James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale

Sir James Kitson c1895

Lord Airedale,
Oil on canvas, John Singer Sargent 1905

James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale PC, DSc (22 September 1835 – 16 March 1911) was a British politician of the Liberal Party, first a Member of Parliament and then a peer. He was known as Sir James Kitson, Bt from 1886, until he was elevated to the peerage in 1907. He was a prominent Unitarian in Leeds.

He was the younger son of James Kitson of Elmete Hall (1807–1885), a locomotive manufacturer who founded Kitson and Company, and his wife Ann Newton. James (Jnr.) went to school in Wakefield and studied chemistry and natural sciences at University College London.

Family tradition of Lord Mayors

With his elder brother, Frederick William (b.1829), James (Jnr.) developed an iron foundry into a large company; Monkbridge Iron and Steel Works. Frederick William's son was Frederick James Kitson, Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1908, and owner of Gledhow Grove^[1] who died in 1935.^[2] Frederick James' wife, Florence, died on 26 April 1943,^[3] the year that the lord mayor of Leeds was Jessie Beatrice Kitson (b.1877) - first cousin of Frederick James Kitson. Jessie Beatrice Kitson was the daughter of John Hawthorn Kitson (d.1899) who was also the brother of James (Jnr.). Like his father, niece and nephew, James Kitson (Jnr.) had also been Mayor/Lord Mayor of Leeds: in 1896 and 1897.^[4]

Career

The success of the iron and steel works gave James the time, money and influence to pursue other interests including politics, becoming President of the Leeds Liberal Association, and running the election campaign for William Ewart Gladstone. He became an MP himself in 1892, continuing to 1907, supporting education, Irish home rule, and old age pensions. He was a member of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He supported local education, notably the Mechanics' Institute and the Yorkshire College, the forerunner of the University of Leeds, which awarded him an honorary doctorate (DSc) in 1904. He was also the first Lord Mayor of Leeds (1896 and 1897).^[5]

He and his family were closely linked to Mill Hill Chapel, the Unitarian church on Leeds City Square made famous by the ministry of Joseph Priestley a century before. In 1897 he paid for the extension of the vestry. William Morris designed a window to James's mother Ann, who died in 1865. After his death, Archibald Keightley Nicholson created a window in his name, representing the continuation of Christianity.^[6] The church guidebook describes the early twentieth century as "a small but politically active and very influential congregation led by the Revd Charles Hargrove and Sir James Kitson".^[7]

In 1885 he purchased Gledhow Hall,^[8] a country estate in the village of Gledhow, near Leeds, between Chapel Allerton and Roundhay. Gledhow Hall had been painted by J.M.W. Turner.^[9] Kitson redecorated the hall and entertained lavishly, including playing host to both Prime Minister William Gladstone and his son, Viscount Gladstone MP, who was a witness at Kitson's second marriage in 1881, to Mary Laura Smith.^[10] He commissioned Burmantofts Pottery to create an elaborate bathroom of faience (glazed architectural terra-cotta) in honour of a visit from the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) circa 1885.^[11]

He was created a baronet on 28 August 1886, and on 17 July 1907 was raised to the peerage as the first Baron Airedale, of Gledhow in the West Riding of the County of York.

He died in Paris on 16 March 1911. His body was brought to Leeds for a funeral and burial at Roundhay.

Family

He married (1) Emily Christina Cliff, on 20 September 1860. They had five (surviving) children.

• Sir Albert Ernest Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale (1863–1944)
• James Clifford Kitson (b.6 December 1864 – 25 September 1942)
• Charles Clifford Kitson – twin of James Clifford – (b.6 December 1864 – died ?) ^[12]
• Emily (b.1866)
• Edward Christian (b.1873)
• (Alice) Hilda (b.1872)

He married (2) Mary Laura Smith, on 1 June 1881. They had two children.

• Sir Roland Dudley Kitson, 3rd Baron Airedale (1882–1958)
• Olive Mary

References

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Retrieved 25 June 2008