History of the Trust

In 1961 Thomas Stanley Shipman (Stan) settled for charitable purposes, in particular the relief of poverty, 100,000 shares from his personal holding in AA Jones & Shipman Limited, the listed machine tool manufacturing company, later to become Jones & Shipman plc.  Stan also settled a further 150,000 shares in the following year.  The business had grown from the small Leicester based engineering business founded by his father Frank, the son of a Nottingham lace manufacturer, at the end of the nineteenth century.

Both Frank and Stan had hearts of gold, caring passionately about their employees, and so it was not surprising that a secondary object of the Trust was to benefit, for charitable purposes, some or all of the employees and former employees of the Company and their respective families and dependents.

The 250,000 shares formed the endowment for The Thomas Stanley Shipman Charitable Trust, the charity which bears Stan’s name and exemplifies his vision, generosity and concerns for those in need, ideals still championed throughout the City and County of Leicester by the Trustees to this day.