The death of a Civil Servant in the Victorian age almost inevitably meant hardship for their widow and hunger for any children.
In 1884 the outlines for the Fund were drawn up and its first draft rules. At the time the Fund provided “relief for necessitous widows by grants and annuities and also education of orphans, of serving and retired civil servants". They also enshrined the principle that all applications for assistance would be confidential.
By February 1885 the Rules of The Fund had been agreed and on 15 January 1886 they were registered. Less than two weeks later the first AGM was held.
The Fund immediately made a difference to the lives of widows and orphans who previously could only expect a few shillings from spontaneous collections held among the deceased Civil Servant’s colleagues. An example of this was the family of a copyist who passed away after a long illness. Instead of a few shillings, the Fund made a grant of £10 to meet the family’s immediate needs.
Over the years the faces have changed and so too has the Fund. The key dates in our history are as follows:
Key Dates
29 January 1886 - First Fund AGM
1887 - Queen Victoria becomes our first Patron
1889 - Fund provides grant to establish the Civil Service Insurance Society
1918 - Fund provides help to serving Civil Servants for the first time
1929 - First woman elected onto Committee of Management
1947 - Fund merges with Civil Service Fund (formerly War Distress Fund); temporary staff allowed to apply for help
1953 - Blatchington House is opened - the Fund's first convalescent home
1967 - General Secretary JP Wolstenholme plays a pivotal role in the creation of the Civil Service Retirement Fellowship
1975 - Fund helps to establish Crown Housing Association
1981 - Magician Paul Daniels launches Fund'81; a successful appeal year
1986 - Centenary Year - the Queen opens Lammermuir House; while another appeal raises over £450,000
1997 - Fund reluctantly agrees to part with care homes across UK; they had become unsustainable
1999 - A Constitutional Reform process changes Fund Rules more substantially than at any time since 1947
2004 - Constitutional Reform concludes; all members are given equal voting rights
2010 - Incorporation, Charity Commission registration, streamlining of membership
Throughout that history, the Fund has become the principal occupational charity for all current, former, and retired Civil Service staff. A large number of public sector employees also look to the Fund as their charity, with their workplace having Associated Organisation status.
