| Description | A. The first brief of James II, 5 March 1686.
B. The second brief of James II, 31 January 1688.
C. The royal bounty of William and Mary 1689-1694, and two minor benefactions from private sources 1690-1 and 1695.
D. The Parliamentary (Civil List) grants of 1696-1702.
E. Grants under Queen Anne, 1702-1714.
F. Grants under George I, 1714-1727.
G. Grants under George II, 1727-1760.
H. Grants under George III, 1760-1803.
I. The Parliamentary grants of 1804-1876.
Each group is subdivided, as requisite, under the following headings:
a. Minutes and registers of Committees' decisions.
b. Schedules of grants authorized - this subdivision is for schedules of grants authorized to be paid to persons specified. Some were used as records of payments made and have marginal and other notes indicating revisions and alterations. All are to be distinguished from the accounts in c.
c. Certified accounts of the distributions of grants, rendered by successive Committees to the authority appointed to receive them. Where accounts include the names of recipients, this is indicated in the individual catalogue record.
d. Accounts rendered to Committees, i.e. petty cash, and other internal accounts.
e. Receipts for relief, and other bills and receipts.
f. Correspondence, and other committee papers. |
| AdminHistory | Papers of the French Committees concerned with the following funds for the relief of distressed French Protestant refugees and their descendants. The funds were administered by Committees appointed by Commissioners during the entire period of administration. From 1696 the funds distributed to the laity and the clergy were administered by two separate committees - the French Committee and the Ecclesiastical Committee. Between 1717 and 1730 a third committee responsible for proselytes also functioned.
Payment of the funds was effected by or through churches both in London and the provinces. In London, the two major churches were Threadneedle Street in the City, and the Savoy in Westminster. By 1700, block grants were administered for two districts of Soho and Spitalfields, and two companies were formed to distribute the grants, one in the City of London and one in the liberties of Westminster. Each of these districts was further subdivided for distributions to the common people. The fund also distributed to churches as far afield as Jersey, Plymouth, and Thorpe-le-Soken.
The records not only detail the entire course of the national grants made to poor Huguenots between 1686 and 1876, but also act as registers of the persons in various categories to whom grants were actually made. Many of these registers include not only the names of grantees but also provenance, age, marital condition, dependents, occupation, and notes on infirmities or deaths. Usually the recipients were classed into social groups. In the early years these were three: gentry; bourgeoisie; lower orders. In 1707 there were ten main categories of aid: les gentilhommes; la bourgeoisie; extra-ordinaires; prosélytes ecclesiastiques; églises des diverses provinces; la pest-house; orphelins; écoles; distribution au commun peuple; médecins et médicaments.
The manuscripts can roughly speaking be divided into 5 main groups: records of decisions for grants made by successive Committees; schedules of such authorized grants; certified accounts of all payments, rendered by Committees to the Commissioners who appointed them; many acquittances; and other papers and books of account. In the early years of the 18th century accounts were also printed for the French Committees. |
| CustodialHistory | Found in the cellars of the French Hospital in Victoria Park in 1932. |
| FindingAids | Raymond Smith, 'Records of the Royal Bounty and connected funds, the Burn donation, and the Savoy Church in the Huguenot Library, University College, London' (London, 1974). This work gives extensive background to the administrative history of the Royal Bounty. |