Famous Faces

Our Founder

Elizabeth Gilbert was the founder of the charity, as General Welfare for the Blind in 1854. A blind person herself, Elizabeth was determined to improve the lives of blind people by providing employment for them.

Clergy

Elizabeth was the daughter of Ashurst Turner Gilbert, the Bishop of Chichester. the Archbishop of York was a dedicated patron. From 1866 and into the early 20^th century, the incumbent Archbishops of Canterbury are listed as a vice patron.

Royalty

Our first Patron was Queen Victoria who assisted our cause as a charity with a donation of £50, which would be the equivalent of £34,000 based on today's earnings.

Queen Victoria's successor Edward VII became the new patron of the charity, along with his wife Queen Alexandra of Denmark. Other supporters of the charity in the early 20th Century included Edward HRH Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII), HRH Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and the Archbishop of Canterbury.  

Prior to his coronation, King George V and his consort, Queen Mary toured the world on a steamship equipped with products from the charity's workshop.

HRH The Duchess of Gloucester stood as the president of the charity for a time and opened our previous factory building in Ashburton Grove, now the site of the Emirates Stadium.

Politicians

Through the release of his archives, we have recently discovered that former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a supporter of the charity, as a regular donor of 10 shillings.

Aside from serving as British Prime Minister four times throughout his sixty year career, William Gladstone was another past supporter of then charity.

In 2010, shortly after the introduction of the coalition government CLARITY welcomed a visit from the Minister for Civil Society, Nick Hurd MP – CLARITY was represented a leading example of Social Enterprise in action.

Philanthropists

Victoria Cross recipient Captain Sir Beachcroft Towse, was a keen supporter of organisations which aided blind people. He provided GWB with a generous donation of £500 in 1936 in order to branch out into soap manufacture. The 75th anniversary of which we commemorated in 2011 with this special edition boxed set of Six Organic Soaps.

From the company records 1854 – 1901, “The Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind” can count many major London and national establishments as its clients, some of which still exist today. Establishments such as major Hotels and Clubs (The Savoy, The Berkeley, The Athaneum as just three examples), most major Steamship shipping companies, schools, brewers and distillers, railways, hospitals (including University College, Guy’s, St Bartholomew’s and the Royal Free Hospital.) Notable names are as varied as The Trocadero Restaurant, Royal Army Clothing Depot and Lloyds Stock Exchange.