TUTBURY PARISH CHARITIES

• <corpname>Richard Wakefield Charity, c 1730, Tutbury, Staffordshire</corpname>
• <corpname>Smith Charity, c 1672, Tutbury, Staffordshire</corpname>
• <corpname>Rolleston Charity, c 1672, Tutbury, Staffordshire</corpname>

Deposited by the Trustees of Tutbury Parish Charities

The Richard Wakefield Charity was founded by a deed of 10 August 1730, which endowed a schoolmaster and a free school in Tutbury, and by Wakefield's will of 15 August 1733 which provided for almshouses and annual charitable distributions. The small estate in Tutbury out of which the charity was financed was painstakingly built up over the 17th century largely by Richard Wakefield the elder, Joseph Wakefield the elder and Joseph Wakefield the younger, all of them being mercers in Tutbury. Richard Wakefield the founder of the charity, appears to have been the brother of Joseph the younger and first appears in deeds in c.1677 when he was described as "Richard Wakefield of Tutbury, gent.". He soon seems to have moved to Lichfield, however, as he is invariably described as Richard Wakefield of Lichfield, gent., in deeds between 1688 and 1739.

The Smith Charity was founded by Thomas Smith of Kedleston by his will of 4 February 1672 in which he devised £100, the interest of which was to be distributed among the poor of Tutbury. In 1721, a body of trustees, later to become the Wakefield Charity Trustees, purchased a piece of land in Stockley Park known as the Poors Piece to consolidate the original endowment of £100.

The Rolleston Charity was founded by the will of William Rolleston of 23 July 1672 in which he bequeathed £100 to the poor of Rolleston as well as providing an almshouse in Rolleston. The income was derived from his lands in Acton, Middlesex.