Sir (Joseph) John Jarvis, 1st Baronet (25 March 1876 – 3 October 1950) was a British industrialist and philanthropist who became a

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician. He sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1935 to 1950 as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, but is best known for his philanthropic and industrial efforts to assist the town of

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...

in the economic depression of the 1930s.

Early life and family

Jarvis was the eldest son of Joseph Charles Jarvis, of

Harpenden Harpenden () is a town and civil parish in the City and District of St Albans in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The population of the built-up area was 30,240 in the 2011 census, whilst the population of the civil parish was 29,448. Har ...

. In 1901 he married Bessie Woodfield, the third daughter of Edwin Woodfield from

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

. They had two sons and two daughters. John Jarvis received his secondary education at The Grocers' Company's School in Hackney.

Residence

From 1921 until his death, Jarvis lived at Hascombe Court in Surrey, 500m west of the village of

Hascombe Hascombe is a village in Surrey, England. It contains a large cluster of cottages and country estates, St Peter's church, the village green, a fountain, pond, a central public house and is surrounded by steep wooded hillsides. History Above the ...

, 5 km south of

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settleme ...

. The garden was designed under Jarvis's ownership by

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...

in 1922, and extended by

Percy Cane Percival Stephen Cane (1881–1976) was an English garden designer and writer. Biography Cane was born and educated in Essex, studying horticulture and architecture. He designed scores of gardens over a long and distinguished career, and won ...

in 1928.

Career

During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Jarvis was an advisor to government on

labour relations Labor relations is a field of study that can have different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. In an international context, it is a subfield of labor history that studies the human relations with regard to work in its broadest ...

, and after the war the government continued to seek his advice on financial matters. In recognition of these services, he was created a

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1922, of Hascombe Court in the County of Surrey, in 1922.

Jarrow

In early 1934 he was elected as

High Sheriff of Surrey The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066. At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex (1229–1231, 1232–1240, 1242–1567, 1571–1635). 1066–1228 (High Sheriffs of Surrey only) 1229– ...

, and shortly afterwards visited

, a shipbuilding town on

Tyneside Tyneside is a built-up area across the banks of the River Tyne in northern England. Residents of the area are commonly referred to as Geordies. The whole area is surrounded by the North East Green Belt. The population of Tyneside as published i ...

which had been particularly badly hit by the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. The Depression caused a collapse in demand for ships, and the closure of Palmers shipyard in Jarrow, leading to 80% unemployment in the town. Jarvis launched an appeal named the "Surrey Fund" which eventually raised £40,000; the funds were used to buy materials to enable men in Jarrow to continue working, on tasks such as the constructing playgrounds and sports facilities and the redecoration of houses. Using his own wealth, Jarvis also bought the decommissioned liner (a sistership of the ) for a reported £100,000 and had the ship brought to Tyneside to be broken up, followed in 1938 by the liner . The breaking of ''Berengaria'' was promised to directly employ 200 men in skilled and semi-skilled tasks in the new Jarrow Shipbreaking Company (based on the former Palmers shipyard), while the metal was to be used in Jarvis's new metal industries in the area, which employed several hundred people. Through Jarvis's efforts, several other new businesses were established in the Jarrow area. Jarvis also bought unemployed miners from Jarrow to Hascombe Court, his country estate in Surrey, where they built a Japanese style water and rock garden. Set against the scale of the economic problems in Jarrow, the impact of Jarvis's efforts is contested. In a letter published in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' on 2 October 1936, Jarvis listed some of the achievements of the fund as a "step in the right direction". However, on the following day Jarrow MP

Ellen Wilkinson Ellen Cicely Wilkinson (8 October 1891 – 6 February 1947) was a British Labour Party politician who served as Minister of Education from July 1945 until her death. Earlier in her career, as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jarrow, s ...

praised Jarvis's support for the town but criticised "his over-sanguine optimism", noting that the employment generated had been small-scale and temporary. Wilkinson complained that charitable works were inadequate, and that a solution to the problem required addressing the underlying cause, which was the forced closure of the shipyard. For his efforts, Jarvis was made a

freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

of Jarrow in 1935, but the ceremony on 4 June was boycotted by Labour Party councillors because Jarvis had been selected as a Conservative candidate for the coming general election.

Parliament

Guildford's Conservative MP Charles Rhys announced in January 1934 that he would not contest the next election. At a meeting of the Central Council of the Guildford Division Conservative and Unionist Association on 25 February, Jarvis was invited to be the National Conservative candidate at the next election, and it was reported on 9 March that he had accepted. However, the parties in the National Government had agreed not to oppose each other at elections, so a question arose as to whether the National Government-supporting candidate for the forthcoming vacancy in Guildford should be a Conservative or a Liberal. S. Stopford Brooke, who had contested Guildford for the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

at the 1929 general election, had stood aside in favour of the Conservatives at the by-election in August 1931 and at the general election later that year. Brooke announced in February that he had resigned from the Liberal Party, and intended this time to stand as National candidate "without prefix or suffix". He was supported by local representatives the Liberal, Conservative and National Labour parties. However, in August 1935, Brooke's candidacy was halted by the local National association, which announced that since the collaboration of parties in the constituencies had not developed across the country at large, "no useful purpose would be served by running a purely National candidate in this division in support of this principle". At the general election in November 1935, Brooke signed Jarvis's nomination papers. The only other candidate was Andrew Campbell of the Labour Party, who was a stranger to the constituency and had a weak local organisation. Jarvis was elected with nearly 75% of the votes, and was made a Deputy Lieutenant of

in 1936. He was re-elected in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

, and held the seat until he stood down from the

at the 1950 general election. In November 1943 he wrote to ''

'' newspaper to summarise his experiences in Jarrow, asserting that it was better to bring work to people in depressed areas than to encourage them to move in search of work.

Death and legacy

Jarvis died on 2 October 1950, aged 74. Today his legacy is somewhat controversial, as some ocean liner and cruise ship historians and fans despise him for buying and scrapping the RMS Olympic and the RMS Berengaria.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, John 1876 births 1950 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 Politics of Guildford Deputy Lieutenants of Surrey High Sheriffs of Surrey English philanthropists English businesspeople People from the Borough of Waverley Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Guildford