John Stephenson Rowntree (2 May 1834 – 13 April 1907) was a Director of

Rowntree's Rowntree's is a British confectionery brand and former business based in York, England. Rowntree developed the Kit Kat (introduced in 1935), Aero (introduced in 1935), Fruit Pastilles (introduced in 1881), Smarties (introduced in 1937) brands, ...

, the

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 ...

confectionery Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

company and a reformer of the

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 ...

movement in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. He was the eldest son of Joseph Rowntree (1801 – 1859) and his wife Sarah Stephenson (1807 – 1888). He married Elizabeth Hotham (1835–1875) on 25 August 1858. They had nine children. Following her death, he married, on 10 April 1878, Helen Doncaster (1833–1920). His book, ''Quakerism Past and Present'' (1859), written at the age of 24, analyses the state of nineteenth-century British Quakerism and was a cause of some essential reforms. He supported Quaker education in York and the training of women teachers and the higher education of women, in general. He was editor of '' The Friend'' from 1875 to 1878. He was an ardent botanist, a keen archaeologist, and well versed in the history of York. He was elected

Lord Mayor of York The Lord Mayor of York is the chairman of City of York Council, first citizen and civic head of York. The appointment is made by the council each year in May, at the same time appointing a sheriff, the city's other civic head. York's lord mayor ...

in 1880 and during his aldermanship devoted himself to putting the city's unsatisfactory finances on to a sound basis. After his death, some of his writings were collected and published by his sister-in-law, Phebe Doncaster, together with a memoir, as ''John Stephenson Rowntree, his life and work''.

References

1834 births 1907 deaths English Quakers History of chocolate Lord Mayors of York

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 ...

19th-century British philanthropists 19th-century English businesspeople {{Quaker-stub