This Fund is the oldest surviving charity for the benefit of actors.  In 1747, David Garrick bought a half share in the Drury Lane patent from the new patentee James Lacy and once the finances of the Theatre were running smoothly they considered the idea of a Fund to pay annuities to the actors in the company.  However, it was not until 1766, when Garrick had spent some time on the Continent, that he returned to find that the actors at Covent Garden had actually set up such a Fund for their company.  He immediately set to work to “institute and establish a Fund, for the Support of such Performers whose Age or Infirmities should oblige them to retire from the Stage.”  The two Patentees and the company members subscribed, as did members of the public, and Garrick also gave the new Fund a house in Drury Lane.  By May 1774, enough capital had been raised, and a Committee of thirteen members was formed and a book of Rules and Regulations drawn up.