John Crane, an apothecary in the city of Cambridge in the early seventeenth century, made a number of bequests to the University of Cambridge (the Benefaction of John Crane, 1651; see Endowments of the University of Cambridge (CUP, 1904), p. 565).
A principal provision of the Benefaction was the establishment of a charity, now known as Crane's Charity, 'to be given to poore scholars for their Releife when they are sicke for paying for their Physick, dyet, or other things necessary for them in their sickness, knowing heretofore many have miscarried for want of meanes to releiue them'. The income for the Charity derived originally from Crane's estate in Lincolnshire, until its sale in 1951, after which the proceeds were invested by the University.
The trustees of the Charity, described in Crane's Will as 'Distributors', have determined a relatively wide interpretation of the purpose of the charity. In modern times the view has been taken that the proper scope of the Charity is to assist students who are ill, and who can demonstrate financial need.
The Charity exists to provide financial assistance to members of the University who need treatment for physical or mental illness, or for injuries resulting from accidents, provided that the treatment cannot conveniently be obtained under the National Health Service. Assistance is normally provided by grants for junior members in residence, which can be made towards the cost of medical, surgical or psychiatric treatment, nursing home or convalescent accommodation, and travel. The Distributors do not normally make grants for ordinary dental treatment, or for spectacles or contact lenses.
Students with disabilities are generally expected to seek assistance through the Disability Resource Centre, which provides information about and access to a range of support, both statutory and discretionary. The Distributors nevertheless consider applications relating to disability on a case-by-case basis; assistance may be provided, for instance where the student has acquired a disability since matriculation and where no other financial support is available. Grants are not normally made towards the costs of diagnostic assessments for special learning difficulties.
The body of Distributors of the Charity is established under Mr Crane's Will and is laid down in University Ordinances: the Vice-Chancellor, or a deputy; the Master of Gonville and Caius; the Regius Professors of Physic, of Divinity, and of Civil Law. The Distributors are advised in their work by a Chief Apothecary; the current holder of this position is Dr A. Grounds, University Senior Lecturer in Forensic Psychiatry in the Institute of Criminology.
The Distributors provide financial assistance to individual students on the basis of an application made on their behalf by their College Tutor. Financial assistance has also been provided for collective activity that the Distributors have determined falls within the stated purposes of the Charity. Attention is drawn in particular to the regular funding that has been made available to the University Counselling Service specifically for the provision of psychiatric advice for students; in the period 2003-04 to 2007-08 support for this aspect of the Service's work has amounted to ca. £4,800 a year.
The following table summarizes the expenditure from Crane's Charity in recent years.
| Number of | Colleges | Average grant | Expenditure: | Expenditure: | TOTAL | |
| grants | represented | to students | grants to students | collective activities | EXPENDITURE | |
| 2004-05 | 35 | 18 | £326 | £11,422 | £5,100 | £16,522 |
| 2005-06 | 24 | 17 | £592 | £14,202 | £0 | £14,202 |
| 2006-07 | 44 | 20 | £262 | £11,507 | £13,150 | £24,657 |
| 2007-08 | 26 | 14 | £459 | £11,930 | £5,000 | £16,930 |
Further financial information about Crane's Charity can be found in the special numbers of the Cambridge University Reporter devoted to Financial Management Information; these are published annually, and that for the year ending 31 July 2008 was published on 13 January 2009.
The Distributors are grateful for the advice and support provided by College Tutors, which greatly assists the Distributors in the exercise of their duties as trustees of the Charity.
Andrew Bennett
Deputy Secretary to the Distributors of Crane's Charity
University Offices