Captain Roland Dudley Kitson, 3rd Baron Airedale (19 July 1882-20 March 1958), businessman, was born in Leeds, son of Sir James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale and his second wife, Mary Laura daughter of Edward Fisher Smith.
Contents |
Kitson was educated at Westminster and Trinity College Cambridge.
He served in the 1914-1918 war with The West Yorkshire Regiment winning a DSO and an MC.
Roland Kitson was born in Leeds, his family had a long association with Yorkshire. His father and grandfather both served as Lord Mayor of Leeds. His father was MP for Colne Valley 1892-1907.
His grandfather James had founded Airedale Foundry in Hunslet in 1835. Under Roland's father, also James Kitson and uncle, Frederick Kitson, and known as Kitsons of Leeds this business became the manufacturer of about 5,400 locomotives in its first century.
Roland Kitson worked for a time in the Airedale Foundry and in the Monk Bridge Iron and Steel Company's works.
His directorships included:
He married Sheila Grace, daughter of F E Vandeleur in 1913. They had a daughter and a son:
After the death of his first wife in 1935 he married Dorothy Christabel Rowland Pelly, widow of Capt H M Rowland, on 16 September 1937.
He died in London aged 75.
He succeeded to the titles of 3rd Baron Airedale, of Gledhow, and 3rd Baronet on the death of his elder half-brother, 11 March 1944.[1]
| Honorary titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir William Plender, Bt |
High Sheriff of the County of London 1928–1929 |
Succeeded by Albert Gladstone |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by Albert Kitson |
Baron Airedale 1958–1996 |
Succeeded by Oliver Kitson |