Joseph Rowntree (philanthropist) Joseph Rowntree (philanthropist) Joseph Rowntree (24 May 1836 – 24 February 1925) was an English Quaker philanthropist and businessman from York. Rowntree is perhaps best known for being a champion of social reform, partner and friend of Charles Booth, and his time as a chocolatier at family business "Rowntree's", one of the most important in Britain. Even as a powerful businessman, he was deeply interested in improving the quality of life of his employees; this led to him becoming a philanthropist, pursuing many charitable causes. In 1904 he created three trusts, the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust (JRVT) which was originally
Variation of Trusts Act 1958 alter trusts; in "Re Holt's Settlement" [1968] 1 All ER 470, Megarry J said that "the word benefit is... plainly not confined to financial benefit, but may extend to social or moral benefit". Under Section 1(3), the Act does not apply to trusts created by an Act of Parliament. The wide scope of the act was quantified in "Re Steed's Will Trusts", where the Court of Appeal ruled that the word "arrangement" was "deliberately used in the widest possible senses so as to cover any proposal which any person may put forward for varying or revoking the trusts", essentially allowing