FOUNDLING HOSPITAL CORRESPONDENCE 125 of man and punctual in his function. As to his private affairs or circumstances I am a stranger to and confess I never heard any one speak of them with disgrace to him. R.P. Fisher To Mr Collingwood' A/FH/A/6/1/14/8/75 Sr [Black Bear, Piccadilly, Monday April 27th 1761] A draught of mine on Mr Wilkinson for £80, dated the 8th of Jany last, being presented on the 10th and returned, in order to establish my credit, I think it fit to send you the state of my accounts, as follows: The ballance in my hands on your adjusting my accounts to the 28th of Septr 1761 inclusive, was £161 11s Od Rec'd by two draughts of £80 each, since then £160 Os Od In all £321 11s Od Expended by 5 mo and 3 weeks' pay to my nurses for 63 children to 8th of March £181 2s 6d To 3 weeks for a child buried the 29th of last March 7s 6d Extraordinaries on children's account since sd settlement £3 10s 6d In all £185 Os 6d I came to town this day was se'imight in full hopes of recieving a considerable sum due to me, whereof I have rec'd only £30, which shall be applied to the payment of my nurses for the last month, due to them on the 5th of this instant April; and which, when so applied, will reduce the hospital money in my hands to £106 10s 6d, and which will be sufficient for that purpose within about five shillings, one child of the 63 being buried on my pay day of the 8th of March last, another 3 weeks after, as above, and a third child buried about 10 or 11 days since. So that I have now remaining under my inspection 60 children. I was in great hopes, and reasonable expectation, of recieving upwards of £60, and did not intend troubling you till after my next pay day on the 3rd of May, but as I am disappointed, and as I have paid £54 Os 6d^ towards the ballance in my hand at Mich[ael]mas last, with the £30 now in hand to be paid as soon as I return home, and fully intend paying off the remainder as fast as I possibly can get my money in, I hope that I may be indulged the liberty of drawing again as usual in the meantime, and that as my next pay day is on Sunday next, I may be furnished with £30 for that purpose, and with £10 more to discharge some other extraordinaries I am indebted on the children's 1. There are no letters from Mr Hughes for 1760 in the main collection at the GLRO. Since there were problems at Hurst in 1761 that required investigation the 1760 papers may have been removed from the rest of the stored correspondence at the time. 2. This figure may read £59 Os 6d. 126 BERKSHIRE RECORD SOCIETY account, over and above those I have already paid, namely to my hosier, between £2 and £3, for shoes about £1, and for 7 rewards, £3 10s Od, in all (as I believe) under £7, and as there daily happens some thing or other of this kind, the remainder of this £10 will be wanting for this use. But then I must beg the favour of having this £40 before I leave town, which I should be glad to do on Thursday next. Should therefore be obliged to you for an answer by the bearer, if possible, that so I may send a friend with a draught for the £40.' The Hughes, Inspector at Twiford, Berks Report to the Committee from j. Tucker^ Gentlemen June 10th 1761 According to the orders of the subcommittee, I set out to Oakingham to visit the children under that inspection on Friday morning; I got there about 2 o'clock, and was employed that afternoon in going round to examine the children in the town. The next day I went to Twiford and, in my way there, visited several of the children under Mr Hughes's inspection in the parishes of Hurst and Ruscomb. There I learnt from the nurses that they had 2 mo[nth]s pay due to them Tuesday, the 2nd inst, and that Mr Hughes had sent his servant round to all the nurses to give them notice not to come for their money till next pay day, when he would certainly pay them their due. I then went to Mr Hughes and vetted his account and from his vouchers, an abstract of which is here annext, I found by the receit papers that he has not paid the nurses since the 7th April last. His excuse for so doing is 'that he was some time ago security for a near relation in a considerable sum and was lately obliged to pay it off, that he very imprudently omitted to keep a separate cash book, and was thereby laid into the mistake of using the hospital money to help pay the above sum'. He says he shall 'certainly receive £60 within a fortnight and will then pay the nurses what is owing to them and continue after that time to pay them regularly every month.' Mr Hughes' income is (I hear) about £110 a year, he bears a good character all over his neighbourhood, and I find there is some truth in the above story of his lately losing some money by a brother-in-law who failed in business. From Twiford I went to Reading, where I saw sev[era]l children under the inspection of Mr Marsham and Mr Earles; all of them appear'd to be well 1. A letter from the committee to Mr Hughes on April 30th said that 'having examined your account with this hospital, find that you have more than a quarters' pay in advance and therefore as it is private money they are for the present obliged to refuse paying your draft.' A/FH/A/6/2/1 Copy book of letters in, 1760 - 1767. 2. Thomas Coram Foundation for Children, vol. 30 (untitled), item y, J. Tucker's report on the inspection at Oakingham dated 10th June 1761. John Tucker was the Treasurer's clerk. The abstract of the vouchers, said to be annexed to the report, is no longer with it. FOUNDLING HOSPITAL CORRESPONDENCE 127 done by. Mr Earles gave me an account of the death of a very fine child lately, who was suddenly carried off in a fit. My business to Reading was to look after a child under the Oakingham inspection who I heard was neglected, which I found to be the case. The child was nursed about a mile from Reading by one of Mr Marsham's tenants, and it was from his knowlege of this child's being abused that he hinted to the hospital that the children under the Oakingham inspection were neglected by their nurses. I got a very good nurse for the before ment'd child within a few doors of Mr Marsham's house and one whom he much approved of, and as the child required good nursing and close inspection, Mr Marsham agreed to take it under his care which I thought greatly for the child's benefit, as the inspector at Oakingham lived near 8 miles from the nurse.' Simday, went to Binfield to examine the children there. All of them I find are in very good hands, tho' several of them have the ague and fever, a disorder which rages much at present among the inhabitants of that parish. The Revd Mr Birch and his lady are charitably pleased to inspect the children in this place and goes round to all the nurses very often to see that they use the children well. From Binfield I proceeded to Ashes Wood, Priest Wood Common, Jealous Hill, all in the parish of Oakingham, and visited the children there. These places being very boggy and the roads in some parts impassable after the rain, I was obliged to have a guide and before I could reach Oakingham that night it was near 10 o'clock. Monday, I set off to East Hampstead to visit 2 children there under the Oakingham inspection and I saw some there also imder Mr Kenting's care, who I hear strikes 2d a mo[nth] off their pay for each child for his own trouble. From this place I proceeded home, where I arrived that night. I made particular enquiry of all the nurses whether Mr Bunce obliged them to take their pay in goods and they all of them say it is left to their own choice, but what they want in Mr Bunces's way they had rather buy of him than at any other place in town, as his is the largest shop and sells the cheapest. Mr Bunce is reckoned a man of good fortune, is in a large way of business and greatly respected by all his neighbours. The state of the children under the Oakingham inspection: 43 fine, strong, healthy children; 2 with worms and weakly; 6 with the ague and fever; 9 who can't quite run alone, 5 of them have been lately removed to their present nurses; 1 weakly at Reading, which 1 removed; 1 weakly with a swelling on its neck; I. See the letters of Mr Marsham for 1761, particularly A/FH/A/6/1/20/13/32, for further details of the transfer of the child.