Mrs E M Bates - Yesterday and Today

If you live or worship in the Moravian settlements at Ockbrook in Derbyshire or Gracehill in Northern Ireland, or if you've visited and conscientiously read plaques and booklets, you'll know the name of Mrs Elizabeth Mary Bates.

She was a beloved visitor and generous donor to the Church, both nationally and locally. Perhaps a slightly imperious donor; on occasions when visiting the Moravian communities she loved, she appears to have paid for some radical rebuilding that provided her with just the accommodation she wanted.

Mrs Bates life is fascinating, but ably told elsewhere. As a regular visitor to Gracehill, I've slept in her bedroom, paid my respects at her grave, and heard regularly about her keen business sense (alongside her gifts, she often loaned the balance required for her pet projects, usually at a steep 5% interest) but I have another connection. In 2020 I was invited to join the Trustees of the Mrs E M Bates Trust.

The Trust takes care of two substantial gifts that Mrs Bates made to the Moravian Church in 1813 and 1815. Ever since the income from those gifts have been paid as grants to the Trust's two beneficiaries: £500 a year to Gracehill Church (which would be equivalent to £29,000 today according to the Bank of England if it had kept pace with inflation) and the rest to the British Province of the Moravian Church.

Mrs Bates appointed Trustees to take care of her gifts. As Trustees retire, the Moravian Church, or other members of the Trust, recommend suitable volunteers who then have a balancing act to perform; investing to create as much income as possible today while leaving enough invested, in the right places, to make sure that income is keeping up with inflation for tomorrow, next year, and for decades to come. As Trustees for Mrs Bates, we take the long view.

It's difficult now to put a value on the two parcels of land and property that Mrs Bates originally gifted. Until the 1970s, much of it appeared in the Trust's accounts at a nominal value of £1. The Trust prospered for more than 150 years by investing chiefly in bricks and mortar, and being a good landlord. The purchase of a strong box for the Trust's deeds, a hard-fought battle with the Inland Revenue, compensation for bomb damage in the Second World War, and eventually the sale of Mrs Bates' original gifts are all reflected in the papers archived at Church House in London.

In 2000 the two Trusts created by the original gifts, with their lengthy, complex and detailed trust deeds in copperplate handwriting, were combined and given a simpler, modern governing document. Charity law has been updated several times in recent decades and the new Trust reflects that. A professional valuation of Trust property in 2000 reveals that the newly combined Trust was by then worth £7,362,221 held as land and buildings and stock market investments.

Since then, bricks and mortar have been entirely replaced by shares in a specialist fund - the Charities Property Fund - managed by experts on behalf of many charities and owning currently 108 warehouses, shops and office blocks across the UK. Meanwhile around 60% of the Trust's money is invested in stocks and shares and investment funds. Investments are carefully selected by professional managers with years of experience and teams of researchers to help them. Our investments are 'diversified' - spread around the world, and into different sectors of the economy. The theory is that when one sector or location is 'down' another will be 'up' and overall, the value of our funds won't seesaw too wildly but rather grow steadily while they provide a reliable flow of dividends and interest into the Trust's bank account.

Our investment managers report to the Trustees regularly and we meet with them twice a year. Among the current six Trustees are people with experience of stock market investment, charity finance and commercial property. High risk investments that seem to offer tempting returns aren't appropriate but leaving money 'somewhere safe' and watching inflation eat away its buying power is also off the menu. We ask our advisors, and ourselves, some hard questions.

We have a policy to invest ethically - no companies engaged in arms manufacturing, gambling, brewing or tobacco appear in our portfolio. The way we invest to avoid doing harm follows the policy of the Moravian Church.

Twice a year we hear reports from the staff at Church House who keep track of the Trust's day-to-day affairs, and then from the Provincial Board on how the previous year's grants have been used. Just as our investments span the world, so too does the work that Mrs Bates' Trust supports.

And finally, we set the grants we intend to pay in the coming months. In 2024-2025 we plan to give £366,661 plus the £500 to Gracehill. Everything we do as Trustees is directed at maximising and maintaining those grants.

Sr Jane Seaton

Bates Trustee

Notes:

The Trust's accounts are available on the Charity Commission website under Charity No. 1082306.

More information can be found in Edition 33 of the Moravian History Magazine The life of ‘Mrs Elizabeth Mary Bates’ edited by Edna Cooper.

With thanks to the Archivists at Church House and Gracehill for their help.