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

Coborn Girls School

Coborn Girls School

From the picture source website: "Prisca Coborn, the widow of a brewer, founded a School for both boys and girls in 1701, as a result of the terms of her will published in the year of her death. Th...

Group, Children, Education

2 memorials
Laburnum Street School

Laburnum Street School

A primary school, demolished to make way for the Bridge Academy. Our photo shows a 2014 reunion taking place in the school hall. We believe the building appears (in the distance) in a photo on Spit...

Building, Children, Education

3 memorials
Sir T. Gregory Foster

Sir T. Gregory Foster

First name was Thomas but he did not use it.  The first Provost of University College London, 1904–1929.  Vice-Chancellor of the University of London from 1928 to 1930.

Person, Education, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Clive Brain, OBE

Clive Brain, OBE

Clive Brian was born on 13 December 1939, the son of Frank Brain (1909-1969) and Nora Maude Brain née Fairweather (1907-1976). His birth was registered in the 1st quarter of 1940 in the Surrey Sout...

Person, Education, Tragedy

1 memorial
Dr. Elsie Yu Chen Chee

Dr. Elsie Yu Chen Chee

Born Shanhai but lived in Singapore for at least 35 years. In 2001 Dr Yu Chen Chee Elsie was the fifth woman in Singapore to be awarded the Singapore Council of Women's Organizations Award.

Person, Education, Sculpture, China/Hong Kong, Singapore

1 memorial