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The Charity Commission regulates and registers charities in England and Wales. It produces guidance for trustees on how they should meet their legal duties and responsibilities.
There were several attempts at charitable trust reform and legislation during the 1840s, all of which foundered on the powerful opposition of the Church, the courts, the companies, and the universities. In 1849 a special commission was set up by royal warrant and recommended the establishment of a permanent board of charity commissioners. A bill introduced in 1851 was unsuccessful, but following a change of government in 1852 a less comprehensive measure was introduced which resulted in the establishment of a permanent Charity Commission in October 1853.
Unlike earlier commissions, the Board of Charity Commissioners for England and Wales, constituted under the Charitable Trusts Act 1853, was a permanent body. Under this Act the commissioners were empowered to inquire into the management of charitable trusts, although certain specified charities were excepted (e.g. those of universities, churches, friendly societies, etc). The Board was enabled to appoint officers of the Charity Commission as official trustees of charitable funds, subject to Treasury approval. The Board's secretary was designated a corporation sole for the purpose of holding charitable lands and given the title of Treasurer of Public Charities (changed in 1855 to Official Trustee of Charity Lands).
The commissioners' powers were strengthened by the Charitable Trusts Amendment Act 1855 which required charitable trusts to render annual accounts of their endowments. Further strengthening resulted from the Charitable Trusts Act 1860 which enabled the commissioners to exercise certain powers regarding the removal and appointment of trustees, the vesting of property and the establishment of schemes for the administration of charitable trusts. The jurisdiction of the commissioners did not, however, extend to cases of a contentious character or those that might be dealt with more appropriately by the court. There was also a right of appeal to the court from their proposals. Section 60 of the 1853 Act provided for annual reports to the sovereign, to be laid before Parliament.
The powers of the commissioners, whereby they interpreted the administration of charities as closely as possible to the testator's intentions, were held by the Schools Inquiry Commission (1864 - 1867) to stand in the way of the methodical reorganisation of the grammar schools. Their recommendations resulted in the Endowed Schools Act 1869, which allowed obsolete endowments to be diverted to educational purposes and transferred the administrative control of educational charities to an Endowed Schools Commission. In 1874, however, control of such charities returned to the Charity Commission when the Endowed Schools Commission was abolished under the Endowed Schools Act 1874. Both sets of commissioners had to have the consent of the Committee of Council on Education to any scheme made by them. Subsequently, the powers of the Charity Commission in respect of endowments held solely for educational purposes passed by Order in Council to the Board of Education under the Board of Education Act 1899. These powers passed, in turn, to the Ministry of Education under the Education Act 1944 and were extended to quasi-educational trusts by the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1948.
In 1950 the Prime Minister appointed a committee under the chairmanship of Lord Nathan, to consider and report on the law and practice relating to charitable trusts. The committee's report in 1952 was broadly accepted by the government and formed the basis of the Charities Act 1960. The records of the Charity Commission from 1853 to 1960 are available to view in the National Archives.
The Commission is currently part of the civil service and is an independent, non-ministerial government department, accountable to Parliament. It runs an online register of charities, which provides full information – including financial – about all registered charities. This includes deciding whether organisations are charitable and should be registered. We also remove charities that are not considered to be charitable, no longer exist or do not operate. Charities with an income of more than £5,000 need to register. Charities with less income still need to abide by charity law (under the Charities Act 2011) and in almost all cases, the Commission still acts as regulator.
The Commission investigates accusations of wrongdoing. The vast majority of errors are simple mistakes, and help and advice from the Commission to trustees is enough to rectify things. However, in some rare cases, a statutory inquiry is necessary to find out what has gone wrong and how it can be fixed.
If a serious problem is uncovered, the Commission has powers to restrict transactions a charity may enter into; appoint additional trustees; ‘freeze’ a charity’s bank account; suspend or remove a trustee; appoint an interim manager or make a referral for investigation to the police and other law enforcement agencies.
The Charity Commission works across four sites in Liverpool, London, Newport and Taunton, employing approximately 350 people. The Commission also ensures charities meet their legal requirements, including providing information on their activities each year. It makes appropriate information about each registered charity widely available to the public and it provides guidance to help charities run as effectively as possible.

Francis Puryer White was born in London on 26th October 1893. He was the son of John Francis White, a schoolmaster. He was educated at Stanley Higher Elementary School and then at Owen’s School both in North London. He then entered St. John’s College as a student of mathematics in 1912, gaining a first class in part I of the Mathematics tripos in 1913 and again in Part II in 1915. He was elected in 1916 to the Isaac Newton Studentship in Astronomy and Optical Physics. There followed a short period of war service, from which he returned to St. John’s in 1919, where he was elected a Fellow. He remained a Fellow of St. John’s for the rest of his life. He was appointed a College Lecturer in 1920 and a University Lecturer in 1926 and remained a member of the mathematical teaching staff until he retired in 1961. He was Director of Studies in Mathematics, from 1945 until 1959.
When White returned to Cambridge in 1919 he came increasingly under the influence of H. F. Baker, then Lowndean Professor of Astronomy and Geometry. Baker’s real interest was in geometry, and his influence was a primary factor in causing White to devote his energies to geometry rather than astronomy. From 1922 to 1930 White wrote a series of papers on the geometry of conies rational normal curves, and other special plane curves, which were all extremely elegant. But White's main contribution to geometry was his influence on the young men reading mathematics. His enthusiasm for geometry sparked off a similar enthusiasm in others. These were the young men who went on to join the Baker school, which was extremely active from the mid-twenties to the mid-thirties. The main activity of this was a seminar, known as " Baker's Saturday tea-party ", which Baker and White presided over in person.
White served on the council of London Mathematical Society from 1923-47. He was Honorary Secretary from 1926-44 and Vice-president from 1944-46. His continuous service of 24 years on the Council of the London Mathematical Society included 18 years as secretary and simultaneously, from 1924 to 1936, he was Mathematical Secretary of the Cambridge Philosophical Society (of which he later became President). In addition to the normal duties in connection with the running of the societies, White did a vast amount of editing of mathematical papers, and his contemporaries were familiar with the sight of him carrying round proof sheets and working on them whenever he had an opportunity. There was less paper work and travelling to London to do during the war, but the responsibility of keeping the Society going during this period fell on him.
But White's services to his University and his College were not limited to mathematics. He was a member of the Cambridge University Press Syndicate continuously from 1931 to 1958, and on the Library Syndicate from 1949 to 1960. He also served on the University Financial Board, and on the Ely Diocesan Board of Finance. He was one of the local secretaries when the British Association met in Cambridge in 1938.
White was dedicated to serving St. John’s College for his whole life. As a regular Chapel-goer, he was active in the affairs of the College Mission, and he served the College in a number of minor offices, including that of Tutorial Bursar. He was also Senior Treasurer of the Committee for the St. John's College Mission at Hoxton from 1921. But his greatest service was in the office of Librarian, which he held from 1948 to 1961. He had always been a collector of early mathematical and scientific books, many of which he later gave to the University Library, and he was well equipped for a librarian's duties. Every aspect of the Library received his loving attention, and his labours to arrange and catalogue vast numbers of documents were unceasing. The College records, particularly the Records of Admissions, claimed his constant attention, and on his retirement under the statutory age limit from the Librarianship, the College fittingly recognised his services by creating for him the special office of Keeper of the College Records.
White was married to Barbara Dale, daughter of Sir Alfred Dale, Vice-Chancellor of Liverpool University, whom he married in 1934. She was for many years Fellow and Bursar of Newnham College. White died on 11th July 1969.

Anglia TV was a broadcasting franchise which served the East of England. It was owned by ITV.
In Britain, at the beginning of 1958 ITV was still expanding throughout the country. Following the Television Act of 1954 which had empowered the ITA to set up television services additional to those provided by the BBC, ITV had begun broadcasting in September 1955. When applications were invited for the franchise to serve the East of England, which was to be ITV's first truly rural region, Lord Townshend, a leading Norfolk farmer, brought together a group including The Guardian newspaper and Romulus Films, a company founded by Sir John Woolf and James Woolf at the start of the 1950s. Other members of the board of Anglia Television included people who were strongly rooted in the area but also had diverse interests. Sir Robert Bignold was an eminent Norfolk industrialist, chairman of Norwich Union and a former Lord Mayor of Norwich. Aubrey Buxton was a conservationist who had served with the Army with distinction during the Second World War and was awarded the Military Cross in 1944. Sir Peter Greenwell was a Suffolk farmer who raised prize cattle. William Copeman headed the Eastern Daily Press and other East Anglian publications. Laurence Scott was chairman of The Guardian as well as chairman of the Press Association. The other board members were Sir John Woolf, Sir Donald Albery, head of a London theatre group and two Cambridge academics: Professor Glyn Daniel (archaeologist) and Dr Audrey Richards (anthropologist).
They formed the ‘Anglia’ company and the ITA franchise for the East of England was granted to them. Anglia’s headquarters was in the centre of Norwich in a building that had been known for three-quarters of a century as the Agricultural Hall. Anglia acquired The Hall on a 75-year lease and adapted it for their use. An assembly hall at the front of the building was divided into offices while the main exhibition hall, formerly used for cattle shows, was converted into studios. In order to make these studios sound proof it was necessary to erect a new building within the old one with a reinforced concrete frame. The building was renamed Anglia House. At the same time a 1,000 foot transmitter mast was built at Mendlesham, Suffolk.
The first day of transmission for Anglia Television was on Tuesday October 27, 1959. Broadcasting began at 4.15pm with a picture of the Mendlesham mast and a voiceover announcing "Anglia Television is on the air." The first programme, Introducing Anglia, took viewers on a tour of the region with aerial views of the countryside. The station closed for the evening at 11.10pm.
Anglia's distinctive symbol, the Anglia Knight, soon became widely known across the country. Originally, the directors had thought of using Britannia as the company logo. But whilst walking along Bond Street in London, Lord Townshend saw the figure in Asprey. It had originally been modelled on a statue of Richard the Lionheart that stands outside the Houses of Parliament and was commissioned from a London firm of silversmiths by the King of the Netherlands in 1850 as a sporting trophy. It was later won by an Englishman who brought it home where it had remained in the possession of his family. After Anglia acquired it they got Asprey to make some modifications including the 'Anglia' pennon on the lance.
By 1961, Anglia's 'local' audience of 213,000 homes, mainly in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex grew to 423,000 as it reached Bedfordshire and Lincolnshire. The opening of a new transmitter in 1965 also made the station accessible to viewers in Hertfordshire, Northamptonshire and much further afield. By December of that year about a million homes could receive Anglia television.
Of all Anglia's television programmes the most celebrated is Survival, which travelled the world producing six half-hour programmes a year. The basic theme of each production was the conflict between man and nature with the programme coming down firmly on the side of conservation. As he was launching Survival, Aubrey Buxton also helped to found the World Wildlife Fund along with Peter Scott and others, including David Attenborough. Prince Phillip became chairman of the British appeal of the WWF introducing an hour-long special about conservation in Africa, The New Ark, which won Survival's first international award, the Golden Nymph of the Monte Carlo Film Festival in 1963. The original series ran for 40 years during which nearly 1000 shows were produced. It was also one of the UK's most lucrative television exports, with sales to 112 countries. In its prime, it achieved the highest overseas sales of any British documentary programme and, in 1974, gained a Queen's Award for export success. It became the first British programme sold to China (1979), the first to be broadcast simultaneously across the continent of North America (1987) and its camera teams were the first to shoot a major wildlife series in the former Soviet Union (1989-91). Survival films and film-makers won more than 250 awards worldwide, including four Emmy Awards and a BAFTA. Buxton, producer of Survival for most of its life, also received a Royal Television Society silver medal in 1968 for outstanding artistic achievement, and a gold medal in 1977.
In 1974 the IBA (formerly the ITA) redefined the region for Anglia Television. Where Anglia and Yorkshire overlapped around Humberside both services were available. The IBA decided that the Belmont transmitter in Lincolnshire would be given over to the Yorkshire area, bringing the northern boundary of Anglia back to its 1965 position. In 1988 the knight ident was replaced by a quasi-heraldic stylised 'A' made of triangles, which faded in and out on a fluttering flag. In the early 1990s, this was replaced with a black background and the flag fading in slowly. This was used until 1999.
During the broadcasting franchise reviews and applications of the 1980s Anglia managed to hold off opposition from only one other applicant, but in 1992 they faced stronger opposition from two consortia: Three East and CPV-TV. Anglia bid nearly £3 million more than Three East, which had crossed the quality threshold (CPV-TV had not), and they retained their broadcasting licence. In 1993, the station took over the cartoon studio Cosgrove Hall, when it was sold off by its original owners, Thames Television. Then in early 1994, Anglia was bought by MAI (owners of Meridian Broadcasting), who merged with United Newspapers to form United News and Media. They were joined by HTV in 1996. In 2000, following United's aborted merger attempt with Carlton, Granada bought the TV assets of United. In 2004, Granada finally merged with Carlton to form ITV plc, which ended Anglia's existence as a separate brand.
Much of Anglia TV's back catalogue is now held and preserved at the East Anglian Film Archive. A number of Anglia's Television productions have been released on DVD.

Powell & Moya are an architectural practice founded by Phillip Powell and Hidalgo Moya in 1946. Powell & Moya primarily build housing, and most of their designs are in the modernist style. Powell passed away in 2003, and Moya in 1994.

Powell & Moya built the Cripps Building for St John’s College in the 1960’s.

Rev. Edward Earle Raven was born on the 27th of December 1889, the son of John E. Raven (a barrister). He was educated at Uppingham School before coming up to Cambridge to study Classics at St John’s College.

Deeply religious, Raven had always been destined for the church, and after his graduation he was ordained in 1914. He briefly worked as an army chaplain and then as Head of Maurice Hostel, before becoming chaplain at the College in 1921. He was awarded a fellowship in 1923, and then become the Dean of College in 1927. He held this post until his death.

Raven married his wife Margaret in 1930, and they had one son and three daughters. He published one book, The Heart of Christ’s Religion, and enjoyed cricket in his spare time. Raven died on the 2nd of December, 1951.

Giulio de’ Medici was born in 1478, a few months after the death of his father Giuliano de’ Medici. His parents had not been married, but as they were betrothed, Giulio was declared legitimate.

The young Giulio was educated by his uncle, and made both a Knight of Rhodes and Grand Prior of Capua. After his cousin Giovanni de’ Medici became Pope Leo X, Giulio was made cardinal on the 28th of September 1513. He was a favoured candidate for the papacy after Leo X’s death, but ultimately, Adrian VI was elected instead.

It was after Adrian VI’s death that Giulio was chosen as the next pope, on the 18th of November 1523. He took the papal name Clement VII. The political situation during Clement’s papacy was a complex one. Francis I and Emperor Charles V were at war, and despite the Medici family’s friendship with Charles, Clement sided with France. Clement helped organise the League of Cognac, ad was imprisoned in the Castle of Sant’ Angelo when Rome was attacked by Charles’ allies. He took refuge there again during the later sack of Rome. Eventually, Clement settled on terms of peace with Charles.

Clement was still a prisoner in Sant’ Angelo when he was visited by an envoy of King Henry VIII. Henry sought a divorce from his wife, Catherine of Aragon, and to marry Anne Boleyn. Although Clement made many concessions to Henry’s demands, he ultimately resisted the request to grant a divorce. Henry was forbidden to marry while Rome deliberated on whether his marriage to Catherine was legitimate, but secretly married Anne Boleyn anyway. The death of Archbishop Warham in England allowed Henry to install Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury, who proceeded to pronounce the marriage between Henry and Anne valid. Clement excommunicated Henry from the Catholic Church and declared his both his divorce from Catherine and his marriage to Anne as null and void. The marriage between Catherine and Henry was decreed fully legitimate, and England broke with the Catholic Church.

Clement VII died on the 25th September, 1534.

The Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England was founded in 1908 with the aim of compiling an inventory of ancient and historic monuments in England. In 1999 they were merged with English Heritage. Their records now belong to Historic England.

The exact date of Anne Boleyn’s birth is unknown, but it was likely be around the year 1500. Her parents were Thomas Boleyn, earl of Ormond and of Wiltshire, and his wife Elizabeth. She was the second of their three surviving children, another of which was Mary Boleyn, a future mistress of King Henry VIII.
Anne learned the skills of a court lady in the households of Margaret of Austria, Mary Tudor, and Claude, queen of France. After leaving for Austria in 1513, she did not return to England until 1521. There, Anne’s continental education won her many suitors.

Her future husband, King Henry VIII, began to take an interest in Anne somewhere around 1526. At this time, Anne’s sister had just ceased to be Henry’s mistress, and it is likely the king was looking for a replacement. As well as this, Henry had already decided that his first marriage to Catherine of Aragon had to be annulled. Anne refused Henry’s advances until he made her an offer of marriage. The wedding did not take place until 1533, after Henry was able to divorce his first due to the English Reformation. Anne and her family had thrown themselves behind attacks on the church and their influence during the interim. Anne was already pregnant with the future Queen Elizabeth I at the time of her marriage, likely out of a belief that a pregnancy would encourage Henry to commit himself to her. The couple were married in January, and Anne was crowned queen later in the year.
After the birth of Elizabeth, Anne’s subsequent pregnancies ended in miscarriages. The marriage was strained by her failure to produce a male heir, a poor relationship with Henry’s daughter by Catherine of Aragon (the future Mary I), and Anne’s public unpopularity as queen. Despite this, she exercised public influence to engage in foreign affairs and religious reform.

By 1536, King Henry had become enamoured with Jane Seymour, who had served as lady-in-waiting to Queen Anne; and Anne had lost a powerful ally in the form of Thomas Cromwell. With many who wished to see her gone, Anne was accused of adultery several times over. She, her brother George, and several other men were arrested and sent to the Tower of London. Although Anne was innocent, and adultery by a queen would not be considered treason until six years later, she was beheaded at the Tower on the 19th of May, after her marriage to Henry was declared null and void. She died without ever confessing her guilt.

Of Threshfield. Admitted 1639. BA 1643 from Christ's College. Rector of a moiety of Linton, Yorkshire. Buried on 6 May 1674 in Linton church. Nephew Richard Hewitt placed a commemorative brass in Linton church (see correspondence and papers of Robert F Scott, former reference D90.862).

Ronald Derek Hayes was a student of St John’s College. After being educated at Latymer Upper School, he came up to the Cambridge to read Geography and received a grant from the Worts Fund to study the peasant economy of Northern Portugal. He gave a talk to the Purchas Society about his research, and became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.

Hayes died on the 30th August 2018, at the age of eighty-six.

Second and youngest son of Maurice Johnson of Stamford, dyer, and Jane, daughter of Henry Lacy. Maurice Johnson held office as alderman and M.P. On Maurice Johnson's death in 1551, Robert was brought up by his uncle. He attended King's School, Peterborough, and Clare College, Cambridge. He transferred from Clare College to Trinity and was admitted Fellow there in 1563. In 1569 he was appointed chaplain to the Lord Keeper of Cambridge University, Sir Nicholas Bacon. Known for his Puritan views. Founded Oakham and Uppingham Schools in Rutland. In his will he bequeathed money to found scholarships at Sidney Sussex, St John's, Clare and Emmanuel Colleges in Cambridge.

Heitland was born in 1847 in Colkirk, Norfolk, and was educated at Dedham Grammar School and Shrewsbury School. Being the son of an unsuccessful gentleman farmer he had to rely on a scholarship to enter St John's College. Heitland graduated BA as Senior Classic in 1871 and was immediately elected a Fellow of the College. He was College Lecturer in classics 1871-85 and Tutor 1883-93. Heitland was a prolific author, mostly of classical works. His most distinguished publications were 'Agricola' (1921), on agricultural labour in antiquity, and the 'History of the Roman Republic' (1909), which in its day was compared to Mommsen's great work. In 1901 Heitland married the daughter of the Master of St John's, Henry Bateson. Margaret Bateson was a journalist and stalwart of the suffragette movement. Heitland died in 1935.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 49, Mich 1935, p119

Ctizen of Canterbury, [of Monkton, Thanet, Kent, probably the pensioner adm. 1612, B.A.1616]

The Reverend Canon Edwin Hill was born in 1843 at the Collegiate School in Leicester, where his father, the Reverend Abraham Hill, was Headmaster. He matriculated at St John’s in 1862 and graduated BA 5th Wrangler in 1866. He was elected to the Fellowship of St John’s in 1867 serving until 1890. During this time he was a Steward 1874-5 and Tutor 1875-1889, before moving to Cockfield, Suffolk to take up the post of Rector. He held that position for 40 years, including a period 1901-19 as Rural Dean of Lavenham. He was made Honorary Canon of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich in 1914 until his death in 1933.

Hill died in June 1933 at home in Bury St Edmunds. He had never married and left a substantial proportion of his estate St John’s College.
Obituary in The Eagle: Vol 48, Mich 1933, p. 67

Sir John Sandys was born in May 1844 in Leicester, to the Reverend Timothy of Calcutta and Rebecca. He came into residence at St John’s in Michaelmas Term 1863. He obtained many awards during his studies including the Bell scholarship at the end of his first year of study, Browne Medal and Porson Prize in 1865, the Porson Prize for a second time the following year, Members’ Prize in 1866 and 1867, before graduating BA as Senior Classic in 1867. The same year, he was elected to the Fellowship, and he was to remain a Fellow until his death. He served as a College tutor for 30 years between 1870 and 1900, and as Public Orator for the University between 1876 and his retirement in 1919.
Sandys wrote a number of books on classical subjects, most notably a 'History of Classical Scholarship'. Published in three volumes between 1903 and 1908, it still remains a valuable reference guide. Sandys married Mary Grainger in 1880, was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1909 and died in 1922. He was a generous benefactor to the College, and also bequeathed a sum of money to the University to found a studentship.

Obituary in The Eagle: Vol. 43, Michaelmas Term 1922, p. 15

Of London. Girdler, served as Master of the Girdlers' Company. Charitable bequests by him included to the Girdlers' Company to fund almshouses, and to Brasenose College, Oxford. He is an ancestor of the actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer, Michael Palin.

Of Lancashire. Baptised 17 Dec. 1745. Died 3 Feb. 1817. Attended Sedbergh Grammar School. Entered St John's as a sizar, 12 August 1762. Fellow of St John's from 22 March 1768. President of the Faculty of Medicine, 1787 to 1802. Professor of chemistry, 1773 - 1793. Regius professor of physic, 1793 - 1813. Physician to Addenbrooke's Hospital, 1785 - 1817. Knighted in 1796.

Born at Darton, Yorkshire. Matriculated St John's 1844; Scholar, 1847; B.A. (17th Wrangler) 1848; Tyrwhitt Hebrew Scholar, 1851; M.A. 1851. Ordained deacon (Oxford) 1848; priest, 1848; curate of Bicester, Oxon., 1848-9; curate of Brighouse, Yorks., 1849-51. Usher at Bradford Grammar School, 1851-71. Curate of Hartshead with Clifton, Yorks., 1859-73; curate of Mirfield, 1873-8. Latterly of King's End House, Bicester