The "Tontine Buildings" on Cecily Hill date from 1802. Although imposing on the outside, they are actually a terrace of ten quite modest houses.
As the name suggests, finance for the project was raised by a "tontine". This was a type of investment plan which was quite common in the 18th century . Subscribers would invest their capital in exchange for an annuity. The peculiarity of the tontine was that, when the subscriber died, his annuity did not die with him but was distributed among the remaining shareholders. In theory this could make for a lucky few very rich (if also very old) subscribers - in the minds of the playwrights and satirists an inevitable gold-digger's charter. In the case of Cecily Hill it is said that the tontine was "won" by Earl Bathurst himself.
The mastermind behind the venture was Thomas Bayly Howell of Prinknash Park, a wealthy lawyer, known today for his edition of the State Trials. In 1796 Howell stood as Member of Parliament for Cirencester but failed to prevail over the established local candidates. He "continued to cultivate an interest in the borough by buying up houses and erecting tontines and tried again in 1802" (when he was also unsuccessful) . See History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1790-1820, p.173.
This is what it says in the Monthly Magazine for August 1802.
I am not quite sure what is going on here - were men really evicted from their homes for voting the wrong way? As far as I know there were only ever ten houses built.
British Listed Buildings - Tontine Buildings, Cirencester
Tontines and French government finance (Rodama)