Joseph Albert Pease, 1st Baron Gainford (17 January 1860 – 15 February 1943), known as Jack Pease, was a British businessman and Liberal politician. He was a member of H. H. Asquith's Liberal cabinet between 1910 and 1916 and also served as Chairman of the BBC between 1922 and 1926.

Background and education

Pease was born in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...

, County Durham (a member of the Darlington Peases), the second and youngest son of Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet, of Hutton Hall,

Guisborough Guisborough ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland, North Yorkshire, England. It lies north of the North York Moors National Park. Roseberry Topping, midway between the town and Great Ayton, is a landmark i ...

, and Mary, daughter of Alfred Fox. He was the younger brother of Sir Alfred Pease, 2nd Baronet, the nephew of Arthur Pease and the first cousin of Sir Arthur Pease, 1st Baronet, and Herbert Pease, 1st Baron Daryngton.thepeerage.com Joseph Albert Pease, 1st Baron Gainford
/ref> He was educated at Grove House, Tottenham, 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 ...

school, and at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Political career

Pease served as Mayor of Darlington from 1889 to 1890. He was elected Member of Parliament for Tyneside in 1892, a seat he held until 1900 He contested and won a by-election for Saffron Walden in May 1901, and represented that constituency until 1910, and Rotherham between 1910 and 1916. He was private secretary (unpaid) to John Morley, the

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century un ...

, between 1893 and 1895 and a junior opposition

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

between 1897 and 1905. When the Liberals came to power in 1905 under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, Pease was appointed a Junior Lord of the Treasury (government whip). After H. H. Asquith became Prime Minister in 1908 he was promoted to Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury (Chief Whip) and sworn of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. In 1910 he entered Asquith's cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, a post he held until 1911, and then served under Asquith as President of the Board of Education between 1911 and 1915 and as Postmaster-General in 1916. In 1917 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Gainford, of Headlam in the County of Durham. He served on the Claims Commission in France in 1915 and between 1917 and 1920 and in Italy between 1918 and 1919 and was also a Deputy Lieutenant of

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

and a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for County Durham and the

North Riding of Yorkshire The North Riding of Yorkshire is a subdivision of Yorkshire, England, alongside York, the East Riding and West Riding. The riding's highest point is at Mickle Fell with 2,585 ft (788 metres). From the Restoration it was used as ...

Business career

Apart from his political career Pease was Deputy Chairman of the Durham Coal Owners Association and Vice-Chairman of the Durham District Board (under the

Coal Mines Act 1930 The Coal Mines Act 1930 was an Act of Parliament which introduced a system of quotas in the coal mining industry of Great Britain. It was a major achievement of the Labour Party, which revoked the eight hour day that had been enacted in 1926, repl ...

), a director of Pease and Partners Ltd and other colliery companies, Chairman of Durham Coke Owners, director of the County of London Electric Supply Company, Chairman of South London Electric Supply Corporation, of the Tees Fishery Board, and of the Trustees of the Bowes Museum. In 1922 he was appointed Chairman of the British Broadcasting Company Ltd, a post he held until its dissolution and replacement by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 31 December 1926, and was vice-chairman of the Board of Governors of the BBC until 1932. From 1927 to 1928 he was President of

Federation of British Industry The Federation of British Industries (FBI) was an employers' association in the United Kingdom. Founded by the Midlands industrialist Dudley Docker in 1916 as the United British Industries' Association, but renamed later that same year, it was ini ...

Papers

Lord Gainford's papers are deposited in Nuffield College, Oxford and consist of diaries, scrap books, press cuttings, correspondence, domestic papers, political papers, official papers, claims commission papers and BBC papers. The main part of the Pease diaries cover the years 1908–1915 and a volume dealing with the years 1908–1910 have been published by Cameron Hazlehurst and Christine Woodland as ''A Liberal Chronicle: Journals and Papers of J A Pease, 1908–1910''; The Historians Press, London, 1994.

Family

Lord Gainford married Ethel, daughter of Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, 1st Baronet, in 1886. They had one son, Joseph, and two daughters, Miriam and Faith (who married Michael Wentworth Beaumont and was the mother of Lord Beaumont of Whitley). Lady Gainford died in October 1941. Lord Gainford survived her by two years and died in February 1943, aged 83. He was succeeded in the barony by his son, Joseph. The family seat was

Headlam Hall Headlam Hall is a 17th-century country house at The Green, Headlam, near Gainford, County Durham, England. It is a Grade II* listed building now in use as a hotel and country club. Early residents Henry Birkbeck (1564-1637) built Headlam Hall ar ...

, Co Durham.

Arms

References

*''Joseph Albert Pease'', by Cameron Hazlehurst in ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', OUP 2004–09.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pease, Jack 1st Baron Gainford Gainford, Joseph Pease, 1st Baron Gainford, Joseph Pease, 1st Baron Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Gainford, Joseph Pease, 1st Baron BBC Governors British Secretaries of State for Education Chairmen of the BBC Gainford, Joseph Pease, 1st Baron Deputy Lieutenants of Durham Pease, Joseph Mayors of places in North East England Gainford, Joseph Pease, 1st Baron Jack People from Darlington People from County Durham Pease, Joseph Albert Pease, Joseph Albert Pease, Joseph Albert Pease, Joseph Albert Pease, Joseph Albert Pease, Joseph Albert UK MPs who were granted peerages Gainford, Joseph Albert Pease, 1st Baron Younger sons of baronets Barons created by George V