Queen Anne's Bounty

QUEEN ANNE'S BOUNTY: A corporation for the purpose of improving small livings in the Church of England, initiated by Queen Anne in 1704. The original source of revenue so applied was the firstfruits and tithes of all benefices usurped by King John, made the property of the crown under Henry VIII., and yielded up for this purpose by Anne. She was enabled by acts of parliament to found the corporation and to make rules for its guidance by royal charter or letters patent. It also receives benefactions and administers them, and its activities have been enlarged so as to include repairs and the insuring of parsonages, as well as provision for erecting new buildings by long-term loans. Its capital is now nearly $25,000,000, with a yearly income of over $800,000, while its total benefactions exceed $30,000,000.

Bibliography: The one good account is by C. Hodgson, An Account of the Augmentation of Small Livings by "The Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne," with two supplements, London, 1826–65. A short summary is in W. F. Hook, Church Dictionary, pp. 634–635, London, 1887; cf. W. F. Hutton, The English Church (1625–1714), pp. 256–257, London, 1903.