Sir James Roberts (1848–1935) was a Yorkshire industrialist and businessman. He was born at Lane Ends, near
Haworth
Haworth () is a village in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, in the Pennines, south-west of Keighley, west of Bradford and east of Colne in Lancashire. The surrounding areas include Oakworth and Oxenhope. Nearby villages includ ...
, Yorkshire on 30 September 1848.
He was one of eleven children of a weaver who became a tenant farmer.
Early life and education
Roberts attended the local school at Haworth,
where he learnt to read and write. As a boy he knew
Charlotte Brontë
Charlotte Brontë (, commonly ; 21 April 1816 – 31 March 1855) was an English novelist and poet, the eldest of the three Brontë sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels became classics of English literature.
She enlisted i ...
and heard her father preach. He left school at eleven to become a part-time millworker in Oxenhope, and two years later was apprenticed at William Greenwood's mill there. At the age of eighteen he became manager of the mill, and in 1873 he started his own business as a top-maker.
Personal life
On 14 May 1873 at All Saints' Church, Bingley, he married Elizabeth Foster (1852–1935).
His daughter Alice eloped with Norman Rutherford, a medical student, on 27 August 1902 marrying in Scotland. He became a war hero earning the DSO in 1917. On 13 January 1919 Rutherford shot and killed Major Miles Seton who was seeing Alice while he was away. At his trial Rutherford was found guilty but insane and sent to Broadmoor. While in Broadmoor he wrote ''An Outline History of the Great War'' anonymously.
Business
In 1892 the well-known firm of Sir
Titus Salt
Sir Titus Salt, 1st Baronet (20 September 1803 in Morley – 29 December 1876 in Lightcliffe), was a manufacturer, politician and philanthropist in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, who is best known for having built Salt's Mill, a la ...
, Sons and Co went into voluntary liquidation and Roberts was one of a consortium of local businessmen who purchased the concern. Within eight years he was the sole owner. The business prospered markedly under his management.
As part of his business activities Roberts travelled extensively abroad. He went to Russia many times and learnt to speak Russian. But his business interests suffered badly as a result of the Revolution. This meant a visit to his bankers in London, where the bank official he met was
TS Eliot
Thomas Stearns Eliot (26 September 18884 January 1965) was a poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor.Bush, Ronald. "T. S. Eliot's Life and Career", in John A Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (eds), ''American National Biogr ...
. This is said to have given reference to the poet's reference in his poem ''The Waste Land'' to "a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire". Nevertheless, when his family sold the business (which failed to prosper thereafter) in 1920, it was for the sum of £2,000,000, a remarkably large sum in those days.
The public life of Roberts was also distinguished. In 1897 he became a member of the Urban District Council for
Shipley, West Yorkshire
Shipley is a historic market town and civil parish in the City of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, by the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, north of Bradford. The population of the Shipley ward on Bradford City Council taken at ...
, eventually becoming chairman of that council. He was also a member of the County Council for the
West Riding of Yorkshire
The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...
and a Justice of the Peace. In 1909 he was created a baronet in the King's Birthday Honours. He was a keen advocate of free trade and was the first chairman of the West Riding Free Trade Federation. He endowed a leaving scholarship at
Bingley Grammar School
Bingley Grammar School (BGS) is a Voluntary aided school for students from the ages of 11–18 and is located on the outskirts of Bingley, West Yorkshire, England.
Bingley Grammar School was a specialist school for Business & Enterprise from ...
and the chair of Russian at
Leeds University
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
. He also bought Haworth Parsonage, which was opened to visitors in 1928 as the
Brontë Parsonage Museum
The Brontë Parsonage Museum is a writer's house museum maintained by the Brontë Society in honour of the Brontë sisters – Charlotte, Emily and Anne. The museum is in the former Brontë family home, the parsonage in Haworth, West Yorkshire ...
. There is a Roberts Street in central Bradford and a
Roberts Park
Roberts Park is a historic public park and national historic district located at Connersville, Fayette County, Indiana. The parkland was donated to the city of Connersville in 1902. The 80-acre, rectangular site includes the contributing stone ...
in
Saltaire
Saltaire is a Victorian era, Victorian model village in Shipley, West Yorkshire, Shipley, part of the City of Bradford Metropolitan District, in West Yorkshire, England. The Victorian era Salt's Mill and associated residential district locate ...
.
Later life
In 1910 Sir James Roberts purchased Strathallan Castle from the
Earl of Perth. Roberts retired to the south of England, whilst also maintaining Strathallan Castle in Scotland. As of 2021 the Roberts family still has Strathallan Castle which is rented as function and event space. He died in 1935. He was buried in Fairlight in East Sussex.
References
External links
Home Page: Strathallan CastleBrontë Parsonage Museum website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Sir James
1848 births
20th-century British businesspeople
English chief executives
1935 deaths
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Businesspeople from Yorkshire
People from Haworth