Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray
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Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, (15 July 1856 – 1 May 1927), known as Sir Weetman Pearson, Bt between 1894 and 1910, and as Lord Cowdray between 1910 and 1917, was an English engineer, oil industrialist, benefactor and Liberal politician. He was the owner of the Pearson conglomerate.


Background

Pearson was born on 15 July 1856 at Shelley, Kirkburton, West Yorkshire, the son of George Pearson (died 1899), owner of the manufacturing and contracting firm ''S. Pearson & Son'', by his wife, Sarah Dickinson, a daughter of Weetman Dickinson, of High Hoyland,
South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...
.


Business career

The family
construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...
business S. Pearson & Son was founded in 1844 by his grandfather Samuel Pearson (1814–1884). Weetman Pearson took over the company in 1880 and later moved the headquarters from Yorkshire to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. An early proponent of
globalization Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
, S. Pearson & Son built the Admiralty Harbour at
Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
, docks in Halifax, tunnels, railways and harbours around the world, and the
Sennar Dam The Sennar Dam is an irrigation dam on the Blue Nile near the town of Sennar in the Al Jazirah (state), Al Jazirah region of Sudan. The dam is long and has a maximum height of . It was designed by the Scottish engineer Sir Murdoch MacDonald, be ...
in
Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...
. In 1900, the company took over the construction of the Great Northern and City Railway in London and after completion in 1904 ran it for four years. In 1907 he established an investment company,
Whitehall Securities Whitehall Securities Corporation Ltd was formed in 1907 by Weetman Pearson MP and his son Harold Pearson MP. Sir Weetman was nominated as President as well as being a founding director. The company was capitalised at £1,000,000. On 12 December 1 ...
Corporation Ltd which, under the direction of his son Bernard Clive Pearson, played an important role in the development of British airlines in the 1930s. Today Pearson Plc is mainly engaged in the business of
publishing Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
.


Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company

In 1889,
Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...
, the
President of Mexico The president of Mexico (), officially the president of the United Mexican States (), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Constitution of Mexico, the president heads the executive branch of the federal government and ...
, invited Pearson to his country to build a railroadthe Tehuantepec Railwayfrom the
Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
to the
Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...
Ocean. On one of Pearson's trips to Mexico, he missed a rail connection in Laredo, Texas, and was obliged to spend the night in the town which he described as "wild with the oil craze" from the recent discovery of oil at
Spindletop Spindletop is an oil field located in the southern portion of Beaumont, Texas, in the United States. The Spindletop dome was derived from the Louann Salt evaporite layer of the Jurassic geologic period. On January 10, 1901, a well at Spindlet ...
. After doing some quick research that night about oil seepages in Mexico, Pearson began acquiring prospective oil lands in Laredo, thinking he could use discovered oil to fuel the Tehuantepec Railway he was building.Yergin, Daniel, "The Prize, The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power", Simon & Schuster, 1991, p.230-232 In 1902, after sulphur was found in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, Pearson used a Texas drilling crew to drill Potrerillos, a rise of ground close to his railway. Well No. 4 confirmed the location of a salt dome at a depth of 709 feet. This was a good sign, since oil was found at Spindletop in 1901, alongside the edge of a salt dome. Well No 8 became Mexico's first commercial oil well. Pearson then brought in Anthony Lucas to help spot 20 drilling locations, developing areas at Jáltipan, Capacan, Tecuanapa, and Soledad. In 1908, Eagle built Mexico's first oil refinery, located at Minatitlán. In 1910, Potrero del Llano No. 4, came in as a real gusher. In 1921, Pearson added
Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company Compañía Mexicana de Petróleo El Águila SA, (''El Águila'' for short, called in English the Mexican Eagle Oil Company or Mexican Eagle Petroleum Corporation, was a Mexican petroleum industry, oil company in the 20th century. The company, esta ...
(Cia. Mexicana de Petroleo el Aguila, S.A.) to the Shell-Royal Dutch merger. In 1911, President Diaz was overthrown and the
Mexican Revolution The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
began. The associated violence and turmoil had a negative effect on foreign investors in Mexico's oil industry. In October 1918 Pearson sold a substantial portion of Mexican Eagle stock to
Calouste Gulbenkian Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (; ; 23 March 1869 – 20 July 1955) was an Ottoman-born British Armenian businessman and philanthropist. He played a major role in making the petroleum reserves of the Middle East available to Western development a ...
, on behalf of
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
, which took over its management.


Political career

Pearson was created a Baronet, of Paddockhurst, in the Parish of Worth, in the County of Sussex, and of Airlie Gardens, in the Parish of St Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the County of London, in 1894. He was first elected Liberal Member of Parliament for
Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...
at a
by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
in February 1895. He held the seat at the 1895 general election and retained it until 1910 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cowdray, of Midhurst in the County of Sussex. His time is connected with a number of developments, most notably the opening of
Colchester Castle Colchester Castle is a Norman architecture, Norman castle in Colchester, Essex, England, dating from the second half of the eleventh century. The keep of the castle is mostly intact and is the largest example of its kind anywhere in Europe, d ...
to the public. Under his leadership during World War I, the munitions factory
HM Factory, Gretna H.M. Factory, Gretna was Britain's largest cordite factory during the First World War. The government-owned facility was adjacent to the Solway Firth, near Gretna, Dumfries and Galloway. It was built by the Minister of Munitions, Ministry o ...
and the tank assembly at Chateauroux were built. In January 1917, he was sworn of the Privy Council and made Viscount Cowdray, of Cowdray in the County of Sussex. That same month,
David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
requested that he become President of the Air Board. Cowdray agreed, provided that he receive no salary. Lord Cowdray worked diligently to improve the output of aircraft and produced a threefold increase in the number of aircraft under his tenure. Yet he was criticized after German bombing produced over 600 casualties on 13 June, and resigned the following November. Following the war, he was active in Liberal politics and in philanthropic activities. He endowed a professorship in the
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
department at the
University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...
, and contributed to
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
, the
League of Nations Union The League of Nations Union (LNU) was an organization formed in October 1918 in Great Britain to promote international justice, collective security and a permanent peace between nations based upon the ideals of the League of Nations. The League o ...
, the Royal Air Force Club and Memorial Fund, and to many public projects.


Marriage and children

Lord Cowdray married Annie Cass, a daughter of Sir John Cass (1832–1898), of Bradford in Yorkshire, merchant and landowner, Justice of the Peace and Chairman of the Bradford Conservative Association, whose inscribed gravestone survives in Undercliffe Cemetery, Bradford. By his wife he had four children: * Weetman Harold Miller Pearson, 2nd Viscount Cowdray *Hon. Bernard Clive Pearson (12 August 1887 – 22 July 1965), who played an important role in the development of British airlines in the 1930s and was Chairman of S. Pearson and Sons until 1954. He married Hon. Alicia Mary Dorothea Knatchbull-Hugessen, daughter of
Edward Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne Edward Hugessen Knatchbull-Hugessen, 1st Baron Brabourne (29 April 1829 – 6 February 1893), known as E. H. Knatchbull-Hugessen, was a British Liberal and later Conservative politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Depar ...
on 14 October 1915. They had three daughters. *Hon. Francis Geoffrey Pearson (23 August 1891 – 6 September 1914), who on 6 August 1909 married Ethel Elizabeth Lewis, daughter of John J. Lewis, of
Hove Hove ( ) is a seaside resort in East Sussex, England. Alongside Brighton, it is one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove. Originally a fishing village surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th century in respon ...
,
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
. In August 1914, at the start of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, he joined the Motor Transport Division of the British Expeditionary Force as a motorcycle courier, with the rank of Staff Sergeant. Early in September as the Allied Armies were rolled back toward the River Marne during the German drive on Paris, he was captured near the town of
Varreddes Varreddes () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. The '' American Monument'', also called locally ''Monument de Varreddes'', is located in Meaux on the road to Varreddes. The memori ...
, and died on 6 September 1914 at age 23. He was buried at the
Montreuil-aux-Lions Montreuil-aux-Lions is a commune in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. Population Mayors * Charles Bauchot (1983-1989) * Jacques Delammare (1989-2001) * Yves Fouquet (2001-2008) * Olivier Devron (2008-) See also ...
British Cemetery. Reports surfaced later that he had been treated with unconscionable brutality by his captors, which directly caused his death. Great indignation was raised by these reports, one of many that were flooding out of Northern France at the time. The incident was referenced by
Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
in his 1914 book "The German War" (Chapter VI, 'A Policy of Murder'), who called him "the gallant motor-cyclist, Pearson". * Gertrude Mary Pearson (Gertrude Mary, Baroness Denman, GBE), who married Thomas Denman, 3rd Baron Denman, Governor-General of Australia.


Death

Lord Cowdray died in his sleep at
Dunecht House Dunecht House is a stately home on the Dunecht estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The house is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national ...
, Aberdeenshire on 1 May 1927, aged 70, leaving a fortune of £4m, but instead of following primogeniture it was evenly divided into 10 parts. He was succeeded by his eldest son Weetman Harold Miller Pearson, 2nd Viscount Cowdray.


Arms


References


Further reading

* Garner, Paul. ''British Lions and Mexican Eagles: Business, Politics, and Empire in the Career of Weetman Pearson in Mexico, 1889-1919''. Stanford: Stanford University Press 2011. * Middlemas, Keith. ''The Master Builders: Thomas Brassey, Sir John Aird, Lord Cowdray, Sir John Norton-Griffiths''. London: Hutchinson, 1964. * Spender, John A. ''Weetman Pearson: First Viscount Cowdray''. London: Cassell, 1930. * Young, Desmond. ''Member for Mexico: Biography of Weetman Pearson, First Viscount Cowdray''. London: Cassell, 1966.


External links

*
Weetman Dickinson Pearson
at Grace's Guide to British Industrial History
Weetman Dickinson Pearson
at the National Portrait Gallery
Weetman Pearson in Mexico and the Emergence of a British Oil Major, 1901-1919
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowdray, Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount 1856 births 1927 deaths Knights Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order Pearson, Weetman Pearson, Weetman Pearson, Weetman Pearson, Weetman UK MPs who were granted peerages Rectors of the University of Aberdeen Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Deputy lieutenants of Aberdeen Weetman
1st First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...
British expatriates in Mexico Barons created by George V Viscounts created by George V