From the mid-19th century in Britain, the professionalization of mathematics moved ahead at a slow and gradual pace. The London Mathematical Society (1865), became established as the national mathematical society, journals such as the Quarterly Journal for Pure and Applied Mathematics found their feet, mathematics teachers found a voice through the Association for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching (1871), forerunner of the Mathematical Association, and more academic positions in mathematics became available as laboratories were established and the mathematics departments of the new civic universities began to take shape. The hiatus of the First World War brought new factors into play as mathematicians helped the war effort by working in establishments such as the National Physical Laboratory and the Royal Aircraft Factory, as well as in industry. After the war, mathematicians were involved in international exchange programmes while GH Hardy, who had moved from Cambridge to Oxford for what turned out to be a temporary sojourn, tried to establish a mathematics institute in his new university but without success. For every new initiative, success or failure, the question of funding runs alongside. In this talk I examine the role of patronage, public and private in some of these initiatives and its effect on the development of mathematics and its relationship to bordering disciplines.