William Lambarde
William, it has to be admitted, was never a Draper though he had every right to be. His father,
John Lambarde, was not only a very wealthy and successful Draper, he was also Master in 1547,
1550 and 1552.
William was born in 1536. As a student he became fluent in French, Latin and Anglo-Saxon.
He also studied History. There is no record of his attendance at University, though it is clear from his later writings that he had both an intimate knowledge of and fondness for Oxford.
William’s father, John, hoping to establish a family line in Kent, acquired Westcombe Manor in
East Greenwich. Because this land was held in socage (a form of tenure of land) by the custom of gavelkind (by which a man’s land was divided between all his sons instead of passing to the eldest son) it was freely alienable. It was this that led to disputes between William and his brother Giles during the 1560s. In the next decade William sold off his father’s estates in
Herefordshire, Wiltshire and some of his London properties. This allowed him to consolidate his holdings in Kent which were then used to endow Queen Elizabeth’s College.
In 1556, at the age of 20, William entered Lincolns Inn, to begin a most distinguished career. In
1562, he was chosen to represent the Yorkshire town of Aldborough in Queen Elizabeth’s second Parliament. In 1567, William was called to the Bar. To be called to the Bar in one of the Inn’s was a great honour - but also carried major drawbacks, for those so honoured found themselves invited to ‘lend’ money to the Privy Council. Between 1590 and 1600 Lambarde was obliged to make substantial ‘loans’ for the Relief of Geneva and the Pacification of Ireland.
The late sixteenth century oil painting of William Lambarde hanging at Drapers’ Hall shows a sensitive, knowledgeable face which would seem to be an accurate portrayal, for by all accounts
Lambarde was both clever and kind. His treatise ‘Eirenarcha’ was a standard textbook on the duties of a JP, his ‘Perambulation of Kent’ (1576) was the first county history and his ‘Pandecta
Rotulorum’ earned him an interview with Queen Elizabeth I. On this occasion Lambarde presented the Queen with the index of all the rolls in the Tower, she asked some questions and he expounded some learned points. ‘And so being called away to prayer, she put the book in her bosom, having forbidden me from the first to fall on my knee before her, concluding,
“Farewell, good and honest Lambarde” ’; a fitting valediction to the scholarly benefactor who was to die a few weeks later.
The Foundation of Queen Elizabeth’s College
At the age of 37, William found himself to be a Widower with no children and this situation, together with a strong belief that it was the responsibility of private citizens to care for the poor, persuaded him to bestow his money on the poor by founding an Almshouse. Thus in 1574,
Lambarde bequeathed one third of his inheritance towards the foundation and maintenance of an

Almshouse in East Greenwich. He purchased both land on which to build the Almshouse, and 8 acres of woodland to provide fuel for the inmates.
The Almshouses were to be erected by 1576, and out of respect for the monarch, bore the name
Queen Elizabeth’s College. The College was a brick building with a tile roof and a courtyard with a pump and had a common room, chapel and twenty chambers for the poor, each measuring 20’ x 20’. According to Lambarde’s own accounts the total cost of founding the
College amounted to £2,739 (of which £600 was building cost).
The Elizabethan College buildings stood until 1817 when they were rebuilt on the same site.
Queen Elizabeth’s College has since been extended to forty almshouses and a block of thirtyfour flats alongside, Lambarde House, has been built to accommodate deserving people.
In 1583 Lambarde married again and the couple had four children, which confused Lambarde's plans for Queen Elizabeth’s College. Worried that he had given away his inheritance to the detriment of his children, Lambarde arranged with the Drapers' Company that his descendants could lease the entrusted lands at small rents. This did not auger well for the College's finances and in 1845 the Court of Chancery removed this privilege and decided that rents could be increased.
In addition to the land in Greenwich, several farms were settled to provide trust income. These were all in Kent and known as Brenchley Manor or Cryal’s Farm, Chelmill Farm, Curtis Farm and Brattles messuage, as well as Beltring Farm in Yalding parish. Land at Charlton and
Kidbrook, near Greenwich, also supported the College. In 1719 Pinden End Farm in Horton
Kirby was bought by the Governors and additional bequests came from Ralph Rokesby in 1596,
Edward Walrond in 1720 and Joseph Macey in 1791. Most of the above lands were sold off in several lots between 1898 and 1940.
The Governance of the College
The Letters Patent (1574) which incorporated Queen Elizabeth’s College stipulated that the
Master of the Rolls was to act as President, while the Wardens of the Drapers’ Company were to serve as Governors.
Lambarde personally drew up the Ordinances for the governance of the College. In these he stated his preference for inmates should be ‘first the aged, then the sick, lame or maimed, after that the blind, then the victim of a sudden casualty, after that the ones who were continually sick and, finally, those overcharge with children. If the electors had to choose between two people of equal decree, they were to prefer a man to a woman, the married to the unmarried, the long time
Protestant to the newly-converted Papist, the unnotorious, and the one who had lived in the parish the longer’. Twice a day Almsmen and women were to assemble for prayers; and the religious element was considered very serious. Failure to attend for prayers meant a fine of 4d.
Discipline too was an element of the life of the College. Severe fines were incurred for swearing, fighting, being caught in a ‘tippling-house’ or for breaking hedges.
In 1583 Lambarde married again and the couple had four children, which confused Lambarde's plans for Queen Elizabeth’s College. Worried that he had given away his inheritance to the detriment of his children, Lambarde arranged with the Drapers' Company that his descendants
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could lease the entrusted lands at small rents. This did not auger well for the College's finances and in 1845 the Court of Chancery removed this privilege and decided that rents could be increased. A Scheme was established in 1856 as a supplement to and modifying the Royal
Charter, since when several Schemes have been issued.
Right of appointment to the accommodation at the College was shared by the President, the
Wardens of the Drapers’ Company, the High Steward of Greenwich and the parochial authorities of Charlton, Deptford, Eltham, Greenwich, Lee, Lewisham and Woolwich. These conditions were modified by the subsequent Schemes though almspeople predominantly must be residents from the Greenwich or Lewisham areas at the time of their application.
In June 1999 the Trustees (the President and Governors of the College) surrendered the Royal
Charter in order that the Drapers’ Company might be appointed Trustee. This move was undertaken to streamline and modernize the administration and, in particular to permit the investments to be managed within the pooled funds established by the new Corporate Trustee.
The former Governors continue to play an important role in overseeing the management of the almshouses, in their capacity as Master and Wardens of the Drapers’ Company. The Master of the Rolls, previously ex-officio President, continues to provide assistance and to perform certain ceremonial functions as before.
The Lambarde Cup
In 1578 Lambarde presented to the Drapers’ Company the silver gilt cup which is probably its most precious silver possession, and which continues to fulfil the role which Lambarde intended, that being to remind us of our duty as proctor for the Poor.
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