Mary Westby Trust , pensions charity

In 1749 Mary Westby of Linton, Cambridgeshire, a widow, obtained land in Hoxton in the parish of St Leonard, Shoreditch on which she erected ten almshouses for poor women. In addition, she invested stock in trust for the charity and set up a body of trustees to administer it. Regulations made in 1770 specified that the almswomen must be poor members of the Independent, Presbyterian or Anti-paedo Baptist communities.

In 1881, the School Board for London purchased the land on which the almshouses were built and agreed to compensate the almswomen for the loss of their homes and removal expenses. The money raised by the sale was invested, and from thence forward the charity became a pension charity providing pensions for poor female Protestant Dissenters. The nine trustees were to be members of the Weigh House Chapel, the City Temple, formerly the Poultry Chapel, and New Court Chapel.