Robert Aske (merchant)

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For other people named Robert Aske, see Robert Aske (disambiguation).

Robert Aske
Alderman Robert Aske
Born
Robert Aske

(1619-02-24)24 February 1619
Died27 January 1689(1689-01-27) (aged 69)
London, England
OccupationSilk merchant
TitleMaster Haberdasher
RelativesAske baronets

Robert Aske (24 February 1619 – 27 January 1689) was a 17th-century English philanthropist, merchant and haberdasher, who served as an Alderman of London.

Aske is remembered primarily for the charitable foundation he endowed nowadays operating two leading schools at Elstree, Haberdashers' Boys' School and Haberdashers' School for Girls, as well as others in the London area.

Life[edit]

Originally from Scarborough in Yorkshire, his father Robert Aske was an affluent draper who apprenticed him to John Trott, a London haberdasher (dealer in raw silk) and East India Company merchant. Admitted to the freedom of the Haberdashers' Company in 1643, Aske was elected an Alderman of the City of London in 1666, becoming Master Haberdasher in 1685.[1]

Royal African Company[edit]

From 1671 Aske held £500 of original stock in the slave-trading Royal African Company,[2] where he was one of 198 stockholders, entitling him to a single vote.[3] Elected Master of the Haberdashers' Company, he was removed from that position by James II in 1687 when the Catholic King lost faith in Aske, a Protestant.

Aske made an investment of £500 (c. £89K as of 2021[4]) in the Royal African Company (RAC) in 1672. This was made under the provisions of the original RAC charter of 1672 which stipulated that individual investors were entitled to one vote for each £100 share. To be elected an Assistant, or director, of the RAC, a shareholder had to hold at least £400 of shares, a regulation requiring those who wished to be entitled to vote as a shareholder in the RAC to show some financial commitment. Aske may have voted and participated in discussion about policy decisions, but there is no evidence that he was appointed an Assistant, or director, of the company. At the time of his death, Aske's estate included £650 (c. £125K as of 2021[4]) of RAC stock. This represents 1.3% of the total value of his estate.[5] Political sensitivity over perceived connections with Aske and slave-trading, caused his name to be dropped from the two Haberdashers' Schools at Elstree in 2021, although it is retained by their governing body.[6]

Charity[edit]

Robert Ask's Charity Act 1690
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Long titleAn Act for settling a charity given by Robert Aske Esq. to the Company of Haberdashers of London.
Citation2 Will. & Mar. Sess. 2. c. 18
Dates
Royal assent20 December 1690
Other legislation
Amended byHaberdashers' Aske's Charity Act 2016
Status: Amended
Haberdashers' Aske's Charity Act 2016
Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long titleAn Act to make provision regarding the identity of the corporators of the Aske Corporation and the status of the Corporation; to provide for property held on trust by the Corporation to be subject to the same legal controls as apply generally to charity property; to make formal provision for internal procedures; and for related purposes.
Citation2016 c. ii
Dates
Royal assent15 September 2016
Other legislation
AmendsRobert Ask's Charity Act 1690
Status: Current legislation
Text of statute as originally enacted

Despite marrying twice, Aske had no children and bequeathed the bulk of his sizeable estate for charitable purposes, £32,000 (equivalent to £6.2m as of 2021[4]), to the livery company which launched his career. Instructing £20,000 to be used to buy land within one mile of the City upon which was to be built a "hospital" (almshouses) for 20 poor members of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers[7] and a school for 20 sons of poor freemen of the Company, the remaining £12,000 established the Haberdashers' Aske's Foundation, of which the Haberdashers' Company remains a trustee, a charity incorporated by a private act of Parliament (2 Will. & Mar. Sess. 2. c. 18) in 1690.[8]

Legacy[edit]

Further information: Haberdashers' Boys' School, Haberdashers' Girls' School, and Haberdashers' Hatcham College

Almshouses and a school, Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, were built on 21 acres in Hoxton by 1692 to the design of Robert Hooke. A further 1,500 acres (6 km²) in Kent were acquired to provide an annual income of over £700. The buildings were demolished in 1824 and reconstructed in 1825 to a design by the architect, David Riddell Roper.[9] The almshouses were closed to enable the school to expand in 1874 to take 300 boys and 300 girls, and a second and third school were opened at Hatcham, Surrey, in 1875. Haberdashers' Aske's School, Hoxton was relocated (to Hampstead for the boys and Acton for the girls) in 1898. Whilst the Haberdashers' Company retained the parish advowson, the boys' school moved to Elstree, opening there in 1961, and both schools were reunited in 1974 when the girls' school opened on an adjoining site. The Hatcham schools are now merged as a single state school, an academy known as Haberdashers' Hatcham College.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ www.british-history.ac.uk
  2. ^ Woodhead, J. R. (1966). "Abrahall - Ayray". The Rulers of London 1660-1689 A Biographical Record of the Aldermen and Common Councilment of the City of London. London. pp. 14–21. Retrieved 1 February 2021 – via British History Online.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. ^ Scott, W. R. (1903). "The Constitution And Finance Of The Royal African Company Of England From Its Foundation Till I720" (PDF). American Historical Review. VIII (2): 245. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  4. ^ a b c UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Robert Aske". The Haberdashers' Company.
  6. ^ Woolcock, Nicola (4 September 2021). "Haberdashers' Aske's schools change name over link to slave trade". The Times. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  7. ^ www.vam.ac.uk
  8. ^ www.parliament.uk
  9. ^ "www.british-history.ac.uk". www.british-history.ac.uk. 22 June 2003. Retrieved 21 July 2013.

Further reading[edit]

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