Dartmouth Trust is the custodian of substantial wealth, originally acquired by the then Roman Catholic St Saviour’s Church in the mid 1500s or earlier.
During the reformation The Town Corporation gained control of this wealth and over time merged it with their other activities. This use was challenged by the Reverend Foster in the late 1800s resulting in the Charities Commission setting up custodianship of the monies to a newly formed Trust in 1889 (then called Dartmouth Charities). The Trust ensured the protection of the benefits for the worthy causes. In 1909 the Charity Commission split off the obligation to the disadvantaged into a separate charity leaving the Trust with the sole purpose of managing the endowment and distributing its surplus income to the three beneficiaries. Over £4million has been distributed to the beneficiary charities over the past decade, directly benefited the town and its residents through their good works. Read the full history. |
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