History

The Trust was established in 1924 by Sir Halley Stewart with a capital sum and over subsequent years he established guidelines governing awards.

Historical Timeline

1924

Sir Halley Stewart founds the Trust

1930s

The Trust hosted a variety of interwar lectures delivered by eminent social theoreticians, economists, theologians and scientists.

The lectures reflected many of Sir Halley’s values and interests and supported the Trust’s main aims to advance religion, advance education and relieve poverty.

1935

Sir Halley hosted the first reception for grantees at his home.

This began a tradition for the Trust to hold events and other initiatives to help grantees to share their learning and ideas, reduce duplication, and explore new avenues for work and partnerships.

1937

Sir Halley passed away, having left guidance for the Trust that has been followed ever since by his descendants and experts on the Trustee Board.

1950s

The Trust began to fund Dame Cicely Saunders, a pioneer of palliative care who radically changed the world’s view of care for the dying, at a time when the only treatment generally offered was pain relief.

The Trust supported Cicely with various grants over the next 35 years of her career, and she is internationally recognised as the founder of the model hospice movement.

1989

The Trust played a key role in the establishment of the Association of Charitable Foundation (ACF).

The Trust’s Adminstrator, Polly Fawcitt, was a founder member of ACF’s steering committee. One of the Trust’s Honorary Secretaries, Bill Kirkman, also joined ACF’s Executive Committee and in the early 1990’s became one of ACF’s Vice Chairmen. In addition, the Trust funded some of the ACF’s early activities, including sponsoring the ACF’s annual lectures on philanthropy in 1996.

1990s

The Trust funded three Sir Halley Stewart Teaching Fellowships in Religious Education, who have gone on to have exceptional careers and made national impacts in their fields.

2001

The Trust created The Werner Jacobson / Halley Stewart Scholarships in memory of Professor Jacobson, who had been supported by the Trust as a grantee and who then served as a Trustee for many years.

2002-7

The Trust awarded start up funding to establish a strategic partnership between PET (a not-for-profit company in South Africa) and Freeplay, a commercial company with world-leading expertise in human-powered technology.

The wind-up, power-free Fetal Heart Rate Monitor that was developed as a result of this collaboration is a portable, lightweight, high sensitivity doppler designed for operation in low resource settings. It enables the measurement of the fetal heart rate during labour, so that midwives can detect an abnormal heart rate early and take necessary actions to save the child.

2013

The Trust provided seedcorn funding to establish LandWorks - an innovative programme that provides intensive, wraparound support, occupational training and a strong community for people leaving prison.

Trainees are helped to shake off their criminal identity and rebuild their lives with meaning and purpose, so that they can go on to find jobs and become valued members of society. 11 years later and the charity is a leader in its field, having won the Overall Award for Excellence at The Charity Awards in 2024. Recidivism rate of participants within a year of graduating is just 5%, against a national average of 37%, and employment rate is 94%.

2015

The Trust held its first residential grantee networking event.

Prior to this the Trust had held regular Grantee Reception events and several symposia, and from 2015 onwards it also added a variety of other events for grantees to share information with one another and explore potential partnerships, including this criminal justice focussed residential networking event, plus in-person and virtual round table events.

2016

The Trust and the Wates Foundation developed a partnership to jointly fund a project to design and pilot an outreach, independent specialist legal advice and advocacy service for parents in prison.

Prisoners’ Advice Service in partnership with Rights of Women delivered a very successful three-year project, which was independently evaluated by the Lancaster University and disseminated widely. The two funders began a new partnership in 2022 focussed on the youth homelessness sector.

2024

The Trust celebrated turning 100 years old with a series of presentations, panel discussions, publication launches and a special drinks reception in October 2024.

Charity ‘The Cambridge Friendship Trust’, operating as Lyn’s House Cambridge

“Thank you very much for this funding. It contributed to a chain of events that led to the creation of the neurodisability clinic, allowing early recognition and intervention for children with cerebral palsy.”

Born on the Edge