Beckford, in his will dated 1730, bequeathed the sum of 1,000 pounds sterling towards the construction of a free school or hospital. The institution was intended to benefit the poor people of the town of St. Jago de la Vega, later renamed Spanish Town. Several other smaller endowments were made, resulting in the establishment of the St. Jago de la Vega Free School in 1744. A century later, Francis Smith, then Custos Rotulorum of St. Catherine, bequeathed 300 pounds sterling in his will dated 1830, to the founding of a school in the parish. Called the Smith's Charity School after its benefactor, it was opened in 1833.