Abraham Colfe

Abraham Colfe (died 1657) was vicar of Lewisham from 1610 to 1657 and a notable English philanthropist, founding Colfe's School, a reading (primary) or Latin school and five almshouses for the inhabitants of Lewisham (today, part of south-east London). The school later came to bear his name.

Colfe declared that the aim of the School was to provide an education for "pupils of good wit and capacity and apt to learn". His original vision was to educate the children of "the hundred of Blackheath", today, most of the pupils come from the four boroughs which surround the school.

Colfe invited the Leathersellers' Company, one of the oldest of the city Livery Companies, to be a Trustee of his will. Links between the School and the company are strong. The official Visitor to the school is Prince Michael of Kent.

According to Daniel Lysons' account in Environs of London (1796):

Colfe's will also made provisions for scholarships from the school to allow able pupils to study at Oxford or Cambridge University.

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