Students
THE LADY ARRAN’S CHARITY and THE BANBURY ARTS & EDUCATIONAL CHARITY
Banbury Charities make educational grants to students in further education from the age of 18 years and up to and including the age of 24 years for those individuals who live within a five-mile radius of Banbury Cross towards the purchase of a modest amount of equipment or books.
Grants are not made until such time as there is written confirmation from the university that the student has been accepted and has commended the course for the academic year.
Forms are available in August each year and the deadline for submission is 31st October
Application should be made in writing to:-
The Clerk to the Trustees
Banbury Charities
52 – 54 The Green
Banbury
Oxfordshire OX16 9AB
THE BRODEY FUND
Banbury Charities have been fortunate to receive a significant donation incorporated within the Lady Arran’s Charity to support those studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics for those who do not have sufficient personal or family wealth to fund their studies. The support may be provided in relation to course fees, costs of equipment, materials or study aids, transport costs and other costs that the Trustees believe are in the spirit of these wishes and the amount offered to an individual is at the discretion of the Trustees.
Application should be made in writing to The Clerk to the Trustees at the above address.
THE COUNTESS OF ARRAN’S CHARITY
(KNOWN AS THE LADY ARRAN’S CHARITY).
The Lady Arran Trust was founded in 1767 by the Countess of Arran during her lifetime, and confirmed in her Will when she bequeathed £100 of 3% annuities towards the fund.
An extract from the wording of the trust is as follows:
“To have and to hold the premises… released by the said Thomas Cartwright and William Cartwright in Trust to pay the rents and profits thereof to Elizabeth Countess of Arran for her life and after her decease to pay and apply or permit the Mayor and Alderman of Banbury and other such chief inhabitants as the said Thomas & William Cartwright as should appoint to take and receive the said rents and profits and apply the same for and towards the support, maintenance and education of such poor children and other persons… (references to Workhouse) … or such other charitable uses as the said Thomas & William Cartwright and Richard Snow and the survivors of them, their heirs and assigns should from time to time direct and appoint and as they with the advice and concurrence of the said Mayor, Aldermen and Chief Inhabitants should think most advantageous for the poor of the said Town.”
An abstract from Lady Arran’s appointment of her estates by Deed Poll:
“Unto the Corporation or Town of Banbury for the use of the poor, I ratify and confirm to them the rents and profits of the houses there purchased in the name of my said brother Cartwright and others which shall accrue after my decease for the uses expressed in the Deed of Purchase hereof with the addition of £100 to be paid out of the residue of my estate and herein or by my Will disposed of”
The property was
(1) House in High Street, Banbury (Rent £24) (this is probably the same property which the Trust still owns and until recently brought in its major income)
(2) House in Church Lane, Banbury in a bad state of repair. (Rent £8) (Little further is known about this property except that the rent was reduced to £6 after being empty for a while, and sold in 1872 for £250)
(3) £100 3% Annuities
Lady Arran was the fifth daughter of Thomas, Lord Crewe.
It is not known precisely when the Lady Arran’s Trust became to be administered by the Trustees of the Bridge Estate, it certainly was in 1889, but this fact was officially recognised by a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners in October 1895, when, together with the Almshouse Charity and the Bridges and Highways Repair Charity, it became an integral part of the new Banbury Municipal Charities.
While originally the bequest was for education of poor children, it soon came to be used for apprentices. This was at a time when most young men were apprenticed to their trade from three to five years and received no more than pocket money while they were learning their skills, whether it was in a shop, building trade or engineering. The premiums to be paid to the employer varied from £10 to £20 spread over the period of the apprenticeship.
In 1933 no students received any grant aid from the Charities, although four premiums for apprentices were made.
The first personal educational grant was made in May 1935 for £12.12.0.
In 1983 no apprentice grants were requested but some 78 students received grants varying from £25 to £300, although the majority of these latter grants were made from the Arts & Educational Trust, the Lady Arran income being mainly used for school projects and other purposes.
THE ARTS AND EDUCATIONAL CHARITY
The arts and Educational Charity came into being by a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners on the 17th August 1981.
This Charity was created from two virtual defunct Trusts called the Banbury Institute and the Banbury Institute Educational Foundation. These Trusts, founded by Sir Bernhard Samuelson by a Deed of Gift dated 25th June 1884, conveyed to the Trustees a plot of land in Marlborough Road and the buildings subsequently erected thereon for use as an Institute for the promotion of Literature, Arts & Science.
Sir Bernhard Samuelson was the engineering production genius who started up the Britannia Works inventions of early agricultural machinery. It was the French Revolution that brought him to Banbury in 1848; he had been making railway engines in Tours, France, but when the riots started, he sent his family immediately back to England while he stayed long enough to sell the business, then looked around to find an opening. He lighted up a small works making turnip cutters in Banbury. Within a short space of time he had planned the production on a better and more profitable basis. By 1872 his works were turning out 8,000 reaping machines, plus many other agricultural implements. The expansion entailed an influx of labour, and he, more than anyone, is responsible for the growth of Banbury.
He was a man of many talents, a linguist who spoke French and German fluently (he was born of British parents in Hamburg), also had a knowledge of other languages, enjoyed music and yachting. His greatest gifts were in production engineering, where he had many patents. In later life as MP his speeches on Education and Science were always welcomed, but he never spoke on subjects that he knew little about. His first entry into Parliament for the Borough of Banbury in 1859, was by one vote over his Conservatory rival Hardy (177 to 176). He was a Liberal, because he fervently believed in education for all, and spent much of his parliamentary time to further this end. He is reported as saying “let no child be allowed to work until it can read and write”.
It is therefore no surprise therefore that his main generosity to Banbury was to donate the land and have built the Banbury Institute. It was at the official opening of the Institute in 1884, that his Baronetcy was publicly announced for his service to education. He died in London in 1905 at the age of 85.
On the 14th May 1909 the Charity Commissioners made an Order that the part of the endowment which was held for educational purposes be called the Banbury Institute Educational Foundation. This was made possible as certain rooms of the building were to be used for specific purposes. A new Scheme was created by the Charity Commissioners in 1932, when part of the building was sold to Banbury Borough Council for Council Offices, the former County School which used this building having moved to a newly built School in Ruskin Road, Banbury. The income was to be utilised for the external repairs of the premises occupied by the Institute and in the furtherance of technical, manual and secondary instruction in Banbury and neighbourhood. In effect, any surplus after the cost of such external repairs was given to the Oxfordshire Education department, indeed they came to demand it of right! Surprisingly, the Trustees do not appear to have even considered any alternative.
The Trust unfortunately lapsed its activities, and the last item of importance was to lease part of the building in 1954 to the Oxfordshire County Council. The County Council subsequently utilised most of the building as a Public Library – the top floor was used for a short term as a local Museum operated by Cherwell District. Neither body can be castigated for using the building without even a Lease, let alone rent free of the Trustees neglected their duties, for the premises were being used for literary purposes.
However, one of the remaining Trustees, asked his fellow Trustees of Banbury Charities if they would amalgamate the moribund Educational Trusts into their administration. This was agreed, and after years of discussion between the Clerk to the Trustees of Banbury Charities and the Charity Commission, the new Charity was inaugurated, and the Oxfordshire County Council were very co-operative, paying rent – plus accrued interest – from March 1980 when serious negotiations over rent commenced, rather than from the date of the new Scheme.
The income is being used mainly for grants for students taking further education, between the ages of 18 to 24 years inclusive.