| AdminHistory | The Management Committee ('Commissaires du Quartier', 1718-87, 'Assemblées des Samedis', 1787-1835) met regularly on Saturdays, weekly until 7 February 1801, then fortnightly until 6 February 1802, and thereafter monthly. The Committee supervised the Steward and dealt with matters affecting the hospital administration and staff, the brewery and bakehouse, expenses including repairs to buildings and the authorization for payment of major tradesmen's bills. They also approved admissions to the hospital and punished delinquents, usually by 'gating' for various periods. Visits of inspection and complaints received were recorded.
From November 1720 to January 1726/7, during the stewardship of Jean Chaboussant, the minutes of many meetings are confined to 'casualits' reported by the Steward, i.e. entries, departures and deaths of inmates. On 24 June 1738 it was resolved to employ trained nurses, if procurable, for the sick-rooms. There are minutes relating to the hospital garden and gardeners, and on 8 September 1739 a report on the planting of an orchard. The management Committee also concerned itself with receipts of gifts and legacies, payments of 'out-gifts', negotiations with tenants of the Corporation's houses in Bond's Court and negotiations with Bedlam and Guy's Hospital about the transfer of lunatics.
As with the Court minutes, the Management Committee's minutes tend to be more formal in the 19th century, and the use of the French language ends in 1835. There are, however, occasional innovations, such as the setting-up of a Buildings Sub-committee (3 August 1805) to value the Hospital site and buildings and to seek new and more economical quarters for a reduced number (about 80) of inmates. This proved abortive at the time, but from 1810, to alleviate financial difficulties, leases of the Corporation's land for building are recorded. In January 1806 a meeting of the Committee was deferred because its date had coincided with the funeral of Lord Nelson.
An Accounts Committee was set up on 9 April 1740 at the request of Jacques Gaultier. After its first report on 31 December 1740 it reported regularly in March and September on the accounts of the Treasurer, the Steward, and the Director responsible for the Bond's Court property until its sale in 1763. |