Christopher Furness Vanity Fair 1908-10-21

Christopher Furness, 1st Baron Furness (23 April 1852 – 10 November 1912) was a British businessman and

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. For example, while the political systems ...

politician.

Early life

Furness was born in West Hartlepool, Durham on 23 April 1852. He was the seventh son of John Furness of West Hartlepool, and Averill Eastor Furness (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Wilson).

Career

He started his career as a buyer in Thomas Furness and Company, wholesale provision merchants, a firm owned by his older brother Thomas, and became a partner two years later. Stock for the business had to be brought in by ship, and Christopher found that it would be cheaper to use their own vessels, rather than hire other peoples. Consequently, on his initiative, the firm bought several steam ships from local shipbuilder

William Gray & Company William Gray & Company Ltd. was a British shipbuilding company located in West Hartlepool, County Durham, in North East England. Founded in 1863 by John Denton and William Gray as a partnership, it became a private and then a public limited compa ...

in 1877. In 1882, Christopher Furness and Company was formed and the business was split into two. Thomas kept the provision merchants, while Christopher took charge of the shipping fleet. After seven years as a partner in the shipbuilding firm of Edward Withy and Company, Furness merged it with his own company in 1891, to form Furness, Withy and Company, which was run by his nephew,

Sir Stephen Furness, 1st Baronet Sir Stephen Wilson Furness, 1st Baronet (26 May 1872 – 6 September 1914) was a British shipping magnate and a Liberal Party politician. A member of a prominent ship-owning family from West Hartlepool, Furness was educated at Ashville College ...

after his death. By a series of mergers, his firms become the main employers in Hartlepool, until they finally closed in the 1980s. In 1901, he sold a ship that he had ordered, ''Huronian'', before it sailed. It was reported missing, later lost, early in 1902, on its maiden voyage to Canada. It was deemed to have sunk with the loss of all those aboard. In 1907 a letter in a bottle apparently sent from the ship washed up in Ireland. Furness was one of the first people to own a

turbine A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful work. The work produced can be used for generating electrical ...

-powered

steam yacht A steam yacht is a class of luxury or commercial yacht with primary or secondary steam propulsion in addition to the sails usually carried by yachts. Origin of the name The English steamboat entrepreneur George Dodd (1783–1827) used the term ...

Alexander Stephen and Sons Alexander Stephen and Sons Limited, often referred to simply as Alex Stephens or just Stephens, was a Scottish shipbuilder, shipbuilding company based in Linthouse, Glasgow, on the River Clyde and, initially, on the east coast of Scotland. Hist ...

of Linthouse,

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

launched in October 1902 and completed her in April 1903. Furness owned her until he died in 1912.

Political career

Furness was also involved in politics, and was elected Member of Parliament for

The Hartlepools The Hartlepools was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. The constituency became Hartlepool (UK Parliament constituency), Har ...

at a by-election in 1891. He lost the seat in

1895 Events January * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island (off French Guiana) on what is much later admitted to be a false charge of tr ...

, but was re-elected in

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15 ...

, and served until his re-election in January 1910 was declared void after an electoral petition. He was appointed a

knight bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the 1895 Birthday Honours, and in 1910 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Furness, of Grantley in the West Riding of the County of Yorkshire. In 1909 he was made an Honorary Freeman of West Hartlepool.

Personal life

On 16 May 1876, Furness married Jane Annette Suggitt (1855–1930), the only daughter of Henry Suggitt of Brierton,

county Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

. They had one son: * Marmaduke Furness (1883–1940), who in 1918 was created Viscount Furness. A Non-conformist, in 1900 he promised to pay off all the debts of Non-conformist places of worship in Hartlepool. Christopher Furness died on 10 November 1912, aged 60. He was succeeded in the barony by his son Marmaduke.

References

External links

* *
Christopher Furness, 1st Baron Furness (1852–1912), Shipowner, industrialist and politician
at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Furness, Christopher 1852 births 1912 deaths Furness, Christopher Furness, 1st Baron Knights Bachelor Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs who were granted peerages People from West Hartlepool Barons created by George V