Maunday Thursday Customs

28 March 1730   On Thursday, being Maunday-Thursday, according to a very ancient custom, there was distributed in the forenoon at the Banqueting-House, Whitehall, to 47 poor men and 4 poor women, (the King’s age 47) boil’d beef and shoulders of mutton in plenty, and small bowls of ale, which is call’d Dinner; after that, large wooden platters of fish and loaves, viz. undress’d, one large old ling, and one large dry’d cod; twelve red herrings and twelve white herrings, and four half quartern loaves; each person had one plattere of his provision: In the afternoon at four, being prayer-time, after the First and Second Lesson, Dr. Gilbert, Sub-Almoner to the Archbishop of York (who was girded about with white cloth and his scarf-place supply’d with the same) distributed to the above objects shoes and stockings, linnen and woollen cloth, and leathern bags of silver, with one-penny, two-penny, three-penny and four-penny pieces of silver and shillings; after service was over, each object had about one gill of wine. The whole value to each is supposed to be worth about four pounds. (London Journal)