Lord and Lady Airedale at the coronation of King George V, 1911

Albert Ernest Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale (7 October 1863 – 11 March 1944) was a British peer. He was inter alia a director of Midland Bank.

Family

Kitson was the son of James Kitson, an iron and steel manufacturer in Leeds. He was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained a BA, before following his father into the family business.[1]

On 23 January 1890, at Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds, Kitson married Florence Schunck (1868–1942), the daughter of Edward, Baron von Schunck and his wife Kate Lupton.[2][3]

The Kitsons had seven daughters.

Kitson's father was elevated to the peerage in 1907. Albert Kitson succeeded to the titles of 2nd Baron Airedale of Gledhow and 2nd Baronet Kitson on his father's death on 16 March 1911.[4] As peers of the realm, the Kitsons were invited to the coronation of George V at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911.[5]

Career, politics and interests

Kitson was a director of Midland Bank.[5] He was president of the Yorkshire and Leeds Liberal Federations. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith was his guest at Gledhow Hall in November 1913.[6][7]

Kitson was chairman of the finance committee and hon vice-president of the Iron and Steel Institute.[8][9]

Like his father, Lord Airedale was a music-lover and supported the Leeds Triennial Musical Festival; in 1922, Kitson and his sister Hilda, were guarantors of the festival.[10][11]

He owned one the country's finest collections of Leeds pottery.[12]

When the Prime Minister's wife, Margaret Lloyd George, visited Leeds in December 1920 for a reception for women supporters of the Liberal Coalition, she stayed at Gledhow Hall.[13][14]

Gledhow Hall

Gledhow Hall

Kitson inherited Gledhow Hall in 1911. During the First World War, he offered the hall for use as a Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital. The hospital was managed by the Headingley Company of the St John Ambulance Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). On 22 May 1915, 50 patients were moved to the hall from the 2nd Northern General Hospital at Becketts Park. Kitson's cousin, Edith Cliff, was the Commandant and his daughter Doris and her cousin Olive Middleton were VAD nurses.[15][16] Kitson's family maintained an interest in nursing after the Great War.[17]

The Kitson's London home, 3 Cadogan Square, was damaged by a bomb during the Second World War and they moved to Stansted in Essex.[18]

Death

Albert Kitson died on 11 March 1944 at Stansted and the barony was inherited by his younger brother Roland.[19] His wife had died on 8 July 1942.[20]

Arms

Coat of arms of Albert Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale
Crest
Issuant from park pales Proper a demi-unicorn Argent gorged with an annulet Azure.
Escutcheon
Or on a pale Azure a pike haurient of the first a chief of the second thereon an annulet between two millrinds erect of the field.
Supporters
On either side an owl close and affronteé Argent gorged with a collar Gules pendent therefrom an escutcheon of the arms.
Motto
Palmam Qui Meruit Ferat [21]

References

  1. ^ "Obituary: Lord Airedale". The Times. 13 March 1944. p. 6 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  2. ^ "Death of Lady Airedale". Herts and Essex Observer. 11 July 1942. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  3. ^ "Marriage of Mr Albert Kitson". Leeds Times. 25 January 1890. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
  4. ^ Iron & Steel Trades Journal and Iron Trade Circular. Vol. 88. 1911. p. 264.
  5. ^ a b Rayner, Gordon (13 September 2013). "'Middle-class' Duchess of Cambridge's relative wore crown and attended George V's coronation". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  6. ^ Packer, I (27 April 2006). Liberal Government and Politics, 1905–15. Springer. p. 184. ISBN 9780230625440. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  7. ^ "Premier in Leeds...Premier and Mrs. Asquith leave Leeds". Leeds Mercury. 27–29 November 1913. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  8. ^ The_Journal_of_the_Iron_and_Steel_Institute. Iron and Steel Institute. 1912. pp. 3, 389, 391, 392. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  9. ^ "Grace's Guide – 1927 Iron and Steel Institute: Council". Graces's Guide. 2020. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  10. ^ "Musical Kitsons". Leeds Mercury. 20 September 1922. Retrieved 10 December 2018.
  11. ^ "The Outlook: A Weekly Review of Politics, Art, Literature, and Finance, Volume 26". The Outlook Publishing Company. 1910. p. 523. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  12. ^ "Leeds Triennial Music Festival". Yorkshire Evening Post. 7 October 1925. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
  13. ^ Lloyd George, David (1973). The Lloyd George Liberal Magazine 1920–1923, Volume 1, Issues 1–6. Harvester Press (re-print). pp. 246–385. ISBN 9780855274221. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  14. ^ "Lady Airedale". Leeds Mercury. 9 December 1920. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  15. ^ Gutteridge, N. (13 July 2016). "PICTURED: Kate's great grandmother and her own extraordinary contribution to Britain's war". UK Express. Retrieved 10 November 2023. Olive volunteered as a nurse with her relatives Baroness Airedale, left, and Lady Bullock, right...
  16. ^ "The Gledhow Hall scrapbook". Leeds Libraries. 25 July 2014. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  17. ^ Miller, J. A. (2008). Not The Purser's Daughter. Strathmore Publishing Ltd. pp. 23, 25, 27, 28, 47, 67–70. ISBN 978-0955088766. Retrieved 23 November 2017.
  18. ^ "Albert Ernest Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale of Gledhow". NPG, London. Retrieved 10 November 2023. Having been bombed out their home in Cardigan Square, London in 1940, Lord and Lady Airedale had lived at Stansted, Essex where they both died; Baroness ...
  19. ^ Edward, Baron von Schunck (2nd World War ed.). Burke's Peerage. 1939. p. 2696. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
  20. ^ "Local News – Wills". Yorkshire Evening Post. West Yorkshire, England. 15 October 1942. Retrieved 19 August 2015. 8 July: The Right Hon. Florence, Baroness Airedale
  21. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1949.

Further reading

Peerage of the United Kingdom Preceded byJames Kitson Baron Airedale 1911–1944 Succeeded byRoland Kitson
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