Arnold Stephenson Rowntree (28 November 1872 – 21 May 1951) was a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

and

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

MP for

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Background

He was the son of

John Stephenson Rowntree John Stephenson Rowntree (2 May 1834 – 13 April 1907) was a Director of Rowntree's, the York confectionery company and a reformer of the Quaker movement in the United Kingdom. He was the eldest son of Joseph Rowntree (1801 – 1859) an ...

and Elizabeth Hotham of

. He was the nephew of Joseph Rowntree (1836–1925), philanthropist and chocolate manufacturer. He was educated at Friends' School, Bootham, York. He married in 1907, Mary Katharine Harvey of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

. They had three sons and three daughters.

Politics

He was Honorary Secretary of the National Adult School Council. He was elected to Parliament at the

January 1910 United Kingdom general election The January 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. The government called the election in the midst of a constitutional crisis caused by the rejection of the People's Budget by the Conservative-dominat ...

as a member for York. As a Quaker he opposed war and early in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

was involved in the

Union of Democratic Control The Union of Democratic Control was a British pressure group formed in 1914 to press for a more responsive foreign policy. While not a pacifist organisation, it was opposed to military influence in government. World War I The impetus for the ...

, a British anti-war group, which he left in response to pressure from the Liberal Party. He was also associated with fellow Liberal MP

Thomas Edmund Harvey Thomas Edmund Harvey (4 January 1875 – 3 May 1955), generally known as Edmund Harvey, was an English museum curator, social reformer and politician. He sat in Parliament, first as a Liberal and later as an Independent Progressive. He was als ...

in an amendment to the provision for

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to object ...

s in the

Military Service Act 1916 The Military Service Act 1916 was an Act passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom during the First World War to impose conscription in Great Britain, but not in Ireland or any other country around the world. The Act The Bill which became ...

. The same year, he took up the cause of the

Richmond Sixteen The Richmond Sixteen were a group of "absolutist" British conscientious objectors during the First World War. Conscripted into the British Army in 1916, they refused to undertake even non-combatant military duties. Brought together at Richmond ...

, a group of conscientious objectors who were sent to France after refusing to undertake even non-combatant duties.Silence in castle to honour First World War conscientious objectors
dated 25 June 2013 at thenorthernecho.co.uk, accessed 19 October 2014 Rowntree was defeated in the 1918 post-war election, and thereafter concentrated on his business. However, he was President of the York Liberal Association and also President of the Educational Centres Association.

Business

He was a Director of the family chocolate business, Rowntree and Co. (Limited), cocoa manufacturers. He was a Director of North of England Newspaper Co. (Limited), The Nation, the Westminster Press and Associated Papers. He was one of the original directors of the

Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust {{Use British English, date=January 2018 The four Rowntree Trusts are funded from the legacies of the Quaker chocolate entrepreneurs and social reformers Joseph Rowntree and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree. The trusts are based in the Rowntrees' home c ...

, from 1904 to 1951, and the Chair of the trust 1925–1938, following Joseph Rowntree and succeeded by

Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, CH (7 July 1871 – 7 October 1954) was an English sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist. He is known in particular for his three York studies of poverty conducted in 1899, 1935, and 1951. The fi ...

References

External links

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The Rowntree Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowntree, Arnold Stephenson 1872 births 1951 deaths British businesspeople British Quakers British pacifists Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 People educated at Bootham School