The Rowntree Family and the Campaign for Democratic Reform Jonathan S

Quaker Studies Volume 9 | Issue 1 Article 7 2005 A Case of Political Philanthropy: The Rowntree Family and the Campaign for Democratic Reform Jonathan S. Davies University of Warwick, [email protected] Mark Freeman University of Hull, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/quakerstudies Part of the Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, and the History of Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Davies, Jonathan S. and Freeman, Mark (2005) "A Case of Political Philanthropy: The Rowntree Family and the Campaign for Democratic Reform," Quaker Studies: Vol. 9: Iss. 1, Article 7. Available at: http://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/quakerstudies/vol9/iss1/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ George Fox University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Quaker Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ George Fox University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 94 QUAKER STUDIES QUAKER STUDIES 911 (2004) [95-113] ISSN 1363-013X to write the sect's 1999, pp. 21-22 in which it is noted the Quaker S. V Peet's ambition history had been thwarted. and Pennsylvania'- an unpub 174 Jacob, C. N., (ed.), 'Memoirs of a Quaker Childhood in Ireland consulted (Ed.) . lished rypescript (n.d.?1959), p. 5. LSF has a copy which the author 1914, after mdex m note- 175 LSF,J. Ernest Grubb to Norman Penney, letter dated 2 September of first volume of 3 volume copy of Progress. book, pasted in front . addi p. 385: Dublin Quakers still 'pertinaciously retain his alteranons and 176 Greer, Quakerism, A CASE OF POLITICAL PHILANTHROPY: THE ROWNTREE FAMILY tions', see also p. 308. Printer (1805 - 72), Cork: Red Barn 177 See Harrison, R.S., Richard Davis f;fkbb: Dublin Quaker AND THE CAMPAIGN FOR DEMOCRATIC REFORM Anti-Slavery Movement', Publishers, 1993, p. 3, p. 39; See also his 'Irish Perspectives on the Dictionary, p. 19 JFHS, 56:2 (1991), pp. 106-25 (pp. 115-16), and particularly his A Biographical Jonathan S. Davies and Mark Freeman of the schtsm. for a reference to, although not examination of, the neganve tmpact 178 Jacob, Memoirs, p. 5. University of Warwick and University of Hull, England 179 Grubb, Quakers in Ireland, p. 130. AUTHOR DETAILS ABSTRACT James Gregory has recently completed at Ph.? at the �niversity of : This article examines the attitude of the Rowntree family - and in particular its three Southampton. It is the first detailed study of the Bnt1sh vegetanan movement prominent members, Joseph, Arnold and Seebohm Rowntree - to campaigns for dem in the nineteenth century. The thesis explores the personnel, development and ocratic and constitutional reform in the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. wider connections of this interesting body. At present he is a lecturer at the It explores their views on women's suffrage,reform of the House of Lords and propor University of Southampton. tional representation, and their practical involvement in the promotion or otherwise of democracy in their dealings with the press, their model community at New Earswick Mailing details: 22 Clifton Road, Lee on Solem, Hampshire P013 9AT, and in the adult education institutions with which they were associated. The article England. E-mail: [email protected] argues that, in common with many other Quakers, the Rowntrees' commitment to prac tical philanthropy outweighed their interest in political reform, and that their commit ment to the latter was, in practice, equivocal. KEYWORDS Quakerism, Rowntree family, democratic reform, women's suffrage, newspapers, New Earswick Many Quakers in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries have been prominently associated with the promotion of democracy in Britain, and none more so than the trustees of the 'Rowntree Tr usts' - the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Joseph Rowntree Reform Tr ust and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Tr ust - who have supported significant initiatives in the field of con stitutional reform. When providing large-scale support for the Campaign for Freedom of Information, for Charter 88, for the Democratic Audit and other large-scale ventures which have aimed in some way to 'modernise' the consti tutional and political frameworks of modern British life, the trustees of these bodies have frequently justified their support with reference to Joseph Rowntree's own political beliefs.' It is clearly important, therefore, to examine how far Rowntree himself and his family shared their philanthropic descen- 96 QUAKER STUDIES DAVIES/FREEMAN A CASE OF POLITICAL PHILANTHROPY 97 dants' interest in the reform of the democratic process in Britain. reforms, and other members of the family were active in Liberal politics at a It is difficult to generalise from the political views and activities of individ local level. It may be, therefore, that members of the Rowntree family- one of uals or small groups of Quakers about the Religious Society of Friends as a northern Quakerism's most prominent - insofar as they can be seen to have whole, but it is also important to attempt some assessment of the positions taken formed a relatively homogenous group, held views on political equality some by Friends on the main constitutional issues of the late nineteenth and early what more 'advanced' than those held by representatives of other political tradi twentieth centuries. The mid-nineteenth century had seen the emergence of tions within the Society. Nevertheless,]. P. Parry has argued, for the period 1867 Friends as a significant political force: a move away from the 'quietism' that char - 75 at any rate, that the political views of 'mainstream' Friends were represent acterised the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which Elizabeth lsichei ed best by 'members of the great Quaker families like ]. W Pease in parliament, has described as, 'one of the most rapid and complete reversals of attitude in and ...Joseph Rowntree outside it.'' Quaker history ... a manifestation of that change ... by which Friends grew We will argue that, while the Rowntree family adopted what we will closer to the society in which they lived.'' This wider change in the practices characterise as a moderate progressivism on most political issues, and were and outlook of Quakers was also reflected in their increased involvement in unambiguously committed to certain reforms, especially to proportional active philanthropy and, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in representation, they were not as 'progressive' as some historians have implied, at particular, in the revitalisation of the Quaker peace testimony. The period was least not in terms of democratic reform. We will follow Parry in arguing that also notable for the series of political reforms that took place in Britain: Reform the traditional Quaker commitment to specific political outcomes - such as Acts in 186 7 and 1884 extended the electorate in town and country signifi peace and temperance - together with a more holistic conception of citizenship cantly, and the early twentieth century witnessed the culmination of the strug that transcended the simple extension of political rights, between them limited gle of women for the parliamentary franchise, and their partial victory in 1918. the enthusiasm of the Rowntrees for democratic reform. We show that philan The emergence of democratic politics in Britain poses difficult questions for the thropy was at least as important a field of activity for the Rowntrees - as for historian of Quakerism. A denomination whose doctrine had evident egalitari many Friends- as politics, and that in their philanthropic activities the family's an implications - emphasising the universality of the Divine Seed -· might be commitment to the extension of democratic control was limited: they exhibited expected to lend its support to movements towards political equality. Certainly, a Victorian paternalism that they were unwilling easily to abandon. We have many historians have viewed Friends somewhat vaguely as a relatively unim discussed this tendency in more detail elsewhere, focussing on adult education.7 port�nt but benignly progressive political force; this view, however, has been vig We begin the present article by rehearsing an outline of Quaker attitudes to orously challenged in recent years by historians such as Pam Lunn.' Many democratic reform in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and then go Quakers were extremely cautious on the issue of political reform - especially, as on to explore the views of Joseph, Seebohm and Arnold Rowntree in more Lunn has emphasised, as regards women's suffrage - and this phenomenon detail. We then examine the political stance of the 'Rowntree press', the requires some explanation. newspapers and periodicals acquired and run by the Joseph Rowntree Social This article focuses on the attitudes of three of the most prominent mem Service Tr ust in the 1900s and after. The Rowntrees' practical involvement in bers of the Rowntree family to political democracy and constitutional reform: the democratic organisation of their model village at New Earswick, just out the cocoa manufacturer Joseph Rowntree (1836 - 1925), his son, the social side York, will then be considered, followed by the democratic credentials of the investigator Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree (1871 - 1954), and his nephew educational settlements with which the Rowntrees were closely associated. Arnold Rowntree (1 872 - 1951), an adult educationalist and

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