MySource:Rmg/Potts trust

Following the death of her husband Thomas Potts in 1800 Isabella Aitkinson(Atkinson) or Potts created a Trust Fund in 1802. The initial purpose of the Trust was to pass the collected wealth of Thomas to his two remaining sisters at Isabella's death but they died before she did. The second part of the Trust was enabled and on Isabella's death in 1826 the income from the Trust was divide between the children of the siblings of Thomas.

At the time the Trust started there were 12 children who shared the income equally, one died childless soon after and his share was distributed amongst the other 11.

A first, cursory, glance at some of the legal papers discusses large tracts of land in Perth valued at some 370 thousand English pounds but closer examination shows this was the security offered to the Trust for a loan of 7500 pounds, together with the houses on Edinburgh and some shares the fund was valued at about 8000 pounds and the income was about 250 a year. This means that each share initially received just over 20 pounds a year, not a lot by today's standards but an unskilled worker in 1826 would earn less than that a year.

By 1901 the number of shares had increased to about 100, each share of course was smaller as the fund income was not reinvested but paid to descendants of the original beneficiaries. People were now getting about one weeks income a year extra from the fund, perhaps enough to make a difference to the poorest. Things of course only got worse as families grew, by the 1960's the payout was a few shillings, enough for a takeaway meal.

Eventually the income per share was not enough to cover the cost of paying it and the Trust was closed, it is not yet clear what happened to the capital, but it is clear that perpetuity seems to be less than 150 years.