Lord Wharton's Bible Charity

Lord Wharton founded his Bible charity shortly before he died in 1696. He left land near York, which subsequently became known as the Bible Lands. in order to maintain the Trust. This land was sold in 1871, but by then the Trust had built up sufficient financial reserves to maintain its activities right up to the present day. His intention was to present Bibles to children to be their personal possession (ie not just for use in school or church). Initially Bibles were available in those parts of England where Philip Lord Wharton had lived or owned property, ie Yorkshire, Cumberland, Westmorland and Buckinghamshire, but by the twentieth century this became expanded to include all parts of the United Kingdom. The conditions were that the recipient had to be able to read, and to be able to recite from memory Psalms 1,15,25,37,101,113 and 145. Initially 1050 Bibles were distributed each year; in the early years of the twentieth century several times that number. Lord Wharton was a puritan and a non-conformist. His original instructions were that the Shorter Catechism as approved by the Westminster Assembly of Divines (and still known today as the Scottish Catechism) should be distributed with the King James translation of the Bible to the recipients. Over the years the original trustees died and were replaced in the main by Anglican clergymen, who mis-interpreted Lord Wharton's wishes and began including the Church of England Catechism instead of the Scottish Catechism, and by the nineteenth century the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer (sometimes in separate volumes, sometimes combined) were distributed almost exclusively through the Church of England. However a few free church ministers (including John Boyd from Low Row in Swaledale, and Bryan Dale from Bradford) knew the correct history of the Trust and approached the Charity Commissioners for re-dress. This was partially successful in that the Charity Commissioners decreed that the Trust should be divided into two - one half to be administered by the Church of England and the other by the free churches. Although at the time some free-churchmen still felt that they had been cheated it is to be remembered that Lord Wharton himself was always in favour of toleration and comprehension and so would probably not have dis-approved of the present day arrangements. Today the Trust is still alive and active and presents Bibles to under 18 year olds. In keeping with modern educational practice the conditions now require bible study rather than too much learning by rote, and modern translations of the bible are also available. So such bibles are not rare. Many thousands have been presented through more than 300 years but it does show that the original recipients worked hard to earn their Bibles and will probably have treasured them for a lifetime. The book which gives most information on the Bible Trust is: "The Good Lord Wharton" by Bryan Dale published 1906. There is also some information in: "History of the Dales Congregational Churches" by Thomas Whitehead published 1930. (Both these books are long out of print but may sometimes be obtained secondhand.)