Queen Eleanor was followed by other royal benefactors.  Edward the Second, for example, gave the Hospital the rectory of St. Peter’s in Northampton.  Queen Philippa, who, like Eleanor, regarded the place with especial affection, endowed it with the manor of Upchurch in Kent, and that of Queenbury in Hertfordshire.  She also founded a chantry with L10 a year for a chaplain.  Edward the Third founded another chantry in honour of Philippa, with a charge of L10 a year upon the Hanaper Office; he also conferred upon it the right of cutting wood for fuel in the Forest of Essex.  Richard the Second gave it the manor of Reshyndene in Sheppy, and 120 acres of land in Minster.  Henry the Sixth gave it the manors of Chesingbury in Wiltshire, and Quasley in Hants; he also granted a charter, with the privilege of holding a fair.  Lastly, Henry the Eighth founded, in connection with St. Katherine’s by the Tower, the Guild of St. Barbara, consisting of a Master, three Wardens, and a great number of members, among whom were Cardinal Wolsey, the Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, the Duke and Duchess of Buckingham, the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury, and the Earl and Countess of Northumberland, with other great and illustrious persons.

This is a goodly list of benefactors.  It is evident that St. Katherine’s was a foundation regarded by the Kings and Queens of England with great favour.  Other benefactors it had, notably John Holland, Duke of Exeter, Lord High Admiral and Constable of the Tower, himself of royal descent.  He was buried in the church, with his two wives, and bequeathed to the Hospital the manor of Much Gaddesden.  He also gave it a cup of beryl, garnished with gold, pearls, and precious stones, and a chalice of gold for the celebration of the Holy Sacrament.

In the year 1546 all the lands belonging to the Hospital were transferred to the Crown.

At this time the whole revenue of the Hospital was L364 12s. 6d., and the expenditure was L210 6s. 5d.; the difference being the value of the mastership.  The Master at the dissolution was Gilbert Lathom, a priest, and the brothers were five in number—­namely, the original three, and the two priests for the chantries.  Four of the five had ‘for his stipend, mete, and drynke, by yere,’ the sum of L8, which is fivepence farthing a day; the other had L9, which is sixpence a day.  It would be interesting, by comparison of prices, to ascertain how much could be purchased with sixpence a day.  The three Sisters had also L8 year, and the Bedeswomen had each two pounds five shillings and sixpence a year.  There were six scholars at L4 a year each for ‘their mete, drynke, clothes, and other necessaries’; and there were four servants, a steward, a butler, a cook, and an under-cook, who cost L5 a year each.  There were two gardens and a yard or court—­namely, the square, bounded by the houses of the Brothers, and the church.

This marks the closing of the second chapter in the history of the Hospital.  With the cessation of saying masses for the dead its religious character expired.  There remained only the services in the church for the inhabitants of the Precinct in the time of Henry VIII.