Henry Tate
Encyclopedia
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
sugar merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the Tate Gallery, London.
Life and career
Henry Tate was born in White CoppiceWhite Coppice
White Coppice is a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, England. It was the most populated part of the township of Anglezarke in the 19th century. Close to the settlement in the early 19th century were quarries and small coal mines. The hamlet lies to the north of Anglezarke Reservoir in the Rivington...
near Chorley
Chorley
Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...
, Lancashire, the son of a Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
clergyman. When he was 13, he became a grocer's apprentice in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. After a seven-year apprenticeship, he was able to set up his own shop. His business was successful, and grew to a chain of six stores by the time he was 35. In 1859 Tate became a partner in John Wright & Co. sugar refinery, selling his grocery business in 1861. By 1869, he had gained complete control of the company, and renamed it as Henry Tate & Sons. In 1872, he purchased the patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
from German Eugen Langen
Eugen Langen
Eugen Langen was a German entrepreneur, engineer and inventor, involved in the development of the petrol engine and the Wuppertal monorail. In 1857 he worked in his father's sugar factory, JJ Langen & Söhne, after an extensive technical training at the Polytechnic institute in Karlsruhe.-Otto and...
on a method of making sugar cube
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
s, and in the same year built a new refinery
Refinery
A refinery is a production facility composed of a group of chemical engineering unit processes and unit operations refining certain materials or converting raw material into products of value.-Types of refineries:Different types of refineries are as follows:...
in Liverpool. In 1877 he opened a refinery at Silvertown
Silvertown
Silvertown is an industrialised district on the north bank of the Thames in the London Borough of Newham. It was named after Samuel Winkworth Silver's former rubber factory which opened in 1852, and is now dominated by the Tate & Lyle sugar refinery and the John Knight ABP animal rendering...
, London, which remains in production. Tate was a modest rather retiring man, well known for his concern with workers’ conditions.
Tate rapidly became a millionaire, and donated generously to charity. In 1889 he donated his collection of 65 contemporary paintings to the government, on the condition that they be displayed in a suitable gallery, toward the construction of which he also donated £80,000. The National Gallery of British Art, better known as the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, was opened on 21 July 1897, on the site of the old Millbank Prison
Millbank Prison
Millbank Prison was a prison in Millbank, Pimlico, London, originally constructed as the National Penitentiary, and which for part of its history served as a holding facility for convicted prisoners before they were transported to Australia...
.
Tate made many donations, often anonymously, and always discreetly. He supported "alternative" and non-establishment causes. There was £10,000 for the library of Manchester College
Harris Manchester College, Oxford
Harris Manchester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Formerly known as Manchester College, it is listed in the University Statutes as Manchester Academy and Harris College, and at University ceremonies it is called Collegium de Harris et...
, founded as a Dissenting academy
Dissenting academies
The dissenting academies were schools, colleges and nonconformist seminaries run by dissenters. They formed a significant part of England’s educational systems from the mid-seventeenth to nineteenth centuries....
to provide religious nonconformists
English Dissenters
English Dissenters were Christians who separated from the Church of England in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.They originally agitated for a wide reaching Protestant Reformation of the Established Church, and triumphed briefly under Oliver Cromwell....
with higher education
Higher education
Higher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
. He also gave the College (which, despite its name, was based in London until it moved to Oxford), £5,000 to promote the ‘theory and art of preaching’. In addition he gave £20,000 to the (homoeopathic) Hahnemann Hospital in Liverpool in 1885. He particularly supported health and education with his money. He gave £42,500 for Liverpool University, £3,500 for Bedford College for Women, and £5,000 for building a free library
Streatham Library
Streatham Library is located at 63 Streatham High Road, Streatham, in the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The Library opened in 1890, and is one of several historical libraries in the vicinity which were built by Henry Tate...
in Streatham
Streatham
Streatham is a district in Surrey, England, located in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...
; additional provisions were made for libraries in Balham
Balham
Balham is a district of London, EnglandBalham can also refer to:*Balham, Ardennes, a commune in France*Balham station, railway and tube station in Balham, London*Balaam, a Biblical figure...
, South Lambeth, and Brixton
Brixton
Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
. He also gave £8,000 to the Liverpool Royal Infirmary, and £5,000 to the Queen Victoria Jubilee Institute, which became the Queen's Institute for District Nurses. In 1887 he gave £5,000 to the Tate Institute in Silvertown.
Tate was made a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
in 1898, the year before his death. He had refused this knighthood more than once until - after he had spent over £100,000 to build the Millbank Gallery, endowed it with his personal collection, and presented it to the nation - he was told the Royal Family would be offended if he refused again.
He married Jane Wignall in 1841 and had eight children. Secondly he married Amy Hislop in 1885. He lived at Park Hill by Streatham Common
Streatham Common
Streatham Common is a large open space on the southern edge of Streatham, London.It is one of two former areas of common land in the former parish of Streatham. The other is now known as Tooting Bec Common After inclosure, the Common was purchased for use as a public open space under the powers...
, south London
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...
, and is buried in nearby West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery
West Norwood Cemetery is a cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery.One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries of London, and is a site of major historical, architectural and...
, the gates of which are located opposite a public library that he endowed. Park Hill became a nunnery after his death until refurbishment as housing around 2004.
In 1921, after Tate's death, Henry Tate & Sons merged with Abram Lyle & Sons to form Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle
Tate & Lyle plc is a British-based multinational agribusiness. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index as of 20 June 2011...
.
In 2001, a blue plaque
Blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person or event, serving as a historical marker....
commemorating Sir Henry was unveiled on the site of his first shop at 42 Hamilton Street, Birkenhead
Birkenhead
Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...
. In 2006 a Wetherspoons
Wetherspoons
J D Wetherspoon plc is a British pub chain based in Watford. Founded as a single pub in 1979 by Tim Martin, the company now owns 815 outlets. The chain champions cask ale, low prices, long opening hours, and no music. The company also operates the Lloyds No...
pub in his home town of Chorley
Chorley
Chorley is a market town in Lancashire, in North West England. It is the largest settlement in the Borough of Chorley. The town's wealth came principally from the cotton industry...
was named after the sugar magnate.