Merry Christmas!
We at Hammersmith United Charities wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Our office reopens on the 2nd of January – enjoy the holidays!
This is a portrait of Bishop John King, painted this year by Matthew Cook for the Charity. Bishop John King (after whom King Street is named) made one of the two original gifts which formed the basis of the charity, one branch of which eventually became known as Hammersmith United Charities.
The Bishop – a committed Calvinist – had a wide ranging career which took him from preacher to the City of York to Vice Chancellor of the University of Oxford before finally becoming Bishop of London in 1611. He made his gift of £20 to buy land to benefit the poor of Fulham in 1620.
Dr Thomas Edwards made his gift of £100 to buy land in 1618 – and it is the 400th anniversary of that gift and its remarkable and enduring legacy which we will be celebrating next year.
