Queen Anne's Bounty Act 1840

1840 CHAPTER 20

An Act to amend an Act passed in the First Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King George the First, intituled An Act for rendering more effectual Her late Majesty's gracious Intentions for the Augmentation of the Maintenance of the Poor Clergy ; and to render valid certain Agreements which have been made in pursuance of the said Act; and for other Purposes.

[3d July 1840]

Letters Patent, 3d Nov. 3 Anne, incorporating the Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne.

WHEREAS by Letters Patent of Her Majesty Queen Anne, under the Great Seal of England, bearing Date the Third Day of November in the Third Year of Her Reign, incorporating " The Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne for the Augmentation of the Maintenance of the Poor Clergy, " the said Governors were authorized to consider, consult, advise, agree upon, draw up, prepare, and propose- in Writing to Her said Majesty, Her Heirs and Successors, such proper and necessary Rules, Methods, Directions, Orders, and Constitutions as the said Governors, or any Seven or more of them, with such Quorum as is therein directed, should in their Discretion judge most convenient to be observed for and towards the better Rule and Government of the said Corporation and the Members thereof, and the receiving, accounting for, and managing all and every the Revenues thereby granted, and all Arrears thereof, and also for and concerning the distributing, paying, and disposing of the same, and all other Gifts and Benevolences that should or might be given or bequeathed to the said Corporation for the charitable Ends in the said Letters Patent mentioned for the Augmentation of the Maintenance of the Poor Clergy aforesaid, and that such Rules, Methods, Orders, Directions, and Constitutions as should be so proposed, and should be approved, altered, or amended by Her said Majesty, Her Heirs or Successors, and such as should be made by Her said Majesty, Her Heirs or -Successors, and so signified and declared by Her, Her Heirs or Successors, under Her or Their Great Seal, Her said Majesty thereby willed should be the Rules, Methods, Directions, Orders, and Constitutions by which the Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne for the Augmentation of the Maintenance of the Poor Clergy, and their Successors, should receive, manage, govern, apply, and dispose Her said Majesty's Royal Bounty, and other Gifts and Benevolences which should or might after that Time be given or bequeathed to the said Corporation (where the Donors thereof should not particularly direct the Application thereof), to and for the Increase of the Maintenance of such Parsons, Vicars, Curates, and Ministers officiating in any Church or Chapel within the Kingdom of England, Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, where the Liturgy and Rites of the Church of England, as then by Law established, were and should be used and observed, for whom a Maintenance was not then sufficiently provided : And whereas, pursuant to the said Letters Patent of Incorporation, the said Governors did agree upon, prepare, and propose to Her said Majesty certain Rules and Constitutions, for the better Rule and Government of the said Corporation, the Fourth of which said Rules and Constitutions was to the Effect following; (that is to say,)

Rules prepared by the Governors according to the said Letters Patent.

that in order to encourage Benefactions from others, and according to thereby the sooner to complete the Good that was intended by Her Majesty's Bounty, the Governors might give the Sum of Two hundred Pounds (which was the stated Sum to be allowed to each Cure) to Cures not exceeding Thirty-five Pounds per Annum, where any Persons would give the same or greater Sum or Value in Lands or Tithes ; and Her said Majesty, by Letters Patent under Her Great Seal, bearing Date the Fifth Day of March in the Twelfth Year of Her Reign, did establish the said Rules and Constitutions, reserving to Herself, Her Heirs and Successors, Power from Time to Time, under Her or Their Great Seal, to alter the same, and to give and make in like Manner such other Rules and Constitutions, according to the true Intent of the said Letters Patent of Incorporation, as to Her said Majesty, Her Heirs or Successors, should seem meet : And whereas by an [1 G. 1. c. 10.] Act passed in the First Year of the Reign of His Majesty King George the First, intituled An Act for making more effectual Her late Majesty's gracious Intentions for augmenting the Maintenance of the Poor Clergy, after reciting (amongst other things) the said several Letters Patent of Her said Majesty, it was enacted and declared, that all such Rules, Methods, Orders, Directions, and Constitutions as should from Time to Time be by the said Governors agreed upon, prepared, and proposed to His said Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, according to the true Intention of the said Letters Patent of Incorporation, and by His said Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, approved under His or Their Sign Manual, should be as good, valid, and effectual Rules, Methods, Directions, Orders, and Constitutions for the Purposes aforesaid as if the same were made and established under the Great Seal of His said Majesty, His Heirs or Successors ; and by the same Act, after reciting the said Fourth Rule or Constitution established by the said Letters Patent of the Fifth Day of March in the Twelfth Year of Her said Majesty's Reign, and that the Right of Presentation or Nomination to small Livings was of inconsiderable Value, and yet it might be a great Inducement to such Benefactions as aforesaid if the Benefactor might have some Right of Presentation or Nomination to the Cure which himself contributed to augment, it was therefore further enacted, that all Agreements with such Benefactor and Benefactors, with the Consent and Approbation of the said Governors, touching the Patronage or Right of Presentation or Nomination to any such augmented Cure made or to be made for the Benefit of such Benefactor and Benefactors, his, her, or their Heirs or Successors, by the King's most Excellent Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, under His and Their Sign Manual, or by any Bodies Politic or Corporate, or by any Person or Persons being of the full Age of Twenty-one Years, having an Estate of Inheritance either in Fee Simple or Fee Tail in their own Right, or in the Right of their Churches or Wives, or jointly with their Wives, made before Coverture or after, or having an Estate for Life or for Years determinable upon his and their own Life and Lives, with Remainder in Fee Simple or Fee Tail to any Issue of his or their own Bodies, in such Patronage or Right of Presentation or Nomination, in Possession, Reversion, or Remainder, should be respectively good and effectual in the Law against His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, or against all and every such" Bodies Politic and Corporate, or against the Person so agreeing, their Wives, Heirs, and Successors respectively, and every of them, and against all and every their Issue, and against every other Person and Persons claiming in Remainder and Reversion after such Estate Tail as aforesaid, according to the Form of such Agreement, and the Advowson, Patronage, and Right of Presentation and Nomination to such augmented Churches and Chapels should be vested in such Benefactors, their Heirs and. Successors, as against His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, or the said Bodies Politic and Corporate and their Successors, or the said respective Persons as aforesaid, as fully, and in like Manner and Form, as if the same had been granted by His said Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, under His and Their Great Seal, and as if such Bodies Politic, or Corporate had been free from any Restraint, and as if such other Persons so agreeing had been sole seised in his and their own Right of such Advowson, Patronage, Right of Presentation, and Nomination in Fee Simple, and had granted the same to such Benefactors, their Heirs and Successors respectively, according to such Agreements ; and it was thereby further enacted, that the Agreements of Guardians for and on behalf of Infants or Idiots under their Guardianship should be as good and effectual, to all Intents and Purposes, as if the said Infants or Idiots had been of full Age and of sound Mind, and had themselves entered into such Agreements ; provided always, that in case of any such Agreement as aforesaid by any Parson or Vicar, the same should be with the Consent and Approbation of his Patron and Ordinary ; provided also, that in case of any such Agreement as aforesaid made by any Person seised in right of his Wife, the Wife should be a Party to the Agreement, and should seal and execute the same :

Rules have been altered and extended.

And whereas under the Provisions of the herein-before recited Letters Patent and Act of Parliament, or some or one of them, divers Rules, Orders, and Constitutions have been from Time to Time made, whereby the Power of the said Governors to augment Cures to the Augmentation of which any Benefactor or Benefactors should also contribute as aforesaid has from Time to Time been enlarged and extended, both with respect to the Amount of the yearly Value of the Cures which the said Governors were empowered to augment, and with respect to the Amount which the said Governors were empowered to appropriate out of the Funds at their Disposal towards such Augmentation, and such Power so enlarged and extended has in many Cases been exercised by the said Governors, and in some of such Cases Agreements have been made with the Benefactor or Benefactors contributing to such Augmentations touching the Patronage or Right of Presentation or Nomination to such augmented Cures, according to the Provision of the said recited Act: And whereas Doubts have arisen whether Appropriations made by the said Governors for the Augmentation of any Cure were strictly authorized by the Rules, Orders, and Constitutions for the Time being in force, in those Cases in which the Amount so appropriated to any Cure by the said Governors has exceeded in any One Year the Sum of Two hundred Pounds ; and Doubts have also arisen whether the Agreements made with such Benefactor or Benefactors as aforesaid are strictly valid and effectual in those Cases in which the yearly Value of the augmented Cure has previously to such Augmentation exceeded the Sum of Thirty-five Pounds, or the Amount so appropriated by the said Governors as aforesaid has exceeded in any One Year the Sum of Two hundred Pounds : And whereas it is expedient to remove and obviate all such Doubts as aforesaid, both with respect to Appropriations made by the said Governors, and with respect to Agreements made and to be made with any such Benefactor or Benefactors as aforesaid :

Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same,