The Gilchrist Educational Trust, UK Registered Charity No. 313877, exists for the ‘benefit, advancement and propagation of education and learning in every part of the world, as far as circumstances will permit’.
Trustees
- Mr Charles E.S. Whitbread (Chair)
- Professor Brendan Godley
- Dr. John H. Hemming
- Professor Frederick L. Pearce
- Mrs Shane Winser
Secretary: Isabel Turner
Gilchrist Educational Trust
The Bridge Workspace, 7b Parkshot
Richmond TW9 2RD
Contact
Please use the grant application forms on each grant page to ensure your application is received by the correct person. For general enquiries about the Trust, please complete the contact form below.
Our story
The Gilchrist Educational Trust was established in 1865, under the terms of a codicil to the Will of Dr Gilchrist who left the residue of his estate to his Trustees. You can read more about Dr John Gilchrist and the history of the Trust here.
Although the Gilchrist Educational Trust is small, it has provided good and varied work in the field of education over the last 150 years.
Dr John Borthwick Gilchrist was born in Edinburgh in 1759. His studies included medicine, so in 1783 he went to India in the health service of the East India Company. His great achievements there were to learn Hindustani and Urdu, persuade the British authorities that civil servants should use these vernacular languages, and to teach and publish extensively about them. Ill-health caused his return in 1804. Settling in Edinburgh, its university gave him a LLD doctorate for his linguistic work. Dr Gilchrist moved to London, where in 1818 the East India Company made him a professor of Indian languages at its new Oriental Institution, where he taught until 1825. He died in Paris in 1841.
Once operational, the Trust was faithful to the aims of Dr Gilchrist and for many years it sponsored scholarships to Britain for students from India, Canada and Australia; scholarships and fellowships for women at Oxford and Cambridge; travelling studentships for secondary-school teachers; an annual series of public lectures in British industrial centres; and grants to the Workers’ Educational Association and for university extension courses.
The work of the Trust gradually evolved along different lines. For some time the Trust helped promising sixth-form school children; but with the coming of ‘free’ education it was decided that its limited resources could be better employed by assisting adult students. Applications are considered from those who have made proper provision to fund a degree or higher education course but find themselves facing unexpected financial difficulties which may prevent completion of it. Applicants will normally be in the last year of the course. Travel Grants from students who need to spend a short period studying abroad as a part of their course; funds are offered to recognised small British expeditions (usually university-based) with three or more members proposing to carry out research of a scientific nature; and finally organisations from any country (but registered in the UK) seeking small grants to help with costs for particular academic educational projects through our Education and Learning Grants.
In 1990 the first Gilchrist Fieldwork Award was offered to support high-level research by senior, salaried scientists. The Trust now offers an award of £15,000 annually to support original and challenging overseas fieldwork carried out by small teams of university academics and researchers.
Chairs of the Trust since 1898
- 1898-1932 Lord (Ughtred) Shuttleworth
- 1932-1946 Lord (Richard) Cavendish
- 1946-1955 Professor James Gray
- 1955-1983 Humphrey Whitbread
- 1983-2000 Lord (Richard) Holderness
- 2000-2013 Lord (Charles) Shuttleworth
- 2013- Charles Whitbread
Other distinguished trustees included Sir Michael Sadler, Lord Cavendish, the Earl of Halifax, Dr C P (later Lord) Snow, Lord Wolfenden, Professor William Mead.