Sir William Harpur was a merchant

Merchant

A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...

 from Bedford

Bedford

Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire, in the East of England. It is a large town and the administrative centre for the wider Borough of Bedford. According to the former Bedfordshire County Council's estimates, the town had a population of 79,190 in mid 2005, with 19,720 in the adjacent town...

 who moved to 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...

, amassed a large fortune, and became Lord Mayor of London

Lord Mayor of London

The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...

. In 1566 he and his wife Dame Alice gave an endowment

Financial endowment

A financial endowment is a transfer of money or property donated to an institution. The total value of an institution's investments is often referred to as the institution's endowment and is typically organized as a public charity, private foundation, or trust....

 to support certain charities including education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

. The endowment became the Harpur Trust

Harpur Trust

The Bedford Charity is a charity in Bedford, England which is principally concerned with the operation of private schools. The Bedford Charity is the legal name, but it is most often referred to as the Harpur Trust....

, which supports five independent schools in Bedford today.

Career

The name Harper (or Harpur) is mentioned around 1500 in connection with families from Bedford and Biddenham

Biddenham

Biddenham is a large village and a civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, located to the west of Bedford near the A428 road.The village largely serves as a dormitory settlement for Bedford, and also for commuters to London, being on the same side of the town centre as Bedford railway station...

. We know little detail about the life of William. It seems likely that he attended the school in what is now Mill Street, Bedford, then School Lane. It is not certain whether he was a tailor

Tailor

A tailor is a person who makes, repairs, or alters clothing professionally, especially suits and men's clothing.Although the term dates to the thirteenth century, tailor took on its modern sense in the late eighteenth century, and now refers to makers of men's and women's suits, coats, trousers,...

. He was certainly a shrewd businessman. He went to London and was admitted to the guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

 of Merchant Taylors in 1533. There he would have come into contact with the leading citizens of the day. We know that in 1553 he was elected alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 for the ward of Bridge Without and, three years later, he was elected alderman of the more prestigious ward of Dowgate in preference to three other candidates, one of whom was Thomas Gresham

Thomas Gresham

Sir Thomas Gresham was an English merchant and financier who worked for King Edward VI of England and for Edward's half-sisters, Queens Mary I and Elizabeth I.-Family and childhood:...

. It had become the custom, after the dissolution of the monasteries, to appoint aldermen as governors to the royal hospitals. Harpur was treasurer of St Bartholomew's Hospital

St Bartholomew's Hospital

St Bartholomew's Hospital, also known as Barts, is a hospital in Smithfield in the City of London, England.-Early history:It was founded in 1123 by Raherus or Rahere , a favourite courtier of King Henry I...

. He served as Sheriff of the City of London from 1556–1557, and became Lord Mayor of London in 1561. In 1562 he was knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

ed by the Queen

Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...

.

The endowment

It was at this time that he arranged Bedford’s endowment. On 30 September 1562 he bought 13 acre

Acre

The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

s of land and 3 rood

Rood

A rood is a cross or crucifix, especially a large one in a church; a large sculpture or sometimes painting of the crucifixion of Jesus.Rood is an archaic word for pole, from Old English rōd "pole", specifically "cross", from Proto-Germanic *rodo, cognate to Old Saxon rōda, Old High German ruoda...

s of meadow for £180 13s at Holborn

Holborn

Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...

, which was just a little way outside the expanding city of 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...

, and therefore this was a good investment. On 22 April 1566 he and Dame Alice conveyed the purchase to Bedford corporation.

Later life

Harpur continued to lead an active life until he was over 70. He contributed to the purchase of a site for Gresham

Thomas Gresham

Sir Thomas Gresham was an English merchant and financier who worked for King Edward VI of England and for Edward's half-sisters, Queens Mary I and Elizabeth I.-Family and childhood:...

's new Royal Exchange in 1565. He was regularly in attendance at the meetings of the Merchant Taylors

Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors

The Worshipful Company of Merchant Taylors is one of the 108 Livery Companies of the City of London.The Company, originally known as the Guild and Fraternity of St...

. His wife died on 10 October 1569, and in September 1570 Harpur married Margaret Lethers. He died in 1574, aged 77. He was buried, according to his wishes, in the churchyard of St Paul's Church, Bedford. His widow arranged for the erection of a monumental brass

Monumental brass

Monumental brass is a species of engraved sepulchral memorial which in the early part of the 13th century began to partially take the place of three-dimensional monuments and effigies carved in stone or wood...

 to him, with the inscription: “Hereunder lieth buried the body of Sir William Harpur, knight, alderman and late Lord Mayor of the city of London, with Dame Margaret, his last wife.” The plaque is on the south wall of the church, and is supposed to have been moved away from the site of the tomb, making the word “hereunder” slightly incorrect. Dame Margaret herself remarried twice before dying in Bedford on 3 November 1596.

Legacy

There is little detail about the life of Sir William Harpur, but he rose from a humble background to become a highly successful man of business. The Harpur Trust continues today, supporting education as well as leisure activities for the people of Bedford. The five schools which are governed by the trust are Bedford Academy, Bedford Girls' School

Bedford Girls' School

Bedford Girls' School is an independent school for girls which opened in September 2010 in Bedford, England. The school is a result of a merger of Bedford High School and Dame Alice Harpur School, and is operated by the Harpur Trust...

, Bedford School

Bedford School

Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Modern School or Bedford High School or Old Bedford School in Bedford, TexasBedford School is an HMC independent school for boys located in the town of Bedford, England, United Kingdom...

, Bedford Modern School

Bedford Modern School

Bedford Modern School is a British co-educational independent school in the Harpur area of Bedford, in the county of Bedfordshire, in England.Bedford Modern comprises a junior school and a senior school...

 and Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School

Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School

Pilgrims Pre-Preparatory School is a co-educational, Independent day school for children aged between 3 months and 8 years. The Little Pilgrims unit is a nursery school catering for children from the age of 3 months–3 years...

.

The name Harpur is borne today by the estate office, a street in London, a street in Bedford, the Harpur

Harpur

Harpur is an electoral ward and area within the town of Bedford, England.The boundaries of Harpur are approximately Manton Lane to the north, De Parys Avenue to the east, Bromham Road to the south, with the Midland Main Line railway line to the west....

 electoral ward of Bedford, a hospital ward, a group of almshouse

Almshouse

Almshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...

s, the Harpur Suite (former assembly rooms by the Central Library), and a shopping centre.