| AdminBiogHistory | The house, hospital and free chapel of St Anthony's came to St George's Chapel as part of the donations of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville in the 1470s. St Anthony's Hospital, Threadneedle Street, London, was given with its advowson to the College of St George by Edward IV in 1475, Letters Patent 9 Oct 1476. [Cal. Pat. Rolls 1467-77, p. 484]. It had been established pre 1254 by the brothers of St Anthony of Vienne in France, on land previously occupied by a synagogue which had been given to them by Henry III. The hospital passed to the Crown under the Alien Priories Act of 1414 and its connection with Vienne ceased.
In 1522 the waged staff of St Anthony's consisted of a master, four priests, steward, curate of St Benet Fink's, school master, song-school master, seven clerks, usher of the school and a butler. The Chantries Act of 1547 [I Ed VI. C.14] released St George's Chapel from its obligation to provide a master and chaplains to say mass for the hospital's founders. By 1563 the religious foundation was largely brought to an end, but the maintenance of the grammar school and the almshouses remained the responsibility of the College of St George. The church building was leased to the French Protestant community in London from about 1550, when Edward VI granted Protestant refugees freedom of worship by royal charter. Known as the French Church or French Protestant Church, it was rebuilt in 1669 after the Great Fire of London and subsequently demolished, in 1841, to make way for the new Royal Exchange building. Adjacent properties were leased to other tenants.
St Anthony's Hospital owned property in London and elsewhere. In 1565 this consisted of:
The manors of Esthall ("Esehall"), Valence ("Walens") and Fryslung ("Thyrstelyng"), and "Jordan's Land" in Essex.
The rectories of All Hallows and St Martins (originally a chapel of All Hallows) in Hereford, which had been in the possession of St Anthony's since 1393, granted by Pope Boniface IX.
The rectory of St Benet Fink in London.
Tenements in London, three near the school and the capital messuage called Lady Tate's house.
Tenements in Portsmouth and Winchester.
See R. Graham, The Order of St Antoine de Viennois and its English Commandery, St Anthony’s, Arch Journal Vol XXXIV (1930), pp384-93 and plate VI (plan of the site 1530). |