EVESHAM benefactor John Deacle continues to create a great deal of interest and historian Gordon Allcock has been delving into the archives of the Vale of Evesham Historical Society and provided Gerry Barnett with an extract from the Vale of Evesham Historical Society Research Papers written by Benjamin G Cox.

Mr Cox says the only piece of statuary in Evesham is that of John Deacle and this occupies a place of honour in St Peter's Church, Bengeworth. The inscription is transcribed above.

He says it has proved impossible to discover any article or publication dealing with John Deacle's early life and career and it was a matter of particular concern to find out how this gentleman had apparently managed to acquire his ample fortune before he was 50.

John was a Christian name which was popular in the Deacle family. The John Deacle in question was a son of John Deacle and he also had a nephew of the same name who was an executor of his will.

Research in London revealed that the John Deacle who died in 1709 was apprenticed to John Wall in May, 1655, for a term of seven years in the drapery trade and took up his Freedom of the Worshipful Company of Drapers in London in May, 1662.

His burial at Bengeworth in 1709 is correctly stated on the memorial and confirmed by an entry in the burial register. Old Bengeworth Church was pulled down in 1870 and John Deacle's memorial was removed from the south aisle and deposited in a place of safety until the new church was ready to receive it.

An interesting note in the burial register reads: "Went into the vault of the 23rd Sept., 1972. Found the remains of J. Deacle and others. His creast removed and set up in the old Tower. W de Bentley, Vicar."

By his will John Deacle bequeathed enough money to build a school for the education of 30 poor boys of Bengeworth together with £2,000 to be invested in land, the rent thereof to be expended annually for the maintenance of a Master, for the repair of the school, for books, bibles, clothing etc. and the boys' eventual apprenticeship.

He appointed the Drapers Company to be trustees of the school but they declined to accept the trust. For several years nothing appears to have been done but following an application to the Court of Chancery in 1729, new trustees were appointed to administer the charity and approval was given for the purchase of land. By a conveyance dated May 23, 1729, land in Port Street was conveyed to the trustees by Sir John Rushout.

It was not until 1736 that the school was built at a cost, according to the trustees' accounts, of £335.

The records of John Deacle's school indicate that once the school became established it was a great success and for a period of 170 years proved to be of immense benefit to Bengeworth and the town of Evesham.

Mr Cox says it had been impossible to find out who commissioned the erection of John Deacle's memorial or when but the cost would have been considerable. It must have been erected many years after his death at a time when the accuracy of the inscription was not important so long as those who beheld it were suitably impressed.

The inscription:

To the memory of

JOHN DEACLE, Esq.

A native of this Parish

who tho' of obscure Extraction

Yet by the devine blessing on

His Industry

Acquired an ample Fortune

was made an Alderman of London

left a monument of his benevolence

and Gratitude to the Place of his Birth

more lasting than

this marble

In the Establishment and Endowment

(among others) of a Charity School

for the Education, Cloathing and Apprenticing

of 30 poor Boys of this Borough

He was born June 10, 1660

Died 20 Sept. 1709