About the William Barrow's Charity - registered charity (1172933)

The Trustees and the Clerk

The Trustees of the William Barrow’s Charity in Sittingbourne have all lived and predominantly worked within Swale. Their backgrounds are diverse, with some actively involved in farming, education or property. Some Trustees live within the Parochial Parish of Borden and others outside of it. However, all Trustees have a good local knowledge of Swale and the Parochial Parish of Borden, allowing them to manage the objects of the Charity’s Scheme effectively.

The Clerk is Stuart Mair. The Clerk is Secretary to the Trustees and all contact with the William Barrow’s Charity should be via the Clerk.

The Objectives of the Charity

The Objects of the Charity are:-

• the relief of persons, in particular but not exclusively, resident in the Parochial Parish of Borden who are in need, hardship or distress, in particular to those aged 60 years or more, by

a) Making grants of money to them;

b) Providing or paying for goods, services or facilities for them; or

c) Making grants of money to other persons or bodies who provide goods, services or facilities to those in need

The Trustees may award grants of money, provide or pay for goods, services or facilities, or make grants of money to other persons or bodies who provide goods, services or facilities for those in need. 

• to advance the education of persons under the age of 25 who are in need of financial assistance and are resident in the Parochial Parish of Borden by

a)   Offering support to local schools that is not provided by Statutory Authorities; and

b)   Awarding Scholarships, Bursaries and similar awards to those going into tertiary education.

The Trustees promote education by the provision of items, services and facilities for Borden Grammar School and Borden Church of England Primary School. The Trustees may also award scholarships, bursaries and grants to students resident in the Parochial Parish of Borden to assist in their further education.

The Charity may also contribute towards such charitable purposes for the general benefit of the inhabitants of the Parochial Parish of Borden, as the Trustees think fit.

About William Barrow

Born in 1636 at Bethersden, Kent into a family of comfortably well-off yeomen, William was still a baby when his mother died and he was brought up by his father and stepmother.

During his long life, William married three times. The first occasion was when he was 21, in Borden, the home parish of his bride, Susanna, a young widow with property. The couple lived at the Homestead in the Street, Borden - a farm which William had inherited and which had already belonged to the Barrow family for generations.

William and Susanna had four daughters, then after twenty years of marriage she died. That same year William Barrow married again, another widow, in Borden Church. This marriage was childless and lasted for 22 years before his wife died.

After just a few months, in his sixties, he embarked on matrimony once again to another widow with property. It must have been a great sadness to him in his old age that his daughters had predeceased him and he had no surviving children to whom he could pass on all his estates.

William was a man of considerable wealth - some inherited, some gained by marriage settlements and some created by his own acumen. He owned farms in eighteen parishes.

He was not a good landlord - rents were too high and properties in poor repair. He would have been unpopular with his tenants and no doubt they would have been surprised to hear that he left a charitable will.

William neglected to make a will until he lay on his deathbed in 1707, aged 71. The idea of the charity appears to have come to him in his last hours, as he considered his past life. He regretted having been so grasping. The will appointed four friends to hold virtually all of his property in trust to give the rents and profits to the poor widows and poor men of the parish of Borden.

William Barrow’s name has been blessed innumerable times since his death by the recipients of his charity.