George Ognell’sAbout the charity
George Ognell’s Charity has done one thing for a very long time: kept the roof on a row of four cottages in the centre of Midhurst, and the doors open to older neighbours who could not otherwise afford to live in the town in which they were born.
George Ognell, a Midhurst wool-stapler and twice churchwarden of St Mary Magdalene and St Denys, drew up his will in the spring of 1632. He died later the same year, leaving his three pieces of pasture on the south side of Knockhundred Row in trust to four named neighbours, to the intent “that there be built four small dwellings, for poor and honest folk of the town, that have outlived their means”.
The first four cottages were standing within seven years. The land remained in the charity’s ownership through the Civil War, through the rebuilding of the row in clay tile and Sussex flint in the 1780s, through the long Victorian century in which Midhurst was sustained by the South Downs railway, and through the two world wars, during the second of which the cottages were briefly requisitioned for evacuees from south-east London.
The charity was formally registered with the Charity Commission on 21 August 1963, under the name George Ognell’s Poor Charity. It was renamed George Ognell’s Charity in 2003. In September 2017 it received the residual endowment of George Ognell’s Educational Foundation, a sister charity established by a later bequest, which had ceased grant-making three years earlier. The two endowments are now held together, but accounted for separately.
Today we are six trustees, no paid staff, and somewhere between thirty and forty regular volunteers. Our annual turnover sits, in most years, between £25,000 and £35,000. Our largest single line of expenditure is the maintenance of the buildings; our second is the small grants we make from the Wassail Fund to older neighbours across Midhurst and the surrounding parishes.
We are local in the most literal sense. Every trustee lives within four miles of the row. Every resident has lived in West Sussex for at least ten years. Every grant we make is reviewed in person, around a kitchen table, by at least two trustees who have read the letter that came with it.
Milestones
Three parcels of pasture on Knockhundred Row are conveyed to four named trustees, with instructions to build four small dwellings “for poor and honest folk of the town”.
Built in oak frame and lath, with thatched roofs and a shared well. The earliest residents are recorded in the parish baptism book as “widow Eames”, “widow Knight”, “widow Comper”, and “old Tom Burpham, mercer”.
After a partial fire in the easternmost cottage, the row is taken down and reconstructed by the Midhurst mason Thomas Sherlock. The 1786 datestone is set into the third cottage; the modest classical doorcases survive to the present day.
A bequest from Miss Helena Hollist of Cocking provides the funds for the brick-walled kitchen garden that sits behind the row; the same bequest establishes the small reading shelf in the second cottage.
From September 1940 until the late summer of 1944 the four almshouses house ten children evacuated from the borough of Bermondsey, alongside two of the original residents. The trustees retain a notebook from this period, kept by Mrs Anstruther of the second cottage.
The charity is registered on 21 August 1963 under the name George Ognell’s Poor Charity, charity number 219925. The trustees of the day reconstitute the deed; the four-cottage almshouse and its endowed pasture remain unchanged.
Started by trustee Mary Comper as a list of three old people in Midhurst who saw no one between Friday and Monday. By the end of the first year the visiting list had grown to eleven, and the scheme has been continuous since.
The trustees retire the older name “George Ognell’s Poor Charity”, which one of the residents had described as “not quite the welcome you want over the lintel”. The deed is amended accordingly.
On 12 September 2017 the residual endowment of the Educational Foundation (charity 306444), which had paid small school grants to Midhurst children until 2014, is transferred to the almshouse charity. The combined endowment now also funds the Wassail Fund of welfare grants.
The largest single capital project in twenty years. Funded by a £14,000 grant from a regional foundation, an interest-free loan from the South Downs Almshouse Network, and a public appeal that raised £6,318 from 188 named donors. The eastern slope was re-slated in February and March 2024.
Trustees
Our trustees are listed on the public Charity Commission register. None receives any payment, expenses or benefit in kind from the charity. We co-opt by invitation; vacancies are advertised in the parish magazine and the porch noticeboard of St Mary Magdalene and St Denys.
Chair of trustees · since 2019
A retired district nurse from Easebourne, Judy chairs the trustees and writes the quarterly dispatches by hand before they are typed up. She has known three of our four residents since before any of them were residents.
Treasurer · since 2016
A retired chartered accountant from Stedham, John keeps our books, prepares the annual accounts for independent examination, and chairs the Wassail Fund grants meeting.
Buildings & garden · since 2014
A retired surveyor and lifelong Midhurst resident, Richard knows the mortar of every wall in the row. He looks after the buildings, the garden, and the relationship with our contractors.
Safeguarding lead · since 2021
A retired headteacher from Cocking, Alain holds our safeguarding policy, trains the visiting volunteers, and is the trustee a resident or volunteer is asked to speak to first if anything is wrong.
Trustees not pictured: Glyn Upjohn and Doon Muir, who serve as buildings co-trustee and volunteering co-ordinator respectively. Photographs are taken with each trustee’s consent and replaced on retirement.
Governance
We are an unincorporated charitable trust constituted by the will of George Ognell, dated 1632, and re-stated by a Scheme of the Charity Commissioners dated 14 March 1963. The Scheme is held with our records at the parish office in Easebourne and is available on request.
The trustees meet four times a year, in February, May, August and November, in the parish room at Easebourne. Meetings are open to the public; an agenda is posted on the porch noticeboard of St Mary Magdalene and St Denys ten clear days in advance. Minutes are kept by the treasurer and made available on request.
The chair is elected from among the trustees for a three-year term, renewable once. Trustees are co-opted for an initial four-year term, renewable once, with a hard limit of eight years on the board. Conflicts of interest are recorded in a standing register, reviewed at every meeting, and managed by withdrawal where appropriate.
The accounts are independently examined each year by Mr Geoffrey Allbright FCA of Petworth, and filed with the Charity Commission within the statutory window. Our most recent filed accounts are for the year ending 31 December 2024.
Latest accounts headline
2024 was a slight deficit year, largely because the re-slating of the eastern roof slope was a one-off capital project for which we drew on the building reserve. Income was steady. Donations were almost entirely from named individuals in West Sussex, with one grant from a regional foundation and a small contribution from the parish council towards the open day.