John Hylpe and his Charity

The name of John Hylpe (or Hilpe) was associated with several bequests in which he arranged for a "rent charge" to be paid to be paid on various of his properties to raise money to benefit the poor.  This charge applied to  subsequent owners of his properties so that the charities continued, in some cases for hundreds of years.  The charities were administered by a group of trustees who were appointed and the last remaining trustee would  convey the trust to the new group of trustees.  This can make it difficult to determine what is being conveyed.  What appears to be changes of ownership of property is often a new group being appointed to collect this rent or tax on certain houses.  This does not affect the ownership of the property.

Thornbury has a number of these ancient charitable trusts which came to be administered by the Corporation of Thornbury and which were eventually incorporated into a charitable trust, Thornbury Town Trust.  This is now a Registered Charity with seven trustees, three nominated by the Council.  It helps organisations, groups and individuals in Thornbury.

The Hylpe bequests

The earliest reference to John Hylpe which we have found so far is dated 1479 and relates to The "Fraternity." It is taken from William A Caffall an historian who wrote "Thornbury - A Study in Gloucestershire History"

"Indenture of demise by John Hylpe and William Wayte, proctors of the Fraternity of the Assumption of Blessed Mary of Thornbury, with consent of the brethren and sisters of the fraternity, to John Kynworth, and Christiana his wife, for their lives, of a burgage in the High Street, Thornbury. 20 November, 18 Edward IV. "

We believe that the "Fraternity" was at the top of the High Street on the eastern side and near the area of  67 High Street.  The Mayor's Accounts of 1789 to 1790 describe a payment of 2/- from Robert Facey in connection with "Premises in the High Street formerly called the Fraternity occupied by one George Bainham, butcher, and since belonging to John Hughes and now to the devisees of George Cossham deceased. "

The full title of the Fraternity was the "Fraternity of the Assumption of Blessed Mary the Virgin of the Art or Mystery of Clothworkers."   We have found that this was an ancient guild that was incorporated in 1482 and given its Royal Charter in 1528.  This charter confirms that the Fraternity could have officials and "they should be called by the name of the Master and Wardens of the Fraternity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and by the same name might be perpetual and able and capable to sue for, receive and procure lands and tenements annuities rents services and emoluments." We do not know what form the property took in Thornbury but it would seem that as early as 1479 the Fraternity had acquired a property or properties in Thornbury and this gave it an income to use for the benefit of its members.  August 15th was the day that chosen by the Catholic Church to commemorate the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and this day was a holiday and feast for the clothworkers.

We know from a court case in which George Rolph represented the Mayor and Corporation of Thornbury concerning the rent payable by John Stone (the owner of what was then a messuage stable and malthouse) that the rent in that instance dated to a bequest by John Hylpe in 1604.  We have found a further reference that in 1604 John Hylpe settled by deed a rent charge of 52s annually for the poor of Thornbury issuing from houses in High Street, St Mary Street and Chipping Street. 

We have a further record of an indenture made the following year which seems to detail the bequest which was intended to help the poor of Thornbury  and which also indicates the extent of the holdings of the Hylpe family: "An Indenture made 1^st June 1605 between John Hylpe of Thornbury of the one part and John Hylpe of London and others therein mentioned of the other part; It is witnessed that the said John Hilpe of the first part did hereby grant and convey unto the said persons therein named of the second part their heirs and assigns for ever an annuity or yearly rent of 52/- to be issuing out of his lands in the Borough of Thornbury viz out of a house in the High Street of Thornbury then in the tenure of John Dorney 10/-, out of another house in the High Street aforesaid in the occupation of Jane Bruton 4/4, out of another house in High Street aforesaid in the occupation of William Smith 4/4; out of another house in the High Street aforesaid in the occupation of James Ellis 4/4, out of another in the same street then in the tenure of John Jones 4/4, out of another house in Chipping Street in the said Borough 4/4, and out of his house in the High Street aforesaid then in the occupation of John Richards 16/-, to hold the same yearly rents to the said parties of the second part to the intent that the same should be paid at the times herein mentioned, at the Church Porch of the Parish Church of Thornbury to the churchwardens of Thornbury "

The money was "to be distributed by them in weekly bread among the poorest people resident in the Town and Borough of Thornbury at the discretion of the Mayor of the said Borough."

A further document dated 1815  lists the properties from which the charities of the Corporation of Thornbury (now called the Thornbury Town Trust) gained an income to help the poor.  One of these was the bequest of John Hylpe  which was said to have been made in 1620.  Of this bequest it says;

"1620 John Hylpe gave an annuity of £2.12s per annum to the poor of the Borough of Thornbury out of the following premises, viz out of a house called the Fraternity formerly occupied by George Bainham, since by John Hughes, now belonging to Ann Cossham, 10/- ;out of a house belonging to William Clark, 2/- ; out of a house belonging to Grace Wade 2/4; out of a house belonging to  Richard Gwynn, 4/4; out of a house belonging to Thomas Grove 4/4; out of a house belonging to Mr Joseph Laver 16/-; out of a house formerly Hawksworth since Ann Stones 4/4; out of a house called the Green House 4/4.  The two last have not been collected a long time and appear to be lost."

This is puzzling because in many ways it seems a repeat of the original bequest.  It is possible that the summary which was compiled in 1815 had merely taken the wrong date.

The Hylpe Family

There is a problem in identifying which John Hylpe was responsible for each of the bequests as there were several persons called John Hylpe in Thornbury history during the 16th and 17th Centuries.  We have listed below the various references to John Hylpe which we have found during our research:

It seems most likely that the John Hylpe who set up the Hylpe charity was a descendant of Thomas Hylpe who was born about 1490, according to a family tree that we have seen on the Ancestry Website.  Thomas Hylpe married Cicely Hicks and they appear to have had three children; John Hylpe born about 1542, Thomas and a daughter Cicely (who according to family trees on Ancestry  later married James Lawrence).  We believe that Thomas Hylpe the husband of Cicely died about January 7th in the year 1549/1550.

Cicely Hylpe then married  for a second time.  We believe that her second husband was Richard Hampden who was another landowner and had been appointed Yeoman and overseer of the King's Horses and Keeper of the Stable in the Manor of Thornbury.  Richard Hampden had a son and heir Edmund Hampden.  According to  William Caffall,  Richard died and was buried in Thornbury on 25th January 1551 having made a will earlier that month.  Richard Hampden left to his wife Cicely for her lifetime "all that my Chauntrey lyeing in Thornbury called Our Lady Chauntrey, also my leases called Collyns and Morton."  The "Chauntrey" today is called the Chantry and lies at the lower end of Castle Street in Thornbury.

From this background it would appear that John Hylpe was a very wealthy man.

We do not know the wives of any John Hylpe that we have traced so far.  This is partly due to the fact that there are too many recorded marriages of John Hylpe in this period than too few!  We can only say there appears to be more than one John Hylpe in the mid sixteenth century.  So far we have traced the following marriages in Thornbury; John Hylpe married Agnes Whyte 11th August 1561.  John Hylpe married Issabel Bugden 22nd January 1562.  John Hylpe married Agnes Thurner 28th July 1575.  The records indicate that Hylpes were buried in Thornbury but we have found no death records or memorials which would help us sort out this confusion.

We do know that in 1573 a man described as "John Hylpe Senior" was mentioned as an attorney in a feoffment by John Jones the elder, mayor of Thornbury, to a group of gentlemen that included  "John Hylpe Junior" to a tenement in Thornbury next to a property owned by John Hylpe Senior.  This implies that there were two John Hylpes, probably father and son, who were both adults in 1573 (and therefore unlikely to include the one mentioned below who was born in 1563).

In 1575 there was a probate record for John Hylpe of Thornbury.  We feel that as this John Hylpe was a tailor he may not be the John Hylpe who owned so much property and who seems to have been an attorney.

We have seen family trees on the Ancestry website that tell us that John Hylpe senior the son of Cicely died about 1600.  However it is possible that he survived until 1605 because of the agreement dated "1^st June 1605 between John Hilpe of Thornbury of the one part and John Hilpe of London."

As can be seen from the following reference, we have more specific information that suggests that one of the Hylpe family lived in London (possibly this was John Hylpe the younger the grandson of Cecily Hylpe).

"Deeds: Bargain and Sale; 1606 May 5
John Hylpe of the Inner Temple, London, Gent, Thomas Jones, the younger, of Thornbury, Gloucestershire; messuage or barn, with garden and backside, containing half a burgage with appurtenances in St John's Street, Thornbury; John Barlow, weaver and James Eddne, tanner, both of Thornbury appointed attorneys by John Hylpe to take possession Consideration £5."

We have found  a record of John Hylpe who was born September 1563 and baptised in the October of that year.  The Alumni Oxoniensis website tells us that a John Hylpe of Thornbury of the County of Gloucestershire, gentleman was a student of Magdalen Hall who entered the University aged 16 on April 9th 1579.  He was a student of the Inner Temple in London in 1584.  It seems likely that this man could be described as  "John Hylpe of London."

In 1608 a muster of men between the ages of 20 and 60 capable of bearing arms refers to only one John Hylpe gent.  He was said to be "about 40 years of age (and) hath two corslets with furnishings and a subsidy man."  This seems to mean that there was only one John Hylpe of substance in that age group at the time in Thornbury.  A "subsidy man" in this context was a man contributing directly towards the subsidy of the King and this implies he was a man of means.  The age of this man suggests he was born about 1568 rather than 1563 but the reference does say "about 40."  The older John Hylpe would of course be older than 60 so that even if he were alive at the time of the muster he would not have been mentioned.

From this it would seem that at least two John Hylpes were involved in the bequests.  The earliest John Hylpe who was associated with the Fraternity may even have been the grandfather of the older John Hylpe.  However much more research is needed before we can be sure of any details and we would love to hear from anyone with more information.

This page was last updated: 07/05/2012