The De Lancey & De La Hanty Foundation was established on the 16th November 1970 by the late Baron Ver Heyden de Lancey.

The Foundation aims to stimulate research and teaching in the fields of medicine and law and the area where both disciplines connect: medical law.

The Foundation also helps talented high school pupils and promising students in medicine, law, music and art, financing their studies by providing funding for books and/or travel expenses.

The Foundation also helps to foster artistic activities and to spread culture by helping to finance various art, literature and music projects in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France.

Students or organisations can apply for funding in one of the fields of interest to the Foundation by sending the following documentation in a single pdf file via email to info@delanceyfoundation.co.uk:

• Application (written by the applicant personally)
• Sum requested
• Budget
• CV

If applicable:

• Copy of marks
• List of other sponsors

Note: The Board of the Foundation only meets twice a year, usually in November and in May; therefore although we try to deal with applications as soon as possible, a decision is generally only taken at the next Meeting of the Board.

Projects supported by the Foundation

England

• Cambridge University; Law Faculty
• Baron de Lancey Lectures at University of Cambridge
  Video 1 | Video 2
• Medical Art Society; Baron’s Prize for 2D and 3D art.

France

• Académie de Lyon

Jersey

• Jersey Opera House; Refurbishment of the Steinway Piano. (press releases)

The Netherlands

• Europese Literauur prijs
• Hollands Diep
• Delft Music Festival
• Leo Smit Stichting
• Leids Universitair fonds LUF bijzondere leerstoel Gezondheidsrecht.

Cornelius Ver Heyden, a Dutchman, was born in 1889 in Middelburg in the Netherlands, a small town near Flushing, which in those days had many close cultural and trading contacts with England.

He was one of three sons of a Physician, who had himself completed post graduate studies in Edinburgh. His brother Everard Ver Heyden graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, while Cornelius commenced his own studies in medicine and in dentistry at the University of Leiden, before obtaining his dental qualification in the USA. He then went to London and practised as a Dentist in the West End, becoming a British Citizen. During the First World War he obtained his medical qualification, specialising in surgery of the mouth and jaw.

Due to an injury to a hand, he had to abandon surgery for a period. He then went to Cambridge, forged links with his brother’s college, Trinity, and was called to the bar in the Middle Temple. He practised as a Barrister for some time, specialising in medico-legal cases.

He then went to Italy where he practised as a Dentist in Rome and in Florence. There (he was by now Baron Ver Heyden De Lancey), he was able to develop his intense interest in the History of Art, in which he researched collections of letters and published monographs.

In 1935 his practice among expatriates in Italy declined as a result of the Ethiopian crisis and he moved to Monaco.

On the outbreak of War in 1939, he returned to the UK and the War Office gave him work in connection with the opening up of convalescent homes for the war-wounded in Jersey.

By then, he was married to the Baroness Josephine De Lancey née De La Hanty, an American lady. Cornelius escaped deportation due to there being a shortage of doctors in Jersey. He became the partner of a Jersey doctor and later took over the practice on the death of his colleague. Following the Liberation of the Island, he reverted back to being a practising dentist. He took up the study of the Norman-French Laws of Jersey and was enrolled as an Advocate.

The De Lancey & De La Hanty Foundation was founded in Jersey by the Baron in 1970, with the encouragement of Josephine, to stimulate studies in medicine and law, their inter-related ethics and to promote links between these disciplines. Scholarships and prizes are awarded annually and lecture courses are promoted through bodies such as Cambridge University and Trinity College, the University of Leiden, City University, the Royal Society of Medicine and Colleges in Jersey.

In 1972, following the death of the Baroness Josephine, he married a childhood sweetheart, Henriette Kingma - de Vey Mestdagh, herself a widow, and who took much personal interest in the work of the Foundation.

The Baron passed away in 1984 on his 95^th birthday. Henriette survived him until 1993 aged 104, being then the oldest person in Jersey.