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 from 1886, until he was elevated to the peerage in 1907. Lord Airedale was a prominent Unitarian in Leeds.

Family background and early life

Kitson's sister Emily, Mrs William Playfair (1841-1916), by John Singer Sargent, 1887

His parents were James Kitson of Elmete Hall (1807–1885), a locomotive manufacturer who founded Kitson and Company, and his wife Ann Newton. They had many children. Their daughter Emily married William Smoult Playfair, royal obstetrician,^[1] and had a son, actor-manager Sir Nigel Playfair.

James (Jnr) went to school in Wakefield and studied chemistry and natural sciences at University College London.

With his elder brother, Frederick William (b.1829), James (Jnr.) developed the iron foundry that their father bought for them into a large company, Monkbridge Iron and Steel Works.

Career

This 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 in 1892, continuing to 1907, supporting education, Irish home rule, and old age pensions. Kitson was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He supported 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 the first Lord Mayor of Leeds (1896 and 1897).^[2]

Mill Hill Chapel

The Kitsons 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 an extension to the vestry. William Morris designed a window which was dedicated to Kitson's mother Ann, who died in 1865. After his death, Archibald Keightley Nicholson created a window in his name, representing the continuation of Christianity.^[3] In the early twentieth century the chapel was described as having "a small but politically active and very influential congregation led by the Revd Charles Hargrove and Sir James Kitson".^[4]

Gledhow Hall

Gledhow Hall

In 1885 Kitson purchased Gledhow Hall^[5] and estate in Gledhow, Leeds, between Chapel Allerton and Roundhay.

Kitson had redecorated the hall upon purchasing it and had entertained lavishly, including playing host to Prime Minister William Gladstone and his son, Herbert, who was a witness at Kitson's second marriage in 1881, to Mary Laura Smith.^[6] 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.^[7]

Honours

Kitson 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.^[8] 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 ?) ^[9]
• 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

Lord Mayors of Leeds

Several members of the Kitson family were mayor or Lord Mayor of Leeds. From the Leeds Council website:^[10]

• In 1860 and 1861, James Kitson Snr.
• In 1896 and 1897, Sir James Kitson MP (later the 1st Baron Airedale).
• In 1908 (and briefly in 1910), Frederick J Kitson.
• In 1942, Jessie Beatrice Kitson.

Lord Airedale's father, James Kitson Snr. - the original industrialist of Elmete Hall - was Mayor of Leeds in 1860-1861.^[11] A generation later it was the subject of this article, a few years into his baronetcy, who became the first Lord Mayor in 1896-1897.

The 1908 lord mayor was the son of Lord Airedale's elder brother, Frederick William Kitson (d. 1877). This son, Frederick James Kitson of Gledhow Grove,^[12] died in 1935.^[13] His widow, Florence, died on 26 April 1943.^[14]

Florence lived to see her niece become the first female Lord Mayor. In late 1942, the elected lord mayor died suddenly, and the council asked a fourth Kitson to take over: Jessie Beatrice Kitson (b.1877), the daughter of John Hawthorn Kitson (d.1899), who was the younger brother of the first Lord Airedale.^[15]

References

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Retrieved 25 June 2008