Benefices were usually endowed with a property or land for the support of the benefice, usually on the condition of the right of patronage to the benefice. The property or land and any revenues gained from it could be used to provide an income for the incumbent.
From the 15th century, every clergyman was required to pay to the Pope the profits from his first year's incumbency and thereafter every subsequent year a one-tenth share ('first fruits and tenths'). After the reformation this payment was made to the King for the use of the state. Consequently, the livings of the clergy became woefully inadequate and many clergy lived in poverty. In 1704, Queen Anne surrendered the right to the 'first fruits and tenths' to the benefit of the church, the money instead being paid to "the Governors of the Bounty of Queen Anne for the Augmentation of the Maintenance of Poor Clergy". The Governors of Queen Anne's Bounty used funds to improve poor clergy's income and later to provide and repair parsonages for incumbents of small livings.
The Church Building Commissioners (1818-1907) also had a part to play in the livings of clergy as they were empowered by the Church Building Acts 1818-1819 to assign a fixed stipend to the minister of a new church or chapel. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners (1836-1948, taking over the work of the Church Building Commissioners in 1907) also had a role to play in supporting the income of the clergy within the new population centres of the nineteenth century. The Church Commissioners were established in 1948 and took over the roles of both Queen Anne's Bounty and the Church Commissioners. From the early 1950s the work of the Church Commissioners focused on improving the income of clergy, in particular working towards a national level of provision.
