Our History

Esmée Fairbairn Foundation was established in 1961 by Ian Fairbairn (top right), a leading city figure whose company, M&G, was the pioneer of the UK unit trust industry. He endowed the Foundation with the greater part of his own holding in M&G, and originally the majority of the grants were for economic and financial education.

Ian Fairbairn's interest in financial education stemmed from his concern that most people had no access to stock exchange investment, and were therefore precluded from investing their savings in equities and sharing in the country's growth. It was this concern that had led him into the embryonic unit trust business in the early 1930s.

The Foundation was set up as a memorial to Ian Fairbairn's wife Esmée, who had played a prominent role in developing the Women's Royal Voluntary Service and the Citizens Advice Bureaux before being killed in an air raid towards the end of the second world war. Her sons Paul and Oliver Stobart also contributed generously to the original trust fund, as co-founders.

In 1999 the Foundation sold its holding in M&G in a takeover of the company by Prudential Corporation PLC. The sale resulted in a significant rise in the value of the Foundation's endowment and consequently in the size of its grant-making.

The Foundation has always believed in the need to support and maintain a free, stable and socially cohesive society, where enterprise is encouraged and people are able to realise their potential, take advantage of opportunities and play their part in democratic life.


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