| Description | From the early days of Quakerism in Warwickshire, Friends gifted or bequeathed land, property and money to the Monthly Meeting for various purposes. Often this was to provide a building which could be used as a meeting house, or land on which a purpose-built meeting house could be constructed, or used for a burial ground. At other times, it was to provide poor relief to Friends or other poor people, often with specifications that it be used to help those in a specific geographical area, or women and children. Gifts and bequests were also given to help create schools or pay for the education of Quaker children.
Financial gifts and bequests were often invested in property which was then rented out so that profits from the rent could be used as the donor had intended. Over time, gifted, bequeathed or purchased properties which were no longer providing sufficient income were sold and the proceeds from sales were then reinvested in bonds so that interest could then be used for whatever purpose the donor had directed. Dis-used meeting houses and institutes were retained and rented out, often in the hope that in the future there would be sufficient numbers of Friends in the locality to merit re-opening a meeting. If this did not happen, these were also sold and the proceeds re-invested.
Numerous trusts were created to manage the meeting houses and charitable trusts for Warwickshire North, Middle and South Monthly Meetings, and later as boundaries between Monthly Meetings changed and Monthly Meetings merged, Warwickshire Monthly Meeting. By the end of the 20th century, many of the smaller trusts had been amalgamated into Warwickshire Monthly Meeting Trust and a number are still in existence today.
Trusts were also created to manage the adult schools which had been established by Friends. While these Trusts were independent of Central England Area Meeting/Warwickshire Monthly Meeting, it was often stipulated that Trustees should be Quakers living within a specific distance from Birmingham city centre. As a result, Trustees were members of the Monthly Meeting, and records of the Trusts were stored together with the records of Central England Area Meeting prior to being deposited at the Library of Birmingham.
Brief details of charitable trusts and properties within Warwickshire Monthly Meeting are given in SF/2/1/1/10/4/15/3 and SF/1/9/4 contains an historical account of properties and trusts. A more recent register of trusts and properties is available at SF/2/1/1/10/10/2. See SF/2/1/1/10/5 for deeds for these charitable trusts and properties, and for transcripts of deeds in the deed registers. Additional deed and trust registers are contained in SF/1/9. |