Sir William Peter Rylands, 1st Baronet (23 October 1868 – 22 October 1948) was a British businessman.

Biography

He was the third son of

Peter Rylands Peter Rylands (18 January 1820 – 8 February 1887) was an English wire manufacturer in Lancashire and a Liberal politician who was active in local government and sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1868 and 1887. Life Rylands ...

, and nephew of

John Rylands John Rylands (7 February 1801 – 11 December 1888) was an English entrepreneur and philanthropist. He was the owner of the largest textile manufacturing concern in the United Kingdom, and Manchester's first multi-millionaire. He is well known ...

. After education at

Charterhouse School Charterhouse is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Godalming, Surrey, England. Founded by Thomas Sutton in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian monastery in Charter ...

, he matriculated at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

in 1887. He graduated B.A. in 1892, having left Cambridge in 1890 and visited

Mashonaland Mashonaland is a region in northeastern Zimbabwe. It is home to nearly half of the population of Zimbabwe. The majority of the Mashonaland people are from the Shona tribe while the Zezuru and Korekore dialects are most common. Harare is the larg ...

in 1891. He was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

at the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

in 1894, and as a barrister went the

Northern Circuit The Northern Circuit is a circuit of the General Council of the Bar and English judiciary. The Northern Circuit stretches from Carlisle in Cumberland at its northernmost point, running through Lakeland to the port of Whitehaven in the West, ...

. John Rylands died in 1898, and the younger Peter Rylands succeeded him as managing director of Rylands Brothers, the family business making

wire file:Sample cross-section of high tension power (pylon) line.jpg, Overhead power cabling. The conductor consists of seven strands of steel (centre, high tensile strength), surrounded by four outer layers of aluminium (high conductivity). Sample d ...

. It was bought about eight years later by the Pearson Knowles combine, with Rylands continuing to run the business. He was President of the

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

in 1919 to 1921, in which year he was knighted, of the

Iron and Steel Institute The Iron and Steel Institute was a British association originally organized by the iron trade of the north of England. Its object was the discussion of practical and scientific questions connected with the manufacture of iron and steel. History The ...

in 1926–7, and of the National Federation of Iron and Steel Manufacturers in 1930. Rylands served as

High Sheriff of Cheshire This is a list of Sheriffs (and after 1 April 1974, High Sheriffs) of Cheshire. The High Sheriff, Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the The Crown, Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law officer, law enforcement officer in th ...

in 1935. He was created a baronet, of

Thelwall Thelwall is a suburban village in the civil parish of Grappenhall and Thelwall, in the Warrington district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is close to the Lymm junction of the M6 motorway. History A fortified village was e ...

in the

County Palatine of Chester A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

, in 1939. He died on 22 October 1948, at home at Massey Hall,

Grappenhall Grappenhall is a village within the civil parish of Grappenhall and Thelwall in the Borough of Warrington in Cheshire, England. The parish had a population of 9,377 at the 2001 census, 9,687 at the 2011 census, and 9,651 at the 2021 census. ...

Family

Rylands married in 1894 Nora Mary de Angelis (1865–1946), daughter of David de Angelis of Paris. The couple had no children, and the baronetcy became extinct in 1949.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rylands, Peter 1868 births 1948 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom English businesspeople