Everything about William Harpur totally explained
Sir William Harpur (c.
1496 –
27 February 1574) was a
merchant from
Bedford who moved to
London, amassed a large fortune, and became
Lord Mayor of London. In
1566 he and his wife Dame Alice left an
endowment to support certain
charities including
education. The endowment became the
Harpur Trust which supports five
independent schools in Bedford today.
Career
The name Harper (or Harpur as it was always spelled from
1764 onwards) is mentioned around
1500 in connection with families from Bedford and
Biddenham. We know little detail about the life of William. It seems likely that he attended the school in what is now Mill Street, Bedford, then School Lane. It isn't certain whether he was a
tailor. He was certainly a shrewd businessman. He went to London and was admitted to the
guild of Merchant Taylors in
1533. There he'd have come into contact with the leading citizens of the day. We know that in 1553 he was elected
alderman for the ward of Bridge Without and, three years later, he was elected alderman of the more prestigious ward of Dowgate in preference to three other candidates, one of whom was
Thomas Gresham. It had become the custom, after the dissolution of the monasteries, to appoint aldermen as governors to the royal hospitals. Harpur was treasurer of
St Bartholomew's Hospital. He served as
sheriff from
1556-
1557, and became Lord Mayor of London in
1561. In
1562 he was
knighted by the
Queen.
The endowment
It was at this time that he arranged Bedford’s endowment. On
30 September 1562 he bought 13
acres of land and 3
roods of meadow for £180 13s at
Holborn, which was just a little way outside the expanding city of
London, and therefore this was a good investment. On
22 April 1566 he and Dame Alice conveyed the purchase to Bedford corporation.
Later life
Harpur continued to lead an active life until he was over 70. He contributed to the purchase of a site for Gresham’s Exchange in
1565. He was regularly in attendance at the meetings of the Merchant Taylors. His wife died on
10 October 1569. William Harpur married Margaret Lethers in September
1570. He died in
1574 aged 77. He was buried, according to his wishes, in the churchyard of St Paul’s, Bedford. His wife put up a brass to him with the inscription: “Hereunder lieth buried the body of Sir William Harpur, knight, alderman and late Lord Mayor of the city of London, with Dame Margaret, his last wife.” The plaque is on the south wall of the church, making the word “hereunder” slightly incorrect. Dame Margaret herself remarried twice before dying in Bedford on
3 November 1596.
Legacy
We know very little detail about the life of Sir William Harpur, but he rose from a humble background to become a highly successful man of business. The Harpur Trust continues today, supporting education as well as leisure activities for the people of Bedford. The five schools which are governed by the trust are
Bedford School,
Bedford High School,
Bedford Modern School,
Dame Alice Harpur School and
Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School.
The name Harpur is borne today by the estate office, a street in London, a street in Bedford, the
Harpur electoral ward of Bedford, a hospital ward, a group of
almshouses, the
Harpur Suite (former assembly rooms by the Central Library), and a shopping centre.
Further Information
Get more info on 'William Harpur'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://william_harpur.totallyexplained.com">William Harpur Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
