Helen Macpherson Smith

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Name:	Helen Macpherson Schutt (nee Smith) (1874-1951)
Associations:	The Helen Macpherson Smith Trust
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Helen Macpherson Smith was born in Scotland, the only child of Robert Smith, a Scottish-born timber merchant living in Melbourne, and his Australian-born wise Jane Macpherson. Jane Macpherson's father was a landholder with large holdings in Victoria's Western District.

Helen lived in Melbourne until she was seven; she was educated partly in Scotland, partly in Hanover, Germany, and partly at Presbyterian Ladies' College in Melbourne. In 1902 Helen married William John Schutt, a barrister, who later became a Supreme Court Judge.

During her lifetime Helen supported many charitable causes, including the Royal District Nursing Service and the RSPCA. In 1923 the Schutts left Melbourne; Helen never returned to Australia. She travelled widely with her husband in Europe. William Schutt died in 1933 and Helen lived in the south of France and Switzerland. She died of pneumonia in April 1951 in Cannes, France, and was buried in a pauper's grave at Marseilles. Until a visit to the cemetery by the Trust’s chairman, Darvell M Hutchinson, in 1991, her name was recorded incorrectly in the cemetery’s records, and her maiden name, not her married name, was on her death certificate.

Helen Macpherson Smith left £350,000 for the establishment of a perpetual charitable trust for the benefit of Victorians, originally known as the Helen Schutt Trust. Under the terms of her will, the trustees were directed to accumulate the majority of the income for the trust’s first 21 years; this was duly done, with relatively small grants being made to those organisations Helen had supported during her lifetime. After that time, the Trustees were empowered to distribute all income for the benefit of charitable organisations in Victoria. In 1972 when the Trust began giving major grants, the Trust’s capital was over $3 million.

In 2001, on the fiftieth anniversary of Helen's death and in commemoration of the contribution made by both the Macphersons and the Smiths, the Trust's name was changed to the Helen Macpherson Smith Trust. By June 2004, the Trust has distributed $50 million to Victorian charitable institutions.

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