Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other people named John Brunner, see John Brunner (disambiguation).

DL
John Brunner in 1885
Born
John Tomlinson Brunner

8 February 1842 (1842-02-08)
Everton, Liverpool, England
Died1 July 1919 (1919-08) (aged 77)
Chertsey, Surrey, England
EducationSt. George's House, Everton
Occupation(s)Chemical industrialist, politician
TitleBaronet
Spouses
  • Salome Davies
  • Jane Wyman
ChildrenJohn Fowler Leece, 2nd Baronet, Grace, Harold Roscoe,
Mabel Alicia, Hilda, Maud Mary, Ethel Jane
Parent(s)John Brunner
Margaret Catherine Curphey

Sir John Tomlinson Brunner, 1st Baronet,

welfare reforms and, leading up to the First World War, a more sympathetic stance towards Germany. Brunner was a prominent Freemason, and a generous benefactor to the towns in his constituency and to the University of Liverpool. He is the great grandfather of the Duchess of Kent
.

Early life and career

John Tomlinson Brunner was born in

Henry was already working as technical manager.[5] There, he rose to the position of general manager. Shortly after starting work at Hutchinson's, Brunner met the German-born chemist Ludwig Mond.[3]

Brunner Mond and Company

In 1873 Brunner formed a partnership with Mond and together they founded

Brunner Mond & Company.[3] Their initial capital was less than £20,000 (£2.2 million in 2024),[6] most of which was borrowed.[7] In April 1872 Mond had been to Belgium to meet Ernest Solvay to negotiate terms to manufacture alkali by the process Solvay had developed. The Solvay process produced soda ash more cheaply than the established Leblanc process, from raw materials which were more easily obtainable, and produced fewer waste products.[8] Mond made a gentlemen's agreement with Solvay to apportion the global markets, with Mond's company having exclusive rights to the United States and to the British Isles.[9]

Brunner and Mond decided to build their factory at

managing directors for life.[12] In 1891, Brunner became the chairman and retained that position until April 1918, 14 months before his death. However, by then his duties were being increasingly performed by his son, Roscoe.[13]

After its slow start, Brunner Mond & Company became the wealthiest British chemical company of the late 19th century. On its merger with three other British chemical companies to form Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) in 1926, it had a market capitalization of over £18 million (£1.32 billion in 2024).[6] Brunner's sobriquet, "Chemical Croesus", was given to him by The Times.[3] He was a paternalistic employer and went to great lengths to improve the situation of his employees. Measures introduced by Brunner and Mond were shorter working hours, sickness and injury insurance, and holidays with pay.[3][14]

Politics

Statue of John Brunner in Winnington, Cheshire

During the years he was working at Hutchinson's in Widnes, Brunner was developing his political interests. He joined the Widnes chapter of the

Irish Home Rule and for compensation for those whose properties had been damaged by the pumping of brine from the salt mines in the area.[19] During the campaign he was heckled because he had a foreign-sounding name. He responded "My father was a Swiss, my mother was a Manx woman, I was born in Liverpool, my nurse was Welsh: is that Cheshire enough for you?"[20] At the general election on 1 December 1885 Brunner beat William Henry Verdin, his Conservative rival, with a majority of 1,028.[21]

The Liberal Party won more seats than any other party in the election, but insufficient to form a majority government, leaving the Irish Parliamentary Party holding the balance of power. It proved impossible to form a stable government, and so another general election was called in June 1886.[22] In the meantime, the Liberal Party had split, and the Liberal Unionist Party had been formed. Brunner's opponent at the 1886 election was William Henry Verdin's brother, Robert, standing as a Liberal Unionist.[23] The election was held on 13 July 1886, and Brunner was defeated by 458 votes.[24] In November 1886, Brunner embarked on a world tour, accompanied by his wife and his son Stephen. His return to Northwich on 2 July 1887 was greeted with great celebration, as he was extremely popular in the town, regarded as a kind and sympathetic employer and a generous benefactor.[25] Within three weeks of Brunner's return, Robert Verdin died[26] and a by-election was called. Brunner's opponent was Lord Henry Grosvenor, who was standing as a Liberal Unionist.[27] This time, at the by-election on 13 August, Brunner won with a majority of 1,129.[28]

After the 1889 Armagh rail disaster, Brunner opposed moves to regulate safety on railways, saying during a debate on 2 August that safety should be left in the hands of "those who understand these matters best", i.e. the railway companies. But the government moved rapidly to have railway operations and safety supervised by the Board of Trade.

At the

George Whiteley, who was a cotton manufacturer from Blackburn. Brunner was returned with an increased majority of 1,255.[29] In the 1895 election he beat Thomas Ward, another Conservative, by 1,638 votes.[30] The 1900 general election was held during the Boer War, to which Brunner was opposed. He retained his seat, but with a reduced majority of 699.[31] In the 1906 general election, Brunner's opponent was the Conservative Colonel B. N. North who had fought in the Boer War. Brunner increased his majority to 1,792.[32] He continued to be the Member of Parliament for Northwich until the general election in January 1910, when he decided not to stand again, partly because of his own health and also because of concern for his wife's health.[33] Subsequently, he moved to Surrey, but continued to play a part in politics when he was elected to the Chertsey division of Surrey County Council.[34]

As a Liberal MP he supported

trinitrotoluene.[36]

Benefactions

Brunner was a generous benefactor whose gifts included the provision of schools, guildhalls and social clubs. In Northwich he provided a free library[3] and re-endowed Sir John Deane's Grammar School.[37] In Runcorn he purchased a disused chapel and presented it to the town to be used by the trades unions and the Friendly Societies,[38] and in nearby Weston village he bought a disused school and gave it to the local community to serve as its village hall.[39] He also endowed the chairs of economics, physical chemistry and Egyptology (the Brunner Professorships) at the University of Liverpool.[40]

Abroad he gave gifts to the

Freemason and in 1900 founded the John Brunner Lodge at Over Winsford. The following year he was honoured with the brevet rank of Past Grand Deacon of England.[40]

In 1899 Brunner (who had by then been created a baronet) became chairman of the

Edward VII, but the king was unable to attend, and so Brunner performed the ceremony himself.[41] By 1911 it had become apparent that the bridge would always operate at a loss, and Brunner assigned his interest in it to Widnes Corporation. The Times stated that this action amounted to a "virtual gift of £68,000" (£8.7 million in 2024).[6][38]

Personal life

Brunner believed that his success owed much to the "courage and independence of thought" that he derived from his Unitarian faith and recalled the influence of visits to Renshaw Street Unitarian Chapel with his father as a child.[42] On 14 June 1864 Brunner married Salome Davies, the daughter of a Liverpool merchant with whom he had six children. Salome died on 29 January 1874 and the following year he married Jane Wyman, the daughter of a Kettering physician and the governess to his children.[3] From this marriage three more children, all daughters, were born. On 8 September 1890 his oldest son, John, got into difficulties whilst swimming in Lake Como, Italy. He was rescued by his younger sibling, Sidney Herbert Brunner, who lost his life in the process. Sidney's body was found on 10 September and buried in Bellagio, beside the lake, the next day.[43] In 1891 the Brunners moved from Winnington Hall to Wavertree, a suburb of Liverpool.[44]

Amongst other offices held, he was Vice-President of the British Science Guild,

Doctor of Laws
.

In 1895 he was made the Baronet of Druids Cross in the County of Lancashire and in 1906 he became a member of the privy council, but he declined offers of a peerage. He died in 1919 at his home in Chertsey, Surrey. His estate amounted to over £906,000 (£53 million in 2024).[6] In addition, he had given generously to his five married daughters, and had transferred investments to his sons.[46] The baronetcy passed to his eldest son,

Prince Ferdinand of Liechtenstein (1901-1981) in 1925, a member of that principality's still reigning dynasty.[48]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 3–6.
  2. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 7–9.
  3. ^
    Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, archived from the original on 6 February 2015, retrieved 14 September 2013 ((subscription or UK public library membership
    required)    )
  4. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 11–13.
  5. ^ Hardie 1950, p. 227
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  7. ^ Koss 1970, p. 23.
  8. ^ Koss 1970, p. 24.
  9. ^ Koss 1970, p. 25.
  10. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 27–29..
  11. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 30–31..
  12. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 33–34.
  13. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 46–47.
  14. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 35–45.
  15. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 17–18.
  16. ^ Koss 1970, p. 47.
  17. ^ Koss 1970, p. 49.
  18. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 49–50.
  19. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 54–55.
  20. ^ Koss 1970, p. 38.
  21. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 67–68.
  22. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 68–69.
  23. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 80–81.
  24. ^ Koss 1970, p. 85.
  25. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 89–95.
  26. ^ Koss 1970, p. 97.
  27. ^ Koss 1970, p. 98.
  28. ^ Koss 1970, p. 107.
  29. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 172–174.
  30. ^ Koss 1970, p. 178.
  31. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 186–189.
  32. ^ Koss 1970, p. 202.
  33. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 207–208.
  34. ^ Koss 1970, p. 210.
  35. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 215–289.
  36. ^ Koss 1970, pp. 273–275.
  37. ISBN 0-7190-1282-1
  38. ^ a b Starkey 1990, p. 217.
  39. ^ Starkey 1990, p. 189.
  40. ^
    ISBN 0-7661-3589-6, archived
    from the original on 8 November 2021, retrieved 15 November 2016
  41. ^ Starkey 1990, pp. 213–214.
  42. ^ Koss 1970, p. 7.
  43. ^ "Ancestry Library Edition". Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
  44. ^ Koss 1970, p. 33.
  45. ^ "No. 27671". The London Gazette. 29 April 1904. p. 2770.
  46. ^ Koss 1970, p. 289.
  47. ^ The Baronetage of England, Ireland, Nova Scotia,Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Leigh Rayment, archived from the original on 1 May 2008, retrieved 2 October 2007{{citation}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  48. ^ Massingberd, pp. 311, 381.

Sources

External links
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Northwich
1885 – 1886 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Northwich
1887 – 1910 		Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by
President of the National Liberal Federation

1911–1918 		Succeeded by
George Lunn
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation
Baronet

(of Druids Cross, Winnington Old Hall and Ennismore Gardens)
1895 – 1919 		Succeeded by

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sir_John_Brunner,_1st_Baronet&oldid=1216325193"