| Description | Nathaniel Newton's will, dated 1730, created a trust and bequeathed property and land to trustees to fund the establishment of a school. The trust's objectives were: to give the school master a house and sufficient money to educate 26 children in reading, writing and arithmetic; to keep the school house in good repair; to give any remaining balance of money to the poor of Hartshill. A school room was built and the school became a board school. It went on to thrive in the late 18th and early 19th centuries under the leadership of the school master, Joseph Crosfield (1756-1830), educating Friends such as John Cadbury (1801-1889) between 1810-1815.
The school closed in 1895 and the trust was remodelled by four orders of the Charity Commissioners between 1896-1916. Two of these, dated 1915 and 1916, divided the charity into two parts, one named Newton's Educational Foundation and the other Nathaniel Newton's Charity. Funds of the former were to be used for maintenance allowances for pupils attending secondary and technical schools and exhibitions at these schools. Funds from the latter were to be used for pensions for the poor 'of good character' and over the age of 59, or for weekly allowances, so as to benefit the poor under the age of 70 who were not yet entitled to the government pension. In 1971 this charity was combined with the Alice Couney Charity, another local charity with similar interests which had been originally established in 1643, and renamed Hartshill Relief in Need Charity.
See SF/3/13 for papers relating to Hartshill Preparative Meeting. |