Burke's Peerage Foundation struck off the charity register.

 Burke's Peerage Foundation has been struck off the charity register. A GOV.UK statutory inquiry, launched in March 2022, found serious misconduct and mismanagement, including conflicts of interest, poor financial management, and misapplied funds, which led to the disqualification of the former trustees. 

Burke’s Peerage Foundation (‘the charity’) was registered with the Charity Commission (‘the Commission’) on 5 February 2014 and was governed by a Declaration of Trust dated 5 January 2014.

The charity was removed from the Commission’s register of charities on 2 August 2023.

The charity’s objectives were: To advance the education of the public in the United Kingdom in the subject of genealogy and personal heritage.

William Bortrick (‘Mr Bortrick’) and Mark Ayre (‘Mr Ayre’) were trustees of the charity from the 5 February 2014.Trustee minutes obtained by the Inquiry record the appointment of a third trustee (‘trustee C’) on 16 July 2022 and their resignation on 14 September 2022. Trustee C was primarily appointed to conduct a viability review of the charity’s future, and they have informed the Inquiry that they were not involved in any decision making.  The Commission did not consider that trustee C was responsible for any of the findings of the inquiry and the reference to ‘the trustees’ throughout the report refers to Mr Bortrick and Mr Ayre only.

William Bortrick - Times Newspaper