Summary:  A group of Bosbury Trustees appointed by an Indenture of 1835 hereby convey a plot of land, which they own, situated between Davis’s Cottages (now Church Lea) and Robert Chadd’s House (now Lichen Cottage) to the Vicar and Churchwardens of Bosbury to be used as a girls school for daughters of the poorer classes in the parish. The Vicar is responsible for Moral and Religious Instruction of Scholars. A Committee of Management shall be formed including the Vicar, Curate(s), churchwardens and up to three others who must all be members of the Church of England. They shall appoint a School Master and School Mistress and their assistants.

1848 Conveyance between Rev. John Hanmer Underwood, inter alia, and the Vicar and Churchwardens of Bosbury, dated 24TH JUNE 1848

We the Reverend John Hanmer Underwood of the Parish of Bosbury in the County of Hereford Clerk Thomas Heywood of Hope-End in the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid Esquire William Henry Brydges late of Ledbury in the same County Surgeon but now of Tarrington in the same County Gentleman James Gregg of Ledbury aforesaid Gentleman Timothy Spencer of the same place Banker John Mutlow of Coldgreen in the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid Gentleman George Shayle Upleadon Court in the said Parish of Bosbury Gentleman Philip Stedman Sparkman late of the Nashend in the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid but now of Dindor Cross in the Parish of Dindor in the same County Gentleman and Thomas Ricketts of the Nelmes in the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid Gentleman (the surviving Trustees named and appointed in and by a certain Indenture bearing date the thirtieth day of April One thousand eight hundred and thirty five of (amongst others) the lands and heredits hereinafter described and intended to be hereby granted and conveyed) under the authority of an Act passed in the fifth year of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria entitled ‘An Act to afford further facilities for the Conveyance and Endowment of Sites for Schools’ and of the Act of the eighth year of the reign of Her present Majesty explaining the same do hereby in consideration of four pounds to us paid grant and convey unto the Vicar and Churchwardens of the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid and their Successors All that small plot or parcel of Land now marked of staked out containing in length Twenty seven yards and two feet and in breadth Nine yards situate in the Village and Parish of Bosbury aforesaid having the Highway on the North part a Dwellinghouse and garden belonging to the said John Hanmer Underwood Thomas Heywood William Henry Brydges James Gregg Timothy Spencer John Mutlow George Shayle Philip Stedman Sparkman and Thomas Ricketts as such surviving Trustees as aforesaid and now in the occupation of Robert Chadd on the East and South parts and Cottages and Premises belonging to Sarah Davis on the West part thereof and which plot or parcel of Land was late in the occupation of Joseph Chadd but is now occupied by Robert Chadd and is delineated in the Map drawn in the margin hereof together with all easements appurts and heredits corporeal and incorporeal belonging thereto or connected therewith and all our Estate right title and Interest in or to the same Premises to hold the same unto and to the use of the said Vicar and Churchwardens of the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid and their successors for the purposes of the said Act and upon trust to permit the said premises and all buildings thereon erected or to be erected to be for ever hereafter appropriated and used as and for a School for the Education of Female Children only of the labouring manufacturing and other poorer classes in the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid and for no other purpose which said School shall always be in union with and conducted upon the principles and in the furtherance of the ends and designs of the incorporated National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the established Church and shall be at all times open to the inspection of the Inspector or Inspectors for the time being appointed or to be appointed in conformity with the order in Council bearing date the tenth day of August One thousand and eight hundred and forty.

And subject to and in conformity with the declaration aforesaid the said School and Premises and the Funds or Endowments hereof where no other disposition be made by the Donor of any such Funds or Endowments shall be directed controlled governed and managed in manner hereinafter specified that is to say the Vicar for the time being of the said Parish of Bosbury or in his absence his Licensed Curate shall always have the superintendance of the Moral and Religious Instruction of the Scholars attending the said School and in case any difference should arise between the said Vicar or Curate and the Committee of Management hereinafter mentioned respecting the Religious instruction of the Scholars or any regulation connected therewith the said Vicar or Curate or any member of the said Committee of Management may cause a written Statement of the matter in difference to be laid before the Bishop of the Diocese in which the said Parish shall be situate a Copy of such written statement by whomsoever prepared having been previously communicated to the said Committee of Management Vicar or Curate as the Case may be. The said Bishop may enquire concerning and determine the matter in difference and the decision of the Bishop in writing thereon when laid before the said Committee of Management shall be final and conclusive in the matter.

But in all other respects the management direction control and government of the said School and Premises and of the Trusts or Endowments thereof and the selection appointment and dismissal of the School Master and School Mistress and their assistants shall be vested in and exercised by a Committee of Management which said Committee shall for the present consist of the said Vicar for the time being of the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid his licensed Curate or Curates if the Vicar shall appoint him or them upon the said Committee and of the Churchwardens for the time being of the said Parish if Members of the Church of England Until the said Committee or a majority of them shall think fit to increase the number of members of the said Committee by the appointment thereon of three other persons being members of the Church of England and then and thereafter any vacancy which may occur in the number of Persons last mentioned by death resignation incapacity or otherwise shall be filled up by the election of a person or persons being members of the Church of England such election to be vested in the remaining members of the said Committee until the said Bishop shall in writing otherwise direct and thereupon and thenceforth such election shall be vested in the Subscibers to the funds of the said School to the amount of ten shillings per annum at the least being qualified in other respects as the person to be elected Provided however that no default of election nor any vacancy shall prevent the other members of the Committee from acting until the vacancy shall be supplied.

And it is hereby declared that no person shall be appointed or shall continue to be Master or Mistress in the said School who is not a member of the Church of England The Vicar or his Curate when present shall be Chairman of all Meetings of the Committee of Management and when neither the Vicar nor his Curate shall be present any other Member of the Committee selected by the Members present shall preside And in case of an equality of Votes the Chairman for the time being shall have a second or casting Vote and we do hereby for ourselves our heirs executors and administrators covenant with the said Vicar and Churchwardens of the Parish of Bosbury aforesaid and their Successors that notwithstanding any act or default of us or of any of our ancestors we have good right to assure the said Premises to the said Vicar and Churchwardens of the said Parish of Bosbury and their Successors in manner aforesaid and that the said Premises shall at all times hereafter be held and enjoyed upon the trusts and in manner aforesaid without interruption from and free from all Incumbrances by us or our heirs or any person lawfully claiming under or in trust for us or them or any of our ancestors and that we and our heirs and all persons claming under or in trust for us or them or any of our ancestors shall upon every request and at the expense of the said Vicar and Churchwardens of the Parish of Bosbury and their successors make and perfect all such further assurances of the said Premises as may be required by them for conveying the same to the use of the said Vicar and Churchwardens of the Parish of Bosbury and their successors in manner aforesaid In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this twenty fourth day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and forty eight.

J H Underwood Thos Heywood

WH Brydges James Gregg

Timothy Spencer

Geo Shayle Phillip Stedman Sparkman

Thomas Ricketts

Signed sealed and delivered by the within named James Gregg being first duly stamped in the presence of Wm P Woodyatt Clerk to the said James Gregg

Signed and sealed and delivered by the within named John Hanmer Underwood William Henry Brydges and Timothy Spencer in the presence of Wm P Woodyatt

Signed sealed and delivered by the within named Thomas Heywood in the presence of William Davenport

Signed sealed and delivered by the within named John Mutlow in the presence of ..

Signed sealed and delivered by the within named George Shayle and Thomas Rickets in the presence of Hy Trehern

Signed sealed and delivered by the within named Philip Stedman Sparkman in the presence of Philip Stedman Sparkman jnr

And be it Remembered that on the fifth day of July in the year of our Lord 1848 the aforesaid James Gregg came before our said Lady the Queen in her Chancery and acknowledged the Deed aforesaid and all and every thing therein contained and specified in form above and also the Deed aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statutes made for that purpose

Enrolled the eighteenth day of July in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty eight.

The National Archive document ref: C54/13702 120599 and a copy in the Parish Record - (The National Archive Copy (Pursuant to Statute 1 & 2 Vict.,c.94) Close Roll (Chancery) 1848 Part 79 No 11, dated 1903).