Peter Symonds
Peter Symonds | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1528 |
| Died | c. 1586/7 |
| Nationality | English |
| Occupation | Mercer |
| Known for | Peter Symonds College |
Peter Symonds (c. 1528–1586/87) was a wealthy English merchant and benefactor, most notable for founding a number of almshouses for charitable endeavors in Southeast England. His most prominent achievement was the foundation of an almshouse in Winchester which later was recommissioned into Peter Symonds College.[1]
Family background
Symonds was born in Winchester, the son of the city's
Catholic Queen Mary.[2] Former Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer advised her to flee abroad, which she did after his execution in the 1550s. She died in 1556; among her bequests was £6 13s. 4d. (about £1,135 in today's money)[3] to Symonds in London.[1]
Career
Symonds became a successful
Lombard Street, at about this time. In 1582, he was among the rich of the city, and one of the two richest men in his parish. J. N. Hare attributes this wealth to the cloth trade that "dominated London's exports".[1]
Charitable bequests
By his death, sometime between 24 April 1586 and 29 July 1587, he had accumulated a large amount of land in the South East of England. In his
will, he left land and property in Chadwell and West Ham in Essex, and a farm at East Shalford in Surrey, to his wife. Then following her death, he directed that a group of trustees, including his brother William, Mr. Bilson as warden of the New College at Winchester, and four others, should secure a licence and an act of parliament for an almshouse to be constructed at Winchester named Christ's Hospital.[4] In addition, he left annual payments for a number of charitable purposes, including the poor of All Saint, Lombard Street and Chadwell in Essex.[5]
It was this almshouse that was to become
King James I gave royal consent for the hospital in 1615, thus giving the hospital legal status.[1]
Notes
References
- Gilbert, Richard (1829). Liber scholasticus. London: C. J. G. and F. Rivington.
- Hare, J. N. (2009) [2004]. "Symonds, Peter (c.1528–1586/7)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/95066. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- Litzenberger, Caroline (2002). The English Reformation and the Laity. Cambridge: ISBN 0-521-52021-5.
- Rosen, Adrienne (1981). Winchester in Transition: 1580-1700. Leicester: Leicester University Press.