John Sinton, JP, (born 1 November 1835 in Tamnaghmore House, Co. Armagh; died 13 September 1890 in

Ravernet Ravernet () is a village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Ravernet River, about 3 km south of Lisburn and about 3 km northeast of Hillsborough. Nearby is Sprucefield and the M1 motorway. In the 2001 Census i ...

Co. Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

), was an Ulster Scot industrialist, philanthropist and

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 ...

. He was the seventh child of nine born to David Sinton (1792–1860) and Sarah Green (1795–1856). Belonging to a large and well-known family descended from the Ulster-Scots Benjamin Cynton (1640–?), John Sinton purchased a linen mill at Ravarnet (sometimes spelled Ravernet or Ravarnette), Co. Down, close to

Lisburn Lisburn (; ) is a city in Northern Ireland. It is southwest of Belfast city centre, on the River Lagan, which forms the boundary between County Antrim and County Down. First laid out in the 17th century by English and Welsh settlers, with ...

, Co. Down, in 1873, and established another one at nearby Drumnavaddy. He was the younger brother of

Thomas Sinton Thomas Sinton, JP (February 1826 – 20 August 1887) was an Irish industrialist and magistrate. Sinton made a significant impact upon the Irish linen trade; not least establishing the village of Laurelvale, County Armagh. Thomas Sinton was born ...

(1826–1887), linen manufacturer and Quaker philanthropist, who created the new village at

Laurelvale Laurelvale is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is beside the smaller village of Mullavilly and the two are sometimes referred to as Laurelvale-Mullavilly or Mullavilly-Laurelvale. The village is three miles south of Portadown and 1 ...

, Co. Armagh, in the 1850s, and cousin of industrialist

David Sinton David Sinton (26 June 1808 – 31 August 1900) was an Irish-born American pig-iron industrialist, born in County Armagh, Ireland, who became one of the wealthiest people in America. Early life Sinton was the son of linen manufacturer John Sinton ...

of Cincinnati, once one of the richest men in America. On 21 May 1857, Sinton married Eleanor Hemington at the

Friends' Meeting House A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Steeples, spires, and ...

Chatteris Chatteris is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England, situated in The Fens between Huntingdon, March and Ely. The town is in the North East Cambridgeshire parliamentary constituency. The parish of C ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. They had six children, among them Walter Lyon Sinton (1858–1933), father of

John Alexander Sinton Brigadier John Alexander Sinton, (2 December 1884 – 25 March 1956) was a British medical doctor, malariologist, soldier, and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to Br ...

, winner of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

(1916), and Caroline Sinton (1860–1918), grandmother of Lawrence John Hobson, O.B.E., C.M.G. (1922–1991), sometime Political Adviser to the High Commissioner for

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

and the

Protectorate of South Arabia The Protectorate of South Arabia consisted of various states located at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula under treaties of protection with Britain. The area of the former protectorate became part of South Yemen after the Radfan uprisi ...

. John Sinton probably worked with his brother Thomas at

until the 1870s, when he developed the mill at Ravernet, and built houses and a schoolroom there to accommodate his employees and their families. Sinton devoted all his energy to the Ravarnette Weaving Company, which, at his death in 1890, was taken over in partnership by his youngest son, Edwin (1872–1935), and Benjamin Courtenay Hobson (1862–1935), the husband of Caroline. On his death his estate was valued at £12,919. Sinton and Hobson ran the Ravarnette Weaving Company with great success by developing a form of linen cloth that was used to cover the fuselage of the earliest aeroplanes. However, on 10 October 1927, the company was wound up due to an overload of stock that was unable to be paid for by a bankrupted American firm.

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sinton, John 1835 births 1890 deaths Irish Quakers British Quakers People from County Armagh Ulster Scots people Linen industry in Ireland 19th-century Irish businesspeople