Timeline
From the 1500s onwards London grew, and the marshes of Moorfields and Finsbury were drained. More people in the parish lived outside the City walls than inside. In 1732, by an Act of Parliament, a new parish of St Luke’s Old Street was formed, consisting of the Lordship part of…Read More
The Act of 1732 recognised that there were charitable funds and ordered that they should continue to be divided between the two parts of the original parish as had been past practice. In June 1791 the original parish vestry set up a committee to agree the division of funds between…Read More
In 1877, after much argument with the Charity Commission and with vigorous objections in the House of Commons from both parish vestries, an Act of Parliament was passed setting up a new charity called the Joint Gift Estates for the purpose of owning the land and distributing those funds which…Read More
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the use of charitable funds by the numerous churches in the City of London became something of a public scandal (mainly lavish meals for the trustees and their cronies). The outcry led to a Royal Commission and subsequently the London Parochial Charities Act…Read More
On 17th May 1887, the Charity Commissioners issued a scheme amalgamating and regulating all the St Luke’s charities. This was varied many times down the years until a new principal scheme was approved in 1983. Since that time, St Luke’s has had powers to run its Community Centre and to…Read More
With regard to its parish boundaries, St. Luke’s Ancient parish was subdivided into about six for ecclesiastical purposes during the 19th century. After World War II damage and population changes, all but one of the daughter churches disappeared. Successive local government reorganisations since 1900 have left boundaries which 2 have…Read More
The early Governors of the Foundation built an Institute on Golden Lane, containing reading and reference libraries, news and magazine rooms, classrooms, meeting rooms for use by outside groups and even a rifle range. The Institute also housed the only licensed theatre in the City of London. The Institute was…Read More
One of the principal trusts administered under the Joint Gift Estates was Richard and Anne Mills Charity. Dating from 1710, this was a gift of four good acres of grazing in the Borough of Knightsbridge. In 1972, this land (mostly behind Brompton Oratory) was sold, providing St Luke’s and Cripplegate…Read More
For centuries, St Luke’s main activity was paying pensions and grants to poor people in the parish from money left to them. In March 1982 Queen Elizabeth opened St Luke’s Community Centre for the benefit of its existing pensioners and other residents living in the area. The Centre was previously…Read More