Sir John Jarvis, 1st Baronet
Encyclopedia
Sir John Jarvis, 1st Baronet (25 March 1876 – 3 October 1950) was a British industrialist and philanthropist who became a Conservative Party
politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1935 to 1950 as the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Guildford
in Surrey
, but is best known for his philanthropic and industrial efforts to assist the town of Jarrow
in the economic depression of the 1930s.
. In 1901 he married Bessie Woodfield, the third daughter of Edwin Woodfield from Enfield
. They had one son and two daughters.
in Surrey, 500m west of the village of Hascombe
, 5km south of Godalming
. The garden was designed under Jarvis's ownership by Gertrude Jekyll
in 1922, and extended by Percy Cane in 1928.
, Jarvis was an advisor to government on labour relations, and after the war the government continued to seek his advice on financial matters. In recognition of these services, he was created a Baronet in 1922, of Hascombe Court
in the County of Surrey, in 1922.
, and shortly afterwards visited Jarrow
, a shipbuilding town on Tyneside
which had been particularly badly hit by the Great Depression
. The Depression caused a collapse in demand for ships, and the closure of Palmers shipyard
in Jarrow, leading to 80% unemployment in the town. Jarvis launched an appeal named the "Surrey Fund" which eventually raised £40,000; the funds were used to buy materials to enable men in Jarrow to continue working, on tasks such as the constructing playgrounds and sports facilities and the redecoration of houses. Using his own wealth, Jarvis also bought the decommissioned liner RMS Olympic
(a sistership of the Titanic) for a reported £100,000 and had the ship brought to Tyneside to be broken up, followed in 1938 by the liner Berengaria
. The breaking of Berengaria was promised to directly employ 200 men in skilled and semi-skilled tasks in the new Jarrow Shipbreaking Company (based on the former Palmers shipyard), while the metal was to be used in Jarvis's new metal industries in the area, which employed several hundred people. Through Jarvis's efforts, several other new businesses were established in the Jarrow area.
Set against the scale of the economic problems in Jarrow, the impact of Jarvis's efforts is contested. In a letter published in The Times
on 2 October 1936, Jarvis listed some of the achievements of the fund as a "step in the right direction". However, on the following day Jarrow MP Ellen Wilkinson
praised Jarvis's support for the town but criticised "his over-sanguine optimism", noting that the employment generated had been small-scale and temporary. Wilkinson complained that charitable works were inadequate, and that a solution to the problem required addressing the underlying cause, which was the forced closure of the shipyard.
For his efforts, Jarvis was made a freeman
of Jarrow in 1935, but the ceremony on 4 June was boycotted by Labour Party
councillors because Jarvis had been selected as a Conservative candidate for the coming general election.
announced in January 1934 that he would not contest the next election. At a meeting of the Central Council of the Guildford Division Conservative and Unionist Association on 25 February, Jarvis was invited to be the National Conservative candidate at the next election, and it was reported on 9 March that he had accepted.
However, the parties in the National Government
had agreed not to oppose each other at elections, so a question arose as to whether the National Government-supporting candidate for the forthcoming vacancy in Guildford should be a Conservative or a Liberal. S. Stopford Brooke, who had contested Guildford for the Liberal Party
at the 1929 general election
, had stood aside in favour of the Conservatives at the by-election in August 1931
and at the general election later that year
. Brooke announced in February that he had resigned from the Liberal Party, and intended this time to stand as National candidate "without prefix or suffix". He was supported by local representatives the Liberal, Conservative and National Labour parties.
However, in August 1935, Brooke's candidacy was halted by the local National association, which announced that since the collaboration of parties in the constituencies had not developed across the country at large, "no useful purpose would be served by running a purely National candidate in this division in support of this principle".
At the general election in November 1935
, Brooke signed Jarvis's nomination papers. The only other candidate was Andrew Campbell of the Labour Party, who was a stranger to the constituency and had a weak local organisation. Jarvis was elected with nearly 75% of the votes, and was made a Deputy Lieutenant
of Surrey
in 1936. He was re-elected in 1945
, and held the seat until he stood down from the House of Commons at the 1950 general election
.
In November 1943 he wrote to The Times
newspaper to summarise his experiences in Jarrow, asserting that it was better to bring work to people in depressed areas than to encourage them to move in search of work.
Jarvis died on 2 October 1950, aged 74.
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1935 to 1950 as the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Guildford
Guildford (UK Parliament constituency)
Guildford is a county constituency in Surrey which returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first-past-the-post voting system....
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, but is best known for his philanthropic and industrial efforts to assist the town of Jarrow
Jarrow
Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...
in the economic depression of the 1930s.
Early life and family
Jarvis was the eldest son of Joseph Charles Jarvis, of HarpendenHarpenden
Harpenden is a town in Hertfordshire, England.The town's total population is just under 30,000.-Geography and administration:There are two civil parishes: Harpenden and Harpenden Rural....
. In 1901 he married Bessie Woodfield, the third daughter of Edwin Woodfield from Enfield
Enfield Town
Enfield Town is the historic town centre of Enfield, formerly in the county of Middlesex and now in the London Borough of Enfield. It is north north-east of Charing Cross...
. They had one son and two daughters.
Residence
From 1921 until his death, Jarvis lived at Hascombe CourtHascombe Court
Hascombe Court is a the estate in Godalming, Surrey, best known for its vast garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll.-Historical Development:In 1906 Robert E A Murray, a descendant of the Duke of Atholl, employed the architect J D Coleridge to build him a house in a woodland clearing on a plateau above...
in Surrey, 500m west of the village of Hascombe
Hascombe
Hascombe is a village in Surrey, England. It contains a cluster of cottages and country estates, St Peter's church, the village green and The White Horse pub, all nestling between wooded hillsides in Surrey, England....
, 5km south of Godalming
Godalming
Godalming is a town and civil parish in the Waverley district of the county of Surrey, England, south of Guildford. It is built on the banks of the River Wey and is a prosperous part of the London commuter belt. Godalming shares a three-way twinning arrangement with the towns of Joigny in France...
. The garden was designed under Jarvis's ownership by Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll
Gertrude Jekyll was an influential British garden designer, writer, and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the UK, Europe and the USA and contributed over 1,000 articles to Country Life, The Garden and other magazines.-Early life:...
in 1922, and extended by Percy Cane in 1928.
Career
During World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Jarvis was an advisor to government on labour relations, and after the war the government continued to seek his advice on financial matters. In recognition of these services, he was created a Baronet in 1922, of Hascombe Court
Hascombe Court
Hascombe Court is a the estate in Godalming, Surrey, best known for its vast garden designed by Gertrude Jekyll.-Historical Development:In 1906 Robert E A Murray, a descendant of the Duke of Atholl, employed the architect J D Coleridge to build him a house in a woodland clearing on a plateau above...
in the County of Surrey, in 1922.
Jarrow
In early 1934 he was elected as High Sheriff of SurreyHigh Sheriff of Surrey
-List of High Sheriffs of Surrey:The list of known High Sheriffs of Surrey extends back to 1066 At various times the High Sheriff of Surrey was also High Sheriff of Sussex -1066-1228:...
, and shortly afterwards visited Jarrow
Jarrow
Jarrow is a town in Tyne and Wear, England, located on the River Tyne, with a population of 27,526. From the middle of the 19th century until 1935, Jarrow was a centre for shipbuilding, and was the starting point of the Jarrow March against unemployment in 1936.-Foundation:The Angles re-occupied...
, a shipbuilding town on Tyneside
Tyneside
Tyneside is a conurbation in North East England, defined by the Office of National Statistics, which is home to over 80% of the population of Tyne and Wear. It includes the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the Metropolitan Boroughs of Gateshead, North Tyneside and South Tyneside — all settlements on...
which had been particularly badly hit by the Great Depression
Great Depression in the United Kingdom
The Great Depression in the United Kingdom, also known as the Great Slump, was a period of national economic downturn in the 1930s, which had its origins in the global Great Depression...
. The Depression caused a collapse in demand for ships, and the closure of Palmers shipyard
Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company
Palmers Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, often referred to simply as Palmers, was a British shipbuilding company. The Company was based in Jarrow, in Northeast England and also had operations in Hebburn and Willington Quay on the River Tyne....
in Jarrow, leading to 80% unemployment in the town. Jarvis launched an appeal named the "Surrey Fund" which eventually raised £40,000; the funds were used to buy materials to enable men in Jarrow to continue working, on tasks such as the constructing playgrounds and sports facilities and the redecoration of houses. Using his own wealth, Jarvis also bought the decommissioned liner RMS Olympic
RMS Olympic
RMS Olympic was the lead ship of the Olympic-class ocean liners built for the White Star Line, which also included Titanic and Britannic...
(a sistership of the Titanic) for a reported £100,000 and had the ship brought to Tyneside to be broken up, followed in 1938 by the liner Berengaria
SS Imperator
SS Imperator was an ocean liner built for the Hamburg Amerikanische Packetfahrt Actien Gesellschaft launched in 1912. She was the first of a trio of successively larger Hamburg America ships that included and built by the line for transatlantic passenger service...
. The breaking of Berengaria was promised to directly employ 200 men in skilled and semi-skilled tasks in the new Jarrow Shipbreaking Company (based on the former Palmers shipyard), while the metal was to be used in Jarvis's new metal industries in the area, which employed several hundred people. Through Jarvis's efforts, several other new businesses were established in the Jarrow area.
Set against the scale of the economic problems in Jarrow, the impact of Jarvis's efforts is contested. In a letter published in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
on 2 October 1936, Jarvis listed some of the achievements of the fund as a "step in the right direction". However, on the following day Jarrow MP Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament .- History :...
praised Jarvis's support for the town but criticised "his over-sanguine optimism", noting that the employment generated had been small-scale and temporary. Wilkinson complained that charitable works were inadequate, and that a solution to the problem required addressing the underlying cause, which was the forced closure of the shipyard.
For his efforts, Jarvis was made a freeman
Freeman
- Things :* An individual not tied to land under medieval serfdom, unlike a villein or serf* A person who has been awarded Freedom of the City or "Freedom of the Company" in a Livery Company* Freeman * Freeman...
of Jarrow in 1935, but the ceremony on 4 June was boycotted by Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
councillors because Jarvis had been selected as a Conservative candidate for the coming general election.
Parliament
Guildford's Conservative MP Charles RhysCharles Rhys, 8th Baron Dynevor
Charles Arthur Uryan Rhys, 8th Baron Dynevor of Dynevor CBE , was a British peer and politician. He was the son of Walter FitzUryan Rice, 7th Baron Dynevor....
announced in January 1934 that he would not contest the next election. At a meeting of the Central Council of the Guildford Division Conservative and Unionist Association on 25 February, Jarvis was invited to be the National Conservative candidate at the next election, and it was reported on 9 March that he had accepted.
However, the parties in the National Government
Second National Government 1931–1935
The United Kingdom's National Government was composed of members of the following parties:*National Labour*Conservative Party*Liberal Party*Liberal National Party...
had agreed not to oppose each other at elections, so a question arose as to whether the National Government-supporting candidate for the forthcoming vacancy in Guildford should be a Conservative or a Liberal. S. Stopford Brooke, who had contested Guildford for the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
at the 1929 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
, had stood aside in favour of the Conservatives at the by-election in August 1931
Guildford by-election, 1931
The Guildford by-election, 1931 was a parliamentary by-election held for the British House of Commons constituency of Guildford in Surrey on 25 August 1931....
and at the general election later that year
United Kingdom general election, 1931
The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...
. Brooke announced in February that he had resigned from the Liberal Party, and intended this time to stand as National candidate "without prefix or suffix". He was supported by local representatives the Liberal, Conservative and National Labour parties.
However, in August 1935, Brooke's candidacy was halted by the local National association, which announced that since the collaboration of parties in the constituencies had not developed across the country at large, "no useful purpose would be served by running a purely National candidate in this division in support of this principle".
At the general election in November 1935
United Kingdom general election, 1935
The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
, Brooke signed Jarvis's nomination papers. The only other candidate was Andrew Campbell of the Labour Party, who was a stranger to the constituency and had a weak local organisation. Jarvis was elected with nearly 75% of the votes, and was made a Deputy Lieutenant
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
of Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
in 1936. He was re-elected in 1945
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
, and held the seat until he stood down from the House of Commons at the 1950 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
.
In November 1943 he wrote to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper to summarise his experiences in Jarrow, asserting that it was better to bring work to people in depressed areas than to encourage them to move in search of work.
Jarvis died on 2 October 1950, aged 74.