| |
Richard Potts made the history of the Lady Hewley Trust the subject of his
latest book and uncovered a tale of considerable generosity
The Lady Hewley Trust is still one of the best kept charitable secrets of our
denomination. In just under 300 years the Trustees have distributed more than
£3,000,000, mostly to students and retired ministers and their spouses. Even this
figure, remarkable as it is, underestimates the extent of the generosity. After
allowing for inflation, the real value of the money distributed must be many
times greater at today's prices. Yet its existence is probably still known only
to a small number of grateful beneficiaries and a handful of Trustees. The story
of the Trust is worth a wider circulation, not only because of the importance of
its generosity in helping to maintain our traditions of a learned ministry, but
also because its own history has been closely intertwined with what we now know
as the United Reformed Church.
inheritance.
The story started in the seventeenth century when a successful Gray's Inn
barrister, Robert Woolrich of Ipswich, married a widow, Sarah. She had inherited
a fortune from her first marriage, and their combined wealth was considerable.
They had one child, also Sarah, born in 1627.
At the age of 20, John Hewley, from near Selby in Yorkshire, entered Gray's Inn
in 1639 to read for the Bar, but soon put his legal studies on hold to fight for
Parliament. When the Civil War ended John became a protege of Robert Woolrich
and married his daughter. When Robert died in 1661 Sarah and John inherited his
wealth and settled in York, where John became Lord Mayor and then MP, despite
the laws which barred Dissenters from holding public office. Men such as Hewley
were officially Anglican and 'occasional conformists', but Dissenters by
conviction, whose first loyalty was to their meeting-houses and chapels.
Although grounded in Presbyterianism and faithful to their Dissenting beliefs,
Sarah and John remained on good terms with a wide circle of neighbours and
friends, including John Sharp, Archbishop of York, the biblical commentator
Matthew Poole, the Fairfax family, the poet Andrew Marvell, and the antiquary
Sir William Dugdale. Oliver Heywood, a famous Nonconformist and a close family
friend, revealed in his diary 'glimpses of a tranquil, well-regulated household,
where serious talk flowed freely, godly men, the poor and the persecuted were
ever welcome, and good fare was plentiful for all'.
dissent support
Following the loss of their two young sons, Sarah and John resolved to help
their extended family, and devote the bulk of their considerable fortune to
benevolent causes. The Hewleys were amongst a small number of elite families who
helped the large number of ministers who, as Dissenters, were ejected or
reluctantly resigned from their Anglican livings between 1660 and 1662.
Remarkably, despite their concern for their dissenting loyalties, the Hewleys
themselves escaped prosecution, even though the dreaded Judge Jeffreys described
the imprisoned Dissenters in York as 'the black list of damned fanatiques whom I
am resolved to scour'. After the Toleration Act of 1689 it was the Hewleys who
provided most of the cash for York's first purpose-built meeting-house, as well
as paying for new or adapted Dissenting buildings elsewhere in Yorkshire. Dame
Sarah was widowed in 1697, and in 1705 and 1707 she decided to convey estates in
Yorkshire to Trustees to perpetuate her charitable aims: supporting Dissenting
ministers, their widows and families; helping the distressed poor, and 'poor
places'; providing scholarships to help those training for the Dissenting
ministry; continuing the charity allowances made by Dame Sarah during her
lifetime; and supporting the Almshouses she founded in York in 1700. The seven
Trustees were to distribute funds as they saw fit, giving preference to York,
Yorkshire and the other five northern counties.
Dame Sarah chose her first Trustees, all Dissenters, with considerable acumen,
and they worked harmoniously until 1755, when outstanding vacancies were filled
by the election of three Unitarians. The one remaining totally-orthodox Trustee,
Robert Moody, had other nominees but was overruled. Moody felt the new direction
the Fund was rapidly taking was completely contrary to Dame Sarah's expressed
wishes, and for the last seven years of his life refused to countenance his
colleagues actions, especially after one 'threatened to break every bone in my
skin'.
keeping focus
By the 1820s there was a feeling that the Unitarian Trustees were monopolising
Hewley funds for their own ministers and churches and their theological college
in York, rather than distributing money equitably amongst all the Dissenting
denominations in the north. The situation was eventually investigated by a
Parliamentary Commission which recommended court proceedings - a legal marathon
which started in 1830 and lasted for 19 years. The Unitarians lost out, sparking
national and local media attention, a vitriolic pamphlet war, fresh Acts of
Parliament, and in part the creation of the Charity Commission. The Courts
decreed in 1849 that the Hewley Fund would in future be administered by English
Baptist, Congregational and Presbyterian Trustees for the benefit of those three
denominations alone, and in accordance with the aims originally specified by
Dame Sarah.
Additional land was bought at Whixley, north-east of Knaresborough, with the
surplus proceeds of the compulsory purchase by George Hudson's York & North
Midland Railway Company of the original Almshouse site as part of York's first
railway station. New Almshouses, still in use today, were erected in St.
Saviourgate, coincidentally on the site of the Hewleys' town house and next to
the church where John and Sarah were buried.
growth
In 1850 ironstone was found on Hewley land at Eston in Cleveland, south of the
Tees. Without that discovery there would have been no nineteenth-century boom
town of Middlesbrough. The Iron Age had begun for the Lady Hewley Trust, which
was soon adding substantially to its income. The mine workings quickly spread
under neighbouring properties, and the rich deposits found in the area resulted
in an English 'Eldorado' - the first settlement for the ironstone workers was
even named California - as unparalleled industrial expansion took root, with
workers from this country and overseas flocking to the area. By the end of the
First World War, the ironstone was largely worked out.
In 1711 the Trustees made their first allocation of Hewley funds, £64 in all, to
several necessitous persons. Today the seven descendants of the original
Trustees (one Baptist, one responsible for the Congregational interest, and five
URC) are making grants totalling around £100,000 each year. Virtually all the
Hewley estates were, with the approval of the Charity Commissioners, sold off
during the course of the twentieth century, and the proceeds invested in
government funds and latterly secure stocks and shares. The dividends are today
still used as Dame Sarah would have desired, although the scope of her Trusts
benevolence has widened over the years: the well-being of the Almshouses
structure and residents; the maintenance of URC, Congregational and Baptist
serving or retired ministers and their widows; grants to theological students of
the three denominations studying in the colleges recognised by the Trust
(Westminster College, Cambridge; Mansfield College, Oxford; and Northern
College, Manchester).
Today the charity income, thanks to wise investment and other sources of
revenue, is substantial and the size of the grants reflect this. Strangely, the
splendid achievements of the Hewley Trustees, the Sub-Trustees (who look after
the Almshouses) and their officers are not as well-known as they should be,
perhaps in part because of the necessary confidentiality of their beneficial
work. Although over the years the Trustees have from time to time changed the
emphasis of their
grant-giving, they have, in broad terms, remained faithful to the ideals of Dame
Sarah and there are many who have reason to be grateful.
Those who wish to know whether they are eligible for Hewley grants should in the
first instance contact the Clerk to the Lady Hewley Trust, David R Wharrie FCA,
Woodside House, Ashton, Chester, CH3 8AE (tel. 01829-751544). Those who wish to
know more about the history of this singular (but not unique) Nonconformist
charity should get in touch with Mrs Margaret Thompson, Westminster College,
Cambridge, CB3 OAA (tel. 01223-741300, email
mt212@cam.ac.uk who holds
'The
Remaining stock of Dame Sarah's Legacy', price £10.99, including postage and
packing - cheques made payable to 'URCHS'.
Richard Potts is honorary archivist
to Westminster College
|
|
|
LINKS:
Reform
Lord Hewley
Architectural drawing of one
of the Alms Houses
|
