Timeline

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• 1600s
• 1700s
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• 1500s
  • 11th March 1525 William Lench, a tanner by trade, conveys his property to nineteen of his friends by a Deed of Gift to be used for charitable purpose  
  • 25th March 1540 The four surviving Trustees agree by a Deed of Declaration of Trust to appoint 12 new Trustees and declare that all income and profits arising and coming from the property should be applied to the repair of the “ruined ways and bridges” in an around the town of Birmingham.  
• 1600s
  • 1627 A Commission under the Statute of Elizabeth is set “to redress the misemployment of land, goods and stocks of money heretofore given to charitable uses”. One outcome of the ensuing Inquisition is the order to the Trustees to “elect two of their number to be Bailiffs to collect the rents on the property and distribute them.  
  • 1639 First reference to almshouses in Digbeth, followed by another set of almshouses on Lancaster Street  
• 1700s
  • 1769 Establishment of the Commissioners of Streets under the Act of 9 George III (the “Lamp Act”). 50 Commissioners are appointed in Birmingham, who included the majority of Lench’s Trustees. The contribution of Lench’s Trust towards the repair of bridges diminishes during the following years until the incorporation of Birmingham in 1838, after which the Trustees decided to discontinue them altogether.  
  • 1780 Appointment of the last almsman. From that date until the 1970s the Almshouses have been kept exclusively for women, which led to the creation of a Ladies’ Committee to help in the appointment of beneficiaries to the charity.  
• 1800s
  • 1882 The Charity Commissioners made an Order establishing a Scheme for the future regulation of the Trust. The most important element of this Scheme is to introduce four “Representative Trustees” to be appointed by the Town Council of Birmingham. The remaining thirteen “Elective Trustees” were to be competent persons resident within the Borough of Birmingham or within a convenient distance, and assessed to the parochial rates of the parish in which they were respectively resident on an annual value of no less than £60. All Trustees were to hold office for life.  
• 1900s
  • 1915 A new Scheme repeals the clauses relating to the appointment of Trustees (i.e. the ratal qualification) and provides that “any residue of income should be applied in the payment of pensions to women having the same qualifications as the almshouse women”  
  • 1939-1941 Erection of new almshouses on Ridgacre Road in Quinton  
  • 1970s The appointment to almshouses is extended to men, following which a few men are appointed as Visitors to complement the Ladies’ Committee – which becomes the Visitors’ Committee  
  • 1981 Erection of new almshouses on Wake Green Road in Moseley  
  • 13 June 1995 Erection of new almshouses on Whitehouse Common Road in Sutton Coldfield on the site of the Hook Memorial Homes  
• 2000s
  • 2011 Opening of William Lench Court, a retirement community built on the site of the old Ridgacre Almshouses which closed in 2008.  

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