Reverend Henry Lucas (1610 - 1663) was an English philanthropist and
Member of Parliament for the University of Cambridge. In addition to being an MP, Lucas was also the secretary to the Chancillor of the University, and he is most famous for
providing the endowment for the
Lucasian Chair of
Mathematics at Cambridge. In addition to this endowment, he
bequeathed over four thousand volumes to the Cambridge University
library, a very substantial donation for that time.
In addition to his work for and endowments to Cambridge, Lucas also gave money
to found a hospital and almshouse for poor, elderly men of the Berkshire andSurrey region in England. A hospital was built in 1675, and Lucas' endowment
continued until 1923, when the charity was dissolved by Parliament, and
replaced by another.
Lucas was a bachelor and died with no heirs, which probably led him to
make the charitable donations he did when he died.
A statue of Henry Lucas can be found at the gate of Old Schools,
St. John's College, on Trinity Lane in
Cambridge.
Sources:
http://www.hawking.org.uk/text/about/uni.html
http://www.thedrapers.co.uk/Charities/4_henry.html
http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/bshm/zingaz/C.html
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