This year’s payment will be made to the residents of Thornton on Saturday 5th December 2026 between 10am-12 noon at Thornton Community Centre.

The residents of Bagworth will receive payment on Saturday 12th December 2026 between 10am-12 noon at Bagworth Community Centre.

Payments are made to those who are in receipt of Government State Pension.

Jacquie Barnes

Trustee of the Luke Jackson Charity.

What is the Luke Jackson Charity??

Luke Jackson was a Nottingham man, the son of Anker Jackson, a churchwarden of St Peter’s in Nottingham. Luke was apprenticed to a ‘girdler’ (a maker of girdles and belts), living in the parish of St Nicholas Acons in  London. He eventually became a very rich man.

During his young life, two major events took place in our country’s history, the defeat of the Spanish Armada in July 1588 and the Gunpowder plot of 1605.

He died in 1630 and his will was proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 31 January 1631 by Richard Glidd and Richard Milles.

Luke Jackson owned land around Horsepool Grange, near to Stanton under Bardon, which extended towards Thornton, where it meets with Whittington Grange. (‘Granges’ were medieval estates). There is still a farm named ‘Horsepool Grange’, situated between Stanton and South Charnwood School.

Under the terms of his will this was placed in a Trust. The income from these lands was divided between St Peter’s Church in Nottingham and the Parish of Thornton; two thirds went to St Peter’s Church in Nottingham and one third to the Parish of Thornton, this last third was again divided into thirds, one third for each of the 3 villages in the Parish.

Out of the income for Thornton £2 per year was paid to the Vicar of Thornton to preach 2 sermons, one on 28 July commemorating the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 and another on 5 November celebrating the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.  By 1838 the Commissioners noted that the sermons were no longer preached.

In 1630 the total income to the Charity amounted to a sum of £20 per year, there were 5 trustees including George Jackson, the brother of Luke Jackson.

The will also stipulated that the land should be entrusted to “4 of the most honest and able persons dwelling in the Parish of Thornton and their heirs” by the last surviving trustee.

In 1799 the income for the Parish of Thornton amounted £13 13s 7½d, in 1812 to £15 15s. and by 1833 to £46 10s.

This charity is still paid to this day, annually to residents of the 3 villages, of government retirement age and over.