History of the Foundation
1688....Richard Jones leaves a legacy of £300 in his will
c. 1696....A free grammar school for boys was founded in Wootton Bassett as the result of the legacy. With this money Jones's executors purchased a rent-charge of 30 shillings and land in Haydon Wick and Rodbourne Cheney to provide for a salary for a schoolmaster. Some 18 boys of the town were taught reading, writing, and arithmetic.
1834....The rent-charge had been lost, but the master was receiving £25 a year rent from the land as a salary. 
c. 1859....The school, which was held in the town hall, had fallen into disrepute, and was closed. For about the next 40 years the income from the land was applied to the upkeep of the National Schools , although attempts were made from time to time to include the British Schools within the scope of the charity.
1898....A Richard Jones Foundation was established to provide grants of between £5 and £20 a year tenable at any secondary school or technical college.
1903....The income still came from land and amounted to £20 a year. Three grants had been awarded that year.
1920....The land at Rodbourne Cheney, which comprised 20 acres and was known as Tan Hill, was sold and the proceeds invested.
1967....The income (about £70 a year) was used to help apprentices to buy tools and those going to grammar schools and technical colleges to buy equipment.
Recent Times....Remit broadened to include grants to young people between the ages of 7 to 25 years, who need help to buy equipment, instruments, books or to fund educational trips. The Richard Jones Foundation is an Educational Trust.