Alice Hampton (14?? – 1516) was a rich English vowess and benefactor. She is considered to be the only vowess who was not married. She became rich when her uncle, William Hampton, died.

Life

Hampton was born in

Minchinhampton Minchinhampton is an ancient Cotswolds market town in the Stroud District in Gloucestershire, South West England. The town is located on a hilltop, south-east of Stroud. The common offers wide views over the Severn Estuary into Wales and furth ...

to Ellen and John Hampton. She was one of eight children and thought to be the eldest daughter. Four of her five brothers died young and the remaining brother became a monk. This made her the heir of both her childless uncle and her father. In 1483 she was at the Dominican

Dartford Priory Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

when her uncle died. Sir William Hampton had been knighted for his role in defending London against the "

Bastard of Fauconberg Thomas Fauconberg or Thomas Neville, sometimes called Thomas the Bastard, or the Bastard of Fauconberg (1429 – 22 September 1471), was the natural son of William Neville, Lord Fauconberg, who was a leading commander in the Hundred Years' War ...

". He had been a member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

and was

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

. He had made his money selling fish and had risen to a position where he was offering loans to Edward IV of England. Alice was unusual in being the only unmarried vowess known. It is surmised that she decided to be a vowess rather than a nun when she realised that she had become wealthy. A vowess was usually a widow or a woman who had with her husband's consent taken a vow of chastity. Vowesses devoted their life to religion and they were subject to only church law. In the following year she was living in an oratory near the priory when she became so ill from fasting that a letter was sent to the Pope to release her from her commitments to fast. It was agreed on 14 October 1484 that she would be given the privilege of her own confessor who could allow her fasts to be replaced by alternative commitments. In addition she was allowed to take mass in the oratory. She now had considerable autonomy and an income of £15 per year as part of an annuity granted as part of her inheritance. Halliweel Priory

She had inherited not only her uncle's riches but also his influence. By 1492 she was living in London's suburbs at the Augustinian

Holywell Priory Holywell Priory or Haliwell, Halliwell, or Halywell (various spellings), was a religious house in Shoreditch, formerly in the historical county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Hackney. Its formal name was the Priory of St John the B ...

in Shoreditch where she paid the prioress, Elizabeth Prudde, four pounds of pepper a year. In exchange for this she was allowed to use her well and washing facilities and to make changes to the building's structures. She arranged for her living area to have a view of the church altar and for a locked entrance to her garden. She had her own exit and a dedicated pew in the Lady Chapel; however she lived in two rooms that were just over 18 feet by ten feet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hampton, Alice 1400 births 1516 deaths English philanthropists People from Minchinhampton 15th-century English people 16th-century English people