Morden College is a long-standing charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 which has been providing residential care in Blackheath

Blackheath, London

Blackheath is a district of South London, England. It is named from the large open public grassland which separates it from Greenwich to the north and Lewisham to the west...

, south-east London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 for over 300 years.

It was founded by philanthropist

Philanthropist

A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...

 Sir John Morden

John Morden

Sir John Morden, 1st Baronet was a successful English merchant and philanthropist who also served briefly as an MP...

 in 1695 as a home for 'poor Merchants... and such as have lost their Estates by accidents, dangers and perils of the seas or by any other accidents ways or means in their honest endeavours to get their living by means of Merchandizing.'

Morden College was built (to a design sometimes attributed to Sir Christopher Wren

Christopher Wren

Sir Christopher Wren FRS is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history.He used to be accorded responsibility for rebuilding 51 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill, completed in 1710...

, but largely carried out by Edward Strong, his master mason) on the north-east corner of the Wricklemarsh estate. It was described by Daniel Lysons

Daniel Lysons

Daniel Lysons was a notable English antiquary and topographer of the late 18th and early 19th century, who published the four-volume The Environs of London ....

 in Environs of London (1796):
The original college buildings were intended to house 40 single or widowed men. Today, Morden College is a Grade I listed building (designated 19 October 1951).

Turkey Company Period (1708 - 1826)

College trustees were drawn from the Turkey Company.
Lysons reported:
Subsequent donations to the college by prominent Turkey merchants and their wives helped assure that the college would survive. Lysons recorded those donors and the totals of their gifts:

Year	Person	Value of gift
1721	Lady Morden	£100
1723	Sir Charles Cooke Charles Cooke (MP for Grampound) Sir Charles Cooke was an English merchant and politician of the early 18th century. He served as MP for Grampound from 1715 to 1721, was Master of the Worshipful Company of Mercers in 1716, was knighted in January 1717 and appointed Sheriff of London the same year. Following his death he left a...	£100
1729	Sir Peter Delmé Peter Delmé Sir Peter Delmé was a notable English figure in commerce and banking in the early 18th century.Delmé was the third son of Pierre Delmé and Sibella Nightingale...	£100
1751	William Hanger, Esq	£100
1751	Richard Chiswell Richard Chiswell Richard Chiswell was a wealthy English merchant and politician. He served as Whig MP for Calne in Wiltshire from 1715 to 1721, and was a director of the Bank of England.... , Esq	£100
1752	Thomas Cooke, Esq	£114
1764	Francis Levett Levett Levett is an Anglo-Norman territorial surname deriving from the village of Livet-en-Ouche, now Jonquerets-de-Livet, in Eure, Normandy. Ancestors of the earliest Levett family in England, the de Livets were lords of the village of Livet, and undertenants of the de Ferrers, among the most powerful of... , Esq	£200
1772	Richard Chiswell, Esq	£200
1774	Richard Pyke, Esq	£1000
1774	John March, Esq	£500
1775	Sir Gregory Page	£300
1788	John Jamet, Esq	£50

East India Company Period (1827 - 1884)

The first British East India Company

British East India Company

The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...

 Trustee was William Astell

William Astell

William Astell , was an eminent director of the East India Company.Astell was the second son of Godfrey Thornton, a director of the Bank of England. He assumed the name of Astell instead of Thornton in 1807...

. He held the position from 1827 to 1847. John Lubbock

John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury

John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury PC , FRS , known as Sir John Lubbock, 4th Baronet from 1865 until 1900, was a polymath and Liberal Member of Parliament....

 was Chairman of the Trustees from 1873 1889.

Court of Adlermen of the City of London Period (1884 - )

During the 20th century, admission requirements were amended so that the college could accommodate women and married couples, and several new buildings were added. The College also manages other homes in Blackheath and in Beckenham

Beckenham

Beckenham is a town in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is located 8.4 miles south east of Charing Cross and 1.75 miles west of Bromley town...

.