The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-02-26 00:00:00

PERPETUAL PENSIONS.

Among the Parliamentary papers published on Mon-
day was a return "showing how many and which of
the perpetual pensions are actually paid to other per-
sons than the persons named as the recipients in the
finance accounts, and in each.such case to whom the
said several pensions are now really paid." These are
as follows :

An annuity of £4,000 was granted to the Duke of
Sshomberr, by Letters Patent, dated 22nd December
(8 'William III.), out of Post Office revenue ; it was con-
firmed by Letters Patent of George 1., 29th June,
1715, under the authority of the Act 1 Geo. I , c. 78,
and VMS subsequently transferred to the Conso-
lidated Fund. The amount still payable is £984, viz.:
—To Philip Lybbe Powys, on proof of life of Rev.
C. R. Powys, £360; Robert Gosling, £360; Caroline
E. L. Hancock, £4B; Georgina Louisa, Helen Morton
Eden, £4B; Henrietta, Lady APLeod, £72; Major-
General Henry Lynedoch Gardiner, £96; total, £984.
The remainder, amounting to £2,616, has been com-
muted.

A pension of £3,000 per annum, subject to de-
ductions, was granted by King Charles 11., under
Letters Patent of 16th August, 1674, to John Gran-
ville, Earl of Bath, charged on the revenues
of the Duchy of Cornwall, or, in the event of
there being a Duke of Cornwall, on the Hereditary
Excise. One moiety of the pension was bought up
by the Treasury in 1826, the other moiety was trans-
ferred to the Consolidated Fund in 1856. The amount
now due, £1,200, is paid to F. C. Maitlandand F. J.
Blake, as trustees for the heirs of Captain F. Garth.
A pension of £4,000 was granted by the Act 30 Geo.
3, c. 46 (1790), to the heirs and descendants of
William Penn, in consideration of his meritorious
services, and of the losses which his family sustained in
consequence of the American war. It is now paid to
Colonel William Stuart, a descendant.
In 1627 Charles I. granted the Carribbee Islands
(as they were then called), in the West Indies, to
James Hay, Earl of Carlisle. The grant devolved,
at the death of Lord Carlisle's son, to his cousin, the
Earl of Kinnoul; and in 1673 Charles 11. bought back
the proprietary rights over the Islands, which his
father had granted to Lord Carlisle, settling under
Letters Patent of the 19th day of July of that year,
on the Earl of Kinnoul, in lieu thereof, an annuity
of £l,OOO a year, payable out of the Four-and-a-
Half per Cent. Duties levied on exports from the
islands. This annuity, which produced to the
holder £676 4s. net, was transferred to the Consolidated
Fund at the accession of her Majesty, together with
all pensions charged on the civil lists of her prede-
cessors, and on the Four-and-a-Half per Cent. Duties.
The annuity was assigned away by the Kinnoul
family many years ago, and has passed through
various hands. In 1817 it was sold under a decree of
the Court of Chancery, and it appears to have come
into the possession of the family of the present holders
about 1835. One moiety of it is now payable to George
R. Carr, Esq., and the other moiety to Mrs. Georgiana
Carr.

The office of Remembrancer of First-fruits and
Tenths of the Clergy in the Court of Exchequer was
granted originally to M. Gibbs, in trust for the Duke
of Grafton, under Letters Patent of 31 Charles 11.
It was sold by the Duke of Grafton in 1765, and has
subsequently been sold more than once. It was
bought by Mr. R. Harrison in 1798. The annuity
now in question was granted as compensation for loss
of fees under 3 and 4 Will. 4, c. 99, and the compensa-
tion is now paid to the executrix of Mr. M. Harrison.
A duty of is. per chaldron on coals exported from
the Tyne, sad consumed in England, was granted
under Letters Patent of 18th December, 1676, to the
Duke of Richmond. This pension was commuted into
an annuity of £19,000 per annum ,charged on the Con-
solidated Fund from sth July, 1799, under the Acts
39 Geo. 3, c. 3, and 39 and 40 Geo. 3, c. 143. The an-
nuity was commuted, under provisions in those Acts,
for a sum of £490,833 lie. 6d., which sum was in-
vested in the purchase of £633,333 6s. 9d. Consols.
By the Act 39 and 40 Geo. 3, c. 103, a portion
(2485,434 4s. 7d.) of this stock was sold and invested
in land, and by the Act 1 Vic.' c. 34, power was
given to sell the balance of stock remaining, and to
invest it In land. The commutation money, and
the lands in the purchase of which it has been
laid out, were vested in trustees, of whom the First
Lord of the Treasury is one. The present trustees
are, the First Lord for the time being and Sir
Charles Mills, Bart. The estates purchased pre-
vious to the passing of 1 Viet., c. 34, are de-
scribed in one of the schedules annexed to the Act,
and the declaration of trust executed by the trustees
is set out in nother schedule to that Act. The re-
maining stock has since been sold and invested in
land, with the exception of a sum of £B6 Os. 9d., repre-
senting a balance of sales of enfranchisements, &c.,
subsequent to the purchase of the property, and which
is retained only to keep the trust account open. The
lands purchased under the above-mentioned Acts will
revert to the Crown in default of male issue of the
body of the first Duke of Richmond.
The Duke of Grafton received a grant of the
Prisage and Butlerage Dues. These dues were com-
muted into an annuity of £6,870, charged on the
Consolidated Fund, under the Acts 43 Geo. [II., C.
156, and 46 Geo. 111., c. 79. A further Act, passed
in 1815, 55 Geo. 111., c. 53, empowered the Govern-
ment to buy up this annuity, and to invest the money
in land, such lands to be subject to the provisions of
an Act of Henry VII., under which they would re-
vert to the Crown in default of heirs male. The
annuity was accordingly exchanged for £229,000
in Government Stock. The greater part of this
stock was subsequently sold, and from time to time
invested in the purchase of land, and there remains
in the names of the trustees only a sum of £30,555
10s. Bd. (stock). For some time previous to 1857 the
First Lord of the Treasury for the time being had
been the only trustee, but on the 23rd :June in that
year the present trustees were appointed in addition,
viz.' Lord Augustus Charles Lennox Fitzroy, Edward
Gordon Douglas Pennant (now Lord Penrhyn), Hon.
and Rev. Augustus Frederick Phipps, William James
Farrer. The trustees executed a declaration to the
effect that they held the fund (2,30,555 10s. Bd.
Consols) upon the terms of the Prisage Act of 1815.
No declaration of trust is required in the case of the
lands, which are vested in the same trustee, and
settled to the same uses and for like interests as the
Consols.