The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-11-11 00:00:00

THE TICHBORNE DOLE.
(From the Daily .Vore).

Now.that the Tichborne trial is about to be resumed,
it may not be uninteresting to be made acquainted with
an incident connected with the Tichborne family which
caused the name to become very famous in Hampshire,
and to continue so forages— one, indeed, that if properly
treated, together with all the episodes relating to its
recurring festival, contains ample materials out of
which an interior Tichbonie romance might be ela-
borated ; and, although it occurred several centuries
ago, endeared the family name to the poor who
resided in the county for a long period gimlet-11,
almost till the end f the eighteenth century.
The origin of the ward laity, as is well known,
is l.af-die, i. e. loaf distributor, and in the
s gal old times many ladies made themselves be-
loved during their lives—and often long remembered
after death—by giving bread to the poor, or leaving a
sum of money to provide a periodical distribution of
food called a "Isle." A quaintly written local
chronicle infin ma us that the most noted among the
doles in England was one left by a charitable and
highly esteemed lady of the Tielaborne family,
who, it states, date their tenure of Tichborne
manor, situate in the immediate vicinity of
Alresford, in the county of Hants, from the
ninth century. It has consequently remained
their property for upwards of a thousand years.
In the reign of Ilenry 11. the Lady Mabella '1 trlo
borne, who had la-en bed-ridden for very many
yeam, finding herself at death's door, asked her
husband, the then Sir Roger Tichlsirne, to let her
have tlw necessary means to enable her to leave a
bequest for the purpe of giving a loaf of bread once
a year to all whiP should apply for it on the miniver-guy
if the Annunciation sf the 'Alother of our Lord, for
ever. In compliance with that request her husband
promised her the produce of such portion of his pro-
perty near the Park as she could go round while
a stake, or limed, which he caused to be lighted,
would burn, lie tie 'tight that, exhausted as
she was, at her very wlvanicd age, by manv
infirmities, she would-11,4 he able tO get over much
grouml. Delighted, -however, with the offer, ahe got
herself tattle corner of the park, and then, sun
prishig every one present, including Sir Roger himself,
she made an immense effort, and actually niameflld to
hobble round one of the richest and most pr-iductive
fields of the domain, which contained as much
as twenty-three acres of very valuable land, and
is known to this day as the "Crawhi." When
she had performed that feat she got herself
taken back to bed, and calling all her household
around her, she told them that the Tichborne
family would be prosperous so long as the dole
%AS continual to the poor ; but that she left her clime
upen every one of her descendants who should neglect
the distribution, or ag gum iriate the means so left toany
other purpose ; and at the Faille time ake prophesied
that in the etamt of the Mae ising withheld on any con-
shin-Alen of saving or greed. then the Tichborne family
would fail, awl the name lie lost for want of male his ;
she further said that in such ease the baronet of the
day would have seven sons, but the next heir would
have seven daughters, and no male children.
It SeelllN that in 1794; a great crowd of gipsies, thieves,
burglars, and all sorts of lawless people went into the
district in an unruly manner on the 2:iith of March.
Then the neighbours, as well as the magistrates, made
an outcry against the dole, attributing to it the cause of
the excesses committed, so that it has never been regm
larly given since; and very extraordinary to relate,
there was a partial fulfilment of the prophecy, for in
ISOli the then head of the family died and left seven -
sons, the eldest of whom succeeded to the baronetcy,
but he died, leaving only seven daughters —that branch
of the family then took the name of Doughty, so that
the Tichborne name actually merged for a time.
There is still in existence a beautiful painting illus-
trative of the Dole, by a Ilelgian artist, namedTillierg,
who went to Hampshire in at the desire of Sir
Tichborne, to paint the scene. Fourteen hundred
loaves, radii weighing a s and ten ounces, were
baked every year, aml whenever more than that lum-
ber of persons presented themselves, all the extra ap-
plicants received two-pence a piece in lieu of a loaf.