Having recited: firstly, 55/28/1; secondly, that during Trinity Term, 1721 Coventry corporation exhibited their bill in Chancery against Sir Robert Raymond, Kt. (Attorney-General) and the then-surviving trustees of Sir Thomas White's Charity, the master and wardens of the Merchant Taylors Company of London, and Northampton, Leicester, Nottingham and Warwick corporations, whereby they stated that on 19 July 1538 Coventry corporation bought ex-Coventry Priory lands with a combined rental then of about £20 and paid charges totalling £99/10/-, that on 6 July 1551 an indenture made between the corporation and the Merchant Taylors stated that the 1536 grant had been made with the help of Mr. (later Sir) Thomas White who paid the corporation £1,400, hence that body had covenanted that, upon his death, they would pay £70 p.a. from the profits so that annually £24 would be shared amongst twelve poor men of Coventry, £40 be used as loans to young men, 20/- go to the Merchant Taylors, 6/8 to the mayor, recorder and aldermen to Coventry to see that the charity was effected, and 20-/- to the steward or town clerk for making entries for it - if there be default in the £70, £24 or Merchant Taylors' 30/-, they should pay that organisation £20 penalty for the first year, rising by £10 for every further year that it was unpaid until it reached £80, then distraint would follow - to perform which, the corporation entered into a £4,000 bond with the Merchant Taylors, and whilst Sir Thomas White was still alive the corporation's property thereunder reached £200 in value and the Merchant Taylors knew that no more than £70 had been earmarked for the dispositions, as they agreed by a 1610 certificate, but, in Hilary Term, 1695 an information was filed in Chancery in re Attorney-General versus Coventry corporation et al which wanted the surplus profits used as were the £70, which cause came to Lord Keeper Wright on 7 Dec 1700 - a 13 Dec 1700 decree stated that the information should be dismissed but the case went to appeal and the House of Lords reversed the dismissal on 19 Feb 1702, so it was tried in Chancery on 12 June 1703 for direction, which led to a master's report (9 July 1705) which the plaintiffs' solicitor confirmed, whereupon members of the corporation met with deputies from the benefitting towns at Lutterworth ,[Leicestershire] who agreed (2 Jan 1706(N.S.)) about increases payable to them and the Merchant Taylors with £40 arrears - however, during Michaelmas Term, 1709 an information was brought on behalf of the Attorney-General at the relation of the inhabitants of Coventry and the four towns against the corporation et al that the Lutterworth agreement should be set aside and a proper regulation be set on foot, so a decree that the former cause be heard on 27 Feb 1711 (N.S.) led to the Keeper of the Great Seal ordaining that it be set aside and that the four towns and the Merchant Taylors should reassign the estate to the corporation was certified on 13 Dec 1710, noting £2,241/1/3 profits, albeit the time for paying that was lengthened by orders on 17 Apr and 4 and 13 Dec 1711, but, as the corporation could not pay, the case was reheard on 4 Mar 1712 (N.S.) and an order made that William Bromley, John Craven, Sir Christopher Hales, Sir Thomas "Gery", Richard Ebourne, Norton Hanson, Arthur Gregory, Henry Greene, Edward Taylor senior, Thomas Burgh, Robert Smith, Horace Hopkins, Jonathan Kimberley, Isaac Fox, George Greenway, William Gulson, Thomas King, William Nurden, Nathaniel Alsop, Thomas Wright, Thomas Herbert, Thomas Armstead, John Yardley, James Birch, Thomas Hunt, Thomas Bott, Joseph Ash, William Lagoe, Robert Bedson, Thomas Grascomb and Michael Laurence be Sir Thomas White's Charity trustees, to whom Coventry corporation should assign its property, whilst the 6/8 p.a. paid to the mayor, recorder and aldermen and the 20/- to the steward or town clerk be devoted to the new trustees' charges; secondly, that sequestration, occurring on 24 May 1712, was directed to Thomas Wright et al for levying the £2,241/1/3 upon corporators' estates and £284/4/2 paid by the sequestrators; thirdly, that on 22 July 1718 the corporation applied to the court so that they might name a receiver, whereupon sequestration was suspended, since when the corporation has raised the whole £2,241/1/3 without recourse to a mortgage and has paid the money to Richard Godfrey, master in Chancery (1 June 1720); fourthly, that on 13 July 1720 the court ordered that the sequestration be discharged; fifthly, that on 13 Dec 1720 the corporation appealed to the House of Lords, saying that they had paid off the money which the 4 Mar 1712 (N.S.) decrees had demanded, to which the Attorney-General and trustees responded, hence their lorships ordered (11 Mar 1721(N.S.)) that the 1712 decrees should be affirmed without prejudice to the corporation; and sixthly, that the corporation requested reconveyance, so that was heard before Thomas, Lord Parker [sic], Earl of Macclesfield, 24-26 Oct 1722, which led to a decree (20 Nov 1723) that the trustees should reconvey the estate to the corporation: therefore Rt. Hon. William Bromley (of Baginton, Warwickshire, esq.), Hon. John Craven (of Whitley, Coventry, esq.), Sir Thomas Ge[a]ry (of Ealing, Middlesex, Kt.), Norton Hanson (of Coventry, esq.), Henry Green (of Wyken, Coventry, esq.), Thomas Burgh and Robert Smith (of Coventry, esqs.), Revd. George Greenway (late of Coventry, now of Kinton, Hampshire, clerk [in Holy Orders]) and William Nurden, Nathaniel Alsop, Thomas Wright, Thomas Herbert, John Yardley, James Birch, Thomas Hunt, Thomas Bott, William Lagoe and Michael Laurence (of Coventry, gents.) return to the corporation the premises which were conveyed to the trustees under 55/28/1.
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