Group    From 1566 

Bedford Charity

Categories: Education

Created by a gift of land by Sir William Harpur to the corporation of Bedford. A merchant from Bedford he had come to London and done so well that he was Lord Mayor in 1561. The following year he purchased 12 acres of land that had belonged to Charterhouse and in 1566 he and his wife Alice gave the property to the Bedford Corporation to support education in Bedford.

The charity has been renamed the Harpur Trust and still owns properties within the original Harpur estate and still supports education in Bedford.

We learnt all this from the resourceful A London Inheritance where there are maps showing the extent of the estate and photos of 5 other extant Bedford Charity markers. 

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Bedford Charity

Commemorated ati

Mrs. Eliz. Doughty and the Bedford Charity

These plaques mark property boudaries and identify ownership.

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Other Subjects

Anne Winifrede O'Reilly

Anne Winifrede O'Reilly

Schoolteacher. Headteacher at Peckham Emergency Central School, 1940 - 46, and the first head at Walworth's first comprehensive school, 1947 - 55, when she retired.   Founding member of the All En...

Person, Education, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Robert Woodbridge

Robert Woodbridge

Former pupil of John Lyon School, active in 2013.

Person, Education

1 memorial
Masaru Inoue

Masaru Inoue

Became a student at UCL in 1863.

Person, Education, Japan

1 memorial
Yaichi Takami

Yaichi Takami

Became a student at UCL in 1865.

Person, Education, Japan

1 memorial
Marjorie Hewson

Marjorie Hewson

Nursery nurse. She worked for over forty years at Christ Church School, in Brick Lane, Spitalfields, (the area in which she grew up and lived herself). A popular character, remembered by many for h...

Person, Children, Education

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Kenneth Stuart
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
D. B. Gorrie, Tpr.

D. B. Gorrie, Tpr.

Imperial Camel Corps, New Zealand Contingent, 3rd Battalion

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
A. W. Childerley
War dead, WW1
1 memorial
R. G. Kyrle Money

R. G. Kyrle Money

Loughton resident killed in WW1, in 1917.

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Francis Whiting

Francis Whiting

Over a few years this fountain has led us on a merry dance, trying to identify who it commemorates. We thought we’d solved the puzzle but recently Nicholas Long (see below) wrote with a new lead.  ...

Person, Friend / family

1 memorial