The History of the Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust

The founder of the Trust, Ernest Kleinwort (1901 - 1977), was educated at Cambridge, and was a partner and former Chairman of the old established banking house of Kleinwort, Sons & Co, which with his considerable input merged in 1961 with Robert Benson, Lonsdale Ltd to form the Kleinwort Benson Group.

In the 1960's he played a vital role during the formative years of what was known as the World Wide Fund for Nature. He assisted with their development, serving on the advisory panel of, and then as a Member of the board of trustees, of the ‘British National Appeal’, later to become WWF - UK.

He was also a member of the Board of trustees of WWF International until his death in 1977, working alongside HRH the Duke of Edinburgh and the late HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. His son, Sir Kenneth Kleinwort Bt, maintained his father’s legacy of support for WWF by joining the Board of Trustees of WWF International in 1978 and following his later death this support continues through his descendents and the Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust.

For his services to Nature Conservation, Ernest was made Commander of Order of the Golden Ark in 1974, a Dutch Royal honour.

The Trust has had two Chairmen since inception, Patrick Pery, 6th Earl of Limerick (deceased) and the current Chairman, Sir Simon Robertson. With the trustees they have ensured that the original guidelines to support the conservation of wildlife and the natural environment, the encouragement of youth enterprise and out-door activity and support of charities in the county of Sussex have been maintained to this day.

Over the last 20 years, The Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust has donated over £27m to such causes, averaging £1.35m per year.