[1]
Decree (20) of Congregation of 15 June 1937
That the University gratefully accepts the bequest of the late George Claridge Druce, MA, D.Sc., Magdalen College, of certain property and moneys for the purpose of housing and maintaining the Herbarium and Library, now situate at 9 Crick Road, Oxford, together with a bequest of £1,000 for the benefit of the Bodleian Library, and authorizes application to the Chancery Division of the High Court for a Scheme for the administration of the said bequests.
[2]
The following is an Extract from an Order of the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, made 11 July 1938, in the matter of the Estate of George Claridge Druce, deceased:
7. The University shall from time to time appoint and may dismiss a curator who shall be known as the Claridge Druce Curator to care for and superintend the said [Druce] Herbaria and Library and such curator shall be appointed for such period and upon such terms and conditions as to stipend and otherwise as the University shall from time to time think fit. The University may also from time to time appoint an assistant curator and such other assistants and attendants as the University may from time to time think requisite for the proper care and maintenance of the said Herbaria and Library upon such terms and conditions as to stipend or wages or otherwise as the University may from time to time think fit and the University may dismiss any such assistant curator or other assistant or attendant.
8. The residue of the trust fund after raising and paying thereout the sums referred to in clause 4 hereof together with any interest or income already accrued thereon up to the date of this Scheme shall be invested in the name of the University as and when the same shall be received by the University in any manner authorized by law for the investment of trust funds with power for the University from time to time to vary or transpose any such investments for or into others of a like nature and the investments for the time being representing the same are hereinafter called ‘the Invested Fund’.
9. The University shall apply the annual income of the Invested Fund in or towards making the following payments and in the following order:
(1) in payment of all proper costs charges and expenses of the University of and incidental to the administration and management of the charity (including . . . the stipends or wages of any assistant curator or other assistants or attendants and the University’s share of any contributions payable to the superannuation fund of the University on their account respectively);
(2) in payment of the stipend of the Claridge Druce Curator and of the University’s share of contributions payable to the superannuation fund of the University on his account;
(3) in payment of the cost of further acquisitions for or the preservation or maintenance of or repairs to any of the contents of the said Herbaria and Library or of the cost of the preservation or maintenance of or repairs to . . . the existing buildings of the Department of Botany aforesaid when so reconstructed and enlarged as aforesaid;
(4) otherwise for the encouragement and promotion of the study of and research in systematic or taxonomic botany in the University as the University may think fit.
10. Any income not so applied shall be invested as aforesaid in the name of the University and added to the capital of the Invested Fund.
11. If at any time or times the capital of the Invested Fund shall be more than sufficient to provide by the income thereof for all the payments to be made thereout and specified in subclauses (1) (2) and (3) of clause 9 hereof then and in such case the University may in its discretion from time to time apply the excess of the capital of the Invested Fund or any part thereof in such manner for the encouragement and promotion of the study of and research in systematic or taxonomic botany in the University as the University may think fit.
[3]
1. The Board of the Department of Biology shall be the board of management of the Druce Bequest.
2. The board shall appoint a committee consisting of:
(1) the Sherardian Professor of Botany;
(2) the Claridge Druce Curator;
(3)-(5) three other members elected by it (who need not necessarily be members of the board); to be responsible, on behalf of the University, for expending the income arising from the Druce Bequest in accordance with clause 9 of the scheme for the administration of the bequest.
3. The elected members shall hold office for three years and shall be re- eligible.
4. The committee shall report on its activities to the board at least once in each year.
