Catalogue description Records of the Commissioners for Charitable Uses

Under statutes of 1597 and 1601, commissioners for charitable uses were appointed from time to time. The lord chancellor was empowered to issue a commission to bishops and others to inquire by jury into the provisions of charitable bequests, donations and trusts, in such cases as gave rise to complaints or disputes, to establish whether or not the original purpose was being abused, and to make decrees as appropriate.

The commissions were issued under the great seal and their inquisitions and decrees were returnable into Chancery; routinely they were deposited in the Petty Bag Office, but, in cases where exceptions were made to the decrees, reference was made to the chancellor, in particular because the legal interpretation of uses, despite the intervention of the Statute of Uses (1535), remained an equitable matter determinable in Chancery until uses were abolished in 1925. The chancellor would, accordingly, make further inquiry and then confirm, modify or annul the decrees made by the commissioners.

By the end of the eighteenth century the position of charitable trusts had become a cause of growing concern. Many trusts had fallen into the hands of inefficient or corrupt trustees and were fettered by archaic provisions.

An effort to assess the extent of the problem by the Returns of Charitable Donations Act 1786 failed to yield positive results, while attempts to deal with maladministration by two acts in 1812 proved ineffectual. In 1818, commissioners, under the chairmanship of Lord Brougham, were appointed by statute to inquire into the nature and management of charities intended to provide for the education of the poor. In the following year the commissioners' brief was extended to other charities by the Charities Inquiry (England) Act, although certain charities, such as those relating to universities and public schools, and those supported by voluntary donations, were excepted.

The commissioners' duties were to examine and investigate the state of charities. They also made suggestions and recommendations on such matters as the correction of irregularities and possible administrative improvements. The powers of the commissioners were subsequently varied by successive enabling acts and other legislation but their basic constitution remained unchanged until the expiry of their final commission in 1837, an attempt in 1835 to establish them as a permanent board having proved abortive. However, winding-up work continued after 1837 and their office remained in business until 1841.

Advocates of charitable trust reform were faced with the powerful opposition of the Church, the courts, the companies, and the universities. A special commission was, however, established by royal warrant in 1849 and recommended the establishment of a permanent board of charity commissioners along the lines envisaged in 1835. A bill introduced in 1851 to effect this was not successful, but following a change of government in 1852 a less comprehensive measure was introduced and this resulted in the establishment of a permanent Charity Commission in October 1853.