Citylife in Lichfield - Dec 23/Jan 24

A Time for
Giving
By Jono Oates
As is usual at this time of year, our thoughts turn towards charity and those that
are less fortunate than ourselves. Many of the Lichfield charities would often
distribute their financial contributions on Christmas Eve, or Christmas Day, as
that was seen as the most appropriate, and most beneficial, time of the year for the
poor and the needy.
By the middle of the 19th century there were nearly sixty charities in Lichfield, many of
them named after the benefactor that provided the financial support and several of which
had been providing that support for hundreds of years, through to the current day.
In 1593 Michael Lowe, a lawyer, of Timmor near Whittington, left £100 of money and
income from rented lands, in his will to provide twelve poor men of Lichfield with a coat, a
cap, a supply of coal and 12 shillings every year. Over the years increased income meant that
more beneficiaries would receive the charitable funding and in 1884 the charity also provided
£30 per annum to support the selection of one pupil to attend Lichfield Grammar School on
St Johns Street for free. On December 21 1965 twelve men were presented with the
traditional items at the Lichfield Guildhall. Instead of the coat and cap however the men were
allowed to choose their own clothing, some opting for a jacket but others chose to go for
winter warmth underwear! All of them were still awarded with their ton of coal as well as
some silver coins.
The Michael Lowe charity was amalgamated in with twelve other charities in 1980 to form
the Michael Lowe and Associated Charities group which is still in existence today and
although the recipients no longer receive clothing the charity helps to support elderly people
over the age of 70 providing winter fuel grants and makes grants to organisations providing
support for those in need.
Father and son benefactors, both named Simon Biddulph, granted £5 every year to be
distributed amongst the poor of the city on Good Friday and on Christmas Eve. In 1908 the
Biddulph’s Charity was merged with the Lichfield Municipals Charity, which also exists today
and mainly supports the William Lunn’s Homes on Stowe Street.
In the 1640s Ann Matthews, wife of Humphrey Matthews, a Lichfield leather tanner,
provided six poor widows with a waistcoat each and after 1645 her husband provided six
acres of land in Lichfield to endow the charity. After they had died the land passed to the
city’s corporation to administer and they allocated twenty shillings from the land rent income
to spend on sermons at St Mary’s and St Chad’s churches, two shillings to spend on
administrating the charity and the rest on providing waistcoats on St Thomas’s Day, 21
December, each year. By 1745 the income had increased enough to allow the charity to
provide gowns, as well as waistcoats and money, to the poor women of the city. The charity
was amalgamated in to the Municipal Charity in 1835.
Margaret Haworth, widow of John Haworth a Registrar of Lichfield Cathedral who lived in
the cathedral close, left £2,000 in her will when she died in June 1867. The monies were
allocated to the Dean of Lichfield to help support the poor of the city and in particular those
suffering from consumptive diseases such as tuberculosis (TB). The charity, the John Forster
Haworth and Blanche Susan Haworth Charity operated until 1989 when it became part of
the Michael Lowe’s and Associated Charities group.
In 1770 Richard Edge, a Lichfield mercer or trader, allocated £30 a year for the poor and
elderly of the city, and his trustee, James Wickins, used the interest from the investment to
buy loaves of bread which were distributed by the churchwardens of St Mary’s church on the
market square on 23 and 24 December. In 1820 Wickins transferred the funds to the Vicar
of St Mary’s who used the interest to pay the churchwardens to distribute the bread on
Christmas Day morning. The charity was discontinued at some point after that.
Although many of the individual charities that were operating in the 18th and 19th
centuries in Lichfield have died out, or been amalgamated, there are still several charitable
organisations helping to support the elderly or those in need today and it is heartening to
know that the spirit of festive charity is still very much alive in Lichfield.
42
Merry Christmas
One and All!
Sources: The British Newspaper Archive;
www.lichfieldmunicipal.org.uk