Handley Charity Trust

Charity Details

Full Name: The W A Handley Charity Trust  
Founded: 1963
Type: Independent
Where Operates: North East England
Headquarters: Newcastle, NE2 1QP
Charity No: 230435

History and Activities

Enterprise and philanthropy often go hand-in-hand. Money is made by an imaginative and industrious individual who feels compelled to give back to society to help others. This pattern is reflected in the life of Wilfred Augustine Handley (1901 -1982) who was born in Essex but raised in Gateshead where his father was a ship’s blacksmith turned dental mechanic. Wilfred likewise became a dental mechanic while his younger brother Cecil became a dentist, having trained at the dental school of King’s College, Newcastle.

While living in Chillingham Road, Heaton, Wilfred recognized the power of sodium hypochlorite, which he used in his work, as a general cleaning agent. The chemical, a bleaching agent, was a by-product of other processes and could be bought cheaply from the ICI works at Billingham. In 1929, Wilfred set up the Hygiene Disinfectant Company to sell the chemical to housewives in brown jugs, sold door to door, as a general purpose cleaning agent, especially valuable for getting washing whiter. He called the product Domestos. It took off. Large-scale production and distribution, boosted by mass marketing, followed. In 1961 the business was sold to Lever Brothers and Wilfred realized his fortune. Domestos, like Fairy, another Newcastle brand, remains a UK market leading product.

The W A Handley Trust was established in 1963 by an initial gift from Wilfred of £120,000, which was augmented down to 1983 by further gifts and legacies. The policy of the trust is to provide regular annual support for a large number of North East charities – to social care, health, educational, religious, cultural and environmental organizations – plus on-off grants to support specific projects or initiatives. In 2016/17, grants worth £287,429 were made to 127 organizations, averaging £2,263, with 54.2% allocated to regular donations and 45.8% to occasional grants.

Vital Statistics (year to 31/03/2017)

Website
https://www.charitychoice.co.uk/the-w-a-handley-charity-trust-171221

References