Cholmondeley Charities

The Charities derive from the will of George James Cholmondeley, who died in 1830; thereafter action was taken in Chancery ensured that the interests of both family and Charities were safeguarded. The trustees of the Charities were the Archbishops of Canterbury and of York, and the Bishop of London.

Several 'classes' of grant or donation were provided - for postmasterships at Merton College, Oxford, to clergy and to widows and daughters of clergy, for exhibitions for sons of clergy, for apprenticing sons of clergy, for the education of daughters of clergy for teaching, to the Clergy Orphan Corporation to National and Infant Schools and to charitable institutions in London. Allocation of funds to these 'classes', or the range of the 'classes', was varied from time to time by deed under the hands of the trustees.

In 1963 the Charity Commissioners ordered a new scheme with an additional trustee, and in 1965 a further scheme with new trustees - the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy, founded in the 17th century with similar objectives, with which the Cholmondeley Charities already had a close link. Towards the end of the 19th century the Treasurer of the Cholmondeley Charities had been the Registrar of the Corporation; in 1917 his son succeeded as Treasurer but not as Registrar, and the two administrations were separated. In 1949, however, on the death of the then Treasurer, the Registrar of the Corporation was appointed Treasurer, and on the resignation of the Secretary of the Cholmondeley Charities at the beginning of 1970, the administrations again became one, and the funds merged.