- Robert Aske (merchant)
Robert Aske (
24 February 1619 –27 January 1689 ) was a merchant in theCity of London . He is chiefly remembered from the charitable foundation created from his estate, which operates two schools in Hertfordshire,Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School andHaberdashers' Aske's School for Girls .Aske was the son of an affluent
draper . Aske wasapprentice d to John Trott, ahaberdasher (dealer inraw silk ) and East India Company merchant. Aske became a of theWorshipful Company of Haberdashers in 1643 and analderman of theCity of London Corporation in 1666. He became Master of the Haberdashers Company, but was removed from that position by James II in 1687 when theCatholic king lost faith in Aske, aProtestant .Despite marrying twice, Aske had no children and left the bulk of his sizable estate, £32,000, to the Company for charitable purposes. He directed that £20,000 was to be used to buy a piece of land within one
mile ofLondon upon which was to be built a "hospital " (almshouses ) for 20 poor members of the Company and a school for 20 sons of poor freemen of the Company. The remaining £12,000 was left to form theHaberdashers' Aske's Foundation , of which the Company istrustee . The charity was incorporated by a privateAct of Parliament in 1690.An almshouse and school, Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, were built on 21
acre s inHoxton in 1690 to a design byRobert Hooke . A further 1,500 acres (6 km²) inKent were acquired to provide an annual income of over £700. The buildings were demolished in 1824 and reconstructed in 1825 to a design byD. R. Roper . The almshouses closed to allow the school to expand in 1874 to take 300 boys and 300 girls, and a second and third school were opened inHatcham in 1875. The Hoxton school move to two sites, inHampstead for the boys and Acton for the girls, in 1898, and both schools are now reunited inElstree . The Hatcham schools are now merged as a singlestate school , an Academy known asHaberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College .Aske shares his name with another Robert Aske, who was executed for
treason in 1537. The first Robert Aske was unmarried and is unlikely to be a direct ancestor of the second, although they are likely to be a member of the same family fromYorkshire .References
* [http://www.oldhabs.com/WebArchive/RobertAske.html Robert Aske I and II]
* [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22132 History of the schools]
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