The history of Strand Parishes Trust can be traced back to the late 1500s, with its origins in the ecclesiastical parishes of St Mary le Strand and St Clement Danes.
The Trust was originally formed of many small charities, each supported by the generosity of former residents of the parishes who left endowments - the income from which was to provide assistance to those in need within its boundaries. Subsequent changes in demographics enlarged the area to include residents of what is now the London Borough of the City of Westminster.
Over the years many of the founding organisations merged to form more financially robust institutions and, in 2007, this culminated in the creation of Strand Parishes Trust, representing the merger of the last four remaining charities:
This charity was formed on January 24th 1667, when Mrs Alice Loveday established a rent charge of £7 per annum on her land at Peckham in the parish of Camberwell. Mrs. Loveday was the widow of Nicholas Loveday, who is said to have been 'oftimes' a past churchwarden of the parish of St Mary le Strand, then called St Mary le Savoy, 'out of a pious intencon to releive certaine poore people'
Little is known of Isaac Duckett. He is said to have died in 1620, during the reign of King James the First, leaving in trust a sum of money, the income from which was to be used as "a reward for dutiful housemaids" in the area where he had lived and worshipped. Brother of the vicar of St Andrew's Church, Holborn, Isaac Duckett was a goldsmith whose bequest was to be used to assist suitable recipients in two parishes: St Clement Danes and St Andrew's Holborn.
Originally formed in 1623 as Peele's Charity, St. Mary le Strand Parochial also included the charities of Loveday (1667), Martin (1751) and Wingrave (1819), each named after their founding individuals, all of whom left legacies for the parish.
St. Clement Danes Parochial was founded in 1880 from the amalgamation of twenty-two individual charities, including some of the longest-established institutions such as Mudeford's, Robert Read's (1586) and Vale & Bissell's (1593).
© 2017 Strand Parishes Trust, Registered Charity No: 1121754