Sir Henry Tate, 1st Baronet (11 March 18195 December 1899) was an English merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

and the company that became

Tate & Lyle Tate & Lyle Public Limited Company is a British-headquartered, global supplier of food and beverage products to food and industrial markets. It was originally a sugar refining business, but from the 1970s, it began to diversify, eventually dive ...

Early life

Henry Tate was born in

White Coppice White Coppice is a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, England. It was the most populated part of the township of Anglezarke in the 19th century. Close to the settlement in the early 19th century were quarries and small coal mines. The hamlet lies ...

on 11 March 1819, the son of Agnes (née Booth) and William Tate. His father was a Unitarian clergyman.

Career

When Tate was 13, he became a grocer's apprentice in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. After a seven-year apprenticeship, he was able to set up his own shop in nearby

Birkenhead Birkenhead () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

. His business was successful, and grew to a chain of six stores by the time he was 35. In 1859, he became a partner in the John Wright & Co.

sugar refinery A sugar refinery is a refinery which processes raw sugar from cane or sugar extracted from beets into white refined sugar. Cane sugar mills traditionally produce raw sugar, which is sugar that still contains molasses, giving it color ...

, selling his grocery business in 1861. By 1869, he had gained complete control of the company, and renamed it to Henry Tate & Sons. In 1872, he purchased the patent from

Eugen Langen Carl Eugen Langen (9 October 1833 in Cologne – 2 October 1895 in Elsdorf) was a German entrepreneur, engineer and inventor, involved in the development of the petrol engine and the Wuppertal Suspension Railway. In 1857 he worked in his fathe ...

for making

sugar cube Sugar cubes are white sugar granules pressed into small cubes measuring approximately 1 teaspoon each. They are usually used for sweetening drinks such as tea and coffee. They were invented in the early 19th century in response to the difficulti ...

s and built a new refinery in Liverpool. In 1877, he opened another refinery in the

Silvertown Silvertown is a district of West Ham in the London Borough of Newham, in east London, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, Thames and was historically part of the parishes of West Ham and East Ham, Becontree Hundred, hund ...

district of London, which remains open; at the time, Silvertown was still mostly marshland.

Charity

Upon becoming wealthy, Tate donated generously to charity. In 1889, he donated his collection of 65 contemporary paintings to the British government, on the condition that they be displayed in a suitable gallery; he also donated £80,000 toward the construction of said gallery, which is now known as

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

and opened on 21 July 1897 on the site of the old

Millbank Prison Millbank Prison or Millbank Penitentiary was a prison in Millbank, Westminster, London, originally constructed as the National Penitentiary, and which for part of its history served as a holding facility for convicted prisoners before they were p ...

. Tate made many donations, often anonymously and always discreetly, and supported "alternative" and non-establishment causes. For example, he donated £10,000 for the library of what is now

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

Harris Manchester College Harris Manchester College (HMC) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It was founded in Warrington in 1757 as a college for Unitarian students and moved to Oxford in 1893. It became a full college of the un ...

, though it was originally founded in

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

in 1786 as a

dissenting academy The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and seminaries (often institutions with aspects of all three) run by English Dissenters, that is, Protestants who did not conform to the Church of England. They formed a significant part of educatio ...

to provide religious nonconformists with higher education. He also gave the college £5,000 to promote the "theory and art of preaching". In addition, he gave £20,000 to the Liverpool Homeopathic Hospital in 1885. He particularly supported health and education with his money, giving £42,500 to

Liverpool University The University of Liverpool (abbreviated UOL) is a public research university in Liverpool, England. Founded in 1881 as University College Liverpool, Victoria University, it received Royal Charter by King Edward VII in 1903 attaining the de ...

, £3,500 to Bedford College for Women, and £5,000 to

Streatham Library Streatham Library is located at 63 Streatham High Road, Streatham, in the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The Library opened in 1890, and is one of several historical libraries in the vicinity which were built by Henry Tate. It is a public l ...

. In addition to

Streatham Streatham ( ) is a district in south London, England. Centred south of Charing Cross, it lies mostly within the London Borough of Lambeth, with some parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Wandsworth. Streatham was in Surrey ...

, provisions were made for libraries in other areas of London such as

Balham Balham () is an List of areas of London, area in south-west London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, with small parts extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Lambeth. It has been settled since Saxon times and appears in t ...

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

, and

South Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, which today also gives its name to the (much larger) London Borough of Lambeth. Lambeth itself was an ancient parish in the county of Surrey. It is situated 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Charin ...

. He gave £8,000 to the

Liverpool Royal Infirmary The Liverpool Royal Infirmary was a hospital in Pembroke Place in Liverpool, England. The building is now used by the University of Liverpool. History The infirmary has its origins in a small building on Shaw's Brow which was opened by the 11th ...

and £5,000 to the

Queen's Nursing Institute The Queen's Institute of Community Nursing (QICN) is a charity that works to improve the nursing care of people in their own homes in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It does not operate in Scotland, where the Queen's Nursing Institute Sc ...

Personal life

Tate had a reputation as a modest man who was often concerned with improving his workers' conditions, and had the Tate Institute built opposite his London refinery with a bar and

dance hall Dance hall in its general meaning is a hall for Dance, dancing, but usually refers to a specific type of twentieth-century venue, with dance clubs (nightclubs) becoming more popular towards the end of the century. The palais de danse was a term ap ...

for their recreation. Tate was made 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 ...

on 27 June 1898. He had refused this title more than once untilafter he had spent £150,000 to build the Millbank Gallery, endowed it with his personal collection, and presented it to the nationhe was told the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of monarchs and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term papal family describes the family of a pope, while th ...

would be offended if he refused again. Tate married Jane Wignall in

on 1 March 1841. They lived at Park Hill near

Streatham Common Streatham Common is a large open space on the southern edge of Streatham in the London Borough of Lambeth. The shallow sloping lower (western) half of the common is mostly mowed grass, and the upper (eastern) half is mostly woodland with some ...

in London, had three sons together, and remained married until her death on 29 November 1883.

Death

Tate died in

on 5 December 1899 at the age of 80, and was buried in nearby

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

, the gates of which are opposite a public library to which he donated. His home, Park Hill, later became a nunnery before it was refurbished as housing. In 1921, his company Henry Tate & Sons merged with

Abram Lyle Abram Lyle (14 December 1820 – 30 April 1891) was a Scottish food manufacturer and politician, who is noted for founding the sugar refiners '' Abram Lyle & Sons'' in 1887, which merged with the company of his rival Henry Tate to become Tate ...

& Sons to form

Legacy

In 2001, a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...

commemorating Tate was unveiled on the site of his first shop at 42 Hamilton Street in

. In 2006, a

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a British pub company operating in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim ...

pub in

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

(close to Tate's birthplace of

) was named after him.

Gallery

File:WNC Tate.JPG, Tate's mausoleum at

File:Henry Tate Mausoleum West Norwood Cemetery.jpg, Tate's mausoleum at West Norwood Cemetery File:Tate South Lambeth library (21755715568).jpg, Tate South Lambeth Library in

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

File:Henry Tate Plaque at UoL.JPG, Dedication plaque to Tate in the University of Liverpool's Victoria Building

Notes and references

* * *

External links

Tate GalleryTate & LyleSir Henry Tate
* * http://www.thepeerage.com/p59124.htm#i591238 {{DEFAULTSORT:Tate, Henry 1819 births 1899 deaths Businesspeople from Wirral Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People from Chorley History of the London Borough of Lambeth Burials at West Norwood Cemetery Museum founders People associated with the Tate galleries Tate & Lyle people 19th-century English philanthropists Sugar merchants 19th-century English merchants