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

Dulwich College

Dulwich College

Founded by Edward Alleyn as a school and almshouses. A chapel, a schoolhouse and twelve almshouses were built on Dulwich Green (see picture), and, extended and re-modelled, these buildings remain a...

Building, Education, Social Welfare

3 memorials
Royal College of Physicians

Royal College of Physicians

Founded by Thomas Linacre in 1518 with a charter granted by Henry VIII. Their first home was Linacre's own house in Knightrider Street. Their second home, at Amen Corner, Paternoster Row, was des...

Group, Education, Medicine

5 memorials
Guardian Angels Church & School

Guardian Angels Church & School

The church on the Mile End Road was opened in 1903, the school, shown in this picture, behind the church, in 1896. Both funded by the Howard Family of Norfolk.

Building, Education, Property, Religion

1 memorial
St John's House

St John's House

From the National Archives : "St John House was founded in 1848 as a 'Training Institution for Nurses for Hospitals, Families and the Poor'. It was a religious community run by a Master, who was a ...

Group, Education, Medicine, Religion

1 memorial