Episode 73. York and the Rowntrees

SYNOPSIS

Quakers have a long association with the northern city of York. The American slave abolitionist, John Woolman is buried there, have been struck down with smallpox while on a campaigning tour of England. Fifty years later in 1822, Joseph Rowntree senior (1801-1859) arrived in York to set up a grocery business at 28, Pavement, where many apprentices came to work some years later, including George Cadbury from the Birmingham chocolate-making family.

By the 1860s two of Joseph’s sons, Henry (1838-1883) and the younger Joseph (1836-1925) had taken over a cocoa, chocolate and chicory firm, restoring it to business soundness in the 1870s before making their first breakthrough in 1881 with the manufacture of pastilles. By 1906, Rowntree employed 4,000 people, being Britain’s eightieth largest manufacturing employer. By then Joseph’s son, Seebohm Rowntree (1871-1954), had taken on the role of Labour Director, pioneering many of the employee benefits, including sick and provident funds and a pensions scheme, that were to become standard for enlightened employers in the twentieth century.

Seebohm Rowntree’s labour reforms ran in parallel with his statistical investigative work in York which was published as Poverty: a Study of Town Life in 1901. It became a classic text of British sociology. In tandem with Charles Booth’s research in London, Seebohm’s book finally put to bed the notion that poverty was always the consequence of personal behaviour.

GUESTS

Stephen Pittam became a Quaker whilst at Nottingham University and after a career in community development in Ireland and London he joined the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust in 1986, retiring as its Secretary (Chief Executive) in 2012. He is a trustee of The Rowntree Society which exists to share knowledge about the histories of the Rowntree family, company and Trusts.

For further information on the York Rowntrees, google The Rowntree Society.

Simon’s interview with Stephen Pittam was recorded in the Friargate Quaker Meeting House in York on 31 July 2025.