History Pages

Although Bristol Charities was created by an Act of Parliament in 1835, its roots go back almost 700 years when Bristol first emerged as a major port and trading centre. Many entrepreneurial merchants of that period and in later centuries made great fortunes, with several of them leaving large, enduring legacies to charitable organisations set up in their name to benefit the city’s poorest citizens.

Over the years, these tended to come under the administration of Bristol Corporation (the forerunner of today’s Bristol City Council). By the early 19th century, the Corporation was responsible for administering:

• The endowment funds of three schools – the Free Grammar School (now Bristol Grammar School), the Red Maids’ School and Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital.
• Three charities offering accommodation to the poor. They were Foster’s Almshouse, (founded in 1492), and two almshouses in Old Market Street, Trinity Hospital North (1411), subsequently sold by the Trustees, and Trinity Hospital South (1395), now known as Barstaple House.
• 57 non-educational charities, principally involved in gifts to the poor.

The Corporation assumed this role as the trustees appointed to run the endowments had to be a permanent body. However, the entangling of endowed charity funds with local politics inevitably led to suggestions of improper use of the cash – largely by unsuccessful candidates following elections – particularly as by the early 19th century, the endowments were producing an annual income of £13,000.

One of the early consequences of the passing of the 1832 Reform Act was for the re-organised House of Commons to turn its attention to reconstituting the municipal corporations, which had long been the subject of widespread complaint – particularly in Bristol, where the organisation’s performance had undoubtedly been one of the triggers of the 1831 Bristol Riots.

The Whig (Liberal) government of the day therefore appointed a Royal Commission to look into the municipal corporations. Its findings highlighted the serious shortcomings of local government throughout the nation, including observing that the Corporation of Bristol “offered a very unfavourable specimen of the results of self-election and irresponsibility”, even though it did not identify any misuse of public funds.

The Commission’s findings led to the Municipal Corporations Bill, introduced in June 1835. Part of the legislation stated that the former corporations ceased to be charity trustees on 1 August 1836 – and Bristol Charities was born.

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