This document was deposited with us on behalf of the trustees of Chambers Charity in February 1985 and was then assigned the accession number 2355a.
The document relates to Chambers Charity, the origin of which is to the will of John Chambers (before 1732), rector of Standlake at the time, who bequeathed his part of the land called Langleys in the parish of Standlake and the yearly rent to be appropriated for teaching poor children of the parish to read. He left the choice of poor children to the discretion of the ministers and churchwardens. The land devised by Dr Chambers contains 12 acres; 9 arable and 3 meadow. The minister and trustees acted as trustees of the charity. The rent of the land was paid to the schoolmaster and for his income he instructed 12 children in reading.
The school was certainly operating in 1819 and in 1833 according to an educational enquiry there were three daily schools one of which was the Chambers Charity foundation with an endowment of £11. By the late 19th century the charity no longer provided free education for 12 children but the money was put into general school funds. In the 20th century whilst the charity has not been merged like other charities in the parish, the money from it now provides for school prizes and small grants for those who win university or technical college entrance. The whereabouts of other records of the charity are not known.
Catalogued by Jeanette Grisold, August 1993.