Tolson’s Almshouses were founded in 1756 as the gift of Mrs Ann Tolson to house six elderly widows or elderly spinsters and six elderly bachelors. In July of that year, two copyhold (a former type of land tenure established by a transcript of the manorial records, or a piece of land held this way) cottages situated near the Mill Bridge, Church Street, Old Isleworth were purchased for £110 and another cottage and garden belonging to Henry John Risley, Apothecary, for the sum of £63. On this site 12 almshouses were erected by George Elmer for the sum of £900. By 1860 the almshouses had become decrepit and new buildings were erected on an adjacent site given by John Farnell. These were entered through an elaborate archway with the men and women housed on opposite sides of the courtyard. In 1959 these buildings were sold and replaced by Tolson House and Lodge in Parthenia Drive built in 1967.
In 2011 Tolson House and Lodge were demolished and a new high quality development of 20 almshouses for beneficiaries of the Ann Tolson endowment, and beneficiaries of the Parthenia Hayburn endowment was built.
Much is known about the extraordinary life of Ann Tolson. She was born in 1661 in Duffield, Derbyshire and married 3 times. First to Henry Sisson and then to John Tolson upon whose death she found herself “reduced to narrow and confined circumstances and supported herself by keeping a school for the education of young ladies, for which she was well qualified by a natural ingenuity, a strict and regular education, and a mild and gentle disposition”.
When Ann’s eyesight began to fail she found herself unable to keep her school going and resorted to charity for help. An unexpected change in her fortunes arose when a close relative married the successful and wealthy Dr Caleb Cotesworth FRS, of the College of Physicians and Physicians to St Thomas’ Hospital living in Richmond. When both he and his wife Susannah died in 1741 within a few hours of each other, Ann was fortunate enough to receive £40,000 from their estate.
She immediately appropriated a deed of gift in the sum of 5000 pounds” to be expended after her decease in building and endowing an alms-house at Isleworth for six poor men and six poor women.” And a sum of £500 the interest on which was to “buy bread to be distributed every Wednesday immediately after Divine Service in the morning to and amongst such of the poor people of the said Parish of Isleworth as shall then attend so far as the same will go.”
This was a shrewd move by Ann since although 80 years old she went on to marry Joseph Dash a London merchant who helped her through her fortune to the point that when she died 9 years later there was only £6000 left, just enough to cover her promised bequest. Although Mr Dash attempted to appropriate the £500 bequest, Ann had been alert enough to establish a deed of settlement and he lost his suit in chancery and in 1756 was forced to hand over £5000 plus 4% interest to Ann’s trustees, Colonel Schutz and Gilbert Jodrell. They immediately put it towards the construction of the almshouses and the provision of an annual pension of £9 and 4 shillings to every resident along with coal and clothing.
Gilbert Jodrell later oversaw the raising of a memorial to Ann Tolson in All Saints Church, Isleworth which escaped the devastating fire of 1943.
The inscription states “Since her decease a charity has been established and now subsist, under the prudent care and attention of those to whom the conduct of it is committed, by the name and description of Tolson’s Almshouses.”
Parthenia Drive is named after Parthenia Hayburn whose trust comprised a single property in Chiswick (15 Bolton Road) which was bequeathed by the late Parthenia Hayburn in 1971 for the charitable purpose of accommodating old people where they can have some of their possessions and where husband and wife will not be separated.
When the latest incarnation of the Tolson Almshouses was built in 2011 the Isleworth Society requested they should retain the Tolson name as it plays a great part in the history of Isleworth whereas the name Parthenia ‘means nothing locally’ although the finance to build this new development was from the Parthenia Hayburn Trust. The Isleworth & Hounslow Charity therefore applied to the Council to name the slip road next to Tolson House ‘Parthenia Drive’.
The Glossop and Farnell families were trustees of the almshouses as they were with Farnell’s Almshouses.
@font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;}@font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-536859905 -1073697537 9 0 511 0;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-unhide:no; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; margin-top:0cm; margin-right:0cm; margin-bottom:10.0pt; margin-left:0cm; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoChpDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; mso-default-props:yes; font-size:11.0pt; mso-ansi-font-size:11.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:Arial; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;}.MsoPapDefault {mso-style-type:export-only; margin-bottom:10.0pt; line-height:115%;}div.WordSection1 {page:WordSection1;}