John George Graves (1866–1945) was a successful English entrepreneur and public benefactor. He became Sheffield's Lord Mayor and an Alderman in 1926 and he was given Freedom of the City in 1929. He was born in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

in 1866 and died in 1945, having settled in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

Early life

Graves was born in

Horncastle Horncastle is a town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls remains. History Romans Alt ...

, Lincolnshire in 1866, the eldest of three children of Thomas and Julia Graves. When he was 8 years old, the family moved to Heckmondwyke, where his father operated a butchers shop. He attended Batley Grammar School until the age of fourteen, before moving to

Career

Graves moved to Sheffield to become an apprentice

watchmaker A watchmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs watches. Since a majority of watches are now factory-made, most modern watchmakers only repair watches. However, originally they were master craftsmen who built watches, including all their part ...

. He was apprenticed to W. Wichman of Gibraltar Street. He then set up one of Britain's first

mail order Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing ...

businesses, selling first watches and then a wide range of goods. The company employed, at its peak, 3,000 people in Sheffield and had an annual turnover of £1 million. The company was absorbed by

Great Universal Stores GUS plc was an FTSE 100 retailing, manufacturing and financial conglomerate based in the United Kingdom. GUS was an abbreviation of Great Universal Stores, the company's name before 2001, while it was also known as the ''Glorious Gussies'' amon ...

after Graves' death. He married Lucy Dawson on 28 June 1891 in Crookes, Sheffield. They had one daughter, Ruth Julia. A keen

art collector A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...

, Graves donated nearly £60,000 towards the development of

art galleries An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

in Sheffield, including

Sheffield Central Library Sheffield Central Library is a public library in Sheffield, England. It houses the city library service's single largest general lending and reference collection, as well as Graves Art Gallery, on the third floor, and a theatre in the basemen ...

, the

Graves Art Gallery Graves Art Gallery is an art gallery in Sheffield, England. The gallery is located above the Central Library in Sheffield city centre. It houses permanent displays from the city’s historic and contemporary collection of British and European ar ...

and the

Mappin Art Gallery Weston Park Museum is a museum in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is one mile west of Sheffield city centre within Weston Park. It is Sheffield's largest museum and is housed in a Grade II* listed building and managed by Museums Sheffi ...

. He also contributed hundreds of pictures from his private collection. Between 1902 and his death in 1945, Graves lived at

Riverdale House Riverdale House is a Victorian mansion located at 89 Graham Road in the Ranmoor area of Sheffield, England. Formerly a private residence, the building, which is Grade II Listed has now been adopted for commercial use and accommodates several sma ...

in the

Ranmoor Ranmoor () is a suburb of the City of Sheffield, England. It is an affluent suburb in the Fulwood ward of the city. It mostly developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and it features a number of large houses that were built for th ...

area of Sheffield. In the 1911 census he was living with his wife Lucy and daughter at The Folds, off Abbey Lane, Beauchief, Sheffield. Graves donated over £1 million to Sheffield, including the establishment of

Sheffield University , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

's Student Union. Part of the Union building is known as the "Graves Building". He also made gifts of land to the city, including

Ecclesall Woods Ecclesall Woods is an area of woodland in south-west Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, between Abbeydale Road South and Ecclesall. It covers approximately of mature semi-natural deciduous woodland which was previously used for timber and cha ...

, Tinsley playing fields, Concord Park, Blacka Moor and one of the largest plots of land he donated was named after him, Graves Park. He also gifted land known as Cliffe Park to the town of

Dronfield Dronfield is a town in North East Derbyshire, England, which includes Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston. It lies in the valley of the River Drone between Chesterfield and Sheffield. The Peak District National Park is to the west. The nam ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, which is roughly 2.5 miles south of Graves Park in Sheffield. The J. G. Graves Trust, a charitable trust set up in his name, exists to the present day.

References

External links

JG Graves Charitable Trust
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, John George Lord Mayors of Sheffield 1866 births 1945 deaths