Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton

Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton, by John Lavery, 1922
Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton. Portrait sketch by John A M Hay, 1923

Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton (10 February 1873 – 13 March 1922) was an English industrialist from Leeds, Yorkshire.

He was chairman of Joseph Watson & Sons Ltd, soap manufacturers, of Leeds and a director of the London and North-Western Railway, in the late 19th century the largest joint stock company in the world. He became in later life a pioneer of industrialised agriculture in England and a successful racehorse owner.[1] He was step-great-grandfather to David Cameron, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.[2]

Early life

Watson was the only son of George Watson, soap manufacturer, of Donisthorpe House near Moor Allerton, Leeds, Yorkshire. He was educated at Repton School and Clare College, Cambridge.[1] he was recalled to the family firm before completing his degree, becoming chairman at a young age.

Soap business

Advertisement for Watsons Matchless Cleanser soap, advertised by the company in 1910 as "the most popular soap in Great Britain".[3] Illustration by Howard Davie, August 1898. Other brands of Joseph Watson & Co Ltd were: Sparkla polishing soap, Nubolic disinfectant soap, Venus toilet soap and Bumpo soap powder[4]

Joseph Watson & Sons

Joseph went to work at his grandfather's company, Joseph Watson & Sons,[nb 1] and turned the company from the medium-sized concern built up by his father and uncle Charles into one which ruled the soap market of North-East England, with national and international markets, becoming William Lever's biggest rival[10][nb 2]

Soap Trust monopoly

Cartoon from The Daily Mirror, 22 October 1906. A parody of William Lever, whose factory was named "Port Sunlight".

On 4 August 1906 Watson and William Lever, by then the largest manufacturer, met in the Grand Hotel in London to finalise a plan to set up a "Soap Trust" which would merge the major soap manufacturers into a monopoly, thereby gaining economies of scale in advertising and production costs. Watson favoured the use of a parent company whilst Lever preferred a scheme of exchange of shares between participating companies to bind them together. This occurred during a period of many corporate trusts in the United States.[nb 3] The scheme was strongly opposed by the Daily Mail newspaper which campaigned for a boycott by its readers of the trust brands. Profits at participating firms were thereby severely reduced. The Northcliffe Press in its expanding and highly popular campaign overstepped the mark by falsely asserting trust soaps to be made from scented fish oil. Although Watson and Lever won substantial libel damages from the press, losses in reputation and profits had been suffered all round. On the proposal of Watson and Crosfield, another large manufacturer, the scheme was abandoned in November 1906. By then Watson had already disposed of much of his shareholding, previously all held by himself and his uncle Charles, to William Lever, in exchange for Lever Brothers shares to set up the trust.[11]

Lever Brothers and Jurgens

"Soapy Joe's Shaft", Whitehall Rd. Leeds. A surviving ventilation shaft of the former Leeds Electricity Dept., which sub-station stood adjacent on the north to Whitehall Soap Works

In 1912/13 Watson sold much of his remaining shareholding to Lever (Lever Brothers Ltd., later Unilever) and sold to him the remainder in July 1917, but remained as chairman. He had sold his half share in the Planter's Margarine Co Ltd. to Lever in July 1915, a joint venture established in November 1914 at Godley in Cheshire with Levers, in response to Government anxiety at the wartime loss of Dutch supplies, which by 1915 was the country's second largest margarine manufacturer.[12] He had supplied it from his Olympia Oil & Cake Co. Ltd. at Selby, Yorks which operated the largest linseed oil crushing and refining plant in Europe. It also hardened whale oil and in 1917 during WWI was allocated by the government 21% (later 25%) of British whale oil for hardening.[13] Watson then suffered substantial losses in an unsuccessful speculation in linseed and he sold Olympia Oil & Cake to the Dutch firm Jurgens, which had outbid Levers.[14]

Pioneer of industrialised agriculture

Spurred on by wartime food shortages, Watson began the pioneering of industrialised agriculture, and he funded the Agricultural Research Department at Leamington Spa. He founded the Olympia Agricultural Co Ltd. and invested much of his proceeds into agricultural estates totalling some 20,000 acres (81 km2) at Selby (Yorks), the 5,500 acre Manton Down Estate (Wiltshire), Sudbourne (Suffolk), Offchurch (Warwickshire)[15] and at Thorney (Cambridgeshire).[16] His Olympia Oil & Cake Co. under the brand name "OCO" produced animal feeds for dairy cows, calves, lambs and pigs,[17] all from the new source of linseed oil. The company acquired sites near Selby within the parish of Barlby between 1909–10 and their buildings later dominated the road and river frontages.[18] Soon after 1910 the company built the first "village estate" of workers' housing in the area which was later expanded by other nearby employers. Before 1921 the "Olympia Hotel" opened near the site at Barlby Bank, which took its name from the company and used a sign showing seed-crushing machinery.[19] The company since 1952 became part of British Oil and Cake Mills Ltd.

Following Manton's death his executors claimed he had put £1,000,000 into agriculture and received £750,000 from sales of the properties.

Wartime munitions work

Telegram of 21 June 1916 from Lloyd George to Watson. Amatol is an explosive consisting of TNT and Ammonium Nitrate.

At the start of the First World War Watson's industrial and organisational expertise was used to assist the government in the establishment and operation of national munitions factories, most notably at the First National Shell Filling Factory at Barnbow, Leeds.[20][21]

Following the heavy consumption of munitions in the opening battles of WWI at the Somme, the Northcliffe Press (Daily Mail) brought to the public's attention what became known as "The Shell Crisis", signifying that the nation had given little thought to securing long-term munitions supplies needed to successfully wage an unprecedented protracted war. The Asquith government fell, to be replaced by that of Lloyd George, recently appointed Minister of Munitions to resolve the crisis. Watson as chairman of a six-man "Leeds Munitions Committee" made up from local industrialists, formed in August 1915, was charged by the government to immediately establish the first of 12 National Shell Filling Factories. A factory was promptly established on a 400-acre (1.6 km2) greenfield site at Barnbow, close to Leeds. It resembled a small town of detached houses and huts more than a traditional factory, to contain and localise any accidental explosions. It remained the largest such operation in the country, having despatched 566,000 tons of finished ammunition overseas by the Armistice. At its height it employed 16,000 workers, 93% of whom were women and girls.[nb 4] Its fire brigade responded to three accidental explosions, the most serious of which occurred in 1916, killing 35 women and injuring many more.[20][21][nb 5]

Racehorse owner

Love-in-Idleness, Watson's winner of the 1921 Oaks
Watson with his colt Lemonora after winning the Grand Prix de Paris at Longchamp on 26 June 1921. For moving images see British Pathe

Watson hunted with the Bramham Moor Foxhounds in Yorkshire, near his home at Linton Spring, Wetherby. He was a prominent racehorse owner and in 1918 acquired from Alec Taylor, Jr. the famous Manton training establishment near Marlborough in Wiltshire. [22] and spent £30,000 on yearlings.[23] In 1921 he won the Epsom Oaks with Love-in-Idleness, and the Grand Prix de Paris, the world's richest racing prize (400,000 Francs), with Lemonora which also had gained third place in the Derby that year, all ridden by jockey Joe Childs. He was termed by the racing press Mr "Lucky" Watson.[24] Lemonora – somewhat incongruously for a stallion – named after an apricot coloured azalea, was immortalised for the latter placement in the 1935 film The 39 Steps in which "Mr Memory" was challenged to recite the names of the first 3 horses in the 1921 Derby.

Philanthropy

Monument to Joseph Watson in Leeds General Infirmary.

In 1921 Watson donated £50,000 to the Leeds General Infirmary, of which he was a board member from 1906 to his death. The monies were used to replace some of its investments which had to be sold during WWI.[25] A half-length bronze bas-relief portrait of Watson in his baronial robes is displayed there in the George Street entrance hall, under which is inscribed A Wise Counsellor and Generous Benefactor.

Elevation to the peerage

Compton Verney, Warwickshire.

On 25 January 1922 he was raised to the peerage for his war services[26] as Baron Manton of Compton Verney in the County of Warwick.[27] He had purchased the Robert Adam neo-classical mansion Compton Verney and its 5,079-acre (20.55 km2) estate in 1921 from Lord Willoughby de Broke, intending to make his seat there, which intention was not realised due to his sudden death in March 1922, before having taken up residence.[nb 6] Whether his elevation, at the behest of Lloyd-George, was the result of a political donation, has not been proved but the title is not amongst those generally quoted by commentators as falling into this category.[28][nb 7]

Armorials

1906 Ram's head trademark of Joseph Watson & Sons Ltd. Detail from design on one of 500 promotional sewing machines given as prizes by the company in 1906. Collection of Abbey House Museum, Leeds
Arms of Baron Manton: Argent, on a chevron azure between 4 martlets 3 in-chief and 1 in-base sable a crescent between 2 roses of the field

Joseph Watson adopted, or was allocated by the heralds,[nb 8] a variation of the armorials of the Watson Earls of Rockingham, which earldom had become extinct in 1746 on the death of Thomas Watson, 3rd Earl of Rockingham. The arms of Baron Manton became :"Argent, on a chevron azure between 4 martlets 3 in-chief and 1 in-base sable a crescent between 2 roses of the field". For supporters he also adopted a variant of Rockingham: "On either side a gryphon per fesse azure and argent, charged on the shoulder with a rose also argent".[29] The arms of the Earls of Rockingham were: "Argent, on a chevron azure between 3 martlets sable as many crescents or". The Rockingham supporters were: "2 griffins argent ducally gorged or".[30] Manton adopted the Rockingham motto without alteration: "Mea Gloria Fides" (Trust is my Renown). For his crest, Manton adopted a variant of the oak tree arms of the 17th-century Watson family of Saughton, Edinburgh: crest of Baron Manton: "a gryphon passant sable in front of an oak tree proper".[29] The armourials of Watson of Saughton were: "Argent, an oak tree growing out of a mount in base proper surmounted of a fess azure". The latter family was granted in 1818 the griffin supporters of the Earls of Rockingham, noted above.[30][31]

Marriage and progeny

Lady Manton, née Claire Nickols, wife of Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton, 1922 portrait by John Lavery matching portrait by same artist of Lord Manton

In 1898 Joseph Watson married (Frances) Claire Nickols (d.1944), 3rd daughter of Harold Nickols (1848–1925), of Sandford House, Kirkstall, Leeds,[33] proprietor of "Joppa Tannery", 87 Kirkstall Road, Leeds. Joppa Tannery was built in 1828 by Harold's father Richard Nickols as an expansion from the small tannery he had established in Bramley in 1823. The Joppa Tannery employed 300–400 people at its height and produced "upper leather" for shoes. It closed briefly but was re-openrd by Harold Nickols in 1900 under the name "Harold Nickols Ltd". It continued to be run by Harold's son Richard III Nickols, and closed in 1955.[34] Watson had four sons by Claire Nickols:[35]

Death and burial

He died in March 1922, aged only 49, from a heart-attack, whilst out hunting beside two of his sons.[23] They were with the Warwickshire Foxhounds, at Upper Quinton, close to his new mansion. He died having held his title for less than two months. He was buried at his nearby manor of Offchurch, in his hunting apparel. His estate was sworn for probate at exactly one million pounds. His widow continued to reside until her death in 1936 in the mansion house of Offchurch Bury. A portrait of Joseph Watson mounted on a hunter was painted by Lynwood Palmer.

Further reading

Notes

  1. ↑ The limited company Joseph Watson & Sons had been founded by Joseph his grandfather and had grown out of a hide tanning business established by James Watson in 1816[5] at Woodside, Horsforth, 5 miles (8.0 km) NW of central Leeds. The business was an adjacent diversification[6] from the small family farm, which covered the area between today's Outwood Lane and Broadway, with further rented ground to the SE.[7] Additional rented land to the SE, comprising a handful of pastures, was on the Headingley estate of the Earl of Cardigan.[8] The family also owned a paper mill at Woodside, and is believed to have built numerous stone houses for their workers in Paradise Place and Watson Row in Regent Road[9] The former existence of the original business is today memorialised by the name of Tanhouse Hill Lane, to the east of which it stood, within a triangular site.
  2. ↑ Watson was amongst the first of the established manufacturers to follow Lever's heavy advertising and revolutionary marketing techniques,[lower-alpha 1] offering prizes such as day trips to Brighton and visits to Paris to view the Grecian sculpture Venus de Milo, in exchange for soap wrapper returns. In 1885 production had been 100 tons per week, which rose fivefold by 1906. One of the by-products was glycerine, sold for the manufacture of explosives. The company, known locally as "Soapy Joe's" was based after 1861 at the Whitehall Road Soapworks, Leeds, strategically placed between the River Aire, from which palm oil shipped in from around the world was unloaded, and the former railway terminal, from which the finished product was dispatched. It became one of the largest employers in the city, producing brands such as "Matchless Cleanser", "Venus" and "Nubolic".
  3. ↑ The scheme was in imitation of hundreds of similar trusts which had been established in the USA following John D. Rockefeller's pioneering organisation of the Standard Oil Co. in 1882 as a virtual monopoly combination of many small independent oil companies. The manufacturers in their idealism foresaw benefits from trusts to both consumer and producer from economies of scale, yet abuses occurred. A sugar trust evaded $4M of customs duty, and the creation of a beef trust seemed a threat to cheap food supplies. The dangers to the consumer were soon understood by the politicians and the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the response. The Act was not totally successful and Theodore Roosevelt in his second presidency launched a new "trust-busting" policy at about the same time the British soap trust was being established.
  4. ↑ Two members of the directing board were on duty at Barnbow every day, and the board met at least once a month to receive reports. The factory was largely self-contained for reasons of national security, operating under great secrecy. It operated its own farm including dairy and slaughterhouse. Kitchens and accounting department were equipped with the latest electric machinery. Nursing facilities and dentists were provided.
  5. ↑ Due to wartime censorship, no public account of the accidents was made. The memorials to these unfortunate victims are almost the only trace which remains of the operation on the site today.[20][21]
  6. ↑ Conveyance 30 November 1921 DR 951/6/1 Warks. Archives.
  7. ↑ The title was created in the New Year's Honours List, not the "notorious" Birthday Honours List of June.[28]
  8. ↑ Seemingly the practice for most 20th-century Watson baronets also
  1. ↑ Lever started as a grocer who bought in soap from several suppliers, including Watson's, and branded them "Sunlight". Lever soon set up his own manufacturing plants, but by then Watson's had founded its own brands and independent marketing abilities.

References

  1. 1 2 "Watson, Joseph (WT890J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ↑ His 2nd son Hon. Robert Fraser Watson (1900–1975) married in 1961 (as his 2nd wife) Enid Levita (d.1995),(Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.739, Baron Manton; p.577, Mount baronets) formerly wife of Ewen Donald Cameron, grandfather of David Cameron
  3. ↑ 1910 advertisement showing a hand counting 6 points in favour of the product, 3rd point of 6
  4. ↑ http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Joseph_Watson_and_Sons
  5. ↑ Horsforth Cragg Hill and Woodside Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan, 8 August 2011, p.6
  6. ↑ Charles Wilson. (1954). The History of Unilever. London: Cassell. 1. p. 13
  7. ↑ 1838 Tithe Map, Woodside, (search for Horsforth, Guiseley) with list of owners & tenants of each parcel of ground, see especially central holding of Jonas Watson, plot 861 "tan yards, buildings", a triangular site one of the sides of which is formed by today's "Tanhouse Hill Lane" Tithe Map 1838.
  8. ↑ 1838 Tithe Map, Woodside Tithe Map 1838
  9. ↑ Horsforth Cragg Hill and Woodside Conservation Area Appraisal and Management Plan, 8 August 2011, p.6
  10. ↑ Charles Wilson. (1954). The History of Unilever. London: Cassell. 1. pp. 13, 123.
  11. ↑ Charles Wilson. (1954). The History of Unilever. London: Cassell. 1. Chapter 6, The Crisis of 1906, pp. 72–88.
  12. ↑ Wilson, I, pp.227–9
  13. ↑ Wilson, I, p.239; Lever's had 47% and Crosfield's 32%
  14. ↑ Wilson, I, p.249
  15. ↑ W.G. Rimmer. (1961). "Men Who Made Leeds." Leeds Journal. 32: pp. 143–6.
  16. ↑ McKie
  17. ↑ http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Olympia_Oil_and_Cake_Co#cite_note-2
  18. ↑ Victoria County History (VCH), County of York East Riding, Volume 3: Ouse and Derwent wapentake, and part of Harthill wapentake (1976), pp. 47–52 Hemingbrough: Barlby
  19. ↑ VCH
  20. 1 2 3 Tony Cox. "Barnbow Munitions Factory 1915–18." The Barwicker No. 47. Barwick-in-Elmet Historical Society.
  21. 1 2 3 Eric Jackson. (2007). The Barnbow Lasses. Pontefractus Local History.
  22. ↑ History of Manton. Brian Meehan at Manton. Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  23. 1 2 Argus Newspaper, Melbourne, Australia, 15 March 1922 "Death on Hunting Field"
  24. ↑ For movie footage of Lemonora winning the Grand Prix and Watson with his horse in the winner's enclosure, see British Pathe; you tube Item title reads: "World's Richest Racing Prize. "Lemonora" wins Grand Prix for Mr "Lucky" Watson. Paris, France. We see people milling about and a lot more sat in the stands. L/S of the horse race, we see them coming round the bend and racing up the track. M/S of the jockey on "Lemonora" after the race, M/S of Mr Watson who takes his top hat off to the camera, he holds the horses reins"
  25. ↑ British Medical Journal. 2 July 1921, p. 24
  26. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 32563. p. 10709. 30 December 1921.
  27. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 32598. p. 954. 3 February 1922.
  28. 1 2 Michael De-la-Noy. The Honours System. London 1985. pp. 100–118.
  29. 1 2 P. W. Montague-Smith (editor). (1968). Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage and Companionage. Kelly's Directories. p. 739 "Manton"
  30. 1 2 Sir Bernard Burke. (1884). The general armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales; comprising a registry of armorial bearings from the earliest to the present time . London: Harrison and Sons. p. 1083.
  31. ↑ There is no evidence of any genealogical link between the family of Joseph Watson and either of the two families from which he adopted his armorials. Burke' Armorials, 1884 does however list 4 Watson families in Yorkshire all bearing variants of the Rockingham arms, therefore possibly lineal descendants. The heir of the 3rd and last Earl of Rockingham in the more ancient title of Baron Rockingham was Thomas Watson-Wentworth, 1st Marquess of Rockingham, who built the palatial mansion Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham, Yorkshire. This house would come to have a connection with the 3rd Baron Manton, whose maternal aunt Joyce Langdale of Houghton Hall, Sancton York, resided there following her 1956 marriage to the 10th Earl FitzWilliam, which family was heir to the Rockinghams.[32]
  32. ↑ Daily Telegraph Obituary of 3rd Baron Manton; Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.453: seat of Earl Fitzwilliam in 1968: Wentworth Woodhouse, Rotheram
  33. ↑ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.740
  34. ↑ Leodis – A Photographic Archive of Leeds
  35. ↑ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.739
  36. ↑ Obituary, The Racehorse magazine
  37. ↑ Lovell. Engagement announced in East African Standard newspaper, 19 March 1927, text see Lovell
  38. ↑ Lovell, Mary S., Straight on till Morning, the Life of Beryl Markham
  39. ↑ "Serial: G-ADEX (c/n.R820) This aircraft was owned by Capt. Hon Robert Fraser Watson/London SW3 (based Heston). In September 1937 it was sold to Spanish Republicans. Source: http://www.zi.ku.dk/personal/drnash/model/spain/; http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_G-A6.html
  40. ↑ Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes 1969, London, 95th Edition, 1969, p.2041
  41. ↑ In 1948 Brompton Hospital came under the control of the NHS, and merged with the London Chest Hospital to become the Hospitals for the Diseases of the Chest
  42. ↑ University of Nottingham, Manuscripts and Special Collections: "Ne 6 D 6/1/5/9: Copy conveyance from R.F. Watson to Lord Beaverbrook of Peggs Farm, Vale Farm and Manor Farm in the parishes of Sutton Waldron and Iwerne Minster, dated 20 Oct. 1943"
  43. ↑ http://www.sporthorse-data.com/d?showpic=10143711&nm=2&time=1444372335 Sold to the Sezincote Stud at Moreton-in-Marsh. The previous record had been 17,000 guineas achieved in 1942 for Olein and in 1925 for Straitlace
  44. ↑ Lundy, Darryl. "William IV Hanover, King of the United Kingdom". The Peerage. Retrieved 9 July 2013. External link in |publisher= (help) ThePeerage.com
  45. ↑ Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p.739, Baron Manton
  46. ↑ As reported in the New York Times, 7 May 1922, p.1: "Bargains in Castles"..."That taxation is causing English landlords to dispose of their realty holdings for whatever they will bring is shown by the fact that the total area of the landed properties comprised in a full-page announcement in The Times of London, England, by a single firm exceeds 79,000 acres"
  47. ↑ http://www.zoopla.co.uk/property-history/3/chillesford-lodge/sudbourne/woodbridge/ip12-2an/36658752
  48. ↑ Listed building text
  49. ↑ Historic Landscape Appraisal Sudbourne Park, 2010
  50. ↑ http://www.essentialsuffolk.com/property-chillesford-model-farm/
  51. ↑ Evans, George Ewart, Horse Power and Magic
  52. ↑ e.g. "Sudbourne Premier", a stallion bred by Lord Manton in 1919 won a number of prizes between 1921 and 1924
  53. ↑ Laffaye, Horace A., Polo in Britain: A History, London, 2012, p.126
  54. ↑ Springfield, Maurice, Hunting Opium and Other Scents, Halesworth, Suffolk, 1966, Chapter 8, "Searching for Game": "Later came glorious Sundays as guest of the late Alastair Watson on his perfect ground at Chillesford, near Orford, in a gorgeous setting among pine trees. Before 1940 the ponies on which he mounted his guests were thoroughbred, or near thoroughbred. After the war, until his untimely death, all mounts were selected Arabs flown to England in specially chartered planes. Those were certainly the golden days of polo in East Anglia."
  55. ↑ Mitchell, Laurence, Suffolk Coast and Heaths Walks, p.70
  56. ↑ Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes 1969, London, 95th Edition, 1969, p.2041
  57. ↑ http://www.thepeerage.com/p31563.htm

Further reading

External links

Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Manton
1922 		Succeeded by
George Miles Watson
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