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Queen Mary and Westfield College London University PhD Thesis ...

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ex-governor Matthew Benson was regularly commended <strong>and</strong> rewarded for 'his extraordinary<br />

attendance & service' in this respect <strong>and</strong>, although dying £13 in arrears to the ho8pital, had the<br />

debt posthumously remitted on account of his 'extraordinary service more than other Stewards<br />

formerly have done or that the p[re]sent Steward is inioyned to doe' 321 . henry White (Steward<br />

1778-85) was a particularly distinguished <strong>and</strong> efficient holder of the office; the architect of con-<br />

siderable savings in the expence of patients' sheets; h<strong>and</strong>somely praised <strong>and</strong> rewarded for his<br />

services by the Court <strong>and</strong> granted honourable mention <strong>and</strong> a funeral attendance by the Bethlem<br />

Treasurer <strong>and</strong> Lord Mayor, Sir Richard Clark 322 . Nor were all the Governors' efforts at re-<br />

form completely in vain. The Minutes of the Bethiem Sub-Committee, commencing from 1709,<br />

demonstrate that the vetting <strong>and</strong> ordering of provisions was already being managed thoroughly<br />

<strong>and</strong> efficiently by the Governors, <strong>and</strong> close tabs being kept upon the operations of the Steward.<br />

Laxity on the part of the Board can certainly not be blamed for the persistently poor quality of<br />

the provisions that were sent in. Perhaps the most positive, dirigiste reform aimed at improving<br />

<strong>and</strong> economising on the management of provisions, was the Governors' introduction of contrac-<br />

tual agreements with suppliers at fixed prices, in 1732. Formerly, the hospital had been at the<br />

mercy of market forces, which meant constantly changing prices <strong>and</strong> left the system very open<br />

to the corruption of the Steward or suppliers. Orders were, henceforth, placed in the h<strong>and</strong>s<br />

of the Bethlem Committee, which advertised for contractors to serve the hospital according to<br />

half yearly (or yearly) undertakings323 . In 1760, the Court actually tendered official thanks to<br />

the Bethlem Committee for its 'Great Care Attention & good Management in respect of.. .the<br />

large Saveings' in 'the Provisions of that Hospital' 324 . The alterations made across the board, in<br />

1765, to the st<strong>and</strong>ing duties <strong>and</strong> offices of staff, nevertheless, do more to suggest the endurance<br />

of wastage, pilfering extortion <strong>and</strong> inefficiency in the management of provisions, than inspire<br />

confidence that effective reforms were being found, let alone enforced 325 . Although staff were<br />

a gratuity of £15 by the Governor.. See BCGM, 12 March 1647, fol. 297.<br />

321 hid, 21 April 1653, 27 July 1655, 17 Dec. 1656 & 26 Nov. 1658, fol. 604, 712, 779 & 80.<br />

322 Thid, e.g. 15 Nov. 1781, 21 Nov. 1782, 27 Nov. 1783 & 2 Dec. 1784, lola 19-20, 70, 124-5 & 165; BSCM, 29<br />

Jan. 1780 & 19 July 1783; & the Journal of Richard Clark, Lord Mayor of <strong>London</strong>, Gitiblk.11 MS 3385, part ii,<br />

23 Aug. 1785. Clark wrote on White'. death: 'in every reapect a worthy man & an able Officer'.<br />

323 Contract, were limited to order, exceeding £io from June 1739, a ceiling which w raiaed to £20 in<br />

November of the aarne year. See 11.8, 23 June 1732 & 21 June & 30 Nov. 1739, lola 286, 50 & 65. For dealing.<br />

with contractor. .ee BGCM, pissirn, or BGCM contained in BSCM, from 1732, in particular lola 197 & 213-5.<br />

324 1618, 24 July 1760, fol. 343.<br />

325 For the preci.e nature of these alteration., see 16,8, 20 June 1765, e.p. fol. 133.<br />

396

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