11/09/2026
On 11th September 1978, Ivy Duchess of Portland signed a trust deed establishing and endowing the Harley Foundation as an educational charity with the object of supporting the practice of the arts and crafts.
Her husband the 7th Duke of Portland had died on 21st March the previous year; from him Duchess Ivy had received a legacy of some personal property. She then considered how part of that inheritance might benefit other people. Aged 90, the Duchess knew her life hung by a thread, that there would be much to do, but little time…
The Harley Foundation has since become a distinguished part of a distinctive British movement in support of the crafts which began as a reaction against the worst effects of industrialisation and destruction of the countryside. Such work continues to be as necessary today as during the later years of King George III’s reign when activists first began their campaigns for reform. Crafts may no longer be at the centre of our lives as they once were, but our instinctive drive to make things and our admiration for the hand-made remains with us.
