Lingfield United Trust –  Past and Present             A charity through the centuries

Lingfield United Trust’s charitable aim is to relieve the needs of poor persons of good character who are aged or infirm and have resided in the ancient parish of Lingfield, through:
• The provision and maintenance of almshouse accommodation
• The provision of grants
We report back to Henry Smith Charity, the Charity Commission and Companies House.

Benefactors

Henry Smith
Our greatest benefactor, Henry Smith, a wealthy city businessman and money lender, bought land and property in London. He died in 1628 and left £1,000, to establish a charity for the poor. Many villages in Surrey have benefited. Most of the money that LUT distributes comes annually from the Henry Smith Charity.

Other benefactors left money in their wills. LUT still receives modest amounts from the investments of:-
John Hole, died in 1659
William Saxby, whose will was proved in 1685
John Piggott, died in 1712
John Smith by an indenture in 1871
Edward Bird Wearing, whose will was proved in 1873
Charlotte HoChee for the founding of HoChee Cottages by Deed of Gift in 1874, including the subsidiary charity of Sidney Poole Lowdell, founded by will proved in 1922, for the upkeep and repair of HoChee Cottages.
Mary Stenning, whose will was proved in 1896
Rosabelle Mary Elizabeth St. Clair, whose will was proved in 1905
Emma St. Clair, two charities, whose will was proved in 1909

Originally parish vicars and churchwardens allocated the funds. The ancient parish of Lingfield included Dormansland, Felcourt and parts of Baldwins Hill, so that is the area Lingfield United Trust covers today.

A document from the Charity Commission, dated 1925, lists our benefactors and sets out the arrangements for Trustees to administer the bequests from all the above-named benefactors. We have a record book dating from 1876, with details of recipients and why they received a grant. In those days the average grant was 13 shillings.

Christmas Distribution
Even in the late 1970’s the charity continued to advertise for people in need to apply for coal vouchers at Christmas. Then, for a while, the charity distributed vouchers to spend in local shops.

Successful applicants now receive a cheque or a payment into their bank. At Christmas 2024 we issued payments of £80 to single people over 60 and £100 to couples. 123 households received a share of £10,560. Christmas application forms are posted on the website in the Autumn.

Grants to individuals and families in need
Throughout the year, LUT helps people of ALL ages. Recent cases for assistance were to meet the cost of a pair of specialist shoes, a washing machine for a pensioner no longer able to go to the launderette in East Grinstead. Cases for assistance forms are available on the website.

Grants to organisations that support our aims
Over the past three winters LUT funded “Warm Hubs” in Lingfield and Dormansland, where residents could be warm, have a free hot drink and a kind welcome.

Recently we helped with the cost of setting up a Special Education Needs Group in Dormansland. We met the hall hire fees of the “Food for Thought“ project. We made grants to Lingfield Marathon Minibus and to both Primary schools, to enable children to access extra- curricular activities. We acceded to a request from YE (Young Epilepsy) to purchase a polytunnel for students to learn about horticulture.

The application form for organisations is on the website.

Provision and management of almshouses
At present we provide and manage two almshouses, the HoChee Cottages, situated in Dormansland at the junction of Dormans Road and Plough Road.

John HoChee was a Chinese man, born in Canton in 1789, who worked with or for the East India Company. As a result, HoChee got to know John Elphinstone, whose father also worked for the Company. Shortly after Elphinstone retired and came back to England, John HoChee came over and took on the management of Elphinstone’s estate.

In 1823 John HoChee married Charlotte Mole and they had eight children, all but one born in Lingfield. John died in 1860 and shortly after his death his widow built a double cottage. In May 1874 the cottages were given by Trust Deed to the Vicar and Churchwardens of Lingfield. They were to be called “The
HoChee Almshouses” in memory of Charlotte’s late husband.

The cottages were extended in the 1920s and again in 1953, when their management was taken over by Lingfield United Charities, which became Lingfield United Trust in 2013. By this time the cottages needed extensive renovation to provide comfortable accommodation to modern standards. This was carried out and each dwelling now has reasonably sized accommodation with a sitting room, a bedroom, a kitchen and a shower room compliant with the standards recommended for almshouse accommodation. Each cottage has a private garden and off-road parking.

Once the renovation was completed two couples moved in, and one of the couples is still there. In 2024 we had a vacant cottage. We advertised for potential residents and received twelve applications, which indicates the demand for such accommodation in the area. One reason may be that our WMC (which stands for Weekly Maintenance Charge) is less than 70% of the commercial rent for an equivalent property.

What next?
All the residents appear to be very happy living in the cottages, and taking this with the number of people who applied for the vacancy leads us to believe there is considerable demand for such accommodation in the Lingfield and Dormansland area. In view of this, the LUT is keen to increase the number of almshouses we manage. We would be interested to learn about suitable sites in our catchment area.

For the record, Lingfield United Trust is a member of the Almshouse Association and the trustees have attended relevant training courses.

Supporting our aims
Donors We are grateful for the vision of former benefactors and will be pleased to hear from potential donors.
Trustees If anyone is interested in becoming a trustee and joining our board, please see the details on our website www.lingfieldunitedtrust.org. Alternatively send us an email at enquiries@lingfieldunitedtrust.org

May 2025