Providing help to locals in need
By Richard Mantle
Banstead United Charities offer financial relief to residents in the wards of the old Banstead Urban District Council; Banstead Village, Burgh Heath, Kingswood, Nork, Preston, Tadworth and Tattenhams, who are experiencing hardship. They offer grants to both individuals and organisations.
This charity like others in our area including Epsom, Ewell, Walton on the Hill, Woodmansterne and Chipstead, is among several hundred other village benevolent charities with its roots dating back to Henry Smith who died in 1628.
He was a very successful trader and moneylender who also invested in land outside of the old London City walls. But he was also a benefactor interested in helping the less well off. The first beneficiaries of his trust were English sailors who had lost their livelihoods at the hands of Turkish pirates, which he may, in the early seventeenth century, have witnessed, as his trading ships were intercepted mainly in the Mediterranean.
Other prospective beneficiaries grew in his lifetime from his eccentric habit of dressing as a vagrant with a mongrel at his heels as he walked through southern English counties and when he received hospitality, he added that village to his list of future charitable beneficiaries. There are more than two hundred villages who can if they still have active trustees request a grant each year from the £40 million in 2021 that was distributed. Many church projects are funded annually as another claim on his generosity surrounded his Christian and almost puritanical faith.
After his death, his assets were converted into a charitable trust administered from offices in Kensington and Chelsea. Whilst in his lifetime he owned thousands of acres of land and was mortgagee for thousands more it was after his death in the 1640’s that his trustees were to purchase for £2000 a marshy estate of market gardens in the parish of Kensington. Much of his landholdings in South Kensington were subsequently sold to the Welcome Foundation in 1995 and raised £280 million. Today the trustees hold assets of more than £1.2 billion.
His philanthropic wishes have been maintained through the centuries with a remarkable degree of consistency and continuity to his original will and the successful journey from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century would no doubt give him great satisfaction. A monument to Henry can be found in All Saints Church Wandsworth.
The Banstead United Charities funds come totally from the Henry Smith Assets. Each village operation is controlled by a volunteer clerk who receives applications from recognised bodies who have knowledge of the claimant. Examples would be local churches, Raven Housing Trust, Citizens Advice Bureau, and the Borough Council. Claimants must reside within the administrative area of each charity and for Banstead it is the old parish boundary including Tattenham and Preston.
Qualifying claims once approved by the clerk and local trustees could be for help with electricity and gas bills, clothing (Such as school uniforms), school trips and household equipment such as a cooker or a fridge. Grants are rarely for more than £350 although often an annual grant will be considered where a payment plan is in place. Grants are paid directly to the school, power company or supplier and not to the individual.
If you know someone who is in difficulties or are experiencing financial problems yourself, you should contact your local church or one of the organisations mentioned above asking that they consider a referral to The Banstead United Charities.