30 May 2015

Visiting a hospital in Lichfield with
no doctor and a mediaeval founder

Dr Milley’s Hospital dates back to 1424 and was rebuilt by Canon Thomas Milley in 1504 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I am back in Lichfield today for a visit to Dr Milley’s Hospital, organised by the local historian Kate Gomez and the local history group Lichfield Discovered.

Dr Milley’s Hospital stands on the west side of Beacon Street, close to the entrance to the Cathedral Close. It dates back to 1424, but was rebuilt by Canon Thomas Milley in 1504, hence its name. Despite its name, it does not provide medical care but is a traditional “almshouse” that is home to ten women and on 24 June each year the annual “rent” of ten red roses is paid to the Bishop of Lichfield.

Dr Milley’s Hospital was founded on property in the town ditch given in 1424 for the use of the poor by Bishop William Heyworth. The bishop’s gift, made on the feast of Saint Katherine (25 November), was confirmed by the dean and chapter in the following year.

Local lore says the bishop gave the land on condition that one red rose for each resident was given to the Bishop of Lichfield – if demanded – each year on the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, 24 June. The custom was revived in 1987, and the Bishop of Lichfield is invited on that day to receive 10 red roses … the present bishop, Bishop Jonathan Gledhill, is due to retire in September 2015.

The original grant by Bishop Heyworth makes no mention of the foundation of a hospital. However, two circumstances suggest the hospital dates for his benefaction and that it was founded about 1424.

First, Bishop Heyworth gave the property to the sacrist of Lichfield Cathedral and the Master of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist. Until 1940, the sacrist has always had a role in Dr Milley’s Hospital. The Guild acted as the city government in Lichfield for almost 200 years. Four generations of the Comberford family were members of the guild: in 1476, John Comberford was admitted to membership; in 1495, his son Thomas Comberford was admitted a member; in 1530, Humphrey Comberford was the Master of the Guild; and in that year his sister-in-law, as Dame Isabella Cumberforde, wife of Judge Richard Comberford, was admitted a member in her own right.

Secondly, the site on which the hospital stands – a long narrow piece of land running back from Beacon Street and curving south to the Leamonsley Brook – is almost certainly the land given by Bishop Heyworth in 1424. The ground seems once to have been a ditch that formed the defences of Lichfield between the north-west corner of the fortified Cathedral Close and the bishop’s fishponds.

The hospital’s endowment was increased by many other grants in the 15th century. Some time before 1438, a house in Beacon Street and a croft in Sandford Street were given to Hugh Lache who, as sacrist, was partly responsible for running the hospital. Lache seems to have been given the property while he was still sacrist. But he must have resigned that office by 1438, when he became subchanter. Later he became the Master of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield.

The hospital’s income from rents was boosted when Thomas Heywood, Dean of Lichfield (1457-1492), gave a pasture in King’s Bromley; Canon Thomas Reynold (1471-1497) gave a house in Wade Street; and some time before 1504 the hospital acquired land in Lichfield called Godscroft from Thomas Atwell.

By 1504, the cathedral chantry chaplains were making an annual payment to the hospital from the revenues of bequests in memory of Canon John Meneley, Prebendary of Offley, who died in 1480.

However, the hospital was poorly endowed. In 1504, the annual income from bequests and legacies amounted to only £2.1s.10d. But four of the chantries in Lichfield Cathedral provided money for the poor, and in at least one case the money was specifically assigned to the poor in almshouses. Perhaps the sacrist and the leading members in the Guild provided charitable funds to help finance the hospital.

The hospital was re-endowed and probably rebuilt in 1502-1504 by the Revd Thomas Milley, a residentiary canon of the cathedral. In 1502, he gave to 12 people, including three other canons and the sacrist, houses and land in Lichfield and lands at Borrowcop, Pipehill (both in Saint Michael’s Parish), Elmhurst (in Saint Chad’s Parish), Birchills (in Walsall), and Chorley (in Farewell). The sacrist was to use the rents from these properties to support 15 almswomen, who were to live in the hospital and receive five or six shillings a quarter in money and household necessities.

The sacrist was also to keep the hospital in a good state of repair. He was to receive 13s.4d. a year to carry out these duties and was to answer to the Dean of Lichfield.

The hospital continued to be run this way until modern times, and the sacrist was known as the Master or Steward of the hospital.

The landed endowment remained substantially the same for three centuries after the hospital was refounded by Thomas Milley. The income of the resident women increased in the late 16th and early 17th century, with legacies from John Feckenham, George Saturford and others.

The original hospital is said to have survived in the English Civil War in the mid-17th century, when the Cathedral Close was besieged on three occasions and the cathedral suffered severe damage. But dendrochronology shows that beams in the upstairs corridor in the present building date back to 1652, raising questions about the dating of different parts of the hospital.

In 1809, the trustees found that some of the hospital lands had been lost and that the rents on other properties rents were in considerable arrears. Other property was held by tenants with long leases and nominal rents.

In the early 19th century, the sacrist’s duties as chaplain included reading prayers in the chapel, administering the sacrament, and preaching once a year. In 1845, the sacrist, the Revd HI Cotton, agreed to hold a weekday service and to celebrate Holy Communion on three Sundays in the year. However, these arrangements were not continued by his successor.

In 1893, a new scheme of governance was approved by the Charity Commissioners and provided for 15 resident almswomen. In 1902, their number was reduced to nine, and this was reduced to eight when the building was restored and reduced in size in 1906-1907.

The hospital management and the appointment of the almswomen are now vested in the nine trustees. They normally include the Dean of Lichfield, although this is not the case at present. The only land now owned are the ground behind the hospital and at Chesterfield, near Shenstone. Eight almswomen live in the hospital.

The office of sacrist was held ex officio by the Treasurer’s Vicar. Both offices lapsed after 1940, and the sacrist’s office has never been revived. From 1940 to 1948, Canon HL Muriel, Prebendary of Weeford, acted as chaplain, and since 1948 the chaplain has usually been one of the two priest vicars in the cathedral. Five years ago, the Revd James Potts, formerly Rural Dean of Stafford, was appointed Chaplain of Dr Milley’s Hospital.

Who was Dr Milley?

No 24 The Close ... once assigned to Thomas Milley, who founded Dr Milley’s Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

But who was Thomas Milley, and was he ever a doctor?

Milley was Archdeacon of Coventry and Prebendary of Handscare and of Dasset Parva in Lichfield Cathedral. But there is no mention of his birthplace in the Lichfield records, and even his family remains obscure.

He was one of the university men promoted by John Hales, Bishop of Lichfield (1459-1490). But it appears Milley was never a Doctor of Divinity (DD), and there is no entry for him in either the Cambridge or Oxford biographical registers.

He is usually called magister in contemporary records, which indicates he was a master or university graduate. A “Master Thomas Mylly” who was ordained in Hereford Cathedral in 1446 could be the same man.

He had held a prebend in the cathedral from 1457 until his death in 1505. He was Archdeacon of Coventry from 1488 to 1505 and around 1461 he built No 24 in the Cathedral Close.

The house was in a ruinous state in 1461 when it was assigned to Canon Thomas Milley, who was Prebendary of Hansacre from 1457 and later Archdeacon of Coventry from 1488 to 1505 and regularly in attendance at Chapter meetings. He built or rebuilt the house in brick over stone vaults incorporating the base of a stone tower that abutted the cathedral ditch. No 24 was remodelled in the late 17th century, in the 18th century and again in 1812.

Meanwhile, the only reference to his doctorate is the inscription on the tablet over the hospital entrance. However, this is not a contemporaneous record, and dates only from the 18th century. It says:

This hospital for fifteen women was founded by Thos. Milley DD Canon Residentiary of the Cath: Church of Lichfield A.D. 1504.

Indeed, it is not clear that Milley ever intended to give his name to the hospital. In 1687, the Archdeacon of Stafford referred to it as Saint Katherine’s Hospital in Lichfield. But until the 19th century, the hospital seems to have been known simply as the Women’s Hospital, and Lomax refers to it only as the Women’s Hospital in his History in 1819.

So, Dr Milley’s Hospital is not a medical hospital, nor was it founded by a doctor, and it was not known as Dr Milley’s Hospital until perhaps the 19th century. But I am still looking forward to my visit this morning.

Praying for a rainbow of hope for
refugees on Greek islands

‘Summer Wine’ … a promise of summer sunshine and a reminder of the Mediterranean in Dún Laoghaire late this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Patrick Comerford
Between the showers of hail and rain this afternoon, there were snatches of sunshine, tastes of summer wine and promises of Mediterranean sun and sea.

As afternoon was turning into evening I went for a coffee in Dún Laoghaire and then for a stroll along the sea front behind the Royal Saint George Yacht Club.

The yachts moored safely in the harbour were like a tantalising promise of sunnier days ahead. And that the same time it was difficult not to think of the humanitarian crises on the seas in the Mediterranean, off the coasts of Italy and Greece.

Earlier in the afternoon, I had lunch in Corfu, the Greek restaurant in Parliament Street, Dublin, with a television producer who was interested in discussion his ideas for a new series.

Evzones guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens … an image in Corfu in Parliament Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

The walls around us were decorated with images of Greece, including Greek music, Greek movies, Greek poetry and photographs of the the Evzones (Εύζωνες, Εύζωνοι), the elite light infantry units who provide the Presidential Guard and the ceremonial units that guard the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (Μνημείο του Άγνωστου Στρατιώτη), the Presidential Mansion (Προεδρικό Μέγαρο) and the gate of the Evzones camp in Athens.

These may have a predominantly ceremonial role, and are known for their uniform with the kilt-like fustanella. But they are a reminder too of the valour and bravery of the klephts, Cretans and Pontic fighters who struggled for Greek freedom and democracy in the 19th century.

Greek freedom and democracy are facing their toughest demands at present, and Greek valour is being grossly undervalued by many Europeans today, from German politicians to British tourists.

Greek freedom and democracy have come at a price … an image in Corfu in Parliament Street, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

In a scaremongering feature earlier this week, the Daily Mail claimed British tourists on the Greek island of Kos are complaining about asylum seekers ruining their holidays and turning the island into a “disgusting hellhole.”

The Mail claimed “penniless refugees have set up camp, sleeping on rubbish-strewn cardboard boxes. Summer break [is] a ‘nightmare’ for British holidaymakers, who won’t be coming back if it's a refugee camp next year.”

This is nothing less than callous display of disdain and a lack of compassion for people fleeing horrific conditions. The Daily Mail, Britain’s second most read paper, is stoking up fear and xenophobia when it should be displaying compassion and empathy.

Eva Cossé, who has just returned Kos, challenged the values of the Daily Mail and those tourists in a report for Human Rights Watch this week. In Kos, she met asylum seekers who had crossed by boat from Turkey to Greece, and she tells the stories of their own “disgusting hellholes.”

She interviewed men, women, and children fleeing war in Syria and pervasive violence and persecution in Afghanistan.

Nour, a young Palestinian from Syria, fled for fear of ISIS. He told her: “They kill people, cut heads, harm us psychologically. Once, I was walking at night and I stepped on something, grabbed it to see what it was, and felt some kind of hair. It was a head. That’s why we left.”

Mubarek left northern Afghanistan with his wife and three young sons because of the threat of the Taliban: “Every day the Taliban take people and children for suicide bombings. I was worried about my sons.”

Eva Crossé also heard about the grim conditions on Kos. There is no reception facility, so police take migrants and asylum seekers to an abandoned hotel with makeshift beds, limited running water, and no electricity. Others sleep in tents provided by Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) , while still others are left on the streets.

“Believe me,” she said, “migrants and asylum seekers want to leave every bit as much as the intolerant British holidaymakers want to see them go.”

Earlier this week, she came across 1,000 migrants and asylum seekers waiting for police processing to get the necessary documents to travel on to Athens.

Nour, the young Palestinian, told her how a restaurant owner sprayed pesticide on him and his brother to force them to move away. As she was interviewing a group of Syrians near the police station, a shop owner came and shouted: “Go away, you are bothering the view of my tourists. Go back to your countries.”

She points out there is a lot Greece needs to do to set up a functioning reception system on the Aegean islands. She suggests the EU should support Greece more to ensure adequate shelter, food, and basic healthcare to those arriving at Europe’s door.

But then, of course, there is so much that the EU needs to do for Greece right now.

Eva Crossé concludes: “Yes, the reality of refugee suffering can dampen holiday fun. But these refugees have fled from one hellhole to another, and tourists should gain some perspective on – and hopefully show compassion for – these people who aren’t on the move seeking rest and relaxation, but rather to find refuge.”

Colourful hand-made kilins from Afghanistan Blue Door in Monkstown (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

Between Corfu and Dún Laoghaire this afternoon, I was in the Blue Door in Monkstown buying a birthday present. But I was completely distracted by the colourful, distinctive handmade kilins from Afghanistan.

Hand-made kilins from Afghanistan are fashionable in northern Europe, and are beautiful to look at. But when those who make them seek refuge on our shores or in our holiday resorts, they are accused by the gutter press and tourists of turning our places of refuge into “disgusting hellholes.”

These double standards need to be exposed for precisely what they are.

Thinking of the Mediterranean in a quiet moment at the harbour in Dún Laoghaire this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)

As I walked back from the harbour at Dún Laighaire, I passed a collection of irises in a green patch beside Saint Michael’s Church. The Iris takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow (Ἶρις). Perhaps a rainbow of hope will soon shine in dark clouds for the refugees who take great risks in the Mediterranean in their search for safety a future for their children.

A bed of irises in Dun Laoghaire … who can offer a rainbow of hope to refugees in the Mediterranean (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2015)