Robert Aske (24 February 1619 – 27 January 1689) was a 17th-century English philanthropist, merchant and haberdasher, who served as an Alderman of London. Aske is remembered primarily for the charitable foundation he endowed nowadays operating two leading schools at Elstree, Haberdashers' Boys' School and Haberdashers' School for Girls and the non-fee paying Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham school in New Cross, as well as others in the London area.

Life

Originally from Scarborough in Yorkshire, his father Robert Aske was an affluent draper who apprenticed him to John Trott, a London haberdasher (dealer in raw silk) and East India Company merchant. Admitted to the freedom of the Haberdashers' Company in 1643, Aske was elected an Alderman of the City of London in 1666, becoming Master Haberdasher in 1685.

Royal African Company

From 1671 Aske held £500 of original stock in the slave-trading Royal African Company, where he was one of 198 stockholders, entitling him to a single vote. Elected Master of the Haberdashers' Company, he was removed from that position by James II in 1687 when the Catholic King lost faith in Aske, a Protestant. Aske made an investment of £500 (c. £K as of ) in the Royal African Company (RAC) in 1672. This was made under the provisions of the original RAC charter of 1672 which stipulated that individual investors were entitled to one vote for each £100 share. To be elected an Assistant, or director, of the RAC, a shareholder had to hold at least £400 of shares, a regulation requiring those who wished to be entitled to vote as a shareholder in the RAC to show some financial commitment. Aske may have voted and participated in discussion about policy decisions, but there is no evidence that he was appointed an Assistant, or director, of the company. At the time of his death, Aske's estate included £650 (c. £K as of ) of RAC stock. This represents 1.3% of the total value of his estate. During the 21st century many long-established European organizations have reviewed their historical legacy with respect to the transatlantic slave trade, as part of a global campaign, including the governing body of the Haberdashers' Boys' and Haberdashers' Girls' schools. This review of the perceived connections with Aske and the slave-trade, resulted in his name being dropped from the two Haberdashers' Schools at Elstree in 2021 and the Haberdasher College in South London, although it has been retained by the governing body.

Charity

Despite marrying twice, Aske had no children and bequeathed the bulk of his sizeable estate for charitable purposes, £32,000 (equivalent to £m as of ), to the livery company which launched his career. Instructing £20,000 to be used to buy land within one mile of the City upon which was to be built a "hospital" (almshouses) for 20 poor members of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers and a school for 20 sons of poor freemen of the Company, the remaining £12,000 established the Haberdashers' Aske's Foundation, of which the Haberdashers' Company remains a trustee, a charity incorporated by a private act of Parliament (2 Will. & Mar. Sess. 2. c. 18) in 1690.

Legacy

Almshouses and a school, Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, were built on 21 acres in Hoxton by 1692 to the design of Robert Hooke. A further 1,500 acres (6 km²) in Kent were acquired to provide an annual income of over £700. The buildings were demolished in 1824 and reconstructed in 1825 to a design by the architect, David Riddell Roper. The almshouses were closed to enable the school to expand in 1874 to take 300 boys and 300 girls, and a second and third school were opened at Hatcham, Surrey, in 1875. Haberdashers' Aske's School, Hoxton was relocated (to Hampstead for the boys and Acton for the girls) in 1898. Whilst the Haberdashers' Company retained the parish advowson, the boys' school moved to Elstree, opening there in 1961, and both schools were reunited in 1974 when the girls' school opened on an adjoining site. The Hatcham schools are now merged as a single state school, an academy known as Haberdashers' Hatcham College.