Two of Lancaster University’s largest donors have been installed into the Chancellor’s College of Benefactors as part of this July’s graduation ceremonies.

It is the highest honour the University can bestow upon its supporters, and is a way to give greater recognition to organisations and individuals whose contributions have been truly transformational.

Benefactors whose total support has exceeded £1M are eligible for membership, with presentations made by Chancellor The Rt Hon Alan Milburn.

Jon Moulton

Jon Moulton is a distinguished Lancaster alumnus who studied Chemistry. A founding member of the Chancellor’s Guild, he has helped establish such Lancaster success stories as IsoLab in Physics and the International Observatory on End of Life Care. He has purchased equipment for Chemistry, funded postgraduate scholarships at Furness, his former college, and has made additional gifts to Lancaster on an anonymous basis.

While a student, Jon showed an early talent for publicity, appearing on BBC’s Panorama to report on the UK government’s policies and how they impacted upon prospects for Chemistry graduates at the time.

He then turned his intellectual curiosity and formidable talents to the financial sector. His day job is chairing turnaround investment firm, Better Capital Funds, which he founded in 2009, and running his family office of Perscitus Advisers.

Jon’s success in the financial sector has funded an investment of more than £20 million in non-commercial clinical trials, often those that fall between other funding cracks, in the search for better and cheaper treatments for a wide range of health conditions. One such example was to fund an early stage trial in the use of tranexamic acid to reduce death from bleeding following trauma. The use of this cheap, generic drug is now saving many thousands of lives globally.

The Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust (DCEPT)

The Dowager Countess Eleanor Peel Trust (DCEPT) was established in 1951 with a bequest from the Right Honourable Eleanor, Countess Peel. Eleanor was the widow of the first Earl Peel and daughter of James Williamson, Baron Ashton of Lancaster, and her family’s wealth sprang from her grandfather’s invention in Lancaster of the floor covering, linoleum.

Focussing on North West England, DCEPT supports medical charities and research, older people and those “who have fallen on evil days through no fault of their own”.

In 1964, the trustees made a strong statement of their support for the new Lancaster University by establishing the subsidiary Peel Studentship Trust. This has made an enormous difference to the lives of generations of students at Lancaster, particularly in its funding of Masters’ scholarships covering almost every subject area offered by the University.

As well as making a real difference in the lives of many students, DCEPT has made a notable contribution to cancer research at Lancaster, through a lectureship and a post-doctoral researcher, also funding specific research projects and purchasing equipment. DCEPT has also supported research into neurodegenerative diseases and the gastrointestinal system.

The generosity of these two Trusts to the University stretches back over half a century, totalling close to £1.5M.