Edward Brotherton, 1st Baron Brotherton

Edward Allen Brotherton, 1st Baron Brotherton (1 April 1856 – 21 October 1930),[1] known as Sir Edward Brotherton, Bt, between 1918 and 1929, was an industrialist in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England and a benefactor to the University of Leeds and other causes. He was also a Conservative Party politician, and sat in the House of Commons between 1902 and 1922.

A bust of Edward Allen Brotherton, 1st Baron Brotherton, on display in the Brotherton Library, University of Leeds.

He was born in Ardwick, Manchester, but moved to Wakefield at the age of 22 and lived in Yorkshire thereafter. He married in 1882, but his wife died in childbirth in 1883 and the child shortly afterwards; he did not remarry.

The chemical manufacturing company he founded in Wakefield in 1878 still exists on the same site, as Brotherton Esseco. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Esseco Group based in Trecate, Italy.

In 1927 he donated £100,000 for the building of a new library for the University of Leeds, and the Brotherton Library building is still at the heart of the University Library. He also left his personal collection of books and manuscripts in trust for the University, and the Brotherton Collection is a key section of the University Library, attracting international scholars.

Brotherton was elected as Alderman/Councillor for Leeds City from 1911-1915 and was Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1913–14. Brotherton was also an Alderman of Wakefield from 1901, and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield 1902–1910 and 1918–1922. He was first elected at a by-election in March 1902, after his predecessor Lord Milton inherited a peerage on the death of his grandfather.[2][3] He was created a Baronet, of Wakefield in the West Riding of the County of York, in 1918[4] and raised to the peerage as Baron Brotherton, of Wakefield in the County of York, in 1929,[5] for "political, public and charitable causes".[6] The titles became extinct on his death in October 1930, aged 74. His remains are buried in Lawnswood Cemetery, Leeds.

References
  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W"
  2. "Election intelligence". The Times (36725). London. 26 March 1902. p. 10.
  3. "No. 27422". The London Gazette. 4 April 1902. p. 2278.
  4. "No. 30958". The London Gazette. 18 October 1918. p. 12249.
  5. "No. 33510". The London Gazette. 28 June 1929. p. 4268.
  6. "No. 33501". The London Gazette. 31 May 1929. p. 3665.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Viscount Milton		 Member of Parliament for Wakefield
1902–1910		 Succeeded by
Arthur Harold Marshall
Preceded by
Arthur Harold Marshall		 Member of Parliament for Wakefield
1918–1922		 Succeeded by
Robert Ellis
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Brotherton
1929–1930		 Extinct
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