National Benevolent Charity Archive The National Benevolent Charity was founded by Peter Hervé (1779-1827), a painter of miniatures from Bristol, in 1808. Originally established as committees based in Bristol, Bath, Cheltenham and Gloucester, its aim was to raise money through subscriptions and donations in aid of supporting the aged community via pensions and other payments. In 1812, after a committee was established in London, the organisation became the National Benevolent Institution. The charity was very popular and included members of the Royal Family amongst its supporters. In 1859 Queen Victoria granted the charity a Royal Charter. On its centenary the charity reported that it had awarded over 3300 pensions, had over 6000 members, and their income was over £20,000 (over £2.7 million today). In 1945, after the introduction of the welfare state, the charity moved into providing housing for the elderly in Westgate-on-Sea, Old Windsor and Tetbury. Later, in 2012, the charity began to focus on providing one-off grants to those in need. This expanded to making grants available for organisation seeking to support those in poverty in 2019. See https://www.natben.org.uk/ for more information. 18th-20th century