James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale

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 1878 he purchased Gledhow Hall, 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.^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

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 Cifford Kitson – twin of James Clifford – (b.6 December 1864 – died ?) ^[11]
• 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

1. "LONG DELAYED SCHEME". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer (West Yorkshire, England). Retrieved 14 February 2016. ...the patients at Beckett’s Park. Last summer His Majesty’s Office of Works purchased from Mr. F. J. Kitson, Gledhow Grove, formerly the residence of the Hon. Sir Gervase Beckett, M.P. for North Leeds. The house and grounds, which occupy an area of about acres..
2. "Latest Wills FORMER LEEDS LORD MAYOR Mr. F. J. Kitson Leaves £l,OOO for Hospitals £115,000 ESTATE Mr. Frederick James Kitson,". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer (West Yorkshire, England). Retrieved 14 February 2016. LORD MAYOR Mr. F. J. Kitson Leaves £l,OOO for Hospitals £115,000 ESTATE Mr. Frederick James Kitson, of Quarry Dene, Weetwood, Leeds, a former Lord Mayor of Leeds, and a nephew of the first Lord Airedale, who died on November 19, 1935, aged 74, left (net....
3. "Obituary MRS. F. J. KITSON EX-LADY MAYORESS OF LEEDS Mrs. Florence (James) Kitson, widow of Mr. Frederick James Kitson (a former Lord Mayor of Leeds 1908)". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer (West Yorkshire, England). Retrieved 14 February 2016. Obituary (26 April 1943) MRS. F. J. KITSON EX-LADY MAYORESS OF LEEDS Mrs. Florence Kltson, widow of Mr. Frederick Jumes Kitson (a former Lord Mayor of Leeds, and (a first) cousin of Miss J. B. Kltson. present Lord Mayor of the city), died yesterday at her residence, Hill Court....
4. "Formal Election". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer (West Yorkshire, England). 14 November 1942. Retrieved 23 September 2015. (Beatrice Jessie Kitson came from a) distinguished Leeds family. She was born in Hyde Terrace 1876, the daughter of the late Mr John Hawthorn Kitson (son of James Kitson Senior born 1807), head of the famous Airedale Foundry, who married Miss Jessie Ellershaw, a member another well-known Leeds family...
5. "List of Mayors and Lord Mayor". Leeds Council.
6. Memorial Window to the Late Lord Airedale. Report of the Proceedings at the Unveiling Ceremony ... Together with a Description of the Window. 8 page booklet published by the chapel.
7. 1989 Mill Hill Chapel Guidebook, cited in British Listed Buildings
8. Rayner, Gordon (13 September 2013). "'Middle-class' Duchess of Cambridge's relative wore crown and attended George V's coronation". Daily Telegraph. p. 7. Retrieved 15 February 2015. Baroness Airedale was a (second) cousin of Michael Middleton’s grandmother, Olive. She lived in a grand country house near Leeds called Gledhow Hall, which was once painted by JMW Turner, and was also invited to the coronation of the Queen’s father, George VI.
9. Web, Kanga. "James Kitson" (PDF). History of Kitson family. Kangaweb Pty Ltd. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
10. Campbell, Gordon (2006). The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts. Oxford University Press. p. 162.
11. "Rt Hon Sir James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale of Gledhow". Red1st.com. Retrieved 19 September 2015.

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Retrieved 25 June 2008