A Golden Age
After a period of relative stagnation, in 1836 the Company elected a dynamic new Master, Thomas Massa Alsager. Alsager was one of the managers of The Times newspaper and the founder of its City pages. He turned the affairs of the Company around so that it became a forward-looking financial corporation.
Sir Owen Roberts, Clerk to the Company 1867-1907, built on Alsager's work and presided over a Golden Age. Never had the Company been so rich, nor its affairs in such good order. Here was a fine opportunity to ensure that the less affluent should benefit increasingly from its wealth.
As well as continuing the association of the Company with aid for the needy, particularly the blind, Roberts developed its work in the sphere of education. The Company made pioneering grants to the causes of female education and re-established its links with the textile industry, particularly through grants to technical education.
In line with its burgeoning charity work, the Company acquired new honorary members in associated spheres, including Prince Albert, the Prince Consort, Angela Burdett-Coutts and the American philanthropist, George Peabody.
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