By his will, Dr. Radcliffe directed his Trustees to spend £40,000 on building a library, and today the Radcliffe Camera is one of Oxford’s architectural glories. The Trustees subsequently built two other important Oxford landmarks, the Radcliffe Observatory and the Radcliffe Infirmary, precursor of the modern John Radcliffe Hospital. In 1970 the agricultural holdings which Dr. Radcliffe had bought in 1713 were acquired to become the new town of Milton Keynes, leaving the Trustees with a substantial endowment and increased income.
Biographies of Dr. Radcliffe are available on the internet but there is also a book written by a previous Trustee, Ivor Guest which provides a complete history of Dr. Radcliffe and the activities of The Radcliffe Trust. You can access an interactive PDF of the book here: Dr. John Radcliffe and his Trust. (N.B. this is a large file; 79mb, which may take a few minutes to download depending on your internet connection speed. Please use Adobe reader to get the best reading experience)
An eBook is also available at the British Library for public readers and the Bodleian Library for private readers and researchers.
Today the Trustees of The Radcliffe Trust are;
- Sir Christopher Butcher (Chairman)
- Margaret Casely-Hayford CBE
- Mel Howse
- Sarah Derbyshire MBE
- Ellen Schroder
- David Whelton LVO OBE
- Timothy Wilson
- Countess Elizabeth Howe
- Mike Pickett
Contact details
The Radcliffe Trust,
6 Trull Farm Buildings,
Tetbury Gloucestershire GL8 8SQ
Telephone: 01285 841900
Email: [email protected]