RELIGIOUS HOUSES In 1436 the hospital of Sandon in this county, being greatly reduced in revenue, was united to this house.*' A letter from Sir Thomas More to Wolsey, dated 16 March, 1528, mentions the hospital of Southwark, and that the master was old, blind, and feeble. Though in the gift of the bishop of Winchester, the king was informed that Wolsey, as legate, might appoint a coadjutor, and he would like to have the same for his chaplain, Mr. Stanley. The king had two reasons for asking this : first, that Stanley was a gentleman born ; and secondly, ifhe could get rid of him he would like to have a more learned man in his place." Very shortly after this, namely, on 20 May, ,1528, aged Richard Richardson resigned his office, being allotted a pension of 40 marks.*' Richard Mabbot was elected his successor on 22 May. On 26 September, 1535, Richard Layton,the monastic visitor, wrote to Cromwell to the effect that he was going to visit the exempt monastery of Bermondsey, Southwark, and ' the bawdy hospital of St. Thomas' on his return out of Kent.*^ Layton's epithets and general language were usually coarse and often untrustworthy, but in this case his reference to the hospital seems justified, for master Mabbot was undoubtedly lax in discipline and bad in personal character. The Falor Ecc/esiasticus of 1 535 gave the clear annual value of the hospital at £20() is. iid., of which sum only ,^42 4s. was spent on the poor and infirm. There were at this time three lay- sisters — originally the sisters were also professed and of the Austin rule — and there were forty beds for the poor. A complaint was addressed by certain parish- ioners of St. Thomas's Hospital to Sir Richard Longe and Robert Acton in July, 1536, against the master and brethren of the hospital, accusing them of maintaining improper characters within the precincts, refusing charitable relief to those in sickness, and even to those willing to pay — insomuch that a poor woman great with child was denied a lodging and died at the church door, while rich men's servants and lemans were readily taken in — refusing baptism of a child till the master had 3s. 4^/., and other irregularities. The master was charged with often quarrelling with the brethren and sisters even in the quire of the church, of which strange instances were cited. As to the services in the church they complained that the usual three or four sermons in Lent had not been given, they had often scant two masses in a day, and they had been forced sometimes to seek a priest about the Borough to sing high mass. Moreover, the master had put " Winton Epis. Reg. Waynflete, ii, fol. 57. " L. and P. Hen. Fill, iv, 4080. " Winton Epis. Reg. Fox, v, fol. 156^. « L. and P. Hen. Fill, ix (1), 44. down the free school formerly kept within the hospital, although there is £4. a year for its maintenance, was guilty of 'filthy and indecent ' conduct, openly kept a concubine, claimed to be ' lord, king, and bishop ' within his precincts, and sold the church plate, pretending it was stolen. The names of nine witnesses were appended to these grave allegations.*' On 4 July, 1538, Robert More, one of the priests of the hospital, confessed before Robert Acton, justice of the peace, that before the rob- bery of church plate the master sold two silver parcel-gilt basins, a silver holy-water stock and
- spryngyll,' a pair of parcel-gilt silver candlesticks,
a parcel-gilt silver censer, and a pair of parcel- gilt silver cruets. He delivered ^^5 to Robert as his portion. The master was robbed of as much plate as would go into a half-bushel basket. The master consulted the brethren about selling his house at Deptford Strand. More said if he did so he would sore offend his prince. The master bade them do as he commanded, and so they sold it deceitfully to John Asspele, proctor of the arches.*^ An indenture was made in July, 1538, be- tween the king and Richard Mabbot, the master, and the brethren, whereby the hospital exchanged their manor of Sandon by Esher with the par- sonage of Esher, for the parsonages of Much Wakering, and of Helion Bumpstead, Essex.*^ On 23 December, 1539, Thomas Thurleby, clerk, the last master, was presented to St. Thomas's Hospital, in the place of Richard Mabbot deceased. But this appointment could only have been made *" with the idea of effecting a quiet surrender, for on 14 January, 1540, Thomas Thurleby, together with Thomas Ladde and Thomas Cowyke, surrendered the hospital and all its possessions to the king.'^ Priors, Masters, Wardens or Rectors OF THE Hospital of St. Thomas, Southwark Archdeacon Amicius,'- occurs 121 3, 1215 Adam de Merton, occurs 1235 Thomas de Codeham, occurs 1248, 1251 Fulcher, elected 1 26 1 Adam II Richard de Bikleswade, resigned 1283" Richard de Bikleswade, (re-elected), died 1295 Richard de Hulmo, 1295 " "Ibid, xi, 168. " L. and P. Hen. VIU, xiii (l), 1323. " Ibid, xiii (i), 1348. •^ Ibid, xiv (2), 780 (37). " Dep. Keeper's Rep. viii, App. ii, 41. " The names and dates of the masters are all taken from the Chartulary (Stowe MS. 942), unless otherwise stated. " Winton Epis. Reg. Pontoise, fol. 2. " Ibid. fol. 52 ; Stowe MS. 942, fol. 1 06 ; Cal. of Pat. 1292-1301, pp. 135, 146. 541
