| AdminHistory | Organisations involved: Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust, Paul S. Cadbury Trust, Barrow Cadbury Fund Ltd.
Previous titles and/or title variations: educational.
Related grant categories: Friends and churches, Barrow Cadbury Fund personal.
Dates of use: 1931/1932 to 1988/1989.
Cadbury Trusts grant subject filing reference number(s): 4
Barrow and Geraldine Cadbury's commitment to adult education and Quaker academic institutions is reflected in the earliest giving of the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust. During its first year of operation the Trust allocated £100 each to the Midland Adult School Union and the Westhill Training College, Selly Oak. This represented over 20% of total annual Trust expenditure. The Fund too made major commitments to educational work in its first year, 1924/1925 with £500 allocated to the Birmingham Education Committee for Blackwell School Camp and £200 for the Tom Bryan Memorial Scholarship.
In the annual accounts of the Paul S. Cadbury Trust for 1931/1932 a distinct 'educational' category first appears. Use of this category by the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust occurred later and is first referenced in the 1961/1962 annual accounts. From this point the education category was used consistently until its amalgamation in 1985/1986 with social service and health.
In 1975 the trusts described education grants as 'exceptional cases' yet also as an area where Trustees made 'substantial payments'. An example of this exceptional expenditure is Chapmans Hill School Farm, administered by the Worgan Trust. Between 1973/1974 and 1974/1975 the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust and the Paul S. Cadbury Trust contributed £21,000 and £8,400 respectively to the project. Other educational areas of support at that time include adult literacy, international and national education projects, pre-school and school support, grants for overseas students, adult education and support of people with learning difficulties. Combined expenditure for the two year period cited above totalled over £100,000 with a higher proportion of grants being paid through the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust.
Education grant files were assigned the filing reference number four as part of Anthony Wilson's classification scheme for grant subjects. The administration of education grants fell in roughly equal proportion to Wilson and his colleague Eric Adams. A representative education grant file label for the 1970s-1980s might read 'EA/4/23' to denote a grant administered by Eric Adams/education grant/Tile Hill College for Further Education, the 23rd education grantee.
Education grants saw a considerable degree of overlap with other Cadbury Trusts categories, specifically 'Society of Friends and other churches' and 'Barrow Cadbury Fund personal'. A Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre personal study grant, for instance, could appear in any of the three categories depending on the nature of the grant and its initial assessment. The assignment of a grant category was based in large part on a classification made when the application first arrived at the Trust office, normally by post.
Total funds allocated to education grants fell during the late 1970s to roughly £25,000 per annum before rising briefly during the early 1980s and then dropping to £34,230 in 1984/1985, its last year as an independent category. Regular recipients of support, usually through the Barrow and Geraldine S. Cadbury Trust, were Aston University, the University of Birmingham, Chapmans Hill School Farm, Handsworth Technical College and Coventry (Lanchester) Polytechnic. A further sub-classification informally added during the mid-1980s were 'civic grants' made to museums, libraries, archives, galleries and other heritage organisations, predominantly in the Birmingham area.
In 1985/1986 Trustees decided to amalgamate all outstanding education, health and social service grants into a single category. Spending in this area was restricted to existing grant commitments with any new applications assigned to other categories as appropriate. By the time the health, education and social services heading was wound up in 1988/1989 only Chapmans Hill School Farm remained a major ongoing educational commitment. |