on them. A farmer in that position had every reason to stop paying and hand the land over, since he would lose less by surrender than by working for years to pay interest. The fund would then hold land it could not sell for the value of the loan and receive no interest at all. Cutting the rate meant accepting a smaller income, but it offered the only way to keep the borrowers on their land and paying. Brooke's argument reversed the society's long effort to raise its returns, from 7 per cent in 1793 to 10 per cent in 1811, and showed that the rule requiring security in land now worked against the fund.

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2d May 1825

At a Meeting of the Subscribers to the Widows

Fund held this day at the Session hall

The President addressed the meeting as follows

Gentlemen,

It has been remarked, and justly too, that

a new treasurer would be very unwilling to receive

charge of the books until the late treasurer

shall have duly closed them and shall be in

readiness to deliver over the balance of cash

which ought to be in his hands

From the unfortunate state however of

the present treasurer's health, it may be a long

time before the books and money be in readiness

to transfer to a new treasurer. What then are we to

do. Are we to wait until the object be effected

and to put off collecting what is due and

paying off the Widows who are in anxious

expectation of receiving their Pensions? Surely

not.

As the period is very uncertain how

soon or how late Major Cole will be enabled even

to assist as a manager, much less a treasurer

I therefore propose, that a new manager should be

immediately

The subscribers to the widows' fund met at the court hall on 2 May 1825, and the President addressed them. He acknowledged the fair point that no new treasurer would willingly take charge of the books until the outgoing treasurer had closed them properly and was ready to hand over the cash he held. The present treasurer's poor health, however, meant that the books and money might not be ready for transfer for a long time. Brooke asked whether the society should wait until then, putting off the collection of debts and leaving the widows without the pensions they anxiously expected. He held that it should not. No one could tell how soon Major Cole would be well enough to serve even as a manager, let alone as treasurer. Brooke therefore proposed the immediate appointment of a new manager.

Interpretations

A week earlier, on 25 April 1825, the meeting insisted that Cole close his own accounts before any successor took them over. That principle protected a new treasurer from inheriting debts he had not incurred, and the society had applied it since at least 1814. Brooke now set it aside. Cole's illness made the condition impossible to meet within any foreseeable time, and holding to it would have stopped all collection and all payments to widows in the meantime. The fund existed to pay those pensions, and a rule meant to protect its accounts could not be allowed to defeat that purpose. Brooke's solution separated the old accounts from the current business, so that a new manager could begin collecting and paying while Cole's books waited for him to recover.

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immediately elected to act in his place until his

health be restored and that a new treasurer be

also elected who shall receive the books and

balance from the Committee appointed at

the last meeting as soon as possible

Agreed and that the Committee (who

are now in fact to be considered as acting treasurer)

do proceed to receive interest and Subscriptions

and to pay off the pensions as far as the money

at disposal will admit

The election of a new member fell on

Mr. Lambe

The President

Now put the question which was noticed

last meeting.

Shall the interest be reduced to 7 p. Cent

or shall it stand at 10 p. Cent

The meeting is not deemed sufficiently

numerous to proceed to the decision of the

above question

Brooke's proposal of 2 May 1825 provided for a new manager to be elected at once to serve in Major Cole's place until his health recovered. A new treasurer would also be elected, who would receive the books and the balance from the committee appointed at the previous meeting as soon as possible.

The meeting agreed. It also resolved that the committee should in effect act as treasurer in the meantime. The committee would collect interest and subscriptions and pay the pensions as far as the money available allowed.

The members elected Mr Lambe as the new manager.

The President then put the question raised at the previous meeting. The members were asked whether the interest on the fund's loans should be cut to 7 per cent or remain at 10 per cent. Too few members attended for the question to be discussed.

Interpretations

Making the whole committee act as treasurer let the fund resume collecting and paying without waiting for Cole's accounts or a willing successor. Responsibility for the money was shared among five men, so no single member had to take on the risk of handling it while the old books remained unsettled.

The vote on interest failed for want of numbers, despite the measures of 3 May 1824. Those measures fixed the annual meeting for the first Monday in April and imposed a fine of one guinea on every absent member. This meeting was not the annual one, and the fine evidently applied only to that. A question that touched every borrower's survival on the land, and the fund's own income, was left undecided once again because the members did not attend.

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Resolved that Major Cole Lieut.

Armstrong and the new manager be Selected to

form a Committee for examining the accounts

of the Fund & preparing a report of the

same in readiness to submit to a general

meeting on a future day.

St. Helena 17 Novr. 1825.

At a Meeting of the Committee, held this

day The following Letter was received from Mr. Lambe

the present Treasurer. and it was resolved to accept

his donation, agreeably to the terms therein specified

To Thomas H. Brooke Esqr.

President &c &c of the Committee of the Widows

& Orphans Society.

Gentlemen.

I beg permission to deposit in the Funds

of the Widows and Orphans Society the sum of

£250, the Interest of which I beg to present for

the Benefit of that Institution reserving to

myself at the expiration of every Year, the

right of withdrawing it but pledging my-

self, in that event, to Convert the Principal

to a Charitable Purpose.

I have the honor to be

Gentlemen

Your most obt. Humble Servt.

Signed G. V. Lambe

St. Helena

15th Octr. 1825

Margin Notes:

[...]

The meeting of 2 May 1825 resolved that Major Cole, Lieutenant Armstrong and the new manager should form a committee to examine the fund's accounts. They would prepare a report to lay before a general meeting at a later date.

The committee met at St Helena on 17 November 1825 and received a letter from Mr Lambe, now the treasurer. It resolved to accept his gift on the terms he set out.

Lambe wrote to Thomas H. Brooke, President, and the committee of the Widows' and Orphans' Society on 15 October 1825. He asked leave to deposit £250 0s 0d with the society and to give the interest on it for the society's benefit. He kept the right to withdraw the money at the end of any year. If he did so, he undertook to give the capital to some charitable purpose.

Interpretations

Lambe gave the income on his money but kept the capital under his control. At the fund's rate of 10 per cent the deposit would yield £25 0s 0d a year, the full amount of a widow's pension before the scheme of 1821. A straightforward gift of £250 0s 0d would have passed the money permanently to the society's managers, whose accounts had just collapsed into disorder under Cole. By keeping the right to withdraw it each year, Lambe could protect the money if the fund's management failed again. His pledge to give the capital to charity on withdrawal removed any suspicion that he sought a safe deposit for himself, and ensured the money would serve a charitable end whatever happened.

Major Cole sat on the committee to examine the accounts he had left in confusion. As the man who kept them, he was best placed to explain their entries. Armstrong had served as treasurer before Broadway, and Lambe, the new manager elected on 2 May 1825, now held the treasurer's office as well.

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St. Helena 3 April 1825

At a Meeting of the Subscribers to the Widows

Fund held this day at the Library

Capt. Hunter

Lieut. Armstrong going out of the

Committee in rotation, Capt. Hunter was elected in

his stead.

Resolved that the thanks of the

Members of the Society be given to

G. V. Lambe Esquire for his unre-

mitted attention during the period

of his office as Treasurer. By the

following Members Present. Vizt.

James Andrews

T. B. Brooke

Robt. Brooke

O. Beale

H. Broadway

T. M. Hunter

Thos. Johnson

W. O. Kennedy

Gordon Lorrimer

Danl. McMahon

Wm. Mason

Wm. McRitchie

Geo. Meade Junr.

D. O'Connor

M. O'Connor

H. H. Pritchard

D. K. Pritchard

Charles Sampson

John Sampson

J. B. Spiller

The subscribers to the widows' fund met at the Library on 3 April 1826.

Start of crossed out section

Captain Hunter.

End of crossed out section

Lieutenant Armstrong retired from the committee in rotation, and Captain Hunter was elected in his place.

The meeting resolved to thank G. V. Lambe for his tireless attention to the society's affairs during his time as treasurer. The following members present agreed.

James Andrews

T. B. Brooke

Robert Brooke

O. Beale

H. Broadway

J. M. Hunter

M. Johnson

W. O. Kennedy

Gordon Lorimer

Daniel McMahon

William Mason

William McRitchie

George Meade junior

D. O'Connor

M. O'Connor

H. H. Pritchard

D. K. Pritchard

Charles Sampson

John Sampson

J. B. Spiller

Interpretations

The vote of thanks marked the end of the crisis that began with Cole's letter of 19 April 1825. Lambe took over the treasurer's office in the middle of the year, when the books were in disorder and the widows' pensions were in arrears, and he also deposited £250 0s 0d with the fund on 15 October 1826. This was the first formal thanks to a treasurer recorded in the book. The meeting fell on the first Monday in April, the day fixed for the annual meeting on 3 May 1824, and 20 members attended, a much fuller gathering than the meetings of 1825 that could not reach a decision on the rate of interest.

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100

The following Gentlemen having entered

the Honble Company's Service, were admitted

Members of this Society & commenced their payment

of their Monthly subscriptions as single Men

on the 1st April 1826

John C. Mason

Thos. B. Knipe

Thomas Reade

Samuel Armstrong

Mr. Charles Smith having entered the Hon.

Company's Service, was admitted a Member of

this Society, and commenced the payment of

his Monthly subscription on the 1st June

1826

The following Gentlemen compose

the Committee for the present Year.

Thos. Hy. Brooke Esqr.

W. Brabazon.

" Blenkins

" Lambe Secy. & Treasurer

Major Hunter.

Four gentlemen who had entered the Company's service were admitted to the society. They began paying their monthly subscriptions at the single men's rate on 1 April 1826.

John C. Mason

Thomas B. Knipe

Thomas Meade

Samuel Armstrong

Charles Smith entered the Company's service and was admitted to the society. He began paying his monthly subscription on 1 June 1826.

The committee for the current year was as follows.

Thomas H. Brooke, Manager

William Brabazon, Manager

G. Blinkins, Manager

G. V. Lambe, Secretary and Treasurer

Major Hunter, Manager

Interpretations

The new members now joined by monthly payment from the date they entered the service, under the scheme of 1 May 1821. A single man paid 10 shillings a month, deducted at the Pay Office, which came to £6 0s 0d a year. Recruits no longer settled a yearly sum in person each April, so membership began quietly through the payroll and no longer depended on attending a meeting or remembering a deadline. Lambe now combined the offices of secretary and treasurer, which placed the fund's correspondence and money in the hands of the man the members had just thanked for restoring order. Thomas B. Knipe continued the family's connection with the fund, which went back to the elder Knipe who left in 1801 and to John B. Knipe, who joined after the meeting of 15 April 1805.

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101

St. Helena 3 April 1827.

At a Meeting of the Subscribers held

this day at the Library

Thos. H: Brooke Esqr. going out of the

Committee by rotation Thos. Greentree Esqr. was

elected in his stead and the following

Gentlemen compose the Committee for the

ensuing year Vizt.

Mr. Brabazon

" Blenkins

" Lambe

Town Major Hunter

Thomas Greentree Esqr.

Thos. H: Brooke Esqr. late President

of the Committee laid the following address

before the Meeting

Gentlemen,

In pecuniary transactions between

Individuals

The subscribers met at the Library on 3 April 1827. Thomas H. Brooke retired from the committee in rotation, and Thomas Greentree was elected in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

William Brabazon, Manager

G. Blinkins, Manager

G. V. Lambe, Manager

Major Hunter, Manager

Thomas Greentree, Manager

Thomas H. Brooke, the outgoing President of the committee, then laid an address before the meeting. He opened with a general observation about money dealings between private individuals.

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102

Individuals on their own private Account, it

is justly deemed an amiable trait of charac-

ter to refrain from insisting on a rigorous

operation of the strict letter of the law, by

putting a Bond in force in Case of the

inability of a Creditor to meet instantly

the demand for interest. But altho' a man

has of Course a right to exercise forbearance

in matters which Concerns himself only, the

Case is very different when the interest of

others are involved. And altho' we are all ready

to acknowledge the Correctness of this prin-

ciple we are nevertheless too apt to suffer

in the overflow of the Milk of Human Kind-

ness to drown not only the voice of Justice

but also the Demands of humanity towards

those for whom we have undertaken a most

Sacred trust.

That forbearance to which I have alluded

has more than once been the cause of confu-

sion in our Concerns and risk to our funds;

Our Institution has been recently rescued

from a State of irregularity, thro' the Activity

Perseverance Zeal & Firmness of our Treasurer

Mr. Lambe. He has resolutely encountered

trouble & Difficulty, & has been involved

in unpleasant & vexatious Correspondance

in protecting the rights of the Widows and

Orphans of the Society and his exertions

have been successful.

Gentlemen I beg to move that the thanks

of this Meeting be offered to Mr. Lambe for his

services as Treasurer.

Brooke's address of 3 April 1827 began by contrasting private and public dealings in money. When a man lent his own money and his debtor could not pay the interest at once, people rightly admired him for declining to enforce the bond to the letter of the law. A man could show such leniency freely where only his own interests were at stake. Matters stood quite differently where the interests of others were involved. Everyone accepted this principle, Brooke observed, yet members too readily let their kindness towards debtors override both justice and their duty of care to those whose welfare had been placed in their hands as a sacred trust.

Brooke held that such leniency had more than once thrown the society's affairs into confusion and put its funds at risk. The fund had lately been rescued from that disorder by the energy, persistence, commitment and firmness of the treasurer, Mr Lambe. Lambe had faced trouble and difficulty without flinching. He had been drawn into unpleasant and troublesome correspondence in defending the rights of the society's widows and orphans, and his efforts had succeeded. Brooke proposed that the meeting thank Lambe for his services as treasurer.

Interpretations

Brooke set out the principle of trusteeship that the society had long failed to observe. A private lender could forgive a debtor at his own expense, but the managers lent money that belonged in effect to the widows and orphans. Every concession to a borrower was paid for by a pension delayed or reduced. The record bore out his charge. The managers gave the Julio estate repeated extensions from 22 August 1814, and on 8 April 1816 the treasurer declined to enforce the bond at all. Unpaid interest had passed £200 0s 0d by April 1825 while the farmers pleaded poverty.

Brooke's own position had shifted. On 25 April 1825 he urged the members to consider lowering the rate of interest so that indebted farmers could keep their land. Two years later he praised Lambe for pressing those same debtors firmly. The two views were not wholly at odds. A lower rate set by the society as policy differed from leniency granted case by case by individual managers, which left the fund's income at the mercy of each debtor's appeal. Lambe's success showed that firm collection could work where the society had assumed it could not.

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103

The Motion was seconded by Mr. Greentree and

carried unanimously

Gentlemen,

As we are now about to elect a New

Member of the Committee it cannot be too deeply

impressed on our minds, that the most effectual

way of averting such irregularities as those to which

I have already alluded will be to have our Com-

mittee composed of persons who will make it a

matter of conscience seriously to give their atten-

tion to the interests of the Society.

We should recollect that the Treasurer (upon

whom so much depends) is always Chosen from

amongst the Committee and perhaps no person

ought to be a Member of the Committee, who is

not also fit to be Treasurer.

Resolved that a Salary of £25 be granted

to the Treasurer as an Allowance for a Clerk.

and Mr. Thos. Cole having acted during the

last Year to the great satisfaction of the late

Treasurer he is appointed to that situation, and

to draw Pay from 1st April 1826.

The Committee have chosen George

Blenkins Esqr. their Treasurer for the ensu-

ing Year The Committee resolve that a

Meeting take place every first Monday in

the Quarter to take into Consideration

such Business as may be laid before them

by the Secretary & Treasurer.

Thomas Greentree seconded the motion of thanks to Lambe, and it was carried unanimously.

Brooke went on to address the election of a new committee member. He urged the members to remember that the surest way to prevent the disorders he had described was to fill the committee with men who regarded careful attention to the society's interests as a matter of conscience. The treasurer, on whom so much depended, was always chosen from among the committee. Brooke suggested that no one should therefore sit on the committee unless he was also fit to serve as treasurer.

The meeting resolved to grant the treasurer £25 0s 0d a year to pay for a clerk. Thomas Cole had done this work during the past year to the full satisfaction of the outgoing treasurer. He was appointed to the post, with pay backdated to 1 April 1826.

The committee chose George Blinkins as treasurer for the coming year. It also resolved to meet on the first Monday of each quarter to deal with any business the secretary and treasurer put before it.

Interpretations

Brooke's warning drew on the society's recent experience. Major T. T. B. Cole was elected treasurer on 13 November 1823 and declined to serve. After the fine for refusal was introduced on 3 May 1824 he took the office, and a year later left the accounts in a state that, in his own words, needed a better accountant than he was. Electing managers by rotation filled the committee in turn, without asking whether each man could manage money. Brooke's test would make fitness for the treasurer's office a condition of joining the committee at all.

The paid clerk separated the routine work of the accounts from the honorary office of treasurer. Thomas Cole had evidently kept the books for Lambe without pay, and the backdated salary acknowledged that the recovery the meeting had just praised depended partly on his work. The cost of £25 0s 0d a year equalled a widow's pension under the old rules. The members judged that a competent clerk would save the fund more than that in arrears recovered and errors avoided. Quarterly committee meetings meant that the treasurer's accounts would be examined four times a year, rather than left until the annual meeting, when problems had often grown beyond easy correction.

George Blinkins refused to subscribe on 15 April 1805 and was admitted only on 12 April 1820, on payment of arrears with interest and £24 0s 0d. Seven years later he held the fund's most responsible office.

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St. Helena 3d April 1828

At a meeting of the Subscribers

held this day at the Library in James's

Town.

Proposed and carried unanimously

that Thomas Greentree Esqre. be requested

to take the Chair which was taken by that

Gentleman accordingly.

Mr. Brabazon going out of the

Committee by rotation Mr. W. H. Seale

was elected in his stead and the following

Gentlemen compose the Committee for

the ensuing Year Vizt.

2 Thos. Greentree Esqr.

1 G. Blenkins

3 G. V. Lambe

4 T. M. Hunter

5 W. H. Seale

Mr. Reed of the Medical Establishment

having applied to be admitted in the Fund,

a

Margin Notes:

The numerals denote

in order in which the

Committee go out by

rotation.

The subscribers met at the Library in Jamestown on 7 April 1828. The meeting proposed and agreed unanimously that Thomas Greentree should take the chair, and he did so.

William Brabazon retired from the committee in rotation, and W. H. Seale was elected in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows, each name numbered to show the order in which its holder would retire.

2: Thomas Greentree

1: G. Blinkins

3: G. V. Lambe

4: J. M. Hunter

5: W. H. Seale

Mr Reed of the medical establishment applied for admission to the fund.

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105

a reference was made to the Books to find

upon what principle he might be admitted,

when it appearing that no scale had

been determined on, it was resolved that

the Committee should prepare a Scale

to be submitted to a General meeting

of Subscribers for their approval

The Committee have chosen

W. H. Seale Esqre. to be their Treasurer

for the ensuing Year.

When Mr Reed of the medical establishment applied to join the fund on 7 April 1828, the members searched the books to find on what terms he could be admitted. They found that no scale had ever been settled. The meeting resolved that the committee should draw one up and lay it before a general meeting of subscribers for approval.

The committee chose W. H. Seale as treasurer for the coming year.

Interpretations

The missing scale was the one promised on 13 November 1823. The members then agreed unanimously that a man entering the service later in life should pay an extra sum before admission, and ordered a rule to that effect to be drafted for a future meeting. More than four years later no such rule had been made. Reed's application exposed the gap, since the managers had no basis for deciding what a late entrant should pay. The episode showed how often the society agreed a principle and then failed to carry it through, a weakness Brooke criticised in his address of 3 April 1827.

W. H. Seale became treasurer eight years after his admission on 12 April 1820. He had been required to pay all his arrears with interest and a donation of £24 0s 0d as the price of joining late.

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106

St. Helena 6th Apl. 1829.

At a Meeting of the Subscribers

held this day at the Library in James Town.

Proposed and carried that the

sum of £74 . 13 .. being Int. due on a Bond of

£248 . 16 . 8 to the 1st Apl. 1828 and future Int.

shall be written off the Books the Grounds having been

surrendered for the Mortgage to the Fund. and

that the Rent shall be brought on when the Premises

are let.

Mr. Blenkins going out of the

Committee by Rotation Capt. O'Connor was elected

in his stead and the following Gentlemen compose the

Committee for the ensuing year. Vizt.

1. Thomas Greentree Esqr. President

2. G. V. Lambe

3. T. M. Hunter

4. W. H. Seale

5. Danl. O'Connor

The thanks of the Meeting

were returned to Mr. Seale, late Treasurer and

Mr. Greentree President of the Committee.

The Committee have chosen

Capt. O'Connor to be their Treasurer for the

ensuing year.

Messrs. Green, Campbell and Marriot having

entered the Hon. Company's Service were admitted Members

of this Society and commenced the payment of their Monthly

Subscriptions on the 1st April 1830.

The subscribers met at the Library in Jamestown on 6 April 1829. The meeting proposed and agreed that £74 13s 0d of interest due up to 1 April 1828 on a bond for £248 16s 8d should be written off the books, together with all future interest on it.

Start of crossed out section

Shall.

End of crossed out section

The borrower had surrendered the land mortgaged to the fund. The rent would be entered in the books once the property was let.

G. Blinkins retired from the committee in rotation, and Captain D. O'Connor was elected in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

1: Thomas Greentree, President

2: G. V. Lambe

3: J. M. Hunter

4: W. H. Seale

5: Daniel O'Connor

The meeting thanked W. H. Seale, the outgoing treasurer, and Thomas Greentree, the President of the committee. The committee chose Captain D. O'Connor as treasurer for the coming year.

Messrs Green, Campbell and Marriott entered the Company's service and were admitted to the society. They began paying their monthly subscriptions on 1 April 1830.

Interpretations

The surrender of this land fulfilled Brooke's warning of 25 April 1825. He predicted that a farmer whose land was worth less than his mortgage would find it better to hand the land to the fund than to go on paying 10 per cent on the debt. Here a borrower did exactly that. The unpaid interest of £74 13s 0d amounted to almost a third of the original loan of £248 16s 8d, and the fund had no realistic hope of recovering it. Writing it off accepted the loss and cleared the books of a debt that could only distort the accounts. The members could have sold the land at once to recover what they could, but chose to let it and take the rent. With land values low, a sale would perhaps have fetched little, whereas a tenant would provide a steady income. The fund thus became a landlord, holding property that the rule of 8 April 1811 had meant only as a safeguard.

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St. Helena 8th April 1830.

The Annual General Meeting was

held this day at the Library in James Town,

when the Accounts &c. of the Society were laid

before the Meeting, and the following Resolutions

made

1st Proposed by Mr. A. Beale and seconded

by Capt. O'Connor that the Resolution of the

1st April 1778 respecting female Orphans be

modified and that henceforward such orphan be

allowed the Annuity during life or until marriage.

2nd Proposed by Capt. Bennett & seconded

by Capt. Armstrong that the Interest of 10 P. C.

on the Bonds of the Society be reduced to that

of 7½ Per Cent Per Annum, but that this altera-

tion in the Interest is not to extend to the

existing Bonds.

The General Meeting came to a unanimous

resolution that the above proposition be investigated

and reported upon by a Committee for the purpose

and the following Members were appointed to

form that Committee. Vizt. Messrs. Greentree

Blenkins, Lambe, Seale and Col. Hodson.

3rd Recommended by Mr. Lambe seconded by

Mr. Greentree & unanimously agreed to by the meeting

that the Society petition the Hon. the Governor and

Council to allow the Treasurer to pay into the Hon.

Compy. Treasury here, the Annuities due to Widows

resident in Europe, & also that the Hon. Court

of Directors be solicited to disburse the same

to the Applicants on production of the requisite

Certificate

Margin Notes:

27

28

The annual general meeting took place at the Library in Jamestown on 8 April 1830. The society's accounts were laid before it, and the following resolutions were put forward.

1: A. Beale proposed, and Captain O'Connor seconded, that the resolution of 1 April 1778 concerning female orphans should be changed. From then on, an orphaned daughter would receive her annuity for life or until she married.

2: Captain Bennett proposed, and Captain Armstrong seconded, that the interest charged on the society's bonds should fall from 10 per cent to 7½ per cent a year. The change would not apply to bonds already in force.

The general meeting resolved unanimously that a committee should examine these two proposals and report on them. It appointed Messrs Greentree, Blinkins, Lambe and Seale and Colonel Hodson to serve on it.

3: Lambe recommended, Greentree seconded and the meeting agreed unanimously that the society should petition the Governor and Council. The petition would ask that the treasurer be allowed to pay into the Company's Treasury on the island the annuities owed to widows living in Europe. The Court of Directors would also be asked to pay these sums to the widows in Europe when they produced the necessary certificate.

Interpretations

The first proposal recognised the position of a daughter without a father. Under the rule of 1778 an orphan's annuity ended at a fixed age, which suited a son who could enter the Company's service or a trade and support himself. A daughter of an officer's family had almost no respectable way to earn a living. Ending her support at a set age could leave her destitute. Linking it instead to her marriage transferred the duty of supporting her from the fund to a husband, and kept her provided for if she never married.

The second proposal took up Brooke's argument of 25 April 1825 that 10 per cent had become too high now that land had lost value. The surrender of mortgaged land recorded on 6 April 1829 had proved his point. The proposers still excluded existing bonds from the reduction. The farmers whose debts had prompted the change would therefore continue at the old rate, and only new borrowers would benefit. A cut on every bond at once would have reduced the fund's income at a stroke, and the members preferred to protect the pensions already being paid.

The third proposal arose because many widows left St Helena after their husbands died, mostly for Britain. Paying them meant sending small sums across the world. The Company already moved money between the island and London, so paying the annuities into its Treasury on the island and having the Court of Directors pay them out in Europe used an existing channel. The certificate would confirm that the widow was alive and still entitled, protecting the fund from paying a claimant who had died or remarried. Colonel Patton's children had to claim their arrears through an attorney on 22 August 1814, and the new arrangement would spare widows abroad such delay.

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Certificates & that further the Treasurer for

the time being shall be Agent (as far as relates

to this fund) to all annuitants non-resident on

the Island free of expence and that he pay

into the Hon. Compy. Treasury here every six

months the aforesaid pensions Vizt. on the 1st April

and 1st Octobr.

4th Proposed by Mr. Greentree seconded by

Mr. Brooke & unanimously agreed to that the

Hon. the Governor & Council be requested to

receive from the Treasurer of this Society any

Sum the Committee should at any time con-

sider necessary to deposit in their charge.

That the Committee audit the accounts half

yearly and that a Statement of the Accounts

of this Society be printed and published yearly

5th Proposed by Capt. O'Connor seconded

by Mr. Lambe & unanimously agreed to that

in consequence of the additional duties of the

Clerk, his Salary be increased to £30 Pr. Ann.

Mr. Greentree retiring from the Committee by

rotation Lieut. A. A. Younge was chosen in

his stead and the following Gentlemen

compose the Committee for the ensuing year

1. G. V. Lambe President

2. T. M. Hunter

3. W. H. Seale

4. Danl. O'Connor

5. A. A. Younge

Mr. Greentree having retired from office the

unanimous thanks of the meeting were expressed

for the exertions of that Gentleman to the concerns

of the Society

Signed by Members Present.

T. H. Brooke Esqr.

Thos. Greentree Esqr.

G. Blenkins

G. V. Lambe

A. Beale

W. Brabazon

D. O'Connor

A. C. Smith

T. B. Brooke

Robt. Armstrong

John Young

Thos. Thorn

A. A. Younge

T. M. Hunter

H. Pritchard

Col. Wright

James Bennett

The third resolution of 8 April 1830 continued with further arrangements for widows living away from the island. The treasurer in office would act without charge as agent for every annuitant living abroad, in all matters concerning the fund. He would pay their pensions into the Company's Treasury on the island every six months, on 1 April and 1 October.

4: Greentree proposed, Brooke seconded and the meeting agreed unanimously that the Governor and Council should be asked to accept from the society's treasurer any sum the committee thought it necessary to place in their keeping. The committee would also audit the accounts every half year, and a statement of the society's accounts would be printed and published each year.

5: Captain O'Connor proposed, Lambe seconded and the meeting agreed unanimously to raise the clerk's salary to £30 0s 0d a year, because of the additional work he now had to do.

Thomas Greentree retired from the committee in rotation, and Lieutenant A. A. Younge was chosen in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

1: G. V. Lambe, President

2: J. M. Hunter

3: W. H. Seale

4: Daniel O'Connor

5: A. A. Younge

The meeting thanked Greentree unanimously for his work on the society's behalf. The following members present signed.

T. H. Brooke

Thomas Greentree

G. Blinkins

G. V. Lambe

A. Beale

W. Brabazon

D. O'Connor

[...] Smith

T. B. Brooke

Robert Armstrong

John Young

Thomas Thorn

A. A. Younge

J. M. Hunter

H. Pritchard

Colonel Wright

James Bennett

Interpretations

The fourth resolution set the fund on a footing of public accountability. A half-yearly audit by the committee meant that no treasurer could again let his books slide for a year, as Cole had done before his letter of 19 April 1825. A printed annual statement put the accounts before every subscriber and anyone else on the island. Any treasurer who neglected collections or lent carelessly would see his failure published. Depositing surplus money with the Governor and Council revived the tenth proposal of 1 May 1821, which had asked the Court of Directors in London to take such money into the Company's Treasury. The members now sought the same security from the island government, where the treasurer could reach the money and the managers could watch it.

The treasurer's work as agent for widows abroad was unpaid, so the fund itself bore no cost and the widows received their pensions in full. The extra administration fell on the clerk, whose salary rose from the £25 0s 0d fixed on 3 April 1827 to £30 0s 0d. Thomas Cole's position was thus confirmed as a permanent and growing part of the society's running.

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The Committee appointed Lt. A. A. Younge

Treasurer for the ensuing year.

The Committee cannot refrain from

expressing the high opinion they entertain of the

Zeal, displayed by Capt. O'Connor their late

Treasurer, and feel called on thus to notice

their sense of his merits.

Signed G. V. Lambe

President.

Mr. F. H. B. Lester having entered

the Hon. Compy. Service, was admitted a Member

of this Society & commenced the payment of his

Subscriptions (on the new Estab.) on 1st January 1831.

St. Helena 7th April 1831.

The Annual Meeting of the Society took place

this day at the Library when the following address

was read by Thos. Greentree Esqr.

"We the undersigned Subscribers to the Widows

Fund, having been appointed a Committee at the last

General Meeting, to take into consideration the propriety of

adopting two propositions made by Messrs. Beale and

Bennett at said Meeting, Vizt.

"That the resolution of the 1st April 1778 respecting

female Orphans be modified, and that henceforward

such Orphans be allowed the Annuity during life or until

Marriage." And Secondly "That the Interest on Bonds

be reduced" beg to lay before the Genl. Meeting of

Subscribers held this day, the following report and opinion.

The Committee beg to state, that they have

attentively and minutely examined the Accounts of the

Society, and find from the period when it was first

established in 1766 to the year 1808, a period of 42 years,

by

The committee appointed Lieutenant A. A. Younge as treasurer for the coming year. It also recorded its high opinion of the commitment shown by Captain O'Connor, the outgoing treasurer, and its appreciation of his merits. G. V. Lambe signed as President.

[...] Lester entered the Company's service and was admitted to the society. He began paying his subscription at the new rates on 1 January 1831.

The society held its annual meeting at the Library on 4 April 1831. Thomas Greentree read an address from the committee appointed at the last general meeting. That committee had been asked to consider whether to adopt two proposals made by Messrs Beale and Bennett. The first was to change the resolution of 1 April 1778 so that an orphaned daughter would receive her annuity for life or until she married. The second was to reduce the interest charged on bonds. The committee now laid its report and opinion before the subscribers.

The committee stated that it had examined the society's accounts carefully and in detail. It had studied the period from the fund's foundation in 1766 to 1808, a span of 42 years.

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110

the Fund had increased to the Sum of £4324 . 8 . 3

making an average of about £103 Sty. added to the

Capital each Year. That from the year 1808 to 1821 (the year

when the Subscriptions were raised), the Fund had increased

to the Sum of £6018 . 3 . 9 giving an average annual

increase of £130 and that from the year 1821 to the

present period, the Funds have increased to the Sum of

£11800 Sty. The Committee find the number of

Annuitants have also seriously increased as the following

table will shew, and that the great rise in the

Sum of Capital, is to be attributed to the increased rate

of Subscription and Interest, and the circumstance

of but few Widows being placed on the Books at the

new rate of £72 per annum, in the course of the

last 9 years.

Table shewing the number of Widows on the

Fund, from 1st April 1786 to the 31st March 1831.

Year, Widows, Year, Widows, Year, Widows, Year, Widows

Year 1786, Widows 10, Year 1798, Widows 20, Year 1811, Widows 21, Year 1821, Widows 31

Year 87, Widows 10, Year 99, Widows 21, Year 12, Widows 22, Year 22, Widows 32

Year 88, Widows 18, Year 1800, Widows 21, Year 13, Widows 23, Year 23, Widows 30

Year 89, Widows 15, Year 1, Widows 21, Year 14, Widows 24, Year 24, Widows 30

Year 90, Widows 15, Year 2, Widows 21, Year 15, Widows 25, Year 25, Widows 30

Year 91, Widows 18, Year 3, Widows 24, Year 16, Widows 30, Year 26, Widows 31

Year 92, Widows 18, Year 4, Widows 25, Year 17, Widows 30, Year 27, Widows 30

Year 93, Widows 19, Year 5, Widows 24, Year 18, Widows 32, Year 28, Widows 29

Year 94, Widows 16, Year 6, Widows 23, Year 19, Widows 31, Year 29, Widows 28

Year 95, Widows 14, Year 7, Widows 21, Year 20, Widows 30, Year 30, Widows 26

Year 96, Widows 17, Year 8, Widows 23

Year 97, Widows 18, Year 9, Widows 22

Year 10, Widows 20

Besides the number enumerated in the three last years

there were in the year 1828, two widows at £65 Per Annum

In the year 1829, two widows at £65 per annum & one at £72

In the year 1830, two widows at £65 & two at £72

The Fund at present stands thus.

Capital

£ 11,800

Receipts

£ 1700

Disbursements

1100

leaving the Sum of

600

apparently to be added to the Capital

By 1808 the fund had grown to £4,324 8s 3d, an average addition to the capital of about £103 0s 0d a year. Between 1808 and 1821, when the subscriptions were raised, it grew to £6,018 3s 9d, an average yearly increase of £130 0s 0d. Since 1821 it had risen to about £11,500 0s 0d. The committee found that the number of annuitants had also risen steadily, as its table showed. It attributed the sharp growth in capital to the higher rates of subscription and interest. It also noted that few widows had joined the books at the new rate of £72 0s 0d a year during the past nine years.

The committee's table gave the number of widows on the fund each year from 1 April 1786 to 31 March 1831, set out in four pairs of columns headed Year and Widows.

Year 1786, 10 widows | Year 1798, 20 widows | Year 1811, 21 widows | Year 1821, 31 widows

Year 1787, 10 widows | Year 1799, 21 widows | Year 1812, 22 widows | Year 1822, 32 widows

Year 1788, 12 widows | Year 1800, 21 widows | Year 1813, 23 widows | Year 1823, 30 widows

Year 1789, 15 widows | Year 1801, 21 widows | Year 1814, 24 widows | Year 1824, 30 widows

Year 1790, 15 widows | Year 1802, 21 widows | Year 1815, 25 widows | Year 1825, 30 widows

Year 1791, 18 widows | Year 1803, 23 widows | Year 1816, 30 widows | Year 1826, 31 widows

Year 1792, 18 widows | Year 1804, 25 widows | Year 1817, 30 widows | Year 1827, 30 widows

Year 1793, 19 widows | Year 1805, 24 widows | Year 1818, 32 widows | Year 1828, 29 widows

Year 1794, 16 widows | Year 1806, 23 widows | Year 1819, 31 widows | Year 1829, 28 widows

Year 1795, 14 widows | Year 1807, 21 widows | Year 1820, 30 widows | Year 1830, 26 widows

Year 1796, 17 widows | Year 1808, 23 widows

Year 1797, 18 widows | Year 1809, 22 widows

Year 1810, 20 widows

In addition to those counted for the last three years, the fund paid widows at the new rates.

Year 1828, 2 widows at £65 0s 0d a year

Year 1829, 2 widows at £65 0s 0d a year and 1 widow at £72 0s 0d a year

Year 1830, 2 widows at £65 0s 0d a year and 2 widows at £72 0s 0d a year

The committee set out the fund's present position.

Capital, £11,500 0s 0d

Receipts, £1,700 0s 0d

Disbursements, £1,100 0s 0d

Balance apparently available to add to capital, £600 0s 0d

Interpretations

The figures showed the scheme of 1 May 1821 working in the fund's favour, but for a reason the committee recognised as temporary. Capital nearly doubled in a decade, from about £6,018 0s 0d to £11,500 0s 0d, because members had paid the higher subscriptions for nine years while hardly any widows yet drew the higher pensions. Under the 1821 scale a member's widow reached £72 0s 0d only after her husband had paid at least six years at the new rate. The first such widows appeared in the table only from 1829. As more members who had paid the full term died, more widows would claim £65 0s 0d or £72 0s 0d instead of the old £25 0s 0d. The surplus of £600 0s 0d a year was therefore a product of timing, and the committee's word "apparently" acknowledged that it might not last.

The number of widows on the old scale climbed from 10 in 1786 to a peak of 32 in 1818 and 1822, and then fell to 26 by 1830. The jump from 25 to 30 in 1816 was the sharpest in the series. The decline after 1822 reflected old-scale widows dying or remarrying while new widows entered on the higher rates and were counted separately. Disbursements of £1,100 0s 0d across about 30 annuitants averaged under £40 0s 0d each, well below the new maximum. Interest on a capital of £11,500 0s 0d was by itself approaching the whole annual outlay. The committee could thus consider lowering the rate on new bonds and extending orphaned daughters' annuities without endangering current pensions, provided it kept in mind the heavier claims that lay ahead.

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The Committee however have to notice that

altho' some few of the Widows receiving Annuities at the

old rate, are (God bless them) of a long standing, yet

any great diminution of expence cannot reasonably be

expected, the Annuity being at the low rate of from £25 to £30.

Whereas there are at present several Widows receiving pensions

at the increased rate of £72 Pr. annum, and such

as are for the full period, requiring the very large Sum

of £720 of Capital (even at the highest rate of Interest)

to realize their Annuity. That there are already two

Widows recg. pensions at the full rate, & two others at lesser

amounts, making a total of Pensions at the new rate of

near £400 The Committee therefore looking to the

chances of one or more widows being added annually

are by no means disposed to view the Funds in that

prosperous state they would appear to be at the first

glance, and are decidedly of opinion that the first

proposition is inadmissable at the present time, (being

detrimental to the interests of the Society) the more particularly

as they are unanimously of opinion, that any extension

of pension, must in common fairness, have a retrospective

view, & include all orphans of deceased Subscribers,

of whom they have been enabled to enumerate about (14)

this would at once entail an expence of £420 P. Annum

on the funds of the Society, if granted at the full

rate of £30 leaving a very trifling Sum to answer

the demands of future Annuitants; And the Committee

cannot refrain from expressing their fears, that should

it unfortunately happen any rapid increase take place

in the number of Annuitants, the Fund will not be able

to meet the increased demand; and they therefore

strongly urge the Subscribers to refrain from giving

their sanction to a measure, so full of danger

to the Interests of the Society.

The committee warned, however, that the fund's prosperity was less secure than it appeared. Some of the widows on the old scale had drawn their pensions for many years, and the committee wished them well. Their annuities were small, between £25 0s 0d and £30 0s 0d a year, so their gradual departure from the books would bring no great saving. By contrast, several widows now drew the new rate of £72 0s 0d a year. To fund each full pension of that kind required capital of £720 0s 0d, even at the highest rate of interest. Two widows already received the full rate and two others lesser sums under the new scale, so pensions at the new rates came to nearly £400 0s 0d a year. With the prospect of one or more widows joining the books each year, the committee could not regard the fund as being as prosperous as it first seemed.

The committee was therefore firmly of the view that the first proposal could not be adopted at present, since it would harm the society. Its members agreed unanimously that fairness would require any extension of pensions to apply retrospectively to all the orphans of deceased subscribers. The committee counted about 14 such orphans. Paying each the full rate of £30 0s 0d a year would cost £420 0s 0d at once, leaving very little to meet the claims of future annuitants. The committee feared that a rapid rise in the number of annuitants would leave the fund unable to meet its obligations. It strongly urged the subscribers not to approve a measure that posed so great a danger to the society.

Interpretations

The committee reasoned in terms of capital tied up rather than income paid out. A pension of £72 0s 0d a year, drawn from interest at 10 per cent, needed £720 0s 0d of capital set aside for as long as the widow lived. Measured that way, the four widows on the new scale already absorbed a large share of the £11,500 0s 0d the fund held. The annual surplus of £600 0s 0d looked comfortable only because the new liabilities were still few, and each additional widow on the full rate would commit another £720 0s 0d. The committee in effect valued the fund's future obligations against its assets, an approach the members had not applied before.

The objection to the orphans' proposal turned on fairness as much as cost. Extending the annuity only to daughters orphaned in future would have been cheap at first, but the committee held that it could not justly deny the same benefit to daughters already on or off the books. That retrospective principle made the measure cost £420 0s 0d a year from the start, consuming most of the surplus in a single stroke. The committee preferred to reject the proposal outright rather than adopt it in a form it considered unjust.

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With respect to the second proposition the

Committee find that the Treasurer has been enabled

to let, on good Security, at the full rate of Interest

the whole of the Cash in his hands; and from the

peculiar state of the Island at the present time, has

had application for much more. This circumstance

would have rendered it unnecessary for them, they

conceive, to have said any thing on the subject, did

they not consider it necessary to point out how ruinous

such a measure would have been. Many of us

remember the fatal effects of a disease in the year 1807

at any rate the Books of the Society bear testimony

to it. That the fund should be an improving one, is a

rule we believe no Subscriber will doubt the propriety

of strictly adhering to, in order to provide for any

unforeseen demand it may be exposed to but we

apprehend this is neither to be done by the indulgence

of a generous feeling, which we cordially participate in

(and sincerely regret a sense of duty compels us to oppose)

or by a rash reduction of our Capital, which the Society

may lawfully look forward to increase, by

demanding the usual rate of Interest.

Signed. Thos. Greentree

C. R. G. Hodson

George Blenkins

G. V. Lambe

W. H. Seale

St. Helena

1st October 1830.

Memo.

Since drawing up this report the Committee

find that another Widow has been added to the

Fund at £72.

On the second proposal, the committee reported that the treasurer had been able to lend all the cash in his hands on good security at the full rate of interest. Owing to the particular conditions on the island at that time, he had also received applications for far more than he could lend. That fact alone made further argument unnecessary. The committee nonetheless thought it right to show how damaging a reduction would have been. Many subscribers remembered the deadly effects of a disease that struck in 1807, and the society's books recorded its toll. No subscriber doubted that the fund ought to keep growing, so that it could meet any sudden and unforeseen demand. The committee held that this could not be achieved by indulging generous feelings, which its members shared and regretted having to oppose out of duty. Nor could it be achieved by rashly giving up income the society was entitled to expect. The capital would grow only if the fund continued to charge the usual rate of interest.

The report was dated at St Helena on 1 October 1830 and signed by the committee.

Thomas Greentree

C. R. G. Hodson

George Blinkins

G. V. Lambe

W. H. Seale

A note added that since the report was drawn up, another widow had joined the fund at £72 0s 0d a year.

Interpretations

The committee rejected the lower rate on market grounds. Brooke had argued on 25 April 1825 that land values had fallen so far that 10 per cent was ruining borrowers. Five years later the treasurer could lend everything he held at that rate and had more applicants than money. The proposal to cut the rate would have given up income for which borrowers were willing to pay, in order to relieve a hardship that no longer existed.

The reference to 1807 gave the members' fear a concrete form. An epidemic could kill many subscribers within months and place their widows on the books together, each claiming her pension at once. Only a capital that kept growing could absorb such a shock. The note about one more widow at £72 0s 0d, added between the drafting of the report on 1 October 1830 and its reading at the annual meeting, underlined the point. It brought to five the widows on the new rates and raised the fund's commitment by another £720 0s 0d of capital.

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Mr. Lambe going out of the Committee by

rotation, Mr. T. B. Brooke was appointed in his stead, &

the following Gentlemen compose the Committee for the

ensuing year.

1. T. M. Hunter President

2. W. H. Seale

3. D. O'Connor

4. A. A. Younge

5. T. B. Brooke Secy. & Treasr.

Mr. W. H. Seale proposed that the thanks of the

Society be returned to Capt. A. A. Younge (their late Treasurer)

for his Zeal and attention during the past year.

The Committee then appointed Mr. T. B. Brooke

their Treasurer for the ensuing year.

Copy of the 73rd Para: of the Honble Court of Directors

General Letter to St. Helena under date 19th Jany. 1831.

Para. 73rd We cannot consent to the abolition of the Horse Tax.

We admit that the payment of the proceeds of it

to a Fund for the benefit of the Company's

Servants is an objectionable arrangement and

as that Fund does not appear to require

the continuance of this aid, we desire

that in future the proceeds of the Horse Tax

be paid into Our Treasury.

A True Copy.

R. F. Seale

Secretary

Lambe retired from the committee in rotation, and T. B. Brooke was appointed in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

1: J. M. Hunter, President

2: W. H. Seale

3: D. O'Connor

4: A. A. Younge

5: T. B. Brooke, Secretary and Treasurer

W. H. Seale proposed that the society thank Captain A. A. Younge, the outgoing treasurer, for his commitment and care during the past year. The committee then appointed T. B. Brooke as treasurer for the coming year.

The secretary, R. F. Seale, entered in the book a certified copy of paragraph 73 of the Court of Directors' general letter to St Helena, dated 19 January 1831. The directors refused to abolish the horse tax. They accepted, however, that paying its proceeds to a fund for the benefit of the Company's servants was an unsatisfactory arrangement. Since the fund no longer appeared to need this support, they ordered that the proceeds of the horse tax should in future be paid into the Company's Treasury.

Interpretations

The horse tax had been granted to the fund in 1794, at a time when the society was struggling and the pension had just been cut to £20 0s 0d. A tax levied on every horse owner on the island thereby supported the widows of the Company's own officials. The directors now judged that arrangement improper. Public revenue raised from all inhabitants should not go to a private society confined, since 8 April 1811, to Company servants. Someone on the island had evidently sought the tax's abolition, perhaps the landholders who paid it. The directors kept the tax but took its proceeds for the Company.

Their reason was the fund's apparent wealth. With capital of about £11,500 0s 0d and a yearly surplus of £600 0s 0d, it seemed able to manage without public aid. The committee's report of 1 October 1830 argued that this prosperity was largely illusory, since pensions at the new rate of £72 0s 0d would soon absorb the surplus. The directors in London acted on the figures alone. The fund lost a source of income at exactly the moment its own managers warned that heavier claims lay ahead.

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Island St. Helena 9th May 1831.

The Committee met this day when the

following resolutions were made.

Present T. M. Hunter President

W. H. Seale

D. O'Connor

A. A. Younge

T. B. Brooke Secy. & Treasr.

Vizt.

That Writs should be taken out against

all persons from whom Interest is due should

they not pay on or before the 1st July next.

That the Society memorialize the Hon.

Court Directors, regarding the Horse Tax.

Julio Estate If the Purchaser pay

the Interest of £39 the Bond of £550 will be

allowed to stand should the estate sell for £690 or above

St. Helena 9th April 1832

The Annual Meeting of the Society

took place this day at the Library when the

following Gentlemen were appointed a Committee

to take into consideration the propriety of adopting a

proposition made by Mr. Beale of extending the

Annuity to Females to Death or Marriage.

Col. Hodson, D. O'Connor, A. Beale, G. V. Lambe, W. H. Seale

Mr. Lambe then made the following

proposition.

It is extremely lamentable to observe

the number of Subscribers who appear to be defaulters in

their Subscriptions to the Widows Fund. It is

proposed that the Treasurer write to these Parties to

inform them that Six months from this date will

be granted for the paying of such Subscription

The committee met at St Helena on 9 May 1831 and passed the following resolutions. Those present were:

J. M. Hunter, President

W. H. Seale

D. O'Connor

A. A. Younge

T. B. Brooke, Secretary and Treasurer

The committee resolved that writs should be issued against everyone who owed interest to the fund, if they had not paid by 1 July 1831. It also resolved that the society should send a petition to the Court of Directors about the horse tax.

On the Julio estate, the committee agreed that if the purchaser paid the £39 0s 0d of interest owing, the bond for £150 0s 0d could remain in place. This applied only if the estate sold for £170 0s 0d or more.

The society held its annual meeting at the Library on 9 April 1832. The meeting appointed a committee to consider whether to adopt Mr Beale's proposal that annuities paid to daughters should continue until death or marriage. The members chosen were Colonel Hodson, D. O'Connor, A. Beale, G. V. Lambe and W. H. Seale.

Lambe then put forward a further proposal. He considered it deeply regrettable that so many subscribers appeared to be behind with their subscriptions. He proposed that the treasurer should write to each of them, granting six months from that date in which to pay.

Interpretations

The resolution to issue writs put Brooke's principle of 3 April 1827 into practice. A writ began a lawsuit in the island's court, and against a borrower whose debt was secured on land it led towards the seizure and sale of the property. The managers had long preferred patience, but the deadline of 1 July 1831 gave each debtor seven weeks' warning before the law was used against him.

The Julio debt had now passed through the hands of administrators since 1814 and was finally being settled through the sale of the estate. The committee let the new owner take over the bond rather than demanding repayment, but only if he cleared the arrears of interest and the estate fetched at least £170 0s 0d. That price left a margin above the £150 0s 0d lent, so the land would still cover the debt if the new owner defaulted. The managers thereby kept a loan earning 10 per cent while ensuring the security was sound.

Beale's proposal for orphaned daughters returned a year after the committee's report of 1 October 1830 rejected it as too costly. The new committee included Beale himself, alongside Lambe and Seale, who had signed that report, so the question would be weighed again by men who held both views.

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in failure of which their names will be struck

out of the list of Subscribers agreeably to the

Standing Regulations. And it is further pro-

posed that in future whatever Member shall

be in arrears one twelvemonths Subscription

at the annual meeting of the Society shall as

a matter of course be considered no longer a

Subscriber (provided he be residing on the Island)

Carried unanimously

It was also proposed & carried that

all Persons who neglected to pay their Interest

three months after it became due should be

arrested.

Major Hunter going out of the

Committee by rotation Dr. Lorimer was appointed

in his stead and the following Gentlemen compose

the Committee for the ensuing year.

1. W. H. Seale President

2. D. O'Connor

3. A. A. Younge

4. T. B. Brooke

5. Gordon Lorimer Secy. & Tr.

The Committee then appointed Dr.

Lorimer their Secy. & Treasurer for the ensuing

year.

14th May 1832

Assembled the following

W. H. Seale
D. O'Connor
Gordon Lorimer
T. B. Brooke
Committee

An application having been made by Major

Lambe's proposal of 9 April 1832 continued with the penalty for non-payment. Any subscriber who failed to pay within the six months allowed would have his name removed from the list of members, in line with the standing rules. Lambe further proposed that in future any member living on the island who was a full year behind with his subscription at the annual meeting should automatically cease to be a subscriber. The meeting carried the proposal unanimously.

The meeting also proposed and carried a resolution that anyone who failed to pay interest within three months of its falling due should be arrested.

Major Hunter retired from the committee in rotation, and Dr Lorimer was appointed in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

1: W. H. Seale, President

2: D. O'Connor

3: A. A. Younge

4: T. B. Brooke

5: Gordon Lorimer, Secretary and Treasurer

The committee appointed Dr Lorimer as its secretary and treasurer for the coming year.

The committee met on 14 May 1832, with the following members present.

W. H. Seale

D. O'Connor

Gordon Lorimer

T. B. Brooke

An application was laid before the committee by Major [...].

Interpretations

Arrest was the sharpest weapon a creditor of the period could use. A debtor could be seized on a writ and held in custody until he paid or came to terms, and the threat alone often produced payment. The society had moved within a year from the writs ordered on 9 May 1831 to a standing rule that any borrower three months behind with his interest would be arrested. This made Brooke's argument of 3 April 1827 the fund's settled policy. The managers held the widows' money in trust, and no longer felt free to show mercy at their expense.

The new rule on subscriptions corrected the weakness of the resolution of 5 April 1813. That rule threatened expulsion after 15 days but required someone to act on it, and no one ever did. Under Lambe's rule a member a year in arrears ceased to belong as a matter of course, without any vote or decision by the managers. The exception for members away from the island protected officers on leave or service elsewhere, who could not easily send their payments. Most subscriptions were now deducted at the Pay Office, so the members still in arrears were probably those whose pay did not pass through it.

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Major Hunter to borrow from the Fund

£200 giving security on his Plate and

Furniture the former of which is estimated

at £300. The Committee resolve that

notwithstanding the security offered is not

strictly in accordance with the regulations of

the Society yet they are determined from

the difficulty of procuring good Mortgages

to accede to his request provided that he

finds two good Securities and the personal

Bond in addition.

Island St. Helena 20th August 1832.

A General Meeting of the Society was

held this day at the Library when the following

Report of a Committee appointed at the last General

Meeting (regarding Annuities to Female Orphans to

Death or Marriage) was laid before them.

St. Helena 7th August 1832.

Agreeable to the Resolution of the General Meeting

held 9th April 1832 We this day formed ourselves

into a Committee, and have adopted the following

Propositions to be submitted to a General Meeting

1st That agreeably to Mr. Beale's Proposition, it

be recommended that at the decease or marriage

of a Subscribers Widow to extend an Annuity

to Female Orphans, to Death or Marriage,

after the Age of Twenty one years on the

following Scale

Major Hunter applied to borrow £200 0s 0d from the fund, offering his silver plate and furniture as security. The plate alone was valued at £300 0s 0d. The committee noted that this security did not strictly meet the society's rules. Good mortgages were now hard to find, however, and the committee decided to grant the loan. Hunter had to provide two reliable guarantors and give his own personal bond as well.

A general meeting of the society took place at the Library on 20 August 1832. The report of the committee appointed at the previous general meeting, on annuities for orphaned daughters until death or marriage, was laid before it.

The committee's report was dated at St Helena on 7 August 1832. Acting on the resolution of the general meeting of 9 April 1832, its members had met and agreed the following proposals for the subscribers.

1: In line with Mr Beale's proposal, the committee recommended extending annuities to orphaned daughters until their death or marriage. The annuity would apply on the death or remarriage of a subscriber's widow, to daughters over the age of 21, according to the following scale.

Interpretations

The loan to Hunter departed from the rule of 8 April 1811, which allowed lending only on freehold land or leases for lives. Plate and furniture were movable goods that a borrower could sell, hide or carry off the island, and their value could fall with wear. The committee accepted them because the market had turned. On 1 October 1830 the treasurer had more applicants than money and could lend everything at 10 per cent. Less than two years later the fund could not find enough sound mortgages for its cash, and idle money earned nothing for the widows. The committee made up for the weaker security with two guarantors and Hunter's personal bond, so that three separate parties stood behind the debt. Hunter had been President of the committee until April 1832, and the managers were lending to a former colleague whose circumstances they knew.

The committee's report answered the objections of 1 October 1830 by narrowing the scheme. The earlier committee had feared that an annuity for every orphaned daughter would cost £420 0s 0d a year at once. Under the new proposal a daughter's annuity would begin only after her mother's pension had ended through death or remarriage, and only once she was past 21. The fund would never pay a mother and daughter for the same family at the same time, and the cost would arise gradually rather than in a single charge.

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1st Class Should the Family consist of Four

or more female unmarried orphans, an Annuity

of £72 .... shall be continued to be equally divided

amongst them, if a Family consist of Three female

unmarried orphans, an Annuity in like manner

of £60 .... if a Family consist of Two female

unmarried orphans an Annuity of £50 if one

an Annuity of £25 ....

2nd Class Viz: £5 Subscribers Should the Family

consist of Four or more female unmarried orphans

an annuity of £30 to be equally divided, if of three

an annuity of £25 if of Two an annuity of £20

and if of one, an annuity of £10 ....

It is also proposed that in all cases of Annuities

to Orphans, an equal division shall be made, as

long as any Female Orphans remain unmarried

and observe a moral and chaste line of conduct.

2d That in the event of a Subscriber, leaving a

Male Orphan or Orphans, either crippled, blind

or from idiocy rendered incapable of earning a

Livelihood, such Male Orphan or Orphans to

be placed on the same footing with regard to

Annuity as a female orphan.

In the event of the Annual Income to the Funds of

the Society being so reduced as to render it

necessary to curtail, or annul, the present proposed

allowances to Orphans beyond the age of 21 Years,

as now recommended, shall be proportionably dimi-

nished or abrogated, before any interference is

made with the Annuities to Widows and Orphans

under the age of twenty one years.

The committee set out its scale for orphaned daughters over 21 in two classes.

First class, 4 or more unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £72 0s 0d shared equally

First class, 3 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £60 0s 0d shared equally

First class, 2 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £30 0s 0d shared equally

First class, 1 unmarried orphaned daughter, annuity of £25 0s 0d

Second class, subscribers at £5 0s 0d, 4 or more unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £30 0s 0d shared equally

Second class, subscribers at £5 0s 0d, 3 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £25 0s 0d shared equally

Second class, subscribers at £5 0s 0d, 2 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £20 0s 0d shared equally

Second class, subscribers at £5 0s 0d, 1 unmarried orphaned daughter, annuity of £10 0s 0d

The committee also proposed that every orphans' annuity should be shared equally among the daughters, for as long as any of them remained unmarried and led a moral and chaste life.

2: If a subscriber left a son who could not earn a living because he was crippled, blind or mentally incapable, that son should be treated in the same way as an orphaned daughter for the purposes of the annuity.

The committee added a safeguard. If the fund's annual income ever fell so far that payments had to be cut, the proposed allowances to orphans over 21 would be reduced or ended first. Only after that would any change be made to the annuities of widows or of orphans under 21.

Interpretations

The scale tied each family's benefit to what the father had paid in. The second class covered members who stayed on the old subscription of £5 0s 0d a year under the thirteenth proposal of 1 May 1821, and the first class evidently covered those who paid the higher rate of £12 0s 0d. A family of four daughters in the first class could receive the full widow's rate of £72 0s 0d, while the same family in the second class received £30 0s 0d. The annuity was fixed per family and shared, so it rose far more slowly than the number of daughters. This kept the cost within the limits that the report of 1 October 1830 had insisted on.

The condition of a moral and chaste life gave the society a hold over the conduct of the women it supported. A daughter whose behaviour the managers judged improper could lose her share. The rule matched the assumption behind the scheme, that an unmarried gentlewoman's only respectable routes were to live quietly on an allowance or to marry. Disabled sons were brought in on the same reasoning, since a son who could not work was as dependent as a daughter who was not expected to.

The final safeguard placed the new benefits last in the order of claims. If money ran short, the adult daughters would lose their allowances before any widow or young orphan was touched. This answered the earlier committee's fear that extending pensions would endanger the fund, by making the extension the first thing to be given up in hard times.

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The Committee on referring to the Books & Accounts

of the Society, find that the Funds have been

increasing considerably for some years past, and

at the present rate of Receipts and Disbursements

it appears that a surplus of more than £500 ....

in the last year, is to the Credit of the Fund;

and if no casualties of great moment take

place, this sum may be reckoned upon as

the Annual Surplus, particularly as this has

been, notwithstanding a considerable loss, in

the last year. We are in consequence

induced to offer the above propositions

Signed C. R. G. Hodson

Anthy. Beale

G. V. Lambe

W. H. Seale

D. O'Connor

The Subscribers present agreed to

adopt, the Report of their Committee,

with a particular reference however to

the 3rd Para: and accordingly

determined to adopt the proposal therein

contained, provided it shall be found

that the Funds of the Society will

bear the expence, without injury to

the Funds, or the rights of the Annuitants

who are at present enjoying the same

The committee explained its reasons by reference to the society's books and accounts. The fund had grown considerably for several years. At the current rate of income and expenditure, it showed a surplus of more than £500 0s 0d for the past year. If no heavy loss of life occurred, the committee expected a surplus of that size each year. It noted that this surplus had been achieved despite a considerable loss during the past year. These figures led the committee to put forward its proposals. The report was signed by the committee.

C. R. G. Hodson

Anthony Beale

G. V. Lambe

W. H. Seale

D. O'Connor

The subscribers present agreed to adopt the committee's report, with particular reference to its first proposal. They resolved to adopt that proposal, provided that the fund could bear the cost without harm to its finances or to the rights of the annuitants already drawing pensions.

Interpretations

Lambe and Seale signed both this report and the report of 1 October 1830, which called the same idea inadmissible and full of danger. Their change of view rested on evidence the earlier report lacked. In 1830 the surplus of £600 0s 0d might have been a passing effect of timing, before the widows on the new scale of £72 0s 0d began to accumulate. Two years later the surplus still exceeded £500 0s 0d, even after a significant loss, which perhaps referred to the land surrendered for the bond written off on 6 April 1829. The fund had absorbed the first widows at the higher rate and still grown. The committee had also redesigned the scheme so that it would cost far less than the £420 0s 0d a year the earlier report feared.

The subscribers adopted the proposal only on condition, adding their own safeguard to the committee's. A heavy mortality of the kind remembered from 1807 could wipe out the surplus in a single year. The condition kept the existing widows' and orphans' pensions first in line, so that the new allowances could never be paid out of money owed to them.

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119

or such as may hereafter be brought on

the Fund.

H. Broadway

W. Brabazon

W. Doveton

J. W. Greene

W. H. Seale

C. Broadway

C. Sampson

Hy. Doveton

A. A. Younge

G. V. Lambe

J. Bennett

D. O'Connor

W. Mason

J. Sampson

H. Pritchard

Anthy. Beale

G. Lorimer

J. Wellingtree

F. Seale

G. A. Dentaffe

T. B. Brooke

W. Knipe

J. W. Melliss

Robt. Brooke

The condition protected both the annuitants already on the fund and those who would join it in future. The subscribers present signed as follows.

H. Broadway

W. Brabazon

W. Doveton

J. W. Greene

Start of crossed out section

W. H. Seale

End of crossed out section

G. B. Broadway

C. Sampson

H. Doveton

A. A. Younge

G. V. Lambe

J. Bennett

D. O'Connor

W. [...]

J. Sampson

H. Pritchard

Anthony Beale

G. Lorimer

[...]

O. Beale

G. A. Den Taaffe

T. B. Brooke

[...] Knipe

J. W. Melliss

Robert Brooke

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Island St. Helena 8th April 1833.

The Annual Meeting of the

Society took place this day at the Library

when the following Proposition was made by

Colonel Wright and seconded by Dr. Lorimer

"That the Subscribers who are in arrears in their

Subscriptions be written to; and if not paid within

Three months their names to be erased". Carried.

Mr. Lambe proposed an amendment that the Law

be immediately put in effect

Seconded by Capt. Bennett but not Carried.

William Hy. Seale Esqr. going out of the Committee

by rotation Capt. William Doveton was appointed

in his stead, and the following Gentlemen compose

the Committee for the ensuing Year.

1. Daniel O'Connor President

2. A. A. Younge

3. T. B. Brooke

4. Gordon Lorimer

5. William Doveton Secy. & Trer.

The Committee then appointed Capt. W. Doveton

their Secy. & Treasurer for the ensuing Year.

The society held its annual meeting at the Library on 8 April 1833. Colonel Wright proposed, and Dr Lorimer seconded, that the treasurer should write to every subscriber behind with his subscriptions. Any who had not paid within three months would have their names removed. The proposal was carried.

Lambe proposed an amendment that the rule should take effect immediately. Captain Bennett seconded it, but it was defeated.

William H. Seale retired from the committee in rotation, and Captain William Doveton was appointed in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

1: Daniel O'Connor, President

2: A. A. Younge

3: T. B. Brooke

4: Gordon Lorimer

5: William Doveton, Secretary and Treasurer

The committee then appointed Captain W. Doveton as its secretary and treasurer for the coming year.

Interpretations

Lambe was defending his own rule. On 9 April 1832 the meeting adopted his proposal that any member on the island who was a full year in arrears at the annual meeting should cease to be a subscriber automatically, without any vote. A year later that rule ought to have struck off the defaulters on the spot. Lambe's amendment asked the meeting to do just that. The majority instead gave the defaulters a further three months' warning by letter. Applying the rule for the first time without notice would have expelled members and ended their wives' cover in a single stroke, and the meeting preferred to give each man a last chance to pay. The rule meant to work automatically therefore still depended on a decision by the members, and they chose leniency once more.

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Island St. Helena 6th June 1833.

At a Special General Meeting held this

day it was proposed by Capt. O'Connor and

seconded by Mr. Brabazon that the Interest

be reduced to 7½ Per Cent Per Annum.

Mr. Lambe proposed the following amendment

that the above motion of Capt. O'Connor lay over

for one month and that two Members of the

General Meeting be added to the present

Committee, to take the subject into consideration

and make a report thereon by that period

seconded by Mr. T. B. Brooke.

Colonel Hodson and Major Sampson were duly

elected to join the Committee.

20th June 1833.

The above Committee met this day, and

after examining the Accounts of the Society

resolved that the following Propositions be laid

before a General Meeting.

1st That as the Fund has a large sum in

hand, which they have been unable to let out

as usual that the same be offered at the

reduced Interest of 7½ Per Cent Per Annum

on Landed or House Security the latter

in all cases to be Insured against Fire.

2nd Should however the Society not succeed

in letting out their money at the reduced

Interest of 7½ Per Cent It is proposed that

the Court of Directors be petitioned to receive

the same into their Treasury here allowing

Interest

Margin Notes:

Carried by three in their favour

A special general meeting took place at St Helena on 6 June 1833. Captain O'Connor proposed, and Mr Brabazon seconded, that the interest charged on loans should be reduced to 7½ per cent a year.

Lambe proposed an amendment that the motion should be held over for a month. Two members of the general meeting would be added to the committee, which would examine the question and report within that time. T. B. Brooke seconded the amendment, and it was carried by three votes. Colonel Hodson and Major Sampson were elected to join the committee.

The committee met on 20 June 1833 and examined the society's accounts. It resolved to put the following proposals to a general meeting.

1: The fund held a large sum it had not been able to lend in the usual way. This money should be offered at the reduced rate of 7½ per cent a year, on the security of land or houses. Any house offered as security must in every case be insured against fire.

2: If the society still could not lend its money at 7½ per cent, the Court of Directors should be asked to take it into the Company's Treasury on the island and pay interest on it.

Interpretations

The demand for loans had collapsed within three years. The committee's report of 1 October 1830 recorded that the treasurer could lend every penny at 10 per cent and had applicants for far more. By August 1832 the committee was lending to Major Hunter on plate and furniture because good mortgages could not be found. Now a large sum lay idle. Money that was not lent earned nothing for the widows, so the rate the fund had defended as essential in 1830 had become an obstacle to earning any income at all. The proposal of 8 April 1830 had sought the same reduction only for new bonds, and the committee now framed it the same way, as a rate for money not yet lent.

The committee also widened the security it would accept. The rule of 8 April 1811 limited lending to land held freehold or on leases for lives. Houses, chiefly in Jamestown, could now serve as security. A house could burn down and leave the fund with nothing, unlike land, so the committee required every such house to be insured against fire. The insurance replaced the value of the security if it were destroyed, and made a property the managers would once have refused acceptable to them.

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Interest thereon as appears to be customary

regarding similar Societies in India

Island St. Helena 4th July 1833.

At a General Meeting of

the Widows Fund Society, held this day

It was proposed that in the Subject of

reducing the Interest to 7½ or 8 Per Cent

that each Member be applied to, for his

Individual opinion, on the following subjects

1st Shall the Sum of £1500 .... now in the

Chest, and which cannot be let out, at the

usual Interest be tendered at 7½ or 8 Pr. Cent?

Carried by a Majority of 55 to 2.

2nd If the above question be in the affirmative

shall the Interest on the existing Bonds be reduced also?

Carried by a Majority of 37 to 20.

3rd Shall the Money of the Fund be let out on

Personal Bonds (as well as Mortgage) with two

good Collateral Securities subject to the approval

of the Committee and in the event of one

Security dying or leaving the Island another

to be substituted, or the Bond called in?

Carried by a Majority of 30 to 27.

The committee's second proposal of 20 June 1833 asked the Court of Directors to pay interest on any money taken into the Treasury, as appeared to be the practice for similar societies in India.

A general meeting of the widows' fund took place at St Helena on 4 July 1833. It was proposed that, on the question of reducing the interest to 7½ or 8 per cent, every member should be asked individually for his opinion on the following questions.

1: Should the £1,500 0s 0d now held in the society's chest, which could not be lent at the usual rate, be offered at 7½ or 8 per cent? The proposal was carried by 55 votes to 2.

2: If so, should the interest on existing bonds also be reduced? The proposal was carried by 37 votes to 20.

3: Should the fund's money be lent on personal bonds as well as on mortgages, backed by two reliable guarantors approved by the committee? If one guarantor died or left the island, the borrower would have to find another, or the bond would be called in. The proposal was carried by 30 votes to 27.

Interpretations

The decision to poll every member individually answered the society's chronic problem of attendance. Meetings had repeatedly failed to decide the rate of interest for lack of numbers, on 2 May 1825 among others. A canvass of each subscriber produced 57 votes, far more than any meeting in the book had gathered, and gave the result an authority no small meeting could claim.

The three votes moved the fund well beyond the cautious position of 1830. The first was almost unanimous, since idle money earned nothing. The second, carried by a smaller margin, extended the lower rate to existing borrowers, whom the proposal of 8 April 1830 had deliberately excluded. The fund thus gave up income it was already receiving, perhaps to keep its existing borrowers from repaying and leaving still more money unlent. The third, carried by just three votes, broke with the rule of 8 April 1811 that the fund lend only on land. A personal bond rested on the borrower's promise and the standing of his guarantors rather than on property, and the requirement to replace a guarantor who died or left showed that the members understood the added risk. The loan to Major Hunter in August 1832 had already shown the way. The close vote showed how divided the members were over abandoning the security in land that had protected the fund for more than 20 years.

The reference to India placed St Helena among the Company's possessions. The officers' widows' funds in the Indian presidencies were larger and older, and the managers looked to their arrangements with the Company as a model for their own.

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2nd September 1833.

The Committee met this day, and in

consequence of the foregoing decisions it was

resolved to issue the following

Notice

The Widows and Orphans Fund have the

Sum of £1500 .... to let on good Security at

7½ Per Centum Per Annum application to be

made to the undersigned in writing And

the Bond holders are hereby informed that the

reduction of Interest on their Bonds, will

take place on the 1st October next provided

all arrears of Interest are paid up.

St. Helena Signed

3rd September 1833 W. Doveton

Secy. & Treasurer

13th April 1834.

The Annual Meeting of the Society

took place this day at the Library when the

following Propositions were made.

1st Proposed by Mr. T. B. Brooke and unanimously

Carried That any Person having once become Security

to the Fund to the amount of £100 .... cannot a

second time, become a Security.

2nd The Sum of £20 .... to be allowed Jonas, for the

repairs of the House rented by him. Carried.

3rd The sum of £2 .... to be allowed annually for

the repairs of the House purchased from

William Julio. Carried.

The committee met on 2 September 1833 and, following the decisions of the general meeting, resolved to publish a notice. The notice announced that the Widows' and Orphans' Fund had £1,500 0s 0d to lend on good security at 7½ per cent a year. Applications were to be made in writing to the treasurer. Holders of existing bonds were told that the reduced rate would apply to their bonds from 1 October 1833, provided they had paid all arrears of interest. W. Doveton signed the notice as secretary and treasurer at St Helena on 3 September 1833.

The society held its annual meeting at the Library on 14 April 1834, and the following proposals were made.

1: T. B. Brooke proposed, and the meeting agreed unanimously, that no one who had already acted as guarantor to the fund for £200 0s 0d could do so a second time.

2: Jonas would be allowed £20 0s 0d for repairs to the house he rented. The proposal was carried.

3: The fund would allow £2 0s 0d a year for repairs to the house bought from William Julio. The proposal was carried.

Interpretations

The notice offered existing borrowers the lower rate only once they had cleared their arrears. The vote of 4 July 1833 reduced interest on existing bonds, and the committee turned that concession into a means of collection. A borrower who wished to pay 7½ per cent instead of 10 per cent first had to settle what he already owed.

The limit on guarantors followed directly from the vote of 4 July 1833 to lend on personal bonds backed by two guarantors. Such a loan was only as safe as the men standing behind it. If the same few prosperous islanders guaranteed several loans, a single failure could bring down many bonds together. Allowing each man to stand guarantor only once spread the risk across more people.

The fund had become a property owner. The house bought from William Julio was evidently the end of the long dispute over his estate's bond, which began in 1814 and was being settled through a sale in May 1831. The land surrendered in place of the bond written off on 6 April 1829 had also passed to the fund. As landlord, the society now paid for repairs, including £20 0s 0d to its tenant Jonas, as well as collecting rent. A charity founded to pay pensions from interest had acquired the obligations that came with holding buildings.

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4th Proposed by Mr. A. Beale that the Sum

of £2000 .... of the Capital of the Fund, be

employed in the Purchase of such Articles, as

are actually the necessaries of life for the benefit

of the Subscribers and Annuitants.

The Meeting approved of Mr. Beale's Proposition

but, appointed the following Committee to report

upon the same Vizt.

Mr. Blenkins

" A. Beale

" Lambe

" T. B. Brooke

Capt. D. O'Connor

Capt. Danl. O'Connor going out of the Committee

by rotation, Capt. Bennett was appointed in his

stead, and the following Gentlemen compose

the Committee for the ensuing year.

1. A. A. Younge President

2. T. B. Brooke

3. Gordon Lorimer

4. William Doveton

5. James Bennett Secy. & Treasr.

The Committee then appointed Capt. Bennett

their Secy. & Treasurer for the ensuing

year.

4: A. Beale proposed that £2,000 0s 0d of the fund's capital should be used to buy goods that were genuine necessities of life, for the benefit of the subscribers and annuitants. The meeting approved his proposal and appointed a committee to report on it.

Mr Blinkins

A. Beale

Lambe

T. B. Brooke

Captain D. O'Connor

Captain Daniel O'Connor retired from the committee in rotation, and Captain Bennett was appointed in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

1: A. A. Younge, President

2: T. B. Brooke

3: Gordon Lorimer

4: William Doveton

5: James Bennett, Secretary and Treasurer

The committee then appointed Captain Bennett as its secretary and treasurer for the coming year.

Interpretations

Beale's proposal sought a new use for money the fund could not lend. The notice of 3 September 1833 had offered £1,500 0s 0d at the reduced rate, and the society still held capital it could not place. Lending on personal bonds and depositing money with the Company were the obvious remedies, and the members had already turned to both. Beale proposed instead that the fund turn trader. St Helena depended on ships for almost everything its people consumed, and prices on the island rose sharply whenever supplies ran short. A stock of necessities bought in bulk could be supplied to subscribers and widows below the shop price, so that the fund's capital benefited its members directly instead of earning interest from borrowers. The meeting's approval in principle, followed by a referral to committee, showed both the members' interest and their caution about committing a sixth of the fund's capital to so unfamiliar a venture.

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23rd May 1834.

The following letter was received from Mr. Beale.

To The President & Members of the Widows Fund

Committee

Gentlemen,

An offer has been made to purchase a small

portion of my Land, by the sale of which I think

enough will be realized to pay off the two Bonds

held by you upon the whole of my estate. I have

therefore to request you will do me the favor to receive

the amount of those two Bonds that they may be

cancelled in order that I may effect the sale &

pass over to the Party such portion as free of all

Incumbrance.

I am the more induced to make this

request from my knowledge that applications are

now making for Loans from your Funds.

I remain

Gentlemen

Yours obediently

Signed Anthy. Beale

Committees Reply

Anthy. Beale Esqr.

Sir

I am directed by the Committee to inform

you that they exceedingly regret they cannot

depart from the Rules of the Society in granting

your request but have resolved to call a

General Meeting to reconsider the Rule regarding

On 23 May 1834 the committee received a letter from Anthony Beale, addressed to the President and members of the committee of the widows' fund. Beale reported an offer to buy a small part of his land. He believed the sale would raise enough to repay the two bonds the fund held over his whole estate. He therefore asked the committee to accept repayment of the two bonds and cancel them. He could then complete the sale and hand over that portion of land free of any charge. Beale added that he made the request all the more readily because he knew others were now applying to borrow from the fund.

The committee replied to Beale through its secretary. It regretted very much that it could not depart from the society's rules to grant his request. It had, however, resolved to call a general meeting to reconsider the rule in question.

Interpretations

Beale's two bonds were secured on his entire estate, so no part of his land could pass to a buyer free of the fund's claim while the debt stood. A purchaser would not pay for land the fund could seize if Beale later defaulted. Repaying the bonds would release the whole estate at once. Beale anticipated the obvious objection. A year earlier the fund could not find borrowers for its money, and early repayment would only have added to the idle cash. Now applications for loans were coming in, so the money he returned could be lent again without loss.

The committee still refused to bend the rules, even for a member who had served on its own committees and proposed several of the society's reforms. It chose instead to put the rule before a general meeting. Since 15 April 1824 any change in the rules required a general meeting and a month's notice, and the managers kept to that procedure rather than make an exception for one of their own.

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a six months notice to paying off a Bond.

I am

Sir

Your obedient Servant

26th May 1834 Signed J. Bennett

Secy. & Treasr.

29th May 1834

At a Meeting held this day agreeable

to advertisement it was unanimously resolved to

accept Money tendered in Payment of Bonds

whenever applications for a Loan for the amount

is at the same time made.

9th April 1835.

The Annual Meeting of the Society

took place this day at the Library when the following

Letter was read.

To

Capt. Bennett

Treasurer Widows & Orphans Fund

Sir

It is with regret I have become a Defaulter

by being in arrears, but rest assured it is owing

to my embarrassed circumstances, and I still find

myself inadequate to continue any longer on the

increased Subscription of £1 Per month. But

being many years a Subscriber I should wish to

hold some claim on the Fund for the benefit of my

Family. Therefore if it could be admitted that

I should return to the original Subscription of

The committee's reply of 26 May 1834 explained that the rule in question required six months' notice before a bond could be repaid. J. Bennett signed the letter as secretary and treasurer.

A meeting called by public notice took place on 29 May 1834. It resolved unanimously to accept money offered in repayment of a bond, whenever an application to borrow the same amount was made at the same time.

The society held its annual meeting at the Library on 9 April 1835, and a letter to Captain Bennett, treasurer of the Widows' and Orphans' Fund, was read. The writer regretted that he had fallen into arrears and become a defaulter. He explained that this was due to his financial difficulties. He could no longer afford the higher subscription of £1 0s 0d a month. Having subscribed for many years, however, he wished to keep some claim on the fund for the sake of his family. He therefore asked whether he might return to the original subscription.

Interpretations

The six months' notice protected the fund from the problem it had faced since 1832. A borrower who repaid without warning left the treasurer holding cash he might not be able to lend again for months, and money lying in the chest earned nothing for the widows. Notice gave the treasurer time to find a new borrower. The meeting of 29 May 1834 kept that protection while removing its harshness. A borrower could repay at once if someone else was ready to take up the same sum, so the money passed straight from one bond to another without standing idle. Beale's request of 23 May 1834 had pointed to exactly this situation.

The letter showed what the scheme of 1 May 1821 cost a married member of modest means. A subscription of £1 0s 0d a month was the married rate of £12 0s 0d a year, deducted from pay. The writer could not keep it up, and under the rule of 9 April 1832 a member a year in arrears ceased to belong. Expulsion would leave his wife with nothing. The thirteenth proposal of 1821 had allowed members who disliked the new rates to stay on the old subscription of £5 0s 0d and the old pension of £25 0s 0d. The writer asked in effect to take up that option now, more than a decade later. He would accept a smaller pension for his widow rather than lose her cover altogether.

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£5 Per annum I will arrange it so as to pay

up by the end of the year all arrears.

I am

Sir

Your obedient Servant

Signed H. J. Cole

James Town

26th July 1834

Proposed by Mr. W. H. Seale and carried unani-

mously That the names of those Persons who have

forfeited their Claims as Subscribers be immediately

expunged from the list agreeable to the resolution

of the Fund in the 4th Clause 1st April 1766 and

again on the 9th April 1832 at the same time

the Meeting determine that if within Six months

from this date their arrears be paid up including

the current Subscription they may be readmitted

to the Society.

Mr. Lambe has to observe that since 1822 a period

of 13 Years have elapsed and consequently Capt.

Cole should have paid into the Fund the Sum of

£156 but it appears he has only paid £126. Had

[...] he declined the New Fund & remained on the

Old as many others have done, he would only have

had to pay £65 therefore as he now desires to return

to the Old Fund he makes a present virtually to

the Society a Sum of £61 In consequence of

the above Statement Mr. Lambe proposes that

Capt. Cole be permitted to return to the Old Established

Fund of £30 Per Annum & the Subscription of £5

and that the Sum of £30 now due, be written

off the Credit of the Fund.

Seconded by Capt. Knipe

Not Carried

The letter, dated at Jamestown on 26 July 1834 and signed by H. S. Cole, asked whether he might return to the original subscription of £5 0s 0d a year. If so, he would arrange to pay all his arrears by the end of the year.

W. H. Seale proposed, and the meeting agreed unanimously, that the names of all members who had forfeited their membership should be struck off the list at once. This followed the fourth clause of the rules of 1 April 1766 and the resolution of 9 April 1832. The meeting decided at the same time that any of them could be readmitted if they paid all their arrears, including the current subscription, within six months.

Lambe then set out Captain Cole's position. Over the 13 years since 1822, Cole should have paid £156 0s 0d into the fund, but had paid only £126 0s 0d. Had he refused the new scheme and stayed on the old one, as many others did, he would have owed only £65 0s 0d. In asking to return to the old scheme, Cole was therefore in effect giving the society £61 0s 0d. Lambe proposed that Cole be allowed to return to the old scheme, with its pension of £30 0s 0d a year and subscription of £5 0s 0d, and that the £30 0s 0d he now owed be written off. Captain Knipe seconded the proposal, but it was defeated.

Interpretations

Lambe's arithmetic looked generous to the fund. Cole had already paid £61 0s 0d more than the old scheme required, so writing off his £30 0s 0d of arrears still left the society £31 0s 0d ahead. The majority nonetheless rejected the proposal, and the flaw in Lambe's reasoning explained why. For 13 years Cole's wife had been covered at the new rates. Had he died during that time, she would have drawn up to £72 0s 0d a year instead of £30 0s 0d. His extra payments had bought that protection, and the fund had carried the risk. Allowing a member to pay the higher rate while it suited him and then claim back the difference would let every subscriber move between the schemes as his circumstances changed. The fund would bear the higher risk whenever a member felt vulnerable and lose the matching income whenever he did not.

The meeting still left Cole a route back. Seale's resolution allowed any member struck off to rejoin within six months by paying all his arrears. Cole could therefore keep his family's claim, but only by settling the £30 0s 0d he owed on the scheme he had chosen.

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Capt. Younge going out of the Committee by

rotation Mr. Blenkins was appointed in his

stead, and the following compose the Committee

for the ensuing year.

1. T. B. Brooke

2. G. Lorimer

3. W. Doveton

4. J. Bennett

5. G. Blenkins Secy. & Treasurer

St. Helena 11th April 1836.

The Annual Meeting of the Society

took place this day at the Library when the

following propositions were made.

Proposed by the President (Mr. Doveton) and carried.

That on account of the difficulties Subscribers who may

become non resident are now exposed to, that the

period allowed them to pay their Subscriptions shall

on no account exceed one year from the period the

said Subscription becomes due. After which the

Regulations of the Fund be carried into effect, and

the names of the said Subscribers be expunged

from the Books. But this alteration in the

Regulations is only intended to apply to non residents.

It appearing to the Meeting that it is not

the intention of Messrs. Charles Bond & Manuel J.

Johnson, to continue as Subscribers it was resolved

their names be expunged from the list of

Subscribers.

Mr. T. B. Brooke going out of the Committee

Captain Younge retired from the committee in rotation, and Mr Blinkins was appointed in his place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

1: T. B. Brooke

2: G. Lorimer

3: W. Doveton

4: J. Bennett

5: G. Blinkins, Secretary and Treasurer

The society held its annual meeting at the Library on 4 April 1836. The President, Mr Doveton, proposed a rule for members living away from the island, and it was carried. Such members faced particular difficulties in paying. They would therefore be allowed up to one year from the date each subscription fell due, but no longer. After that the fund's rules would apply in full, and their names would be struck from the books. The change applied only to members living away from the island.

The meeting found that Charles Bond and [...] Johnston did not intend to remain subscribers. It resolved to strike their names from the list.

T. B. Brooke retired from the committee in rotation.

Interpretations

The rule of 9 April 1832 expelled a member a year in arrears only if he lived on the island. Members abroad were exempt, since sending money from Britain or India took months and could easily miscarry. That exemption had no limit, so an absent member could fall years behind and still claim his place, and his widow her pension. The new rule kept the allowance for distance but set a boundary to it. An absent member now had a full year from each due date to pay, after which he faced the same expulsion as anyone else.

Charles Bond joined as an ensign at the single rate on 1 May 1824. His departure after 12 years, like Johnston's, was recorded as a matter of intention, which suggests that both men had stopped paying and made clear they would not resume. Under the rules their past subscriptions stayed with the fund.

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by rotation, Mr. G. Lorimer having left the Island

& the decease of Capt. J. Bennett the Meeting

elected the following Members to complete the

Committee vizt.

C. R. G. Hodson

Charles Sampson

G. A. Den Taaffe

The following compose the Committee for the ensuing

year.

1. William H. Doveton

2. George Blenkins

3. C. R. G. Hodson

4. Charles Sampson

5. G. A. Den Taaffe Secy. & Treasurer.

General Meeting 18th April 1836.

Proposed by Major Sampson seconded

by Mr. Greentree and carried, that should any

Member wish to return to the Subscription of

£5 .... Per annum, on the old Established Fund

he forfeits all Monies paid on account of the New

Established Fund of £12 .... Subscription Per Annum.

Capt. Henry S. Cole having been written

to and no answer received his name was

expunged from the list of Subscribers.

The meeting of 4 April 1836 also had to fill other places on the committee. G. Lorimer had left the island and Captain J. Bennett had died. The meeting elected C. R. G. Hodson, Charles Sampson and G. A. Den Taaffe to complete the committee, which for the coming year was as follows.

1: William H. Doveton

2: George Blinkins

3: C. R. G. Hodson

4: Charles Sampson

5: G. A. Den Taaffe, Secretary and Treasurer

A general meeting took place on 18 April 1836. Major Sampson proposed, Mr Greentree seconded and the meeting agreed a new rule. Any member who wished to return to the old scheme, with a subscription of £5 0s 0d a year, would lose everything he had paid under the new scheme at £12 0s 0d a year.

Captain Henry S. Cole had been written to and had not replied. His name was struck from the list of subscribers.

Interpretations

The new rule settled the question raised by Cole's letter of 26 July 1834. Lambe had then argued that a member returning to the old scheme should be credited with his extra payments, so that his arrears could be written off. The meeting rejected that view and now adopted its opposite as a standing rule. A member could still move down to the old scheme, but every penny paid at the higher rate would stay with the fund. Those payments had bought his wife the higher cover while he held it, and the fund had carried that risk. Treating them as forfeit stopped members from moving between the schemes to suit their circumstances.

Cole himself took neither course. He did not clear his arrears under the six months' grace offered at the annual meeting of 1835, and he did not answer the society's letter. His silence ended a membership that stretched back at least to 1821, and with it his family's claim on the fund. James Bennett had served as secretary and treasurer from April 1834 to April 1835, and his death left a vacancy among the members who had run the fund through its recent reforms.

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St. Helena 10th April 1837.

The Annual General Meeting of the Society was

held this day at the Library.

Proposed by Mr. Greentree That as nearly half the Subscribers

to the Fund are absent from the Island their Agents may be

permitted to examine the accounts of the Society and at the

General Meeting give their vote accordingly but should one

Agent be acting for several non Residents to be entitled

to one vote only.

Mr. W. H. Seale proposed the following Amendment

That the foregoing proposition be adopted, with the

exception of allowing the Agents to vote Carried.

Proposed by Mr. W. H. Seale Seconded by Mr. Knipe

that on the 1st May 1837 The Committee take out

Writs immediately against all persons whose Interest

on Bonds remains unpaid on the 1st April 1836.

Carried

Proposed by Mr. W. H. Seale That those Subscribers

who have not paid their Subscriptions due on the 1st April 1836

be immediately expunged from the List of Subscribers

agreeably to former resolutions of the Society.

No Seconder

Proposed by Mr. J. S. Reed That some measure be

adopted to secure to the present Members their rights

that a Committee be appointed to examine the Bonds

& to draw up an account of the State of the Fund

and to suggest such regulations for the security of the Widows

Pensions & the application of the Funds of the Society

to such purposes as on consideration may appear fit

& that a meeting of the members of the Fund be called

The society held its annual general meeting at the Library on 10 April 1837.

Mr Greentree proposed that, since nearly half the subscribers lived away from the island, their agents should be allowed to examine the society's accounts and vote on their behalf at general meetings. An agent acting for several absent members would have only one vote. W. H. Seale proposed an amendment to adopt the proposal but without allowing agents to vote. The amendment was carried.

Seale proposed, and Mr Knipe seconded, that on 1 May 1837 the committee should issue writs at once against everyone whose interest on bonds had remained unpaid on 1 April 1836. The proposal was carried.

Seale also proposed that all subscribers who had not paid the subscriptions due on 1 April 1836 should be struck from the list immediately, in line with the society's earlier resolutions. No one seconded the proposal.

Mr J. S. Reed proposed that steps should be taken to secure the rights of the existing members. A committee would be appointed to examine the bonds, prepare an account of the fund's position and recommend rules to protect the widows' pensions and to govern the use of the society's money. A meeting of the fund's members would also be called.

Interpretations

With nearly half the members abroad, the society faced a question it had never had to answer. Absent subscribers paid in and their widows would draw pensions, yet they had no voice in decisions about the money. Greentree's proposal gave them a voice through agents. The meeting accepted that agents might inspect the accounts but refused them a vote. Even with the limit of one vote per agent, a few men holding letters from absent members could have outvoted those present. The residents kept control of the fund while allowing the absent members to see how it was run.

The meeting treated debtors and members differently. Writs against defaulting borrowers passed without difficulty, carrying out the policy adopted on 9 May 1831. Seale's motion to strike off members in arrears found no seconder, even though the rule of 9 April 1832 required it. The members would take borrowers to court but still would not expel their colleagues, each of whose expulsion would have left a wife without cover.

Reed's proposal reflected a new anxiety about the members' rights. He asked for an account of the fund's position and for rules to secure the widows' pensions, as if those pensions faced some threat beyond the usual problems of arrears. Reed was probably the medical officer whose application on 7 April 1828 revealed that the promised scale for late entrants had never been drawn up.

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St. Helena 10th April 1837.

The Annual General Meeting of the Society was

held this day at the Library.

Proposed by Mr. Greentree That as nearly half the Subscribers

to the Fund are absent from the Island their Agents may be

permitted to examine the accounts of the Society and at the

General Meeting give their vote accordingly but should one

Agent be acting for several non Residents to be entitled

to one vote only.

Mr. W. H. Seale proposed the following Amendment

That the foregoing proposition be adopted, with the

exception of allowing the Agents to vote Carried.

Proposed by Mr. W. H. Seale Seconded by Mr. Knipe

that on the 1st May 1837 The Committee take out

Writs immediately against all persons whose Interest

on Bonds remains unpaid on the 1st April 1836.

Carried

Proposed by Mr. W. H. Seale That those Subscribers

who have not paid their Subscriptions due on the 1st April 1836

be immediately expunged from the List of Subscribers

agreeably to former resolutions of the Society.

No Seconder

Proposed by Mr. J. S. Reed That some measure be

adopted to secure to the present Members their rights

that a Committee be appointed to examine the Bonds

& to draw up an account of the State of the Fund

and to suggest such regulations for the security of the Widows

Pensions & the application of the Funds of the Society

to such purposes as on consideration may appear fit

& that a meeting of the members of the Fund be called

Reed's proposal of 10 April 1837 also set the date for the members' meeting a month later, to consider the committee's recommendations. Until then no motion affecting the interests of any member would be passed. Captain Den Taaffe seconded the proposal, and it was carried. The committee appointed to examine the fund was as follows.

Colonel C. R. G. Hodson

Anthony Beale

W. H. Seale

Captain W. H. Doveton retired from the managing committee in rotation, and Mr Blinkins had left the island. Daniel O'Connor and J. S. Reed were appointed in their place. The committee for the coming year was as follows.

2: C. R. G. Hodson, President, Secretary and Treasurer

1: Charles Sampson

3: G. A. Den Taaffe

4: Daniel O'Connor

5: J. S. Reed

A special general meeting of the society took place at the courthouse in St Helena on 10 May 1837. The report of the committee appointed by the general meeting of 10 April 1837 was laid before the members. That committee had been asked to examine the state of the fund's accounts and securities.

Interpretations

The standstill on motions affecting members froze the society's affairs until the inquiry reported. Seale's attempt that same day to strike off members in arrears had already failed for want of a seconder. The standstill ensured that no one could revive it, or bring forward any other change touching members' rights, before the members knew the true state of the fund. Reed had asked for steps to secure the existing members' rights, and the pause gave the inquiry time to show what those rights were worth.

For the coming year Colonel Hodson held the offices of President, secretary and treasurer at once, and he also sat on the committee of inquiry. The society placed its affairs in the hands of its most experienced member. Hodson had served as treasurer in 1814 and 1815 and drafted the scheme of 1 May 1821. The same concentration of offices, however, meant that the man who kept the accounts was also among those examining them.

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On an inspection of the Bonds given as Securities

for the various Sums on Loan, we observe that

many of the Mortgages are not accompanied by

the title deeds, for the Lands and Houses mortgaged,

we therefore recommend that the Managing Committee

be instructed to require the delivery of these essential

Documents, in order that they may be attached to

the Bonds.

It is recommended that the

Managing Committee be instructed to attend to the

following observations on Individual Securities.

John Alexander's This Document has a Clause

Estate which appears to the Committee

£300 on Mortgage to bind the Mortgagors personally

on Broad Bottom altho' not regularly a Personal

Estate Bond. It is recommended that

they be called on, to pay off a portion of the principal

William Carrol Mortgaged by the late Major

£250 Mortgage Mills a Personal Bond is also

House in Town required

Wm. O. Kennedy

£200 Mortgage Personal Bond required. but

House & Grounds as 15 months Interest of the

1st April last is due, the

Mortgagors has Requested to make a Surrender

of the Property

Heirs Alexander's

Estate £200 It should be a Lesser [...]

Mortgage of quantity, the Half of Long

acres of Land in Ground to be enquired into

Deep Valley and [...] Immediately.

Jno. Alexander Estate

£400 Mortgage a part of it is on Griffin's Land

Personal About 11 Acres which has

been sold to Captain Wright who has been

apprized of it.

The committee reported that it had inspected the bonds held as security for the fund's loans. Many of the mortgages lacked the title deeds to the land and houses pledged. It recommended that the managing committee should be told to obtain these essential documents and attach them to the bonds.

The committee also recommended that the managing committee should act on the following remarks about individual securities.

John Alexander's estate, £500 0s 0d, mortgage on the Broad Bottom estate, the deed contained a clause that the committee read as making the borrowers personally liable, although it was not a formal personal bond, and the borrowers should be asked to repay part of the capital

William Carrol, £450 0s 0d, mortgage on a house in Jamestown, the property was originally pledged by the late Major Mills, and a personal bond should be obtained as well

W. O. Kennedy, £200 0s 0d, mortgage on a house and grounds, a personal bond was needed, but 16 months' interest was owing to 1 April 1837 and the borrower had asked to hand over the property

Heirs of the Alexander estate, £200 0s 0d, mortgage on [...] acres of land in Deep Valley, the land pledged was perhaps less, being half of Long Ground, and the matter should be looked into and secured at once

Mrs Alexander's estate, £400 0s 0d, mortgage and personal bond, about 11 acres of the security lay on Griffin's land, which had been sold to Captain Wright, who had been told of the fund's claim

Interpretations

The missing title deeds struck at the heart of the fund's security. A mortgage gave the lender the right to take the land if the debt went unpaid, but without the deeds the fund could not readily prove what land it held a claim on. A borrower could also have pledged the same land to another lender, or sold it, and the buyer might never learn of the fund's interest. Holding the deeds prevented both, since no one could sell or mortgage the property again without producing them. Captain Wright's purchase of part of Griffin's land showed the danger in practice. Land pledged to the fund had changed hands, and the committee could only warn the new owner that the fund's claim went with it.

The committee now wanted personal bonds alongside mortgages. A mortgage tied the debt to the land alone, and the fund had learnt that land could fall in value below the sum lent, as Brooke warned on 25 April 1825. A personal bond made the borrower liable for any shortfall from his other property. Kennedy's request to surrender his house and grounds rather than pay 16 months' interest repeated the case of the land written off on 6 April 1829. Each such surrender left the fund holding property instead of income. Major Mills was perhaps connected with Moses Mills, whose estate owed the fund £17 0s 0d in interest on 8 April 1816, so the Carrol house had probably been a doubtful security for two decades.

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Thos. Burnham .... £140
John Bagley .. Mr. .... 110
R. O. Bagley .... 100
John Young .... 250
Thos. Swift .... 200
Henry F. Seale .... 125
William Scott .... 150
Mortgages Lands & Houses as an additional Security a Personal Bond should be Required from Each.

John B. Knipe

£60 Mortgage Rented by Clingan

House & Ground who should be required

in with Mr. Knipe's

Swanley Valley. Consent to make over

the Rent to the

Fund, for liquidating the whole Debt.

Mr. Price

£200 Mortgage To give a Personal

Mathews House Bond in addition

in Town or to be called in.

Heirs Pritchard To be called on to

£300 Mortgage House give further Security

& Grounds immediately or pay

off

Eliza Broadway £300 To be requested to

Mortgage give up the arrears

of her pension coming

Due from Government in reduction of the

Debt.

Lieut. F. Seale £250 Title Deeds to be given

Mortgage "Ben Bagleys" and the Bond renewed

in his name, or

transferred to whom

he pleases, when the

Interest now Due,

is paid and Personal Security also

required.

The committee's remarks on individual securities continued.

Thomas Barnham, £140 0s 0d

John Bagley senior, £110 0s 0d

R. O. Bagley, £100 0s 0d

John Young, £250 0s 0d

Thomas Mills, £200 0s 0d

Henry F. Seale, £125 0s 0d

William Scott, £150 0s 0d

These seven loans were secured by mortgages on land and houses. The committee advised that each borrower should also give a personal bond as further security.

John B. Knipe, £60 0s 0d, mortgage on a house and grounds in Swanley Valley, let to a tenant named Clingan, who with Knipe's consent should be required to pay his rent to the fund until the whole debt was cleared

Mr Price, £200 0s 0d, mortgage on Mathews' house in Jamestown, the borrower to give a personal bond as well or have the loan called in

[...] Pritchard, £300 0s 0d, mortgage on a house and grounds, the borrower to give further security at once or repay the loan

Eliza Broadway, £300 0s 0d, mortgage, the borrower to be asked to surrender the arrears of the pension owed to her by the government towards reducing the debt

Robert F. Seale owed £250 0s 0d on a mortgage of Ben Bagley's property. The committee advised that he should hand over the title deeds. Once the interest due was paid, the bond could be renewed in his name or transferred to whoever he chose. A personal guarantee was also required.

Interpretations

The arrangement with Clingan diverted the rent of a mortgaged house straight to the fund. Knipe's debt was small, and his tenant already paid rent for the house. Instructing Clingan to pay the fund instead of his landlord meant that the money reached the society before Knipe could spend it, and the debt would clear itself over time without any court action or sale.

Eliza Broadway's case drew on income from outside the fund. She was a borrower who also held a pension from the island government, perhaps as the widow of an officer. The committee proposed that the arrears of that pension be applied to her debt. The fund was thus prepared to reach any source of money its borrowers had, whether rents, government pensions or personal guarantees, rather than rely on the land alone.

The repeated call for personal bonds showed how far the committee distrusted land as security. Every one of the seven mortgages in the first group was to be backed by a personal bond. A mortgage alone had proved to be worth only what the land would fetch, and land values had fallen since the fund adopted its rule of 8 April 1811.

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Robt. F. Seale Two and a half Years Interest

£200 Mortgage due 1st Apl. last Mortgagor

and Personal wishes to surrender the Property

Henry Doveton £500 Land Mortgaged, which

Mortgage and Personal appears to be the Majr. Sampson's

left by Will from the late

John Bagley to his Daughter, the Wife of

of Major Sampson. The Bill of Sale should

be transferred by Major Sampson to Mr. H.

Doveton. Also a Mortgage of a House & Land

purchased from the Revd. B. J. Vernon

Title Deeds not transferred & Bill of Sale

wanted from Mr. Vernon.

The Committee further

recommend that the fourth of all the Bonds

be called in, to be paid on the 1st April 1838.

Immediate Notice to be given to the Debtors

The following Statement of

the accounts of the Fund, appears to render

some Reduction in Pensions necessary

in order to avoid breaking in on the Capital.

Amount of Interest Due on 1st Apl. 1837 a portion of which was Due on the 1st Apl. 1835 & 6

£ 1196 . 16 .

Amount of Subscriptions Due 1st Apl. 1837.

385 . 17 .

£ 1582 . 14 .

Carried up

Robert F. Seale also owed £200 0s 0d on a mortgage backed by a personal bond. Two and a half years' interest was owing to 1 April 1837, and he wished to hand the property over to the fund.

Henry Doveton owed £500 0s 0d on a mortgage backed by a personal bond. The land pledged appeared to belong to Major Sampson, since the late John Bagley had left it by will to his daughter, Major Sampson's wife. The committee advised that Major Sampson should transfer the bill of sale to Henry Doveton. Doveton had also mortgaged a house and land he bought from the Reverend B. J. Vernon. The title deeds had not been transferred, and a bill of sale was still needed from Vernon.

The committee further recommended calling in a quarter of all the bonds, to be repaid on 1 April 1838. The debtors should be given notice at once.

The committee judged from the following statement of accounts that some reduction in pensions was needed to avoid drawing on the capital.

Interest owing on 1 April 1837, part of it due since 1 April 1835 and 1 April 1836, £1,196 16s [...]d

Subscriptions owing on 1 April 1837, £385 17s [...]d

Total owing, £1,582 14s [...]d

Interpretations

The arrears showed how far the fund's position had deteriorated since the confident report of 1831. In April 1831 the fund's receipts were about £1,700 0s 0d a year and it added £600 0s 0d to capital. By April 1837 nearly £1,600 0s 0d of income was outstanding, close to a full year's receipts. Most of it was interest the borrowers had not paid, some of it for two years. Writs had been ordered against defaulters on 9 May 1831 and again on 10 April 1837, yet the debts had grown. The members' reluctance to expel colleagues in arrears accounted for much of the rest, since £385 17s of subscriptions also remained unpaid.

The committee's proposal to cut pensions marked a reversal. In 1832 the members extended annuities to adult orphaned daughters on the strength of a steady surplus. Five years later the fund could not meet its pensions from income without spending capital. The committee of 1 October 1830 had warned that the prosperity was partly an illusion of timing. With income unpaid and more widows on the higher rates, that warning had come true. Calling in a quarter of the bonds would recover capital from the weakest loans and force borrowers either to pay or to surrender, as Robert F. Seale and W. O. Kennedy already proposed.

The Doveton mortgage illustrated the confusion over titles. A man had pledged land that, by inheritance, belonged to another member's wife, and a house whose deeds still lay with the clergyman who sold it. Without the bill of sale and the deeds, the fund could not be sure its security existed at all.

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Brought up

£ 1582 . 14 .

Deduct Subscriptions Unpaid which by the Regulations of the Society exclude the Subscribers from being further members

£ 78 .. .. ..

£ 1504 . 14 .. ..

Annuities due on 1st Apl. 1837

755 . 10 . 0

£ 749 . 4 . 0

Cash on hand 1st Apl. 1837

206 . 5 . 8

955 . 9 . 8

Annuities due 1st Octr. 1837 & Clerks Pay

723 . .. . 0

Remaining on 1st Octr. 1837

£ 232 . 9 . 8

provided that every fraction which is due, may be paid

The following is an Account

of the Annual Dues and Disbursements,

according to the present rate.

Interest on Bonds

£ 885 . 11 . 3

Subscriptions, including those whose names are borne on the Books, altho' by the Regulation, Excluded

589 . 0 . 0

£ 1474 . 11 . 3

Annuities & Clerks Salary

1446 . 0 . 0

Balance in favor

£ 28 . 11 . 3

It is much to be lamented, that

the Committee is under the necessity of drawing

the attention of the General Meeting, to the fact,

that a great portion of the Annuitants, have not

yet received their half yearly Allowance,

altho' six Weeks have elapsed since it became

their due, in Consequence of the difficulty in

Collecting Interest and Subscriptions.

The committee carried forward the total owing to the fund and set out how far it would meet the pensions due.

Total owing brought forward, £1,582 14s 0d

Less subscriptions unpaid by members whom the rules excluded from further membership, £78 0s 0d

Remaining owing, £1,504 14s 0d

Less annuities due on 1 April 1837, £755 10s 0d

Balance, £749 4s 0d

Cash in hand on 1 April 1837, £206 5s 8d

Total available, £955 9s 8d

Less annuities due on 1 October 1837 and the clerk's pay, £723 0s 0d

Remaining on 1 October 1837, £232 9s 8d

This remainder depended on every sum owing being paid in full.

The committee then gave an account of the fund's yearly income and spending at the current rates.

Interest on bonds, £885 11s 3d

Subscriptions, including members still on the books though excluded under the rules, £589 0s 0d

Total income, £1,474 11s 3d

Annuities and clerk's salary, £1,446 0s 0d

Balance in the fund's favour, £28 11s 3d

The committee greatly regretted having to tell the general meeting that many of the annuitants had still not received their half-yearly allowance. Six weeks had passed since it fell due, but the difficulty of collecting interest and subscriptions had left the fund unable to pay.

Interpretations

The yearly account showed the surplus almost gone. In April 1831 the fund added £600 0s 0d a year to its capital, and in August 1832 it still showed more than £500 0s 0d. Now income exceeded spending by only £28 11s 3d, and only if every debtor paid in full. Two changes accounted for the fall. Interest on bonds had been cut to 7½ per cent from 1 October 1833, and the widows on the higher scale of 1821, each drawing up to £72 0s 0d, had multiplied as the committee of 1 October 1830 had predicted. Annuities and the clerk's salary now cost £1,446 0s 0d a year, against £1,100 0s 0d in 1831.

Even the narrow surplus was partly fictitious. The subscriptions counted as income included members whom the rule of 9 April 1832 should already have removed, and the committee's own statement wrote off £78 0s 0d as unrecoverable from such men. The members' repeated refusal to expel colleagues, most recently Seale's unseconded motion of 10 April 1837, left the books carrying income that would never arrive.

The widows bore the cost directly. A pension six weeks overdue was the outcome the society had always sought to prevent, and the reason Brooke gave on 3 April 1827 for refusing leniency to debtors. Kindness to borrowers and members in arrears had become hardship for the women the fund existed to support.

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It is always a painful task to recommend

that a reduction should be made in the Income

of any Class of our Community, how much

more distressing it is to be under the necessity

of recommending that another Class should

be wholly deprived of an annuity; but

agreeable to the Regulations of the 20th

August 1832 it is necessary that the Resolution

then passed for granting an Annuity to

Female Orphans above the age of 21 Years

be annulled and the only Orphan of that

description, who has been placed on our list of Pensioners be struck off from the 1st

April last.

The declining State of the

Fund, owing to the unlooked for change

in the Island and the Disbanding of

the East India Company's Civil and

Military Service, under which this

Society was formed on the 1st April 1766

renders it our imperative duty to recommend

that the work of Reduction shall commence

from the 1st April 1837 and as the original

Regulation of the Year 1766 were disturbed

by a new one, exacting an increased Sub-

scription to £12 a Year from the

Members and higher Incomes for the Widows

& Orphans of those Members, who thus

became Subscribers at a higher rate, as

per Resolution entered on the 1st May 1821

it appears but just and reasonable that

the Widows of the old (or £5) Subscribers

whose highest Pension is £30 a Year

should not be subject to a reduction

on the decline of the Fund, until those

who are receiving the higher rate of

Annuity, shall be reduced to their

[...]

The committee observed that it was always painful to recommend cutting the income of any group in the community. It was more distressing still to recommend that another group lose its annuity altogether. The rules of 20 August 1832, however, required this. The resolution passed that year granting annuities to orphaned daughters over 21 would have to be cancelled. The only orphan of this kind yet placed on the list would be removed from 1 April 1837.

The fund was in decline because of an unexpected change in the island's affairs and the disbanding of the East India Company's civil and military service. The society had been founded within that service on 1 April 1766. The committee therefore felt bound to recommend that reductions should begin from 1 April 1837. The original resolution of [...] had been altered by the scheme of 1 May 1821, which raised members' subscriptions to £12 0s 0d a year and gave higher pensions to the widows and orphans of those who paid the higher rate. The committee held that it was only fair to protect the widows of the old subscribers at £5 0s 0d, whose highest pension was £30 0s 0d a year. They should suffer no reduction until the pensions of those on the higher rate had been brought down to the same level.

Interpretations

The disbanding of the Company's service explained the fund's crisis and the anxiety behind Reed's proposal of 10 April 1837. Since 8 April 1811 membership had been confined to the Company's civil and military servants, and since 1823 subscriptions and interest had been collected through the Company's Pay Office. With the service broken up, the society lost its source of new members, its means of collection and much of its existing membership as officers left the island. Nearly half the subscribers already lived abroad by April 1837. The fund built around a single employer had no future once that employer withdrew.

The committee applied the order of sacrifice the members had laid down in advance. The safeguard of 20 August 1832 placed the allowances to orphaned daughters over 21 first in line for removal, so the one woman who had begun to receive one lost it. The committee then proposed protecting the old widows on £30 0s 0d until the higher pensions fell to that level. The obvious course was to cut all pensions by the same proportion, and the committee rejected it. The old subscribers had never voted for the costly scheme of 1821 and had paid the lower rate throughout, as the thirteenth proposal of that scheme allowed. Making their widows share the cost of a scheme from which they had gained nothing would have been unjust. The widows on the higher scale had enjoyed its benefits and would now bear its failure.

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137

level upon these principles, we are under

the necessity of recommending, that from the

1st Apl. 1837 the Annuities of those who receive

Pensions according to the Regulations of the 1st

May 1821 be reduced one Fourth which,

with the abolition of one Orphans Pension will

amount to £201 . 10 ..

We further recommend that

a Committee of three or five of the Members

residing in England, may be appointed,

with a request and authority from the General

Meeting here to employ a Solicitor to frame

a Memorial to the Court of Directors of

the East India Company, or to His Majesty's

Ministers, as they may deem proper, for the

purpose of representing the Declining State

of the Fund; the Disappointment and Distress

which will inevitably be suffered by the

Widows and Orphans; and as such decline

has occurred from circumstances, over which

the Subscribers, late Servants of the East

India Company, had no Control, to implore

that aid, which will restore to our Wives

and Families the fair prospects they

had heretofore entertained of receiving a

moderate Income when deprived of

the protection of a Husband and Father.

It is the recommendation of

this Committee that the Regulations for

enforcing the payment of Subscriptions

or excluding the Defaulters from further

Claims on the Society be rigidly enforced

We recommend the following

Gentlemen in England who we believe

reside in or near London to form the

Committee

The committee had proposed that the widows of the old subscribers should suffer no reduction until the higher pensions fell to their level. On that principle, it recommended that from 1 April 1837 the pensions of annuitants whose husbands had joined under the rules of 1 May 1821 should be cut by a quarter. Together with the ending of one orphan's allowance, this would save £201 10s 0d a year.

The committee further recommended appointing a committee of three or five members living in England. The general meeting would ask and authorise them to engage a solicitor to draft a petition to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, or to His Majesty's ministers, whichever they thought proper. The petition would describe the fund's decline and the disappointment and hardship that the widows and orphans would inevitably suffer. It would stress that the decline arose from events beyond the control of the subscribers, all former servants of the Company. It would ask for help to restore to the members' wives and families the reasonable expectation they had held of a modest income once they lost a husband and father.

The committee also recommended that the rules for compelling payment of subscriptions, or for excluding defaulters from any further claim on the society, should be strictly enforced.

Finally, the committee named the members living in or near London whom it recommended for the English committee.

Interpretations

A quarter off the higher pensions brought the widest relief for the least injustice. The fund's yearly balance stood at only £28 11s 3d, and only if every debtor paid. The saving of £201 10s 0d gave it a real margin again. A widow who had expected £72 0s 0d would now receive £54 0s 0d, still well above the £30 0s 0d of the old scheme, so the cut left the order of the two classes intact.

The appeal to London rested on the claim that the fund's members bore no blame for its decline. The society had relied on the Company at every stage, for its membership after 8 April 1811, for collection through the Pay Office and for the horse tax until the directors took its proceeds on 19 January 1831. The disbanding of the Company's service removed those supports at a stroke. The committee argued in effect that whoever ended the service had a moral duty to the families who had trusted in it. It left the choice of addressee to the members in England, since the island's government had passed out of the Company's hands and it was uncertain who now held responsibility. A solicitor was needed because the petition would be pressed in London by men far from the island, before authorities unfamiliar with a small society on St Helena.

The call for strict enforcement came too late to save the fund's finances but marked a final change of attitude. For more than 20 years the members had passed rules against defaulters and then declined to apply them. With widows' pensions already overdue, the committee asked the meeting to abandon that leniency at last.

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Mr. Greentree

" Lambe

Major Hunter

Capt. Younge

Doctor Lorimer

Signed

C. R. G. Hodson

Wm. Hy. Seale

Anthy. Beale

Proposed by Capt. Den Taaffe Seconded by

Colonel Hodson and Carried.

That the above Report be left with the

Assistant Treasurer, accessible to the Members

and be again read at a General Meeting

on the 2d June, when any Members who may

have propositions, are requested to bring them

forward, and any who may prepare propositions

previously to the 2nd June, will be good

enough to leave them with the Asst. Treasurer

for the perusal of the Members generally.

25th May 1837.

Major Sampson this day gave notice that Capt.

P. Hellery departed this life on the 17 Decr. 1836

& produced Mrs. Hellery's letter requesting to be placed

on the List of Annuitants at the rate of £72

Pr. Annum.

The committee recommended the following members living in or near London to form the English committee.

Mr Greentree

Lambe

Major Hunter

[...] Young

Doctor Lorimer

The report was signed by the committee of inquiry.

C. R. G. Hodson

William H. Seale

Anthony Beale

Captain Den Taaffe proposed, and Colonel Hodson seconded, that the report should be left with the assistant treasurer, where members could consult it. It would be read again at a general meeting on 2 June 1837, when members were asked to bring forward any proposals of their own. Any member who drew up proposals before then was asked to leave them with the assistant treasurer for all the members to read. The motion was carried.

On 25 May 1837 Major Sampson informed the committee that Captain P. Hellin had died on 17 December 1836. He produced a letter from Mrs Hellin asking to be placed on the list of annuitants at £72 0s 0d a year.

Interpretations

Several of the men named for the London committee had served the fund on the island and since left it. Lorimer was treasurer in 1832 and left before April 1836, and Lambe, Greentree and Hunter had each served as President or manager. The society chose them because they knew its history and could argue its case to the Company or to ministers in person.

Mrs Hellin's claim arrived while the meeting was considering the committee's proposal to cut all higher pensions by a quarter. Her husband Patrick Hellin was readmitted to the fund in 1803 and signed the resolution of 5 April 1813. As a member of long standing under the scheme of 1821, his widow was entitled to the full rate. If the committee's recommendation took effect from 1 April 1837, she would receive £54 0s 0d rather than the £72 0s 0d she asked for. Her claim, made in good faith on the terms her husband had paid for, showed exactly the disappointment the committee's petition to London described.

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St. Helena 12th June 1837

A Special General Meeting of the Society was

again held this day at the Library when the Committee

Report was read a second time, and the following

propositions were made and carried.

1st That the Managing Committee immediately obtain

all Title Deeds wanting and attach them to the

Bonds.

2d That one fourth of all the Bonds be called in to be

paid on the 1st July 1838 Immediate Notice to be given

to the Debtors with a view of strengthening the Securities

to the Fund, and therefore approved Security for the

money called in will be sufficient.

3d That the Resolutions of the 20th August 1832 granting an

Annuity to Female Orphans above the age of 21 Years

be annulled, from the 1st April 1837.

4th That all Annuities granted according to the Regulations

of the 1st May 1821 be reduced one Fourth from the

1st April 1837.

5th That the Widows of the old (or £5 ...) Subscribers whose highest

Pension is £30 .... a year should not be subject to a

reduction until those who are receiving the higher rate

of Annuity be reduced to their level.

6th That the Home Committee employ a Solicitor to frame

a Memorial to the Court of Directors of the East India

Company, or to His Majesty's Ministers, as they may

deem proper, representing the declining State of the

Fund owing to the Disbanding of the East India

Company's Civil and Military Service of this

Island.

A special general meeting of the society took place at the Library on 12 June 1837. The committee's report was read a second time, and the following proposals were made and carried.

1: The managing committee would at once obtain all missing title deeds and attach them to the bonds.

2: A quarter of all the bonds would be called in, for repayment on 1 July 1838, and the debtors would be given notice at once. The aim was to strengthen the fund's securities, so a borrower who offered better security would not need to repay the sum called in.

3: The resolution of 20 August 1832 granting annuities to orphaned daughters over 21 would be cancelled from 1 April 1837.

4: All annuities granted under the rules of 1 May 1821 would be cut by a quarter from 1 April 1837.

5: The widows of the old subscribers at £5 0s 0d a year, whose highest pension was £30 0s 0d, would suffer no reduction until the higher pensions had been brought down to their level.

6: The committee in England would engage a solicitor to draft a petition to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, or to His Majesty's ministers, as it thought proper. The petition would describe the fund's decline, caused by the disbanding of the Company's civil and military service on the island.

Interpretations

The meeting adopted the committee's report almost entirely but changed the terms for calling in bonds. The committee had proposed repayment by 1 April 1838. The meeting allowed three months longer and, more importantly, let a borrower keep his loan by offering better security. Forcing a quarter of the debtors to repay would have filled the fund's chest with money it had repeatedly failed to lend, as in 1833. What the fund needed was not cash but safer loans. Allowing borrowers to strengthen their security, by adding title deeds or a personal bond, achieved that while keeping the interest flowing.

The petition as finally worded named a single cause for the fund's decline, the disbanding of the Company's service on St Helena. The meeting dropped the committee's wider reference to an unexpected change in the island's affairs and placed the responsibility squarely on the decision to end the service. That framing strengthened the moral claim on whoever had made it, whether the Company's directors or the Crown's ministers.

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7th That the following Gentlemen compose the Home Committee

Messrs. Greentree, Lambe, Hunter, Younge and Lorimer.

8th That the Regulations for enforcing the payment of Subscriptions

(to the 1st April 1836) or excluding the Defaulters from

further Claims on the Society be rigidly enforced.

9th That the Subscriptions be reduced to the Old Scale of £5 ..

and £2 .... from the 1st April 1836 and that all those

who have paid beyond that Sum, the amount shall be

refunded or continued for their future Subscription.

10th That all resolutions passed since the 1st April 1836 be

immediately forwarded to the Home Committee, that they

may submit them to the Subscribers at home.

11th That the Managing Committee be requested Strictly

to adhere to the Resolutions passed by the General

Meeting, as without so doing, they are perfectly

unavailing and from which reason, the Widows

are now kept without their pensions.

12th That the best thanks of the Meeting are due to Colonel

Hodson, for the great courtesy and patience, with

which he has presided in the Chair at this Meeting.

13. Proposed by Lieut. Melliss & carried that the General

Meetings be held twice a year instead of once

viz. on the first Monday in April & October.

The meeting of 12 June 1837 passed further resolutions.

7: The committee in England would consist of Messrs Greentree, Lambe, Hunter, Younge and Lorimer.

8: The rules for compelling payment of subscriptions due up to 1 April 1836, or for excluding defaulters from any further claim on the society, would be strictly enforced.

9: Subscriptions would return to the old rates of £5 0s 0d and £2 0s 0d a year from 1 April 1836. Any member who had paid more than that since then would have the excess refunded or credited against his future subscriptions.

10: All resolutions passed since 1 April 1836 would be sent at once to the committee in England, which would put them to the subscribers living there.

11: The managing committee was asked to keep strictly to the resolutions of the general meeting. Without that, the resolutions were worthless, and the managers' failure to apply them was the reason the widows were now without their pensions.

12: The meeting thanked Colonel Hodson warmly for the courtesy and patience with which he had chaired it.

13: Lieutenant Melliss proposed, and the meeting agreed, that general meetings should be held twice a year instead of once, on the first Monday in April and the first Monday in October.

Interpretations

The ninth resolution dismantled the scheme of 1 May 1821. Married members had paid £12 0s 0d a year through the Pay Office for 15 years. With the Company's service disbanded, that deduction from pay had ended, and many members no longer drew a regular salary from which to pay so much. Only 14 months earlier, on 18 April 1836, the members had ruled that anyone returning to the old rate would forfeit everything he had paid at the higher one. Now the whole membership returned to the old rate, and those who had paid the higher rate since April 1836 were to have the excess back. The meeting thus abandoned the principle it had used to refuse Cole's request on 26 July 1834. The fund kept the higher payments of earlier years, so their widows were still entitled to pensions above the old level, cut by a quarter.

The eleventh resolution placed the blame for the widows' hardship on the managers themselves. Rule after rule against defaulters had been passed since 5 April 1813, and on 9 April 1832 the members made expulsion automatic. Each time the managers, or the meeting itself, had held back. The general meeting now stated plainly that leniency towards members in arrears had left the widows unpaid, the outcome Brooke had warned of on 3 April 1827. Twice-yearly meetings would allow the members to check on the managers in October as well as April, so that failures could not run unchecked for a full year.

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St. Helena 19th June 1837

Agreeably to Resolutions of the 12th Instant the

following Letters were addressed to Miss Charlotte

Kay & the Widows on the New Establishment.

The Gentlemen of the Managing Committee

for the Widows Fund, sincerely regret being obliged

to inform Miss Charlotte Kay of the necessity

the General Meeting on the 12th Inst. was under

of abrogating a Resolution passed in the year 1832,

which gave a Pension to female orphans above the

age of Twenty one years, while the state of the

Fund could afford it; unforseen circumstances

having occurred and caused a serious reverse

it has become the unpleasant duty of the Committee

to give Miss Kay notice that her Pension has

ceased from the 1st April last.

Signed C. R. G. Hodson

Secy. & Treasr.

Widows on the New Establishment at the reduced

rate of Pension.

Mrs. Joanna Haggarty

£ 54 ....

" Eliza Mead

54 ....

" Charlotte Cole

48 . 15 .

" Elizabeth Pritchard

48 . 15 .

" Emily Legg

54 ....

" Eliza Armstrong

54 ....

Mrs. Margaret Statham

£ 54 ....

" Caroline Thorn

54 ....

" Mary Seale

54 ....

" Eleanor Bennett

54 ....

" Eliza Broadway

54

" Hellery

54 ....

Dr. Watsons Orphans

£ 54

The Gentlemen of the Managing Committee

for the Widows Fund sincerely regret being obliged

to inform (the above were addressed individually) of the necessity

the General Meeting on the 12th Inst. was under

of reducing one fourth of the Pensions from all

On 19 June 1837, acting on the resolutions of 12 June, the managing committee wrote to Miss Charlotte Kay and to the widows on the new scale.

The letter to Miss Kay expressed the committee's sincere regret. The general meeting of 12 June had been compelled to cancel the resolution of 1832, which granted a pension to orphaned daughters over 21 while the fund could afford it. Unforeseen events had caused the fund a serious setback. It was therefore the committee's unwelcome duty to tell Miss Kay that her pension had ended on 1 April 1837. C. R. G. Hodson signed the letter as secretary and treasurer.

The widows on the new scale were listed with their pensions at the reduced rate.

Mrs Joanna Haggerty, £36 0s 0d

Eliza Mead, £36 0s 0d

Charlotte Cole, £48 15s 0d

Elizabeth Pritchard, £48 15s 0d

Emily Legg, £54 0s 0d

Eliza Armstrong, £54 0s 0d

Mrs Margaret Statham, £54 0s 0d

Caroline Thorn, £54 0s 0d

Mary Seale, £54 0s 0d

Eleanor Bennett, £54 0s 0d

Eliza Broadway, £54 0s 0d

Mrs Hellin, £54 0s 0d

Dr Watson's orphans, £54 0s 0d

Each widow received a letter of her own. The committee sincerely regretted having to tell her that the general meeting of 12 June had been obliged to cut by a quarter the pensions of all widows on the new scale.

Interpretations

Every figure in the list was exactly three quarters of a rate fixed by the scheme of 1 May 1821. The widows whose husbands had paid the full six years received £54 0s 0d instead of £72 0s 0d. Those at £48 15s 0d had been entitled to £65 0s 0d, the rate after four or five years, and those at £36 0s 0d to £48 0s 0d, the rate a newcomer's widow reached after three years. The cut fell evenly in proportion, so each widow kept her place relative to the others. Mrs Hellin, whose claim was laid before the committee on 25 May 1837, was admitted at the reduced rate of £54 0s 0d rather than the £72 0s 0d she asked for.

Charlotte Kay was the one orphaned daughter over 21 placed on the list under the scheme of 20 August 1832, and she was probably a daughter of the Kay family who had subscribed since 1812. She lost her whole allowance rather than a quarter of it, as the safeguard written into that scheme required. The letter's reference to the fund's affording the pension "while it could" quoted the condition the members attached when they adopted it. Several names on the list matched families recorded throughout the fund's history. Eleanor Bennett was perhaps the widow of James Bennett, treasurer in 1834 and 1835, who died before April 1836. Eliza Broadway was the same woman whose debt of £300 0s 0d the committee of inquiry proposed to reduce from her pension arrears.

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Widows & Orphans who were receiving the higher rate

of Annuity, agreeably to a regulation of the 1st May

1821; unforeseen circumstances having occurred

and caused a serious reverse of the then apparent

prosperous state of the Fund, it has become the

unpleasant duty of the Committee to give Mrs.

notice that she will receive from the 1st April last, at

the rate of (as above) Pr. annum, subject to still further

reduction if necessary.

(Signed) C. R. G. Hodson

Secy. & Treasr.

Robert F. Seale Esqr.

Sir

I am directed by the Managing Committee for

the Widows Fund, to inform you that agreeably to

Instructions from a General Meeting of Subscribers

on the 12th Instant the Committee is immediately to

take the necessary steps for enforcing payment of

arrears of Interest on Bonds. Your Personal & Mortgage

Bond for £300 has £56 . 5 .. Interest due on the

1st April last and your Mortgage Bond for £250

has £37 . 10 .. Interest due to the same date. When

the Interest is paid on the latter, the Committee will

sanction the transfer to Capt. Wright as you desire.

With respect to your request to surrender the land

mortgaged for the former the Committee are under

the necessity of declining to accede to such a propo-

sition, holding as the Fund does your Personal Bond

in addition to the Mortgage and unless the Interest

is paid agreeably to repeated applications, the

Committee must be under the painful necessity of

The letter to each widow on the new scale explained that the reduction applied to all widows and orphans receiving the higher annuity under the rules of 1 May 1821. Unforeseen events had seriously reversed the fund's apparently prosperous position. The committee therefore had the unwelcome duty of telling each widow that from 1 April 1837 she would receive the reduced rate shown in the list, subject to further cuts if needed. C. R. G. Hodson signed as secretary and treasurer.

The committee also wrote to Robert F. Seale. Following the instructions of the general meeting of 12 June 1837, it was taking immediate steps to recover arrears of interest on bonds. His personal and mortgage bond for £300 0s 0d carried interest of £56 5s 0d owing on 1 April 1837. His mortgage bond for £250 0s 0d carried £37 10s 0d owing on the same date. Once he paid the interest on the second bond, the committee would approve its transfer to Captain Wright, as he wished. The committee declined, however, his request to surrender the land mortgaged for the first bond. The fund held his personal bond as well as the mortgage on that loan. Unless he paid the interest as repeatedly requested, the committee would be forced to take painful measures.

Interpretations

The refusal to accept Seale's land showed the value of the personal bond that the committee of inquiry had urged. A borrower who had pledged only land could end his debt by handing it over, as happened with the property written off on 6 April 1829 and as W. O. Kennedy proposed in 1837. Seale had given his personal bond too, so he was liable for the whole debt and its interest, whatever the land might fetch. The committee could refuse the land, which was probably worth less than £300 0s 0d, and pursue him for the full sum. On the second loan, secured by mortgage alone, it offered him a way out through a transfer to Captain Wright, but only once the arrears were cleared.

The warning of further reductions in the widows' letters made clear that the cut of a quarter was not a final settlement. The fund's income depended on recovering arrears from borrowers such as Seale. If those efforts failed, or the petition to London brought no help, the pensions would fall again.

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taking immediate legal steps for the recovery of the

same

I am

Sir

19th June 1837. Your obedient Servant

(Signed) C. R. G. Hodson Secy. & Treasr.

Major Francis Seale, Messrs. G. W. Alexander & H. W. Barker

and Mrs. Alexander

The Managing Committee for the

Widows Fund beg leave to inform (as above) that their Bond

to the Fund dated 31st March 1824 giving in Mortgage

certain landed property, is incorrect, in as much as the

land in Deep Valley mortgaged, did not at the time,

belong to the Estate of the late Jno. Alexander deceased.

The Committee is therefore instructed, by a General Meeting

of Subscribers on the 12th Inst. to have this error rectified

immediately; it is therefore the duty of the Committee

to require a sufficient landed security from the Executors

to that Estate, in addition to their Personal Bond for

the Sum named in that Bond, or that it may be

paid off and further to give notice that it has been

found that a piece of Land called Griffins 11 Acres,

also mortgaged, has been subsequently sold to Captain

Wright as free of all incumbrance; on which piece of

Land the Committee cannot relinquish a claim in

behalf of the Widows Fund, unless an ample Security

is offered in stead of it.

19th June 1837

Margin Notes:

Not delivered

The letter to Robert F. Seale of 19 June 1837 closed by warning that the committee would otherwise be forced to take legal action at once to recover the money. C. R. G. Hodson signed it as secretary and treasurer.

The committee also wrote to Major Francis Seale, Mr W. Alexander and Mr H. W. Barker, the executors of the Alexander estate, and to Mrs Alexander. It informed them that their bond of 31 March 1824, which mortgaged certain land to the fund, contained an error. The land in Deep Valley pledged in that bond had not belonged to the estate of the late [...] Alexander at the time. The general meeting of 12 June 1837 had instructed the committee to have the error put right at once. The committee was therefore obliged to require the executors to provide adequate security in land, in addition to their personal bond, for the sum named in the bond, or else to repay it. The committee also gave notice that a piece of land called Griffin's, of 11 acres, also mortgaged to the fund, had since been sold to Captain Wright as though free of any claim. The committee could not give up the fund's claim on that land unless ample security was offered in its place.

Interpretations

For 13 years the fund had held a mortgage on land the borrowers did not own. A mortgage of land belonging to someone else gave the lender no rights over it, so the loan had in effect been secured only by the executors' personal bond. The error came to light only through the inspection of bonds ordered on 10 April 1837, which found that many mortgages lacked their title deeds. Had the deeds been demanded when the loan was made, the problem would have shown at once.

Griffin's land raised the opposite difficulty. Here the estate did own the land and had pledged it, but then sold it to Captain Wright as unencumbered, concealing or forgetting the fund's claim. The mortgage still bound the land in the buyer's hands, so Wright had bought property the fund could seize. The committee offered a practical way out. If the executors provided equal security elsewhere, the fund would release Griffin's land and spare Wright the consequences of a sale made on false terms. The two cases together showed why the inquiry made the recovery of title deeds its first recommendation.

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To Capt. William O. Kennedy

The Managing Committee of the Widows

Fund acknowledge the receipt of Capt. W. O. Kennedy's

letter of the 1st May 1837 requesting to surrender the property

mortgaged to the Widows Fund; and agree to receive the

same as soon as the Title Deeds are placed in the hands

of the Committee; it will then be offered for sale

by Public Auction, and immediate possession given to

the Purchaser.

19th June 1837.

The following Notice was also given to all Mortgagors calling

upon them for additional Security & the delivery of their

Title Deeds for Property Mortgaged.

The Managing Committee of the Widows Fund

hereby give notice to that in conformity to a

Resolution passed by a General Meeting of

Subscribers on the 12th Instant, the said is

hereby called on to pay or give Security for the Sum

required according to the following Resolution

"That one fourth of all the Bonds be called in

to be paid on the 1st July 1838. Immediate

Notice to be given to the Debtors, with a view of

Strengthening the Securities to the Fund and

therefore approved Security for the money called

in will be Sufficient."

The Title Deeds for the Property Mortgaged are

requested to be delivered over to the Committee

immediately. Signed C. R. G. Hodson

Secy. & Treasr.

The committee replied on 19 June 1837 to Captain William O. Kennedy. It acknowledged his letter of 1 May 1837 asking to hand over the property he had mortgaged to the widows' fund. The committee agreed to accept the property once the title deeds were in its hands. It would then put the property up for sale by public auction, with immediate possession for the buyer.

The committee also sent a notice to every borrower on mortgage, requiring further security and the delivery of the title deeds to the mortgaged property. The notice informed each borrower that, under a resolution of the general meeting of 12 June 1837, he must either repay or give security for the sum required. It quoted that resolution in full. A quarter of all bonds would be called in, for repayment on 1 July 1838, and the debtors would be given notice at once. The aim was to strengthen the fund's securities, so approved security for the sum called in would be accepted instead of repayment. The notice also asked each borrower to hand over the title deeds to his mortgaged property at once. C. R. G. Hodson signed the notice.

Interpretations

Kennedy's surrender was accepted where Robert F. Seale's was refused on the same day. The difference lay in the security. Seale had given a personal bond alongside his mortgage, so the fund could pursue him for the whole debt. Kennedy's loan rested on the mortgage alone, since the committee of inquiry noted that a personal bond was still needed from him. Without one, the fund could recover only what his house and grounds would fetch, and refusing the surrender would have gained nothing.

The committee chose to sell Kennedy's property at once rather than hold and let it. On 6 April 1829 the members kept surrendered land and waited for rent, and by 1834 they were paying for repairs to houses they owned. With pensions overdue and the fund short of cash, the committee needed money at once, not a tenant's rent over years. A public auction also fixed the property's value openly, so no member could later claim that the fund had sold it cheaply to a friend. Insisting on the title deeds first ensured the buyer received a clear title, which the fund could not offer while the deeds remained with Kennedy.

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The following Copy of the Original Regula-

tions &c, were transmitted to the Committee in

England in Duplicate.

Island St. Helena 1st April 1766.

The Gentlemen in the

Service of the Honble East India

Company in this Island whose Names

are hereunto Subscribed, having come to a Resolution of

establishing a Fund for the Maintenance of such Widows

and Orphans of Deceased Company's Servants in this

Island Subscribers to the said Fund, as may become

so from this time, have agreed upon the following Regu-

lations relative to the said Fund and Establishment

viz.

1st That every Married Company's Servant

who chuses to become a Subscriber to the Fund do annu-

ally contribute and pay into the hands of the Treasurer

of this Society the Sum of Five Pounds Sterling.

2d That each unmarried Company's

Servant do whilst he continues such contribute

the Annual Sum of Two Pounds Sterling to be paid as

before mentioned, and if he should afterwards Marry,

he shall immediately become liable to the Annual

payment expressed in the first Article.

Margin Notes:

1 May 1821 raised to £12 ..

1 April 1836 reduced to £5 ..

1 May 1821 raised to £6 ..

1 April 1836 reduced to £2 ..

The committee sent the committee in England two copies of the society's original rules, together with later papers. The rules were dated at St Helena on 1 April 1766.

The rules recorded that the gentlemen in the East India Company's service on the island, who signed below, had resolved to set up a fund to support the widows and orphans of deceased Company servants on the island who subscribed to it. They agreed the following rules for the fund from that date.

1: Every married Company servant who chose to subscribe would pay the treasurer £5 0s 0d sterling each year. The rate was raised to £12 0s 0d on 1 May 1821 and reduced to £5 0s 0d again on 1 April 1836.

2: Every unmarried Company servant who subscribed would pay £2 0s 0d sterling each year in the same way. If he later married, he would at once become liable for the married rate set in the first rule. The rate was raised to £6 0s 0d on 1 May 1821 and reduced to £2 0s 0d again on 1 April 1836.

Interpretations

Two copies went to England because letters and papers from St Helena travelled by ship, and a single copy might be lost at sea or delayed for months. The rules were the foundation of any petition the committee in London would present. The Court of Directors or the King's ministers would need to see exactly what the Company's servants had promised one another, and how the scheme had been altered, before judging the fund's claim for help.

The notes added to the first two rules traced the whole arc of the fund's finances in two lines. The founders' rates of £5 0s 0d and £2 0s 0d stood for 55 years. The scheme of 1 May 1821 more than doubled them, and on 12 June 1837 the members restored the founders' rates from 1 April 1836. The difference between the two rates rested from the start on the married man's wife, who could claim a pension, and on the bachelor's lack of one. The second rule made a member's marriage an immediate change in his obligations, since his wife came under the fund's protection from that day.

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3d That every new Company's Servant shall have the

space of One Month allowed him, to enter into the

Society and upon his declining it he shall not

afterwards be at liberty to do so, but shall be excluded

from being a Member of this Society for ever.

4th That every Subscriber shall regularly

pay into the Hands of the Treasurer of the Society his

Annual Subscription on the first day of April, and

that every Member who shall delay making the

said payment Six Months after the said first day

of April, shall forfeit what he has already paid and

shall be excluded the Society.

5th That any Subscriber who may after-

wards leave the Island, shall have it in his Option to

continue a Member of this Society, and to enjoy the

advantages arising from it upon his regular payment of

the Annual Subscription.

6th That the Money arising from the

several yearly payments, shall be employed in the manner

most conducive to the increase of the Society's Funds,

under the directions of the Persons appointed to have the

Management of the Society's affairs.

7th That no Money once paid into this

Fund be afterwards recoverable, but shall remain

for the support of the Establishment.

8th That every Widow of a Subscriber

(whilst she remains such) shall receive for the support

The original rules of 1 April 1766 continued as follows.

3: Every newly appointed Company servant would have one month in which to join the society. If he declined, he could not join later and would be barred from membership for good.

4: Every subscriber would pay his annual subscription to the treasurer on 1 April. A member who delayed payment for six months after that date would lose everything he had already paid and be expelled from the society.

5: A subscriber who later left the island could choose to remain a member and keep all its benefits, provided he paid his annual subscription regularly.

6: The money from the yearly payments would be used in whatever way best increased the society's funds, under the direction of the men appointed to manage its affairs.

7: No money once paid into the fund could be reclaimed. It would remain for the support of the society.

8: Every subscriber's widow, for as long as she remained unmarried, would receive an allowance for her support.

Interpretations

The founders' rules were in several respects stricter than the practice that grew up under them. The third rule shut out for ever any man who did not join within a month of his appointment. Later generations softened it repeatedly, admitting late entrants on payment of arrears from 1799, on arrears with interest and a £24 0s 0d donation on 12 April 1820, and on arrears alone under the amnesty of 1 April 1822. Each concession let in men such as Blinkins and Seale who had once refused, at the cost of the founders' protection against men who joined only when their families needed the fund.

The fourth rule contained the six months' grace that the treasurer complained of on 5 April 1813, when it was replaced by a limit of 15 days. The seventh rule, forbidding any refund, underlay every forfeiture the society imposed, including the rule of 18 April 1836 against members who reverted to the old rate. The general meeting of 12 June 1837 broke with it when it agreed to refund subscriptions paid above the old rate since April 1836. The fifth rule allowed members to keep their place after leaving St Helena, and by 1837 nearly half the subscribers lived abroad under its protection.

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of Herself and Children an Annual Pension from

the Fund of Thirty Pounds to commence from the

Death of her Husband, but if she afterwards marries,

she shall no longer be entitled to the said Pension.

9th That if a Subscriber dies, and leaves

one, or more Orphans, such Orphan or Orphans,

shall in like manner be entitled to the said Pension

of Thirty Pounds Pr. Annum, to be divided equally

amongst them, and to continue until (if Male Orphans)

they come of Age; and if Female whilst they remain

unmarried.

10th That there shall be a General Annual

Meeting of the Subscribers, on the first day of April,

in order to examine the Treasurer's Accounts and trans-

act what other business, may be laid before them,

relative to the Society.

11th That the more immediate manage-

ment, of the Society's affairs be vested in the Hands

of a Committee, chosen for this purpose, at the above

Annual Meeting of this Society, who are to make

a Report to the Annual Meeting of the transactions

of the foregoing Year, and are empowered to call

a General Meeting, whenever the affairs of the

Society's may require it.

Lastly That nothing is to be done by the

Committee contrary to the said Laws, which can only

The eighth rule of 1 April 1766 set the widow's allowance at a pension of £30 0s 0d a year from the fund, for the support of herself and her children, beginning from her husband's death. If she remarried, she would lose the pension.

9: If a subscriber died leaving one or more orphans, they would be entitled in the same way to the pension of £30 0s 0d a year, shared equally among them. Sons would receive it until they came of age, and daughters for as long as they remained unmarried.

10: A general meeting of subscribers would be held every year on 1 April to examine the treasurer's accounts and deal with any other business concerning the society.

11: The day-to-day running of the society's affairs would be entrusted to a committee elected for the purpose at the annual meeting. The committee would report to the next annual meeting on the year's business, and could call a general meeting whenever the society's affairs required one.

Finally, the committee could do nothing that went against these rules.

Interpretations

The founders' ninth rule gave orphaned daughters their share of the pension for as long as they remained unmarried, with no age limit. The resolution of 1 April 1778 must therefore have cut that support back to a fixed age, since Beale's proposal of 8 April 1830 sought to change it so that a daughter would again be paid "for life or until marriage". The long debate of 1830 to 1832, and the cancellation of the extension on 12 June 1837, thus concerned a right the founders had granted and their successors had withdrawn within 12 years.

The founders' pension of £30 0s 0d was itself more than the fund later managed to pay. It was cut to £20 0s 0d in 1794 and set at £25 0s 0d in 1797. The committee of inquiry described the highest pension of the old subscribers as £30 0s 0d, so the founders' rate had evidently been restored before 1837. The rule ending a widow's pension on remarriage, like the daughter's ending on marriage, assumed that a husband would take over her support. The fund insured a family against the loss of its provider, not a woman for the rest of her life.

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be altered by the Majority of the Subscribers at a

General Meeting who are to determine all disputes

or difficulties, that may arise relative to the Manage-

ment of the Society's affairs.

General Meeting 1st April 1768. To be added to 8th Article. It appearing to the Subscribers that

the 8th Article is deficient in not mentioning that the

£30 .... Pr. Annum is to be continued to the Children

of the deceased Subscriber after the Marriage of

the Widow, agreeable to the intention of the Subscribers

It is hereby unanimously agreed to, by the Gentlemen

of the Society, that (to prevent any dispute hereafter) the

said Sum of £30 .... shall be paid to the Children of

the said Widow by the first Marriage in the like

manner as it is mentioned in the 9th Article.

General Meeting 1st April 1770. To be added to 3d Article. The 3d Article of the Year 1766

having been thought to want explanation with regard to

the time of paying the first Subscription it was agreed,

that for the future, every new Member shall at the

time of entering pay in proportion to the Number

of Quarters, unexpired from the last General Meeting

&c. & if a Married Man for three quarters £3 . 15 .. for

two quarters £2 . 10 .. and One quarter £1 . 5 .. or if a

Bachelor for three quarters £1 . 10 .. two £1 .. and

One £ .. 10 ..

General Meeting 12th April 1774. To be added to 8th Article. That the Widows and Orphans of every

Member, Subscribing £5 .... as a Married Man, shall

be entitled on the following terms.

For the 1st Years Subscription

£ 10 .... Pr. Annum

2d Years Subscription

£ 15 .... Pr. Annum

3d Years Subscription

£ 20 .... Pr. Annum

4th & 5th Years Subscription

£ 25 .... Pr. Annum

6th Years Subscription

£ 30 .... Pr. Annum

The final clause of the rules of 1766 provided that the rules could be changed only by a majority of subscribers at a general meeting. That meeting would also settle any disputes or difficulties arising in the management of the society's affairs.

The rules were followed by later additions. A general meeting of 1 April 1768 added a clause to the eighth rule. The subscribers found that the rule failed to say that the pension of £30 0s 0d a year should continue to a deceased subscriber's children after their mother remarried, although that had been their intention. To prevent future disputes, they agreed unanimously that the £30 0s 0d should be paid to the widow's children by her first marriage, in the same way as under the ninth rule.

A general meeting of 1 April 1770 added a clause to the second rule, which the members felt needed explaining as to when a new member's first subscription was due. From then on, a new member would pay in proportion to the number of quarters left before the next general meeting.

Married man, 3 quarters remaining, £3 15s 0d

Married man, 2 quarters remaining, £2 10s 0d

Married man, 1 quarter remaining, £1 5s 0d

Bachelor, 3 quarters remaining, £1 10s 0d

Bachelor, 2 quarters remaining, £1 0s 0d

Bachelor, 1 quarter remaining, £0 10s 0d

A general meeting of 12 April 1774 added a clause to the eighth rule. The widow and orphans of every member who paid £5 0s 0d a year as a married man would receive a pension according to the number of years he had subscribed.

After 1 year's subscription, £10 0s 0d a year

After 2 and 3 years' subscription, £15 0s 0d a year

After 4 and 5 years' subscription, £20 0s 0d a year

After [...] years' subscription, £25 0s 0d a year

After 6 years' subscription, £30 0s 0d a year

Interpretations

The clause of 1774 ended the founders' promise of a full pension from the day a member joined. Under the original eighth rule, a man who paid a single year's £5 0s 0d and then died left his widow £30 0s 0d a year for life. The graded scale made the pension grow with the years of payment, reaching the full £30 0s 0d only after six years. This was the rule under which later newcomers paid six years' subscriptions in advance, £30 0s 0d, to secure the full pension at once, as Robert Brooke did in 1788 and Doctor Adam Baildon on 3 April 1809. It also served as the model for the scheme of 1 May 1821, whose higher pensions likewise rose year by year to a ceiling after six years.

The clause of 1768 protected children against the effects of their mother's remarriage. Her pension ended when she took a new husband, who was expected to support her. He had no obligation to support another man's children, so the fund kept paying their share. The clause of 1770 brought in new members part way through the year at a fair price, so a man appointed in winter did not pay a full year's subscription for a few months of membership.

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To be added to 8th Article. And it was further determined that

if any Subscriber chusing to entitle himself on his

Marriage by paying a Sum of Money in advance,

equal to the above Regulations shall be permitted

so to do.

To be added to 8th Article. That hereafter, no consideration

shall cause any Member or a Subscriber to be

excluded, but that of Non Payment.

General Meeting 1st April 1778. To be added to 8th Article. It appearing to the Members of the

Society, that the Annuity extending to the Sons

of Subscribers, until the age of 21 Years, and to the

Daughters until Marriage, agreeable to the 9th

Article; is more than the Fund, will in all proba-

bility be able to support. Do therefore unani-

mously agree that the Sons of all Subscribers in

future, be limited to Sixteen Years, and Daughters

to Twenty One Years for receiving the said An-

nuity and no longer. It was also unanimously

agreed that no Annuity be paid to any Widows,

or Orphans not residing upon the Island, or to any

Person or Persons in trust for them, unless a Certifi-

cate of their lives properly attested be sent to the

Treasurer of the Society.

General Meeting 14th July 1794. That as the Subscriptions, and Interest

on Bonds, are insufficient to pay the Annuities that

one third of the Pensions, of the present Annuitants,

and of the Pensions that may be arising to those that

shall hereafter come upon the Fund, shall be taken

off and reduced from the 1st day of April, until

The meeting of 12 April 1774 further resolved that any subscriber who wished to secure the full benefit for his wife on his marriage could do so. He would pay in advance a sum equal to the payments set out in the new scale. This clause was added to the eighth rule.

The same meeting resolved that from then on no member, once he had subscribed, could be expelled for any reason other than failure to pay. This clause was added to the fourth rule.

A general meeting of 1 April 1778 added a clause to the ninth rule. The members judged that annuities to sons until the age of 21, and to daughters until marriage, as the ninth rule allowed, were more than the fund could probably support. They agreed unanimously that in future the sons of all subscribers would receive the annuity only until the age of 16, and the daughters only until 21. They also agreed unanimously that no annuity would be paid to any widow or orphan living away from the island, or to anyone acting for them, unless a properly witnessed certificate that they were still alive was sent to the treasurer.

A general meeting of 4 July 1794 found that subscriptions and interest on bonds were not enough to pay the annuities. It resolved that a third of the pensions of all current annuitants, and of those who joined the list later, would be removed from 1 April.

Interpretations

The clause of 1774 allowing payment in advance turned the graded scale into a choice. A newly married man could leave his wife's cover to build up year by year, or buy her the full £30 0s 0d at once by paying six years' subscriptions together. Every later case of a £30 0s 0d advance in the book rested on this clause. The rule that no member could be expelled except for non-payment protected subscribers from removal for their conduct or opinions. Membership became a matter of contract, not of the other members' approval.

The changes of 1778 settled the question the members reopened in 1830. The founders gave daughters their share until marriage, and within 12 years their successors limited it to the age of 21 because the fund could not bear it. Beale's proposal of 8 April 1830 sought to restore the founders' terms, and the members' cancellation of it on 12 June 1837 repeated the judgement of 1778 almost exactly. The requirement of a life certificate for annuitants abroad anticipated the arrangement agreed on 8 April 1830 for paying widows in Europe through the Company.

The cut of 1794 showed that the crisis of 1837 had a precedent. A third off a pension of £30 0s 0d left £20 0s 0d, the figure the fund paid from that year. Then, as in 1837, the members reduced the pensions of existing widows rather than raise subscriptions, and spread the loss equally across all annuitants. In 1837 they chose instead to protect the widows on the lower scale and cut only the higher pensions.

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To be added to Regulations. until such time, as the Fund shall again be in

a state, when the Subscription and Interest shall

be sufficient to pay the Pensions, at the rate of

the Original Institution.

General Meeting 15th April 1799. To be added to 3d Article. Resolved that any Gentleman entering

the Company's Service, refusing to become a Member

of the Society when being asked by the Managers

shall not be admitted at any future period, un-

less he makes good the payments from his first

being asked or entering the Service, and then

only by consent of not less than One Half

of the Members of the Society. If he is a Married

Man and paying Interest on the same.

General Meeting 5 April 1813. To be added to 4th Article. Resolved That as great loss

and Inconvenience arises to the Fund, from the

4th Article of the Regulations, made on the 1st

April 1766 by which a Subscriber or Person

holding a Bond, is at liberty to hold back his

Subscription or Interest money Six months after

it becomes due that henceforward any Person

who shall delay making the said Payment Fifteen

days, after it becomes due Shall if a Subscriber

forfeit what he has already paid, and be excluded

the Society. And if a Person holding a Bond,

he shall immediately be called upon to discharge it.

General Meeting 5 April 1821. To be added to 11th Article. Resolved as a measure likely to

benefit the Fund that the Senior Member of the

Committee, should retire annually that the

remaining four should continue in office, and that

another Member, should be chosen to fill the vacancy

The resolution of 4 July 1794 provided that the cut of a third would last only until the fund could again pay the pensions at the founders' rate from subscriptions and interest. This clause was added to the rules.

A general meeting of 15 April 1799 added a clause to the third rule. Any gentleman entering the Company's service who refused to join when the managers asked him could not be admitted later unless he paid every subscription due from the date he was first asked. Even then, he needed the consent of at least half the members. A married man would also have to pay interest on his arrears.

A general meeting of 5 April 1813 added a clause to the fourth rule. The rule of 1 April 1766 allowed a subscriber or a borrower to hold back his subscription or interest for six months after it fell due, and this had caused the fund serious loss and inconvenience. From then on, a subscriber who failed to pay within 15 days of the due date would lose everything he had paid and be expelled. A borrower who did the same would be required to repay his bond at once.

A general meeting of 5 April 1821 added a clause to the eleventh rule. To benefit the fund, the longest-serving member of the committee would retire each year, while the other four stayed in office. Another member would be elected to fill the vacancy.

Interpretations

The cut of 1794 was framed as temporary, to last only until the fund recovered. The pension was raised from £20 0s 0d to £25 0s 0d in 1797, and by 1837 the old widows' highest pension stood again at the founders' £30 0s 0d. The promise of restoration was thus kept, though it took decades. The cut of 1837 carried no such promise, and the widows' letters warned only of possible further reductions.

The clause of 1799 treated a married late entrant more harshly than a bachelor. A bachelor who joined late repaid only his missed subscriptions, since no widow had stood to claim during his years outside. A married man had kept his £5 0s 0d a year in his own pocket while his wife faced the same risk as any member's wife, so he paid interest as well. The requirement of consent from half the members gave the society a further check on a man who applied only when his health or family made the fund worth joining. The committee in England received these clauses as a record of how carefully the society had guarded itself against such cases before events beyond its control undid it.

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General Meeting 1st May 1821. Annulled. Resolved that every married Mem-

ber, shall make his Subscription up to £30 ....

to the 1st April 1821 in order that all may be

on an equality in regard to Annuity in case of

Death.

Annulled. That henceforth the Annual Subscrip-

tion, shall be £12 .... Married, and £6 ....

unmarried Members.

To be added to Regulations. Reduced One Forth 1st April 1837. That in case of the Death of a married

Subscriber leaving a Widow or Orphan under the

prescribed age, after such additional Subscription,

they shall be entitled on the following terms.

For the 1st Years Subscription

£ 44 .... Pr. Annum

2d Years Subscription

£ 51 .... Pr. Annum

3d Years Subscription

£ 58 .... Pr. Annum

4th & 5th Years Subscription

£ 65 .... Pr. Annum

6th Years Subscription

£ 72 .... Pr. Annum

To be added to Regulations. Reduced One Fourth 1st April 1837. All future Married Members to

commence the Subscription of £12 .... Per

Annum and in case of Death, their Widows or Orphans

shall be entitled on the following terms.

For the 1st Years Subscription

£ 24 .... Pr. Annum

2d Years Subscription

£ 36 .... Pr. Annum

3d Years Subscription

£ 48 .... Pr. Annum

4th & 5th Years Subscription

£ 60 .... Pr. Annum

6th Years Subscription

£ 72 .... Pr. Annum

The rules sent to England then set out the resolutions of the general meeting of 1 May 1821, with notes on what had become of each.

Every married member was to bring his total payments up to £30 0s 0d, calculated to 1 April 1821, so that all would stand equal in their claim to an annuity on death. The copy marked this resolution as cancelled.

From then on the annual subscription was to be £12 0s 0d for married members and £6 0s 0d for unmarried members. These rates stood for 15 years. They were cancelled when the general meeting of 12 June 1837 restored the old rates of £5 0s 0d and £2 0s 0d from 1 April 1836.

If a married subscriber died leaving a widow, or orphans under the age set by the rules, they would receive an annuity according to the years he had paid the higher subscription. This scale was added to the rules and cut by a quarter from 1 April 1837.

After 1 year's subscription, £44 0s 0d a year

After 2 years' subscription, £51 0s 0d a year

After 3 years' subscription, £58 0s 0d a year

After 4 and 5 years' subscription, £65 0s 0d a year

After 6 years' subscription, £72 0s 0d a year

Every married man joining in future would pay £12 0s 0d a year from the start. If he died, his widow or orphans would receive an annuity on the following scale. This scale was also added to the rules and cut by a quarter from 1 April 1837.

After 1 year's subscription, £24 0s 0d a year

After 2 years' subscription, £36 0s 0d a year

After 3 years' subscription, £48 0s 0d a year

After 4 and 5 years' subscription, £60 0s 0d a year

After 6 years' subscription, £72 0s 0d a year

Interpretations

The notes in the margin treated the two halves of the scheme of 1821 differently. The higher subscriptions were cancelled outright, but the higher pensions were only cut by a quarter and stayed in the rules. The members could have abolished both together and returned every widow to the old pension of £30 0s 0d. They chose not to, because the widows on the higher scale had a claim earned by their husbands' payments. A member who had paid £12 0s 0d a year for 15 years had bought his wife a larger pension, and the fund had held his money throughout. Members could stop paying the higher rate in future, but the society could not undo what past payments had secured. The cut of a quarter shared the fund's losses with those widows without denying the bargain their husbands had made.

The two scales showed how the scheme credited existing members for what they had already paid. A member who had subscribed before 1821 and topped up his payments to £30 0s 0d began at £44 0s 0d, and his widow's pension rose by £7 0s 0d a year. A newcomer began at £24 0s 0d and rose by £12 0s 0d a year. Both reached £72 0s 0d after six years. Under the cut of 1837 the ceiling fell to £54 0s 0d, and the widows' letters of 19 June 1837 applied exactly that reduction to each step of both scales.

The copy also showed the committee in England how far the society had gone in raising its members' contributions. Married members had paid more than twice the founders' rate for 15 years, and bachelors three times. The petition could therefore argue that the members had done everything in their power to support their families, and that the fund failed only when the disbanding of the Company's service removed the means of collecting those payments.

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General Meeting 1st May 1821. To be added to 3d Article. A Gentleman henceforth on entering

the Service, refusing to become a Subscriber, shall

not afterwards be admitted but by Ballot

One Third to exclude and then not without paying

up all arrears, from the time of entering the Service,

to the time of admission, with Interest on the same

and making a donation to the Fund of £50 ....

To be added to 3d Article. Any Gentleman in the Service

having been once a Member, and having withdrawn

from the Society can only be readmitted under

the same restrictions.

To be added to 10th Article. That half yearly Receipts and

Disbursements shall be made, vizt. the 1st April

and the 1st October but the Annual General

Meeting to be held as heretofore, on the 1st April.

To be added to 11th Article. That the Committee of five Mana-

gers shall not retire from Office, as heretofore, but

in rotation the first on the list going out on the

1st April, and a new one chosen in his place, who shall

be placed at the Bottom of the list the first always

to be the President.

To be added to 6th Article. That it shall always be, at the option

of the Managers for the time being (provided

they are unanimous) to lend Sums of Money on

good Security to Individuals, at the Interest

generally paid.

The rules sent to England continued with further resolutions of the general meeting of 1 May 1821.

A gentleman entering the service who refused to subscribe could not later join except by ballot, in which one third of the votes would be enough to exclude him. If admitted, he would have to pay all arrears from his entry into the service to his admission, with interest, and give the fund £50 0s 0d. This clause was added to the third rule.

Any gentleman in the service who had once been a member and then left the society could rejoin only under the same restrictions. This clause was also added to the third rule.

The society would receive and pay out money every half year, on 1 April and 1 October, but the annual general meeting would still be held on 1 April as before. This clause was added to the tenth rule.

The committee of five managers would no longer stand down together as in the past, but in rotation. The manager at the head of the list would retire on 1 April each year, and his successor would be added at the foot of the list. The manager at the head of the list would always act as President. This clause was added to the eleventh rule.

The managers in office could always lend money to individuals on good security at the usual rate of interest, provided they agreed unanimously. This clause was added to the sixth rule.

Interpretations

The clause on late entrants appeared in the copy without any note that it had been relaxed. On 1 April 1822 the members found that the fine had kept men out altogether, and offered a month's amnesty in which any man could join on payment of his arrears alone. That concession was limited to a single month, after which anyone still outside faced the full penalty again. The rule therefore still stood in 1837, and the copy recorded it correctly as part of the society's law. It showed the committee in England that the society had guarded against men who joined only when their families needed the fund. The ballot in which a third of the votes could exclude an applicant gave a minority of members the power to keep out anyone whose health or circumstances made him a doubtful risk.

The half-yearly accounts suited the new way of collecting money. From 1823 subscriptions came in monthly through the Pay Office, while pensions were paid twice a year. Settling the accounts on 1 April and 1 October matched the fund's payments to the flow of its income, and the committee of 1830 later used the same dates for paying widows abroad.

The requirement of unanimity for private loans placed the fund's capital beyond the reach of any single manager's judgement. One objector among the five could stop a loan he thought unsafe. The rule did not prevent the doubtful lending the inquiry of 1837 uncovered, since loans without title deeds and on land the borrower did not own had passed through it. Unanimous agreement protected the fund against a partial manager, but not against the whole committee's carelessness.

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General Meeting 1st May 1821. Annulled. That the dissenting Members may

be allowed to continue the present Subscription of

£5 .... and £2 .... and in case of Death, their

Widows and Orphans to receive the annuity under

the old Regulations.

General Meeting 15 April 1824. To be added to last Article. That no new Law be passed or

Former Law changed, till at least One Month

after it has been laid before the General Meeting.

General Meeting 3d May 1824. To be added to Regulations. That any Subscriber who may be

elected either a Member of the Committee or a

Treasurer, and shall refuse to act, shall pay a

fine of £20 .... or forfeit the privileges of the

Society.

To be added to Regulations. That the Annual General Meeting

of the Society shall be held on the first Monday

in April in every year, at 11 o'clock precisely

that the Secretary of the Society, warn each

Member in writing, at least three days previous

that the names of the Subscribers be called over and

all absentees fined in the Sum of One Guinea,

unless they furnish such excuse, as may be deemed

sufficient by the Committee.

General Meeting 3d April 1827. To be added to 11th Article. That the Managing Committee meet

the first Monday in every Quarter, to take into con-

sideration such Business, as may be laid before

them by the Secretary and Treasurer.

A general meeting of 9 May 1831 resolved that any member who was a full year behind with his subscription at the society's annual meeting would automatically cease to be a subscriber. Anyone who failed to pay interest within three months of its falling due would be arrested. These clauses were added to the fourth rule.

A general meeting of 20 August 1832 resolved that on the death or remarriage of a subscriber's widow, the annuity would pass to their unmarried daughters over the age of 21, until death or marriage, on the following scale. The scheme remained in force for almost five years. The general meeting of 12 June 1837 cancelled it from 1 April 1837, when the fund could no longer afford it.

First class, 4 or more unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £72 0s 0d a year shared equally

First class, 3 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £60 0s 0d a year shared equally

First class, 2 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £30 0s 0d a year shared equally

First class, 1 unmarried orphaned daughter, annuity of £25 0s 0d a year

Second class, subscribers at £5 0s 0d, 4 or more unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £30 0s 0d a year shared equally

Interpretations

The copy was made to support the petition to the Court of Directors or the King's ministers, and its contents served that purpose. The clauses expelling members a year in arrears and arresting defaulting borrowers showed London that the society had armed itself with the sternest remedies available. Arrest for debt allowed a creditor to have a defaulter seized and held until he paid or came to terms, and the threat alone often produced the money. Including these rules let the society present the fund's decline as the result of the service being disbanded, not of slack management. The copy did not mention that the members had repeatedly declined to enforce them, as on 8 April 1833 and 10 April 1837, nor that the general meeting of 12 June 1837 blamed the managers' failure to apply them for the widows' unpaid pensions.

The note of cancellation beside the orphans' scheme recorded a real loss, not a proposal that came to nothing. The scheme was adopted only after two years of debate and a committee's report that the fund showed a steady surplus. It then ran for nearly five years. Its cancellation fell, in practice, on one woman, Charlotte Kay, who lost her whole allowance from 1 April 1837. Setting the scheme out in full, with the note that it had been withdrawn, showed the directors what the members' families had expected and what the society had been forced to take away. The petition's case rested on that gap between the provision the members had paid for and the provision the fund could now afford.

The scale itself fixed the annuity per family and divided it, rather than paying each daughter a set sum. A family of four daughters in the first class received the full widow's rate of £72 0s 0d between them, while a single daughter received £25 0s 0d. The second class, for families of members who had stayed on the old subscription of £5 0s 0d, received far less, because their fathers had paid far less. The scheme thus kept its cost within bounds and matched each family's benefit to the contributions behind it.

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General Meeting 9th May 1831. To be added to 4th Article. That should a Member be One

twelve months subscription in arrears, at the

Annual Meeting of the Society he shall

as a matter of course be considered no longer

a Subscriber That all Persons who neglect

to pay their Interest, three months after it

become due, should be arrested.

General Meeting 20th August 1832. Annulled. That at the Demise or Marriage

of a Subscribers Widow, the Annuity shall be

extended to Female Orphans, to Death or

Marriage after the age of Twenty one years

on the following scale.

First Class.

Annulled. Should the Family consist of

Four or more Female unmarried Orphans

an Annuity shall be continued, to be equally

divided amongst them of£ 72 .... Pr. Annum

Three Female unmarried Orphans

£ 60 .... Pr. Annum

Two Female unmarried Orphans

£ 50 .... Pr. Annum

One Female unmarried Orphan

£ 25 .... Pr. Annum

Second Class

£5 .. Subscribers.

Annulled. Should the Family consist of

Four or more Female unmarried Orphans an

Annuity shall be continued, to be equally divided

amongst them of£ 30 .... Pr. Annum

The recent pages are a copy of the society's rules, made in June 1837 for the committee in England. Each rule had already been interpreted when it was first passed, earlier in this chat, so I judged that repeating those points would add nothing new. That judgement missed what the copy itself reveals: how the society chose to present its history to London, and which promises it marked as withdrawn. The page is given again below with that addressed.

A general meeting of 9 May 1831 resolved that any member who was a full year behind with his subscription at the society's annual meeting would automatically cease to be a subscriber. Anyone who failed to pay interest within three months of its falling due would be arrested. These clauses were added to the fourth rule.

A general meeting of 20 August 1832 resolved that on the death or remarriage of a subscriber's widow, the annuity would pass to their unmarried daughters over the age of 21, until death or marriage, on the following scale. The scheme remained in force for almost five years. The general meeting of 12 June 1837 cancelled it from 1 April 1837, when the fund could no longer afford it.

First class, 4 or more unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £72 0s 0d a year shared equally

First class, 3 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £60 0s 0d a year shared equally

First class, 2 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £30 0s 0d a year shared equally

First class, 1 unmarried orphaned daughter, annuity of £25 0s 0d a year

Second class, subscribers at £5 0s 0d, 4 or more unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £30 0s 0d a year shared equally

Interpretations

The copy was made to support the petition to the Court of Directors or the King's ministers, and its contents served that purpose. The clauses expelling members a year in arrears and arresting defaulting borrowers showed London that the society had armed itself with the sternest remedies available. The fund's decline could then be presented as the result of the service being disbanded, not of slack management. The copy did not mention that the members had repeatedly declined to enforce those rules, as on 8 April 1833 and 10 April 1837, nor that the general meeting of 12 June 1837 blamed the managers' failure to apply them for the widows' unpaid pensions.

The word "annulled" beside the orphans' scheme recorded a real loss, not a proposal that came to nothing. The scheme was adopted only after two years of debate and a committee's report that the fund showed a steady surplus. It then ran for nearly five years. Its cancellation fell, in practice, on one woman, Charlotte Kay, who lost her whole allowance from 1 April 1837. Setting the scheme out in full, with the note that it had been withdrawn, showed the directors what the members' families had expected and what the society had been forced to take away. The petition's case rested on that gap between the provision the members had paid for and the provision the fund could now afford.

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Three Female unmarried Orphans

£ 25 .... Pr. Annum

Two Female unmarried Orphans

£ 20 .... Pr. Annum

One Female unmarried Orphan

£ 10 .... Pr. Annum

General Meeting 20th August 1832. Annulled. That in all cases of Annuities to

Orphans an equal division shall be made, as

long as any Female Orphans remain unmarried,

and observe a moral and chaste line of conduct.

Annulled. That in the event of a Subscriber leaving

a Male Orphan or Orphans, either crippled, blind,

or from idiocy, rendered incapable of earning a

Livelihood, such a Male Orphan, or Orphans, to be

placed on the same footing with regard to annuity

as Female Orphans.

The Resolutions of the 20th August 1832 are annulled on the grounds mentioned on the Article. That the Resolutions of the 20th August

1832 be adopted, provided it shall be found that the

Funds of the Society will bear the expense, without

Injury to the Fund or the rights of the Annuitants

who are at present enjoying the same, or such as

may hereafter be brought on the Fund.

General Meeting 4th July 1833. To be added to Regulations. That the Interest on all Bonds

be reduced to seven and a Half Per Cent

from the 1st October 1833.

To be added to Regulations. That the Money of the Fund be let

out on Personal Security (as well as Mortgage) with

two Good Collateral Securities subject to the approval

of the Committee and in the event of one Security

dying, or leaving the Island, another to be substi-

tuted or the Bond called in.

The scale for the second class, covering families of subscribers at £5 0s 0d, continued as follows.

Second class, 3 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £25 0s 0d a year shared equally

Second class, 2 unmarried orphaned daughters, annuity of £20 0s 0d a year shared equally

Second class, 1 unmarried orphaned daughter, annuity of £10 0s 0d a year

The general meeting of 20 August 1832 also resolved that every orphans' annuity would be shared equally among the daughters, for as long as any of them remained unmarried and led a moral and chaste life. A further resolution placed any son who could not earn a living, because he was crippled, blind or mentally incapable, on the same footing as an orphaned daughter. Both resolutions were cancelled with the rest of the scheme.

The meeting had adopted these resolutions on condition that the fund could bear the cost without harm to its finances, or to the rights of annuitants already drawing pensions or added later. A note in the margin explained that the resolutions of 20 August 1832 were cancelled on exactly that ground.

A general meeting of 4 July 1833 resolved that the interest on all bonds should be reduced to 7½ per cent from 1 October 1833. This clause was added to the rules.

The same meeting resolved that the fund's money could be lent on personal security, as well as on mortgage, backed by two reliable guarantors approved by the committee. If one guarantor died or left the island, the borrower would have to provide another, or the bond would be called in. This clause was also added to the rules.

Interpretations

The condition the members attached in 1832 made the scheme's cancellation in 1837 a matter of rule, not of fresh decision. The meeting of 20 August 1832 had adopted the orphans' scheme only so long as the fund could pay for it without harming existing or future annuitants. When the committee of inquiry showed the fund in deficit, that condition was no longer met, and the scheme fell away by its own terms. The note in the margin pointed the committee in England to this, so that the cancellation would read as the society keeping faith with its own rules, not breaking a promise. The loss reached disabled sons as well as daughters. A son who could never support himself had been brought under the fund's care in 1832 and was left without it in 1837.

The two clauses of 1833 recorded the decisions that, more than any others, reduced the fund's income. Cutting interest on every bond, existing loans included, gave up a quarter of the fund's earnings from lending at a stroke, and the vote for it was 37 to 20. Lending on personal security was carried by only 30 votes to 27. The committee of inquiry of 1837 went further, urging personal bonds even on loans already secured by mortgage. Its reasoning was that a borrower bound personally could not escape his debt by handing over land worth less than the loan, as Robert F. Seale and W. O. Kennedy both tried to do. The narrow vote of 1833 had thus become, four years later, the committee's preferred form of security.

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General Meeting 13 April 1834. To be added to Regulations &c. &c. That any Person having once

become Security to the Fund, to the amount

of £100 .... cannot a second time become a

Security.

General Meeting 29th May 1834. To be added to Regulations &c. &c. That money be accepted in payment

of Bonds whenever tendered provided ap-

plication for a Loan for the amount is at the

same time made.

General Meeting 11th April 1836. To be added to 4th Article. That Subscribers who are Non

resident be allowed a period of Twelve months

to pay their Subscriptions after such

Subscription becomes due, but, if not then

paid their names be expunged from the Books

General Meeting 18th April 1836. Vide G. M. 12th June 1837. That should any Member wish

to return to the Subscription of £5 .... Per Annum

on the old established Fund, he forfeits all monies

paid on account of the New established Fund

of £12 .... Subscription Per Annum.

General Meeting 10th April 1837. To be added to Regulations. That the Agents for Members who

are Non Resident, be permitted to examine the

accounts of the Society, and to attend all Meetings

but be not allowed to vote.

General Meeting 12th June 1837. To be added to Regulations &c. &c. That no Mortgage be granted, un-

less the Title Deeds of the property be delivered over

to the Managing Committee.

General Meeting 12 June 1837. &c. &c. That One Fourth of all the Bonds

be called in to be paid on the 1st July 1838

with a view of strengthening the Securities to

A general meeting of 13 April 1834 resolved that no one who had already acted as guarantor to the fund for £300 0s 0d could do so a second time. This clause was added to the rules governing loans.

A general meeting of 29 May 1834 resolved that money offered in repayment of a bond would be accepted whenever it was tendered, provided an application to borrow the same amount was made at the same time. This clause was also added to the rules governing loans.

A general meeting of 4 April 1836 resolved that subscribers living away from the island would have 12 months from the date each subscription fell due in which to pay it. If they had not paid by then, their names would be struck from the books. This clause was added to the fourth rule.

A general meeting of 18 April 1836 resolved that any member who wished to return to the old subscription of £5 0s 0d a year would lose everything he had paid under the new scheme at £12 0s 0d a year. A note in the margin referred the reader to the general meeting of 12 June 1837.

A general meeting of 10 April 1837 resolved that agents acting for members living away from the island could examine the society's accounts and attend all its meetings, but could not vote. This clause was added to the rules.

A general meeting of 12 June 1837 resolved that no mortgage would be granted unless the title deeds to the property were handed over to the managing committee. This clause was added to the rules governing loans.

The same meeting resolved that a quarter of all the bonds would be called in, for repayment on 1 July 1838. The aim was to strengthen the fund's securities.

Interpretations

The margin note beside the rule of 18 April 1836 warned the reader in England that it no longer stood as written. That rule made any member who returned to the old rate forfeit everything he had paid at the higher one, and it was the basis on which Cole's request was refused in 1834. On 12 June 1837 the general meeting returned every member to the old rate from 1 April 1836 and agreed to refund or credit any payments above it since that date. The forfeiture became meaningless once the whole society made the change together, and the clerk pointed the committee in London to the later meeting so it would not misread the society's position.

The rule on title deeds turned the inquiry's main finding into standing law. Many of the fund's mortgages had been granted without the deeds, and one of them, made on 31 March 1824, pledged land the borrowers did not own. Holding the deeds stopped a borrower from selling or mortgaging the land again without the fund's knowledge, as had happened with Griffin's land, sold to Captain Wright. From June 1837 no loan on mortgage could be made at all unless the deeds were in the committee's hands first.

The clauses of 1834 dealt with the two sides of the fund's lending problem. The limit on guarantors spread the risk of personal bonds across more people, so that the failure of one wealthy man could not undermine several loans. The rule on early repayment let borrowers clear their debts without leaving the fund holding idle money at a time when it struggled to lend. Together with the rights given to agents of absent members, these rules showed a society adapting to a membership increasingly scattered beyond the island and a market in which good borrowers had become scarce.

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To be added to Regulations. the Fund, and therefore approved Security for the money

called in will be sufficient.

Put in force. That the Resolutions of the 20th

August 1832 Granting an Annuity to Female

Orphans above the age of Twenty One Years

be annulled from the 1st April 1837.

To be added to Regulations. That all Annuities granted according

to the Regulations of the 1st May 1821 be reduced

One Fourth from the 1st April 1837 and subject

to still further reduction if necessary.

To be added to Regulations. That the Widows of the Old (or Five

pound) Subscribers, whose highest Pension is £30 ....

a year shall not be subject to a reduction, until

those who are receiving the higher rate of Annuity

be reduced to their level.

To be put in force. That the Home Committee employ a

Solicitor to frame a Memorial to the Court of

Directors of the East India Company, or to His

Majesty's Ministers, as they may deem proper,

representing the declining state of the Fund, owing to

the disbanding of the East India Company's Civil

and Military Service of this Island.

General Meeting 12th June 1837. To be put in force. That the following Gentlemen compose

the Home Committee Messrs. Greentree, Lambe,

Hunter, Younge & Lorimer.

To be put in force. That the Regulations for enforcing

the payment of Subscriptions (to the 1st April 1836)

The resolution of 12 June 1837 calling in a quarter of the bonds went on to say that, since its purpose was to strengthen the fund's securities, approved security would be accepted instead of repayment. This clause was added to the rules.

The same meeting resolved that the resolution of 20 August 1832, granting annuities to orphaned daughters over 21, should be cancelled from 1 April 1837. The margin recorded this as an order put into effect.

All annuities granted under the rules of 1 May 1821 would be cut by a quarter from 1 April 1837, and would be liable to further cuts if needed. This clause was added to the rules.

The widows of the older subscribers at £5 0s 0d, whose highest pension was £30 0s 0d a year, would suffer no reduction until the higher pensions had been brought down to their level. This clause was also added to the rules.

The committee in England would engage a solicitor to draft a petition to the Court of Directors of the East India Company, or to His Majesty's ministers, as it thought proper. The petition would describe the fund's decline, caused by the disbanding of the Company's civil and military service on the island. The margin recorded this as an order to be carried out.

The committee in England would consist of Messrs Greentree, Lambe, Hunter, Younge and Lorimer. This too was recorded as an order to be carried out.

The rules for compelling payment of subscriptions due up to 1 April 1836 were also to be put into effect.

Interpretations

The clerk sorted the resolutions of 12 June 1837 into two kinds. Some were marked to be added to the rules, as standing law that would govern the fund from then on. Others were marked as orders to be put into effect, single acts such as cancelling the orphans' scheme, appointing the committee in England and engaging a solicitor. The distinction told the committee in London which changes were permanent and which were measures for the present emergency.

The cut in pensions entered the rules with the warning that further reductions might follow. In the minutes of 12 June 1837 that warning appeared only in the letters sent to the widows a week later. Writing it into the rules made the higher pensions permanently conditional on the fund's finances, so that any future cut would need no new decision, only a finding that the money had run short. The protection for the widows of the old subscribers became a standing rule in the same way. It fixed an order of priority that would hold if the fund declined further. The widows on £30 0s 0d, whose husbands never chose the costlier scheme, would keep their full pensions until every other widow had been brought down to the same level.

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158

or excluding the Defaulters, from further claims

on the Society be rigidly enforced.

Put in force. That the Subscription of £12 ....

and £6 .... be reduced to the old scale of £5 ....

and £2 .... from the 1st April 1836 and that all

those who have paid beyond that Sum, the

amount shall be refunded, or continued for

their future Subscription.

To be put in force. That all Resolution passed since

the 1st April 1836 be immediately forwarded to

the Home Committee, that they may submit

them to the Subscribers at Home.

To be put in force. That the Managing Committee

adhere strictly to the foregoing Resolutions

as without so doing they are perfectly unavailing.

To be added to Regulations. That the General Meetings of the

Society, be held twice a year instead of once, on

the first Mondays in April & October.

Signed

Charles Sampson

G. A. Den Taaffe

Danl. O'Connor

J. S. Reed

C. R. G. Hodson Secy. & Tr.

The rules sent to England concluded with the remaining resolutions of 12 June 1837. The rules for compelling payment of subscriptions due up to 1 April 1836, or for excluding defaulters from any further claim on the society, were to be strictly enforced.

Subscriptions of £12 0s 0d and £6 0s 0d would return to the old rates of £5 0s 0d and £2 0s 0d from 1 April 1836. Any member who had paid more than that since then would have the excess refunded or credited against his future subscriptions. The margin recorded this as an order put into effect.

All resolutions passed since 1 April 1836 would be sent at once to the committee in England, which would put them to the subscribers living there. This was recorded as an order to be carried out.

The managing committee was to keep strictly to these resolutions, since without that they would be worthless. This was also recorded as an order to be carried out.

General meetings of the society would be held twice a year instead of once, on the first Monday in April and the first Monday in October. This clause was added to the rules.

The copy was signed by the managing committee.

Charles Sampson

G. A. Den Taaffe

Daniel O'Connor

J. S. Reed

C. R. G. Hodson, Secretary and Treasurer

Interpretations

The managers who signed the copy were the same men the general meeting of 12 June 1837 had rebuked. In the minutes the meeting declared that the managers' failure to apply its resolutions was the reason the widows had been left without their pensions. The copy kept the instruction to keep strictly to the resolutions and the warning that without it they would be worthless. It dropped the clause blaming the managers for the widows' hardship. The committee in London therefore received the order without the charge behind it. The managers did not falsify the record, since the minutes in the book remained complete, but they softened the account of their own failings in the version prepared for outside eyes.

Sending every resolution since April 1836 to the committee in England for the subscribers there to consider recognised where much of the membership now lived. Nearly half the subscribers were abroad by April 1837, and many decisions that affected their families had been taken on St Helena without them. The agents admitted on 10 April 1837 could watch but not vote. Placing the resolutions before the members in England gave them at least a chance to respond, through the committee chosen from former residents who knew the fund's affairs.

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To the Honorable the Court

of Directors of the United Company

of Merchants of England,

trading to the East Indies.

Honorable Sirs

As we are persuaded, that

every Scheme for the advantage of your Servants,

will always meet with your approbation, and coun-

tenance, Induces us to lay before your Honors

the enclosed Plan, for the relief of Widows and

Orphans, Unanimously entered into by the Civil,

and Military Branch of this settlement, and

flatter ourselves from the future benefit that may

arise to the distressed, by this laudable Institution,

will meet with all due encouragement from your

Honors, particularly as the Sum arising from the

Subscription amounting to One Hundred and Six

Pounds is as much as can be expected, considering

the Incomes of your Servants, and the numerous

Families they have to maintain

We have the Honor to be

Honorable Sirs

Your most obedient and humble Servants

Signed John Skottowe

Danl. Corneille

M. Purling

Thos. Kirkpatrick

St. Helena

25th May

1766

The copy sent to England also included the founders' letter to the Court of Directors of the United Company of Merchants of England Trading to the East Indies. The signatories wrote that they were confident the directors would always approve and support any scheme for the benefit of the Company's servants. They therefore enclosed the plan for the relief of widows and orphans, which the civil and military servants of the settlement had adopted unanimously. They hoped that this worthy institution, and the help it would one day bring to those in distress, would receive the directors' full encouragement. They pointed out that the subscriptions amounted to £106 0s 0d a year. This was as much as could be expected, given the servants' incomes and the large families they had to support.

The letter was dated at St Helena on 25 May 1766 and signed as follows.

John Skottowe

Daniel Corneille

[...]

Thomas Kirkpatrick

Interpretations

The founders' letter was the strongest document the society could send to London, and its place in the copy was deliberate. In 1766 the Company's servants told the directors that the fund was theirs, created for the Company's own people and laid before the Court for its approval. They did not ask for money outright, but they stressed how little the servants could afford and asked for the directors' encouragement. The petition of 1837 rested on the same claim. The fund had been founded within the Company's service, with the Court's knowledge, and it failed only when that service was disbanded. Placing the founders' words before the directors 71 years later reminded them that the Company had accepted the fund as part of its establishment from the start.

The letter also sat awkwardly beside the directors' own recent judgement. On 19 January 1831 they had called the payment of the horse tax to a fund for the Company's servants an objectionable arrangement, and taken the money for themselves. The founders had asked for exactly the kind of support the directors then withdrew. The subscriptions of £106 0s 0d in the first year contrasted sharply with the fund's position in 1837, when interest and subscriptions owing alone came to nearly £1,600 0s 0d. The society's case was that it had grown through 70 years of its members' own payments, and needed help only because the Company's decision had cut it off.

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Copy of the 43rd Paragraph of the Court of

Directors General Letter dated

19 December 1766.

Para 43rd We have perused the Scheme

enclosed in your letter of the 25th May

last for the relief of the Widows and Orphans

of the Company's Civil and Military Servants

by an Annual Voluntary Subscription of

our said servants and as it appears well cal-

culated for that good purpose it not only

meets with our approbation, but we most

sincerely wish, that it may always be attended

with the desired effect.

The copy sent to England also included paragraph 43 of the Court of Directors' general letter to St Helena, dated 19 December 1766. The directors wrote that they had read the scheme enclosed with the letter of 25 May 1766. It provided for the relief of the widows and orphans of the Company's civil and military servants through a voluntary annual subscription by those servants. The directors judged the scheme well designed for that worthy purpose. They approved it and sincerely hoped it would always achieve the result intended.

Interpretations

The directors' reply gave the society the most useful sentence in its whole case. In 1766 the Court approved the fund as a scheme for the Company's own servants and hoped it would always fulfil its purpose. By 1837 it could no longer do so, because the Court's own decision to disband the service had cut off its members, its income and its means of collection. The petition could set the directors' wish of 1766 against the result of their action in 1836, and ask them to make good the hope they had expressed.

The reply also limited what the society could claim. The directors approved a scheme funded by a voluntary subscription of the servants themselves, and committed the Company to nothing beyond their approval. They had given no money and promised none. The horse tax granted in 1794 had come from the island government, and the directors withdrew it on 19 January 1831 as an arrangement they had never sanctioned. The society's claim on London therefore rested on moral obligation rather than any legal promise. That explained why the general meeting of 12 June 1837 instructed the committee in England to engage a solicitor and to choose with care whether to address the Company or the King's ministers.

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