English wealthy and philanthropic family 1700s onwards
The Pease family is an English and mostly
Quaker family associated with
Darlington,
County Durham, and
North Yorkshire, descended from Edward Pease of Darlington (1711–1785).[1]
They were 'one of the great Quaker industrialist families of the nineteenth century, who played a leading role in philanthropic and humanitarian interests'.[2] They were heavily involved in woollen manufacturing, banking, railways, locomotives, mining, and politics.
Edward Pease (1711-1785) was the son of Joseph Pease (1663-1719) of Pease Hall, Felkirk, Shafton Green (now Barnsley), whose family had earlier come from Sikehouse,
Fishlake,
Yorkshire,[7] and who had married Ann Couldwell (1681-1725), heiress of her uncles William Couldwell of Cudworth (near Shafton Green) and Thomas Couldwell of Darlington, yeomen woolcombers with family businesses established in the 17th (or possibly 16th) century. These wool businesses formed the basis of the Pease's later fortunes. Edward Pease's eldest son was Joseph Pease (1737–1808) who founded Pease Partners Bank (1761). His children included
Edward Pease (1767–1858), railway promoter and woollen manufacturer.
Edward Pease had five sons and three daughters, including:
John Pease (1797–1868), eldest son
Sophia Fry née Pease (1837–1897), philanthropist and political activist, married
Theodore Fry
Joseph Pease (railway pioneer) (1799–1872), second son. Railway owner, industrialist and first Quaker Member of Parliament. He had eight sons and four daughters by his wife Emma Gurney, a first cousin of
Joseph John Gurney, including:
Joseph Whitwell Pease (1828–1903) - eldest son. 1st Baronet of Hutton Lowcross and Pinchinthorpe. Businessman and Liberal Member of Parliament (1865–1903). His two sons and six daughters by his wife, Mary Fox (daughter of Alfred Fox who created
Glendurgan Garden), include
Miriam Blanche Pease (1887–1965), HM Inspector of Factories
Joseph Pease, 2nd Baron Gainford (1889–1971) Major, Lovat Scouts WW1, served Gallipoli, Bulgaria, France. Businessman. Married 1921 Veronica Margaret (1900–1995), daughter of Sir George John William Noble, 2nd Baronet (1859–1937), son of
Sir Andrew Noble, 1st Baronet
Beatrice Mary Pease (1866–1935) - married in 1885
the 6th Earl of Portsmouth, without issue. After her marriage, she lodged a lawsuit against her uncle Joseph Whitwell Pease alleging that his bank had mismanaged her inheritance. He lost the suit and had to pay 500,000 pounds which caused the bank to be effectively bankrupt.[8]
Arthur Francis Pease (1866–1927) - first baronet. Coal owner. He was not involved in the collapse of the family bank, J. and J. W. Pease, in 1902 and was later a director of
Lloyds Bank and the
London and North Eastern Railway. Created baronet in 1920. He had a son and three daughters.
Henry Pease (1807–1881) - Fifth son. Railway owner. Founded the seaside resort of
Saltburn-by-the-Sea. Member of Parliament for
South Durham (1857–1865), President of the
Peace Society. He had one son by his first wife, Anna Fell, and three sons and two daughters by his second, Mary Lloyd.
The second Joseph Pease married Elizabeth Beaumont of Feethams and had two children:
John Beaumount Pease (1803–1873) - married Sarah Fossick and had four sons and two daughters.
John William Pease (1836–1901) married Helen Mary Fox (1838–1928) (daughter of Alfred Fox of the Fox family of Falmouth who created
Glendurgan Garden). With his brother-in-law
Thomas Hodgkin founded the Newcastle bank of Hodgkin, Barnett, Pease, Spence & Co that became part of
Lloyds Bank in 1902.[citation needed]
John William Beaumont Pease (1869–1950) - first
Baron Wardington. Chairman of Lloyds Bank (1922–1945). Amateur golfer.[13] He married Dorothy Charlotte Forster and had two sons
Christopher Henry Beaumont Pease (1924–2005) - second
Baron Wardington. A noted
bibliophile; he was succeeded by his brother
William Simon Pease (1925-2019), third
Baron Wardington; the title became extinct on his death.
Edwin Lucas Pease (c. 1838 - 24 January 1889) -
[1] Mayor of Darlington, killed while hunting at age 50.
Related Peases, but not considered Darlington Peases, were descendants of the first Joseph Pease's brother, Thomas Pease (1743–1811). His granddaughter, Hannah Ford née Pease was mother of
Isabella Ford, the reformer, and
Emily Susan Ford, the painter. His grandson Thomas Pease (1816–1884) married three times and had many children, with his third wife, Susanna Ann Fry, sister of the judge
Edward Fry and aunt of
Roger Fry. These children included
Michael Stewart Pease (1890–1966), geneticist at
Cambridge University and member of the Cambridge County Council. He was also interned at
Ruhleben during the
First World War. After the war he married Helen Bowen Wedgwood (1895-1981), daughter of
Josiah Wedgwood (later the first Lord Wedgwood). They were parents of, among others
(Admiral of the Fleet Sir)
Roger Backhouse (1878–1939), admiral of the Royal Navy and First Sea Lord 1939.
She was also great-grandmother of
Robert Backhouse (1854–1940), well-known horticulturist and British archer in the 1908 Olympics. Through his mother, Katherine Aldam, he was also a great-grandson of Thomas Pease (1743–1811).
William Ormston Backhouse (1885–1962), English agriculturalist and geneticist. Son of Robert Backhouse (1854–1940).
and ancestor of, among others,
Ernest Pease Hodgkin (1906–1997) Husband of Mary Constance Hodgkin née McKerrow (1909–1985) a well-known anthropologist and Girl Guide.[16] He was nearly disowned for doing so. Ernest became an expert on mosquito breeding habits and moved to Malaya to further his studies. He was interned in a civilian POW camp from 1942 to the end of the war and he and his family moved to Australia. He became a very well known marine biologist in Western Australia.
^Men of Business and Politics. M. W. Kirby. George Allen & Unwin. 1984.
ISBN0-04-941013-X. A study of the rise and fall of the Quaker Pease Dynasty of North East England, 1700-1943.
^Clare Midgley, ‘Nichol, Elizabeth Pease (1807–1897)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
accessed 2 May 2011
^Parker, Dorothy.
"Hodgkin, Mary Constance (1909–1985)". Biography - Mary Constance Hodgkin - Australian Dictionary of Biography. Adb.anu.edu.au. Retrieved 2017-07-04.
Sources
Tomorrow's History. A regional local history site for the North-East of England.