Sir Isaac Wolfson's contribution to the philanthropy was considerable. Amassing a fortune through the mail order business Great Universal Stores, he had a simple maxim. No man should have more than £100,000, he once said, and the rest should go to charity.

That was in the 1940s, and others could no doubt give you the sum in today's money. But the principle was one he lived by, pouring his wealth into a foundation which amounts to some £800m today, and which gives away 3-4% of the total every year.

The money goes to three priorities, arts and culture, higher education and science and medicine. Although the Wolfson Foundation donates money throughout the UK, Scotland has tended to do better per head of the population than England, despite the fact that the charity is now London based.

Chief Executive Paul Ramsbottom told me that is partly a recognition of the fact that the country punches above its weight, particularly in terms of the quality of its universities.

But it is perhaps also fitting, given that Sir Isaac's family might have felt they owed a debt to Scotland. Because his parents came here as refugees, Polish Jews who fled persecution in 1897. He grew up in the Gorbals and went to Queen's Park School before later moving to London.

There are surely parallels here with the debate over who and why and how many people Britain should accept as part of the national contribution to tackling the European Refugee Crisis.

At the end of the 19th Century many of the debates were the same, about Britain being too crowded to accept more refugees, about the distinction between 'real' refugees and migrants (with the Jews generally agreed to qualify as persecuted, while Irish immigrants were more often viewed as falling into the latter category).

As a result of providing a fresh start to the Wolfson family, 118 years ago, a family who came with nothing have repaid that humanity many times over, contributing to the budgets of medical schools, galleries, museums and universities in Scotland and furth of Scotland.

There are big questions about the pressure on funds like the Wolfson Foundation, as the state contracts and all such grant-givers find themselves increasingly under pressure. Many would not wish to see a situation more like that in America where public facilities often have to look to philanthropy rather than the tax payer to survive.

But the Wolfson Foundation's contribution is unquestionable and its history a powerful counter to those who would object to the UK taking its share of responsibility for refugees.