Re Richardson Deceased Ireland and Another v Spalding and Another
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Judge | THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS,LORD JUSTICE JENKINS,LORD JUSTICE HODSON |
| Judgment Date | 22 July 1952 |
| Judgment citation (vLex) | [1952] EWCA Civ J0722-4 |
| Court | Court of Appeal |
| Date | 22 July 1952 |
[1952] EWCA Civ J0722-4
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF JUDICATURE
COURT OF APPEAL
THE MASTER OF THE ROLLS (Sir Raymond Evershed)
LORD JUSTICE JENKINS and
LORD JUSTICE HODSON.
MR. J. MONCKTON (instructed by Messrs. Humphrey Razzall & Co., agents for Mr. H. W. Rennison, Great Driffield, Yorks) appeared on behalf of the Appellant (Defendant) Betty Margaret Lloyd.
MR. H. LIGHTMAN (instructed by Messrs. Torr & Co.) appeared on behalf of the Respondents (Defendants) Albert Spalding and Raymond Victor Gardner.)
MR. MAURICE BERKELEY (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) appeared on behalf of Her Majesty's Attorney General.
MR. BROOKS (instructed by Messrs. Humphrey Razzall & Co., agents for Mr. H. W. Rennison, Great Driffield, Yorks) appeared on behalf of Florence Mary Ireland and the Public Trustee.
The testatrix, Miss Edith Elisabeth Richardson, made by her Will in July, 1940, the following provision as regards the second moiety of the residue of her estate. It was to be held upon trust to pay the income to a sister during her life. I pause to note that although Miss Richardson died in 1943 the sister survived until 1950 and it is by reason of her death that the present problem has arisen. The Will continued: "….and after her death my trustees shall transfer the said moiety of the Trust Fund to the following persons namely my brother the said Charles William Henry Richardson the Director of Education for the time being of the City of Bradford and the Headmistresses for the time being of the four Municipal Secondary Schools for Girls of Bradford aforesaid and after the death of my brother the said Charles William Henry Richardson the Headmaster for the time being of the Thornton Grammar School Bradford afore-said as Trustees (hereinafter called "the Scholarship Trustees") to be held by them upon trust to apply the income there of for the purpose of providing and maintaining scholarships to be known as "the Richardson Scholarships" upon and subject to the terms and provisions of a Trust Deed to be prepared by them as soon as conveniently may be after the death of my said sister Hilda May Richardson for the use and benefit of boys and girls who shall be descendants of my father Thomas Henry Richardson and who shall be desirous of obtaining any of the degrees granted by the University of London and who shall be regarded by the Scholarship Trustees after examination or otherwise as proper persons to whom Scholarships should be awarded but in the event of there being no satisfactory application at any time from any of such children or in the event of the number of such applications received from these children being insufficient for the number of Scholarships which it shall have been decided to award at any time then for the use and benefit of boys andgirls who shall be descendants of the late George Dewhirst of 24 Cumberland Road Broadford aforesaid or of the said Dorothy Stott or of the said Maria Peel and who shall be desirous of obtaining any of such degrees as aforesaid and who shall be regarded by the Scholarship Trustees after examination or otherwise as proper persons to whom Scholarships should be awarded but in the event of there being no satisfactory applications at any time from any of such children or in the event of the number of such applications received from these children being insufficient for the number of scholarships which it shall have been decided to award at any time then for the use and benefit of girls leaving any of the Bradford Municipal Secondary Schools and who shall be desirous of obtaining any of such degrees as aforesaid and who shall be regarded by the Scholarship Trustees after examination or otherwise as proper persons", etc.
The question is, whether the testatrix has effected a valid charitable disposition? Since the case in this Court ( of In re Compton 1945 Chancery Division, 123) the law in relation to educational trusts cannot, I think, be regarded as in doubt. That was a case, it may be remembered, where the testator had sought to establish an educational trust for the benefit of the descendants of named persons, adding the further qualification that his benefaction was "to be used to fit the children to be servants of God serving the Nation not as students for research of any kind". I should add that in that case there was no provision for finding suitable objects of the trust from the general public, or a section of the public, in the event of the descendants of the three named persons not sufficing to exhaust the available income. The conclusion was stated by Lord Greene in his well known Judgment and I venture only to refer to two passages. The first is the adoption of the statement in Tudor on Charities at page 128, which...
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