those less fortunate than himself, particularly the young whose path in life
brought them to study the sciences, a path which could be smoothed by some
financial assistance. Clause 10 of the Deed also contained the condition that
‘no capital or income subject to the trusts and powers hereof shall be at any
time paid or applied for the benefit of the grantor [Robert] or any wife to
whom he be married’, making the donation to the University absolute. Now,
writing these lines more than fifty years after Robert’s donation, it is difficult to
grasp just how significant this sum of money was at the time, but in 1961 the
average wage in the UK was between £560—£633
26
—although the author
recalls some teachers at his Grammar School earning around £1000 pa—and
so it was somewhere between fifty and one hundred times the contemporary
average wage. Today (2014) that wage is *£25,000, so ‘do the maths’, and
you’ll see that by any standard it was an extraordinary gift. Robert’s wish was
that the money be invested in ‘equities’ and the income generated used to
support the Fund, although the University was given full discretion in such
matters. The original investment schedule however was not particularly ‘pc’
investing as it did in, the Birmingham Small Arms Company, the British
American Tobacco Company and the Distillers Company, but alongside these
were the (nowadays more acceptable), British Oxygen Company, the City of
London Real Property Company, the House of Fraser, Imperial Chemical
Industries (ICI), the International Nickel Company of Canada, and Unigate
Ltd.
Over the years there have been many demands made on the Fund—after
all it was spread to support five expensive departments—but it still exists after
fifty-five years and although these days it has been much degraded, it still buys
the ‘odd bit of equipment’ for which the university is grateful. With this gift,
Robert used what he described to Chirnside as ‘some of his rewards’ to begin
to repay what he always saw as his ‘debt to UCL’, but there was more
significant benefaction to come. This time some of it undoubtedly orchestrated by the Rev. Oscar Muspratt.
18.7 The Penn—Pennsylvania Fellowship
Muspratt was active in all matters regarding Penn and Holy Trinity. He
undoubtedly achieved a great deal of good during his tenancy there, but
equally such dynamic characters sometimes get carried away by the enthusiasm for their ‘pet projects’, and that enthusiasm is not always shared by
others. And so, it was with Muspratt’s determination to revive the contentious issue of the Penn-Pennsylvania link which had last surfaced in 1913;
18 Penn, Buckinghamshire 1949–1976
475
brought them to study the sciences, a path which could be smoothed by some
financial assistance. Clause 10 of the Deed also contained the condition that
‘no capital or income subject to the trusts and powers hereof shall be at any
time paid or applied for the benefit of the grantor [Robert] or any wife to
whom he be married’, making the donation to the University absolute. Now,
writing these lines more than fifty years after Robert’s donation, it is difficult to
grasp just how significant this sum of money was at the time, but in 1961 the
average wage in the UK was between £560—£633
26
—although the author
recalls some teachers at his Grammar School earning around £1000 pa—and
so it was somewhere between fifty and one hundred times the contemporary
average wage. Today (2014) that wage is *£25,000, so ‘do the maths’, and
you’ll see that by any standard it was an extraordinary gift. Robert’s wish was
that the money be invested in ‘equities’ and the income generated used to
support the Fund, although the University was given full discretion in such
matters. The original investment schedule however was not particularly ‘pc’
investing as it did in, the Birmingham Small Arms Company, the British
American Tobacco Company and the Distillers Company, but alongside these
were the (nowadays more acceptable), British Oxygen Company, the City of
London Real Property Company, the House of Fraser, Imperial Chemical
Industries (ICI), the International Nickel Company of Canada, and Unigate
Ltd.
Over the years there have been many demands made on the Fund—after
all it was spread to support five expensive departments—but it still exists after
fifty-five years and although these days it has been much degraded, it still buys
the ‘odd bit of equipment’ for which the university is grateful. With this gift,
Robert used what he described to Chirnside as ‘some of his rewards’ to begin
to repay what he always saw as his ‘debt to UCL’, but there was more
significant benefaction to come. This time some of it undoubtedly orchestrated by the Rev. Oscar Muspratt.
18.7 The Penn—Pennsylvania Fellowship
Muspratt was active in all matters regarding Penn and Holy Trinity. He
undoubtedly achieved a great deal of good during his tenancy there, but
equally such dynamic characters sometimes get carried away by the enthusiasm for their ‘pet projects’, and that enthusiasm is not always shared by
others. And so, it was with Muspratt’s determination to revive the contentious issue of the Penn-Pennsylvania link which had last surfaced in 1913;
18 Penn, Buckinghamshire 1949–1976
475