No. THE HAMPSHIRE SECULAR CLERGY FUND RULES AND THE HAMPSHIRE LEDGER
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TRANSCRIBED
AND EDITED BY CANON ROBERT E. SCANTLEBURY
The Hampshire Ledger is evidently one of a series of Account Books belonging to the London Vicariate, the remainderof which have not yet been found . Apparently the London Clergy Library, or a good is possible that the portion of it, found its way to Old Hall, Ware. Library suffered damage in the Gordon Riots and was transferred from so , that would explain the presence of Gray's Inn to Moorfields . the Ledger at St. Edmund's College, for the Moorfields Clergy Library was sent thither . This Ledger was kept by the Rev. John Philip Betts, Treasurer of the Hampshire Funds , and by his successor, the Rev. Peter Browne. The Rev. John Philip Betts was educated at Douay, arriving there on 16 May 1724, as a convictor or paying-guest . He was ordained at Ypres on 21 September 1726, and left Douay on 14 February 1730, having obtained his Licentiate in Theology (C.R.S. , xxviii, 117 and note, 134, 153). He was assistant to the Rev. Joseph Gildon, the Head of the School at Twyford . When the latter died, 26 July 1736, the Rev. John Betts became the Head of the School . Twyford School closed down rather suddenly, circa 1745, and the Rev. Mr. Betts retired to Gray's Inn where he had charge of the Clergy Library and became Administrator of the Hampshire Funds. He was elected to the Chapter in 1732. would seem that he did not go immediately to London, for in this Ledger he charges expenses to and in London between 1747 and 1750, and from Arundel to Petersfield to meet Mr. Savage " in 1746. He died in London 28 March 1770. The Very Rev. Peter Browne succeeded him as Administrator of the Hampshire Funds. He was born at Cadiz in 1731 , of an Irish father and an English mother. He went to Douay and took the Oath 26 May 1753. He was a deacon before October 1755, and left Douay 17 August 1756. After ordination he was chaplain to the Sardinian Embassy (C.R.S. , xxx, passim ) ; was elected to the Chapter in 1760 and was Dean of the Chapter from 1789 until his death, 31 May 1794 ( C.R.S. , xix, 206 ; xxviii , 246) . Among the Funds administered by the Rev. Mr. Betts were three concerning Winchester: (a) St. Peter House ; * He was the son of James Betts (who afterwards became the Prior of the Carthusians at Nieuport and took the name Joseph: he died in 1729) and Frances , daughter of Mr. Sergeant Trinder of Berry Court, near Bentley, Hants. Canon Burton (MS . Collection, Westm. Archives, File , A B) does not know whether the priest ordained in 1726 was John Philip or his father. From C.R.S. vol . xxviii it is clear that it was John Philip. He also has a query : was he the Mr. Betts at Bellhouse , Essex , in 1754 ? A brother of John Philip , Joseph , went to Douay in September 1716, but died as a student there (C.R.S., xxviii, 45n). Gillow says (Dict . of Eng. Cath., i, 206) that Betts succeeded the Rev. Walter Fleetwood as Head of the School in 1732 or 1733 . C.R.S. , xix, 206, gives Oporto as his birthplace , in the year 1730.
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