E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Queen Anne’s Bounty.
A fund created out of the firstfruits and tenths, which were part of the papal exactions before the Reformation. The first fruits are the whole first year’s profits of a clerical living, and the tenths are the tenth part annually of the profits of a living. Henry VIII. annexed both these to the Crown, but Queen Anne formed them into a perpetual fund for the augmentation of poor livings and the building of parsonages. The sum equals about £14,000 a year.
