- ReferenceHT
- TitleHarpur Trust, Bedford
- Date free text1552-1979
- Production dateFrom: 1552 To: 1979
- Creator
- Admin/biog historyThe Harpur Trust is a Bedford based charitable body with its origins in the 16th century by Sir William Harpur (1496-1574). Born in Bedford, Harpur became alderman in 1552, Lord Mayor of London in 1561 and was knighted in 1562. Harpur built a school house in Bedford in St Paul’s Square. A letters patent dated 1552 permitted the purchase of land for the purposes of running this school house, with remaining funds to be allocated for marriage portions for poor girls, and other alms. Harpur then purchased land in Holburn (then located in Middlesex), which he conveyed to the Bedford Corporation. The Bedford corporation managed the Trust for two hundred years., with assistance in running the school from New College Oxford. Following criticism of the Corporation’s management of the school and the increasing income from the London estate, a new Act of Parliament was passed in 1764. This relocated the Trust’s management to a body of trustees made up of a mixture of the corporation and elected representatives of the Bedford parishes. It also enabled the trust to establish a commercial school to provide a different sort of education to boys looking to enter the commercial world. This school later became known as Bedford Modern School. From the foundation of the Modern School the Trust grew from strength to strength and by the late 19th century was recognized as a significant asset to the town providing a range of education to both boys and girls. 2014 was an important year for The Trust, which celebrated the 250th anniversary of the 1764 act and the founding of the Modern School. It is from 1764 that the minute books within this collection begin. The Harpur Trust have continued performed the tasks set out in the letters patent of providing education, marriage portions and alms. They have operated numerous schools in Bedford, including The Bedford School and Bedford Modern School. They have allocated marriage portions and funded apprenticeships. They constructed almshouses, as well as distributing financial aid. As an existing body, the records in this collection extend to materials dating from the late 20th Century. The records in this collection include the official records of the Trust such as minute books and accounts. There are legal documents relating to the Trust’s assets, including extensive series’ of title deeds and leases for Bedford property. There are some plans and illustrations and there are also a range of documents relating to specific areas of the Trust’s operations. These include the management of the schools, distribution of alms and the organisation of apprenticeships. These records are made up of multiple accessions which have been deposited with the archives at different periods, and as a result the level of description varies depending on when cataloguing has taken place. Some materials were deposited in pre-existing arrangements while others were not. Attempts have been made to retain original ordering where this existed (for example, some of the plans and the papers of Sir George Hayward Wells), and this has been made explicit in the catalogue. An extensive guide to the title deeds, created in the 1980s, is available in the searchroom.
- Archival historyThe first accession of Harpur Trust materials was deposited directly from the Harpur Trust in 1945. Multiple subsequent deposits have been made, all directly from the Trust. Some documents relating to the Trust's London property have been transferred to Camden Local History and Archives Centre.
- Further accruals are likely
- External document
- Level of descriptionfonds
- The Harpur Trust 1552-1973
Notes :- The Harpur Trust 1552-1973
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