Place Name
Lancelot Gerald Hasluck (November 10, 1863 – July 2, 1937) was a philanthropist who served as a member and chairman of East Barnet Valley Urban District Council for 40 years. He was born in Enfield, the son of wealthy parents, Frederick and Emma Hasluck of Greenhill House, Barnet. His father and uncle were “merchants” in Hatton Garden, perhaps as jewellers. while his mother’s family the Pedleys were successful lawyers in the City of London, one member of whom, Samuel, Lancelot’s grandfather, built up a property empire in Stratford, where he lived, and in the City. According to the Lancelot Hasluck Trust website: “Frederick Hasluck died in 1887 and Emma married the Reverend George Twentyman, minister of New Barnet Congregational Church, who died in 1912. When Emma died in 1926, Greenhill Park was sold for development and Lancelot, with his share of his mother’s estate, bought a house in Arkley where he lived until his death. Lancelot Hasluck became a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Surveyors in 1883 but it is not known whether he practised professionally or merely concentrated on managing the family estates. However, in 1898 he became a member of East Barnet Valley U.D.C., the start of 40 years’ devoted service, including many years as a magistrate and as a governor of the Queen Elizabeth’s Schools. He was also a keen sportsman and, in his younger days, an outstanding cyclist. It was while serving as vice-chairman of the Jesus Hospital Charity that he realised that there was a real need in the community to provide almshouses for married couples, widowers and bachelors. At that time existing local almshouses were mainly for spinsters and widows. On 18th September, 1931 Lancelot Hasluck signed the deed setting up the Trust which bears his name. Six acres of land in Stratford including houses, shops and even a public house were transferred to the Trust. The income and proceeds of any sales were designated to set up and augment a capital fund for the building and maintenance of almshouses. In 1934 three acres of land, formerly part of the Eversley Estate, adjoining Oak Hill Park, were purchased. Enemy action during the Second World War so decimated the value of and income from the East London estates that it was not until 1950 that the contract for the first six almshouses in Lancelot Gardens could be placed and the first couples were elected in June 1951. Lancelot Gardens was completed in 1956. Further bungalows in Parkside Gardens and Mallory Gardens, a name inspired by the connection between Lancelot and Sir Thomas Mallory’s poem The Death of King Arthur, followed in 1967 and the estate was completed with the building of eight flats in 1970 and three “new” single bungalows in 1987. When the Stratford Estate was finally sold in 1977, a large house in Station Road, New Barnet was bought and converted into seven flats for six residents and a warden. It was sold in 2002 on the grounds that the accommodation no longer met the Trust’s standards. Lancelot Hasluck is buried in Bells Hill cemetery where his grave is kept tidy by the Trust. His name is further commemorated by a plaque on the wall of 37 Parkside Gardens and by the naming of Hasluck Lodge after him.”
