Council Meeting – 13th February 1896

Thursday, February 13th, 1896

Fifteenth Meeting of the Parish Council held in the School Room on Thursday, February 13th, 1896.

Present:
Arthur Bates, Chairman
C. H. Buzzard, James Orr, H. A. Stanton, Samuel Johnson, Charles Johnson, and Jas. Flimwell (Clerk).

The minutes of the meeting held on the 30th January were read and confirmed.

William Wright’s Charity (97)

It was explained that this meeting was a special one for the purpose of considering the scheme submitted by the Charity Commissioners for the administration of the William Wright’s Charity.

The printed scheme was read over, and it was unanimously agreed to submit observations and suggestions to the Charity Commissioners on the following points:

• Par. 9. To provide that the heirs of William Wright be permanently represented on the body of Trustees.
• Par. 10. To ensure that the now accumulated sum of money, being the educational moiety of the Charity, be not diverted to other uses, but applied for educational purposes.
• Par. 21. To enquire whether steps can be secured that the instruction be imparted in Longstone itself.
• Par. 24. To simplify distribution of the gifts to the poor by handing the respective sums to the Chairmen of the Parish Councils or Parish Meetings of Ashford, Little Longstone, Wardlow, and Great Longstone respectively.
• Par. 25. To make it discretionary whether money or articles in kind be distributed.

It was unanimously resolved that a letter embodying these suggestions be forwarded to the Charity Commissioners.

Arthur Bates
Chairman
27th February 1896

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Historical Context – The Role of the Charity Commissioners

The Charity Commissioners, founded in 1853, were responsible for reforming the thousands of small endowments and parish trusts across England. By the 1890s, they were standardising the rules for distributing funds to ensure that old charitable bequests were used fairly and efficiently. The Parish Council’s discussion of the William Wright Charity reflects a national pattern, as local communities sought to preserve traditional charitable purposes while bringing them under modern management.