Henry Birchenough

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Sir Henry Birchenough
GCMG
Sir Henry Birchenough, 1st Bt
by Walter Stoneman, 1937
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Born
John Henry Birchenough

(1853-03-07)7 March 1853
Macclesfield, Cheshire
, England
DiedMay 12, 1937(1937-05-12) (aged 84)
London, London
NationalityBritish
Occupation(s)Businessman, public servant
SpouseMabel Charlotte Bradley

Sir John Henry Birchenough, 1st Baronet,

GCMG
(7 March 1853 – 12 May 1937) was an English businessman and public servant.

Early life and education

Birchenough was born in

École Libre des Sciences Politiques, Paris.[3] According to an obituary published by Reuters at the time of his death it was whilst at Paris that he "obtained a much wider and less insular view of national and international problems, particularly in regard to tariffs, than he could have got at that period in England."[4]

Business

In the mid-19th century, Macclesfield had a thriving silk industry, and Birchenough joined the family silk business, John Birchenough & Sons, as a partner with his father and two brothers, Walter Edwin Birchenough (the father of the Very Reverend Godwin Birchenough) and William Taylor Birchenough. The latter was married to Jane Peacock, daughter of Richard Peacock MP, the locomotive manufacturer.

The Birchenoughs, who were

Methodists, were a prominent business family in Macclesfield, and Henry's father, a Liberal, served as mayor of the town in 1876. In common with other silk manufacturing families in Macclesfield Henry Birchenough was engaged in supporting local charities and served variously as the chairman of the Technical School, the School of Art and the "Useful Knowledge Society" in Macclesfield.[5]

Later in life whilst Chairman of the Beit Railway Trust, Birchenough supported Ruzawi School in Southern Rhodesia. The school named a large dormitory block the Birchenough Building in recognition of the work he had done on behalf of the school, particularly in the field of raising funds for the new buildings.[6]

As well as being a partner in the family silk business Birchenough was also a director of the Imperial Continental Gas Association and of British Exploration of Australia Ltd, and later served as president of the Macclesfield Chamber of Commerce.[7]

Birchenough became a close friend of

Alfred Milner, the future Lord Milner, and the two shared lodgings in London prior to Birchenough's marriage.[8]
Their friendship was to endure until Milner's death.

Birchenough was a member of the

Royal Empire Society[13] and the Royal Geographical Society.[14]

Suffragists and women in society

Whilst still at University College, London, Birchenough showed an interest in women's rights, proposing a motion in January 1872 at the age of 19 to the UCL Debating Society, interpreting the debating society's rules as admitting women.[15] The motion was seconded by John Neville Keynes and carried by 30 to 20.

On 24 March 1877, at the age of 24, having completed his MA, Birchenough appeared alongside Lydia Becker, Alice Cliff Scatcherd (subsequently one of the co-founders of the Women's Franchise League) and other early suffragists to discuss women's access to the vote in Macclesfield.[16] The chairman, J. W. White, addressed the meeting saying that "it appeared somewhat strange that whereas the British Parliament had been engaged from time to time for many years back in conferring rights and removing disabilities, there should still exist any large and intelligent section of society outside the electoral community. They had not yet found any good reason given for excluding from parliamentary suffrage women who had already voted in municipal and school board elections; therefore they intended to reiterate their demands until they were conceded". Birchenough and Scatcherd seconded the first resolution, which was moved by Joshua Oldfield Nicholson. In the same year he is recorded as having given two pounds and two shillings to the Manchester National Society for Women's Suffrage.

Birchenough’s immediate family retained links to early women's rights activists and Emily Faithfull served as witness to the marriage of Birchenough’s brother William Taylor Birchenough. In her book Three Visits to America, Faithfull writes the following about the Birchenough silk mills:

"No one could desire to see women looking more healthy than the operatives in some of our factories in Manchester, Bradford, and Halifax. I shall long remember going through Messrs. Birchenough's silk mills at Macclesfield. Certainly the occasion was an exceptional one. The eldest son had been married the day before, and the entire place had been decorated by the operatives to commemorate the event. The walls were adorned by appropriate mottoes, even unique representations of the bridal ceremony had been devised, and everything betokened the happy understanding existing there between labor and capital. "[17]

In 1905, Birchenough became a member of the industrial committee of the

Alfred Milner
in 1921.

Southern and East Africa

After the

Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1905 Birthday Honours.[21]

He became a director of the

Mashonaland Railway Company in 1925 after the death of James Rochfort Maguire and retained the position until his own death.[13] He was a Director of the Victoria Falls Power Company and the African Concessions Syndicate.[23] He was also a director of the Rhodesian Anglo American Corporation Ltd under the chairmanship of Ernest Oppenheimer.[24]

Surviving correspondence by Birchenough concerning BSAC affairs with

Lord Milner is to be found in the papers of the Gell family of Hopton Hall, in the Derbyshire Record Office and in the Alfred Milner, Viscount Milner papers at the Bodleian Library
.

In 1924 he was appointed a seat on the East Africa Commission, otherwise known as the Southborough Committee chaired by

Tanganyika.[25]

Birchenough was also chairman of the

Rhodesia Railway Company and Imperial Airways all had interests in RANA[26] which was itself subsequently incorporated into Central African Airways
in 1946.

After his death, Henry Birchenough's ashes were interred in a pillar of the Birchenough Bridge, which had been constructed with the support of the Beit Trust and which spans the Save River in Zimbabwe.

He was appointed

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in the 1935 Birthday Honours for services to the British South Africa Company and the Beit Trust.[27]

Contributions to contemporary imperial discourse

Already in the late 1870s Birchenough had shown an interest in social issues concerning women's rights and in 1886 he addressed Macclesfield's Townley Street Mutual Improvement Society with a lecture titled: "The Making of Greater Britain" in which he sought to explain the origins of Britain's empire and to remind the audience of the responsibilities that this entailed.[28]

Birchenough became close friends with

Alfred Milner though an introduction by Leonard Montefiore around 1881;[29] this friendship was to endure until Milner's death. Milner was best man at Birchenough's marriage in 1886[30]
and prior to this the two of them shared chambers in London.

Together with Milner, Birchenough was a member of the

Nineteenth Century and After
in 1902.

Birchenough also contributed to two compilations of essays and lectures in the pre-First World War period regarding imperial thinking. These included The Empire and the Century: A Series of Essays on Imperial Problems and Possibilities, published in 1905 by John Murray.

In 1911, he contributed to "The British Dominions", a lecture tour at

Birmingham University in the winter of 1910–1911. The lectures were subsequently edited by William Ashley
, the economic historian, and published by Longmans Green and Co in 1911.

Tariff Commission

In 1902 Birchenough wrote an article titled "Preferential Tariffs within The Empire – A Reply to Sir

Nineteenth Century and After. Two years later after his return from South Africa he became a member of the committee set up under the auspices of the Tariff Reform League by Joseph Chamberlain that produced the Tariff Commission report on the steel industry and trade, and the textile industry and fabrics.[7]

Government committees

In 1906, he was appointed to the Royal Commission on Shipping Rings, and was also a member of the Advisory Committee to the Board of Trade.

He worked with the Board of Trade during the

First World War, chairing the After the War Textiles Committee from 1916, the Royal Commission on Paper from 1917, and the Committee on Cotton Growing in the Empire from 1917, and sitting on the Central Committee of Materials Supply and the Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy under Lord Balfour of Burleigh from 1916.[13]

From 1918 he chaired the Advisory Council to the Ministry of Reconstruction.[13]

In 1919, under the chairmanship of Birchenough, the Advisory Council to the Ministry of Reconstruction produced the Report of the Committee of Chairmen[33] on Electric Power Supply. The committee were asked to submit general comments or suggestions on the broad administrative and commercial issues arising out of the Williamson Report which had been produced by the Electric Power Supply Committee in 1917. The Birchenough Committee generally agreed with the Williamson Report but recommended that generation and transmission should be a single unified system with a state regulation and finance and that means should be found for including distribution as well.

This recommendation was very far-sighted but considered too ambitious for general acceptance at the time and was ignored. If acted upon it would have anticipated the Electricity Act 1947 by twenty-eight years.[34]

The Electricity (Supply) Act 1919, was based essentially on the Williamson and Birchenough reports and introduced central co-ordination by establishing the Electricity Commissioners, an official body responsible for securing reorganisation on a regional basis.[35]

Birchenough was also a government director of the British Dyestuffs Corporation.

For these war services, in the

County of Chester on 4 February 1920 .[37]

The Patriotic Association of Macclesfield and the National Service League

In 1900, Birchenough joined with Thomas Coglan Horsfall to instigate the Patriotic Association of Macclesfield, which was envisaged as a feeder for the local Volunteer Force.[38] Subsequently, he became president of the Association whilst Horsfall became treasurer. In early 1902, the National Service League was formed in London. Birchenough sat on the executive committee of the League.[39]

Progressing with the same theme, in July 1904 Birchenough published an article in the

Nineteenth Century
and After entitled "Compulsory Education and Compulsory Military Training", where he linked compulsory military training with the need for creating national efficiency.

The First World War and the conscription debate

In 1915, Birchenough was a signatory with a number of other "distinguished men of all parties" including Admiral

Morning Post calling for a "complete and organised effort to carry on the war requiring all men to either fight or be available for national service at home".[40] The manifesto followed a series of letters which had appeared in the Morning Post and attracted support from diverse figures including Neville Chamberlain, Sir H. Rider Haggard, and Lord Northcliffe. Subsequently, the Morning Post included further signatories to the manifesto.[41] The manifesto did undermine the legitimacy of the National Service League which decided not to actively participate in the manifesto campaign.[40]

Family

Henry Birchenough married Mabel Charlotte, third daughter of

William Taylor Birchenough (son of William Taylor Birchenough of Gawsworth Hall), played in the famous Eton v. Harrow Fowler's match in 1910 and was an early aviator, and another, the Very Reverend Godwin Birchenough, became Dean of Ripon. A third nephew, Richard Peacock Birchenough married Dorothy Grace Godsal, the daughter of Philip Thomas Godsal
the inventor, marksman and historian.

Birchenough had two daughters, Sylvia and Elizabeth, but no sons, and the baronetcy became extinct on his death.

Works

Sources

References

  1. ^ "University of London General Register part 3" (PDF). Archives.ulris.lon.ac.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  2. ^ Essays and Letters by Leonard A. Montefiore, in Memoriam, Page 10, Privately Printed. London 1881.
  3. ^ Zhulin, Denis Larionov & Alexander. "Read the eBook The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland .. (Volume ed.59, yr.1919) by Edward Walford online for free (page 34 of 415)". Ebooksread.com. Retrieved 17 June 2018.
  4. ^ Notable Work For the Empire; Reuters Wednesday March 12th 1937
  5. ^ Sarah Jane Griffiths PHD Thesis Liverpool University 2006
  6. ^ George Henry Tanser; Phillippa Berlyn (1967). Rhodesian panorama. G. H. Tanser and P. Christie. pp. 136–. Sir Henry Birchenough of the Beit Trust came to the rescue and the school was bought out by a company — Ruzawi ... New buildings were put up in 1937 to create proper boarding facilities for the ninety pupils, but these were still not enough. ... Intervention of the Second World War halted the drive of the country's progress, but did little to remove the numbers off the long waiting list for Ruzawi School.
  7. ^ a b Volume 1 Tariff Commission Report, Steel industry and trade – England; Textile industry and fabrics, London, 1904
  8. ^ The Anglo-American Establishment Caroll Quigley 1981
  9. ^ Burke's genealogical and heraldic history of the peerage, baronetage and knightage 1914 page 2172
  10. ^ "Full text of """. Archive.org. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  11. ^ Who's Who of Southern Africa, 1911
  12. ^ "JOURNAL OP THE ROYAL COLONIAL INSTITUTE" (PDF). Scans.library.utoronto.ca. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  13. ^
    Who Was Who
  14. ^ "List of Honorary Members." (PDF). Forgottenbooks.com. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  15. ^ Phyllis Deane, The Life and Times of J. Neville Keynes, A beacon in the Tempest, Edward Elgar, Publisher, Page 13. ISBN 978 1840645347
  16. ^ "No. 868 Women's Suffrage Journal 1877". Women's Suffrage Journal. 8: 49. 1877. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  17. ^ Faithfull, Emily (1884). Three Visits to America. New York: Fowler & Wells Co., Publishers. p. 325.
  18. hdl:10023/2820.{{cite thesis}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link
    )
  19. ^ "On The London Exchange" (PDF). The New York Times. 23 November 1903.
  20. ^ Platt, Milton J. (13 December 1903). "OUR SOUTH AFRICAN MARKET; Conclusions from the Report of the British Board of Trade Commissioner" (PDF). The New York Times.
  21. ^ "No. 27811". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 June 1905. p. 4549.
  22. ^ "No. 29608". The London Gazette (Supplement). 2 June 1916. p. 5557.
  23. ^ The Anglo-African Who's Who and Biographical Sketchbook, 1907
  24. ISBN 9781786722164
    . Retrieved 3 October 2018 – via Google Books.
  25. ^ Government Notice 280, Kenya Gazette August 1924
  26. ^ Civil Aviation in Colonial Zimbabwe 1912-1980, AS Mlambo, Department of Economic History, University of Zimbabwe
  27. ^ "No. 34166". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1935. p. 3597.
  28. ^ Evolution and the Victorians: Science, Culture and Politics in Darwin's Britain, P129, Jonathan Conlin, Bloomsbury, 2014
  29. ^ Letter A Milner to Philip Lyttelton Gell, September 28th 1881, Hotel Bar au Lac, Zurich, Derbyshire Record Office, Ref: D3287 MIL/1/104
  30. ^ a b "FONS" (PDF). Adshead.com. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  31. ^ "Archives Catalogue – Coefficients". LSE Library.
  32. ISBN 9780049200951
    .
  33. ^ Viscount Haldane, Sir Archibald Williamson and Sir Charles Parsons
  34. ^ The Transmission of Electricity in England and Wales; land use and amenities, Goulty, George A, PHD thesis, Durham University 1969
  35. ISBN 0-85188-105-X
  36. ^ "No. 31712". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1919. p. 2.
  37. ^ "No. 31830". The London Gazette. 19 March 1920. p. 3432.
  38. ^ Sarah Jane Griffiths PHD Thesis Liverpool University 2006 Charitable work of the Macclesfield silk manufacturers, 1750–1900
  39. ^ "Echoes From London". Nla.gov.au. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  40. ^ a b Matthew Hendley PHD University of Toronto 1998, Patriotic Leagues and the Evolution of Popular Patriotism and Imperialism in Great Britain 1914–1932
  41. ^ "Cymru 1914 - Monday 16th of August, 1915". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
  42. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
    , Oxford University Press, 2004
  43. ^ "Digitale Bibliothek - Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum". Daten.digitale-sammlungen.de. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
  44. ^ "Milner Papers". Archived from the original on 5 December 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  45. ^ Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". Discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 3 October 2018.
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Macclesfield)
1920–1937 		Extinct
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