The Founder

“It is useless to make a trust unless the trustees can be trusted”

– Col Sydney Long Jacob, 1911

Panahpur was established in 1907 by Colonel Sydney Long Jacob, a man who followed the Christian faith. Whilst working for the British administration in India, he established a community for the many orphans that he came across. He called it ‘Panahpur’, which means ‘place of refuge’, and he took responsibility for raising these children.

He established a charitable trust called Panahpur, and his son Alexis purchased some buildings in London in its name. The purpose of the trust was the “support of missionaries, charitable institutions and needy persons at home and abroad”.

In a representation of his faith, Col Jacob was not prescriptive about how this was to be done. In his words, “As in a matter of this sort it is useless to make a trust unless the trustees can be trusted. The fullest powers are accorded to them so that they can do anything the owner of the capital could do himself”.

For most of the twentieth century, the trust was operated as a family trust, with descendents of Col Jacob making donations to it, and grants out of income. The family retained a strong link with India, operating mission hospitals in the north and with various family members remaining in India as missionaries.

The major assets were approximately £1m of stocks & shares, with the remainder being some London properties, the biggest being occupied under a long lease by the Foreign Missions Club.

Andrew Perry, a great grandson of Colonel Jacob became the chairman in 1999, and set about the process of extracting the assets of the trust from legal encumbrances, and of renewing the trustee group.

In 2004 the trustee group came to be comprised of the following:

• Andrew Perry, Chairman – great grandson of Col Jacob
• James Perry (Executive Chairman, COOK) – great great grandson of Col Jacob, Andrew’s son
• Bob Moffett (then Postgraduate Dean, All Nations Christian College)
• Dorothy Haile (Personnel Director, Serving In Mission)
• Paul East (Mission Consultant, Delhi) – married to a direct descendant of Col Jacob
• Andy Matheson (International Director, Oasis)
• David Harland (Senior Pastor, CityCoast Church in Brighton) – married to a direct descendent of Col Jacob

By 2005, the properties were, or were about to be, sold. In excess of £5m was available for distribution.

In 2006, Bob Moffett resigned as a trustee and took over the day-to-day running of the trust. In 2010, as the trust came to grapple with issues of sustainability, empowerment and effectiveness in the rapidly changing environment of the twenty first century, James Perry resigned as a trustee and joined Bob in executive management.