Kindred Grants and support for Henry Smith’s descendants

When Henry Smith died in 1628 he left money in his Will to help people in his family (his ‘Kindred’) who were in financial need. We have kept a family tree of Kindred since that time. Many branches of the family tree date back to the 1600s. Everyone on the family tree is descended from Henry’s sister Joan as Henry had no children.

Today we would describe Henry as a philanthropist. He was born in Wandsworth in 1548 and spent his adult life in London. He died a wealthy man as a result of his business dealings, and set up a range of trusts to govern how his fortune should be used. The Henry Smith Foundation has existed since Henry’s death in 1628 and was registered in its current form in 1963.

Throughout the centuries the onus was on Kindred to contact us to register themselves or other family members (e.g when they married or had children). However, we know there are many branches of the family who, for one reason or another, stopped registering with us. Lots of these families will not have passed on information about the Kindred programme to their descendants, so many people are unaware of their link to our family tree, or the help we can offer. Because of this we are undertaking a project to find and reconnect with these families.

This kind of research has only recently become possible with the arrival of genealogical websites such as Ancestry, and in recent years there has been a big increase in other information available online, which has helped our research.

Our main way of finding people is the Electoral Roll. A version of it can be searched online.

If someone is not registered to vote, opts out of the published version of the Electoral Roll or if there are lots of people that share the same name, it is more difficult for us to find an address for them, or be sure we are writing to the right person.

Yes, please do, and ask them to get in touch. We are hoping the people we contact will help us find other family members. However, please contact us first to clarify which part of your family is on our tree. Only relatives who share the same link to our family tree will be eligible to register. For instance, cousins on your father’s side of the family would not be eligible if the link to our tree is through your mother’s family.

There were 6,000 people on the family tree when we began our research, of which we estimated c.1,500 were alive. The family tree has grown considerably as a result of our research – more than 4,500 living Kindred are now registered with us.

Where can I find more information about the Kindred programme? There is more information in the Kindred section of our website, including a downloadable guide to the type and range of help we can offer.

Our website address is henrysmith.foundation and the Kindred pages can be found in the What We Fund section.

We will need to ask you a few questions to confirm we have found the right person, but unless you wish to make an application most people will not need to provide us with any other information at this stage.

It is a good idea to be registered with us, regardless of whether or not you need help now as there may come a time when we can help you or your descendants. If you were to need help in a hurry – e.g. in the event of a crisis, we would be able to respond much faster if you are already registered.

Yes, once you are registered we would be happy to send you a family tree. Our records date back to the 1600s.

Please phone us on 020 7264 4970 and select option 2 from the menu to reach the Kindred Team, or email us at kindred@henrysmithcharity.org.uk. Our address, should you prefer to write to us, is The Henry Smith Foundation, Caledonia House, 3rd Floor, 223 Pentonville Road, London N1 9NG.

Please get in touch. We have been as careful as we can to ensure we write to the right people, but it is not always easy to be 100% sure. We will be able to clarify with a couple of quick questions if you are not the person we are looking for.

We are best known for the grants we make to organisations throughout the UK. Our grant programmes distribute around £50 million each year, mainly to support organisations and projects that help combat social disadvantage and poverty in disadvantaged areas or communities. You can find out more about our work on our website. You can also check us out using the ‘Search for a charity’ section of the Charity Commission’s website. Our charity number is 230102.