Albert Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale

Albert Ernest Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale (7 October 1863 – 11 March 1944) was a British peer. He was inter alia a director of Midlands Bank, now HSBC.

Background

Kitson was the son of James Kitson, 1st Baron Airedale, an iron and steel manufacturer in Leeds. He was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he gained a BA, before following his father into the family business.^[1]

Marriage

On 23 January 1890 at the Unitarian Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds, Kitson married Florence Schunck (1868–1942), daughter of Edward, Baron von Schunck (1816–1889) and Kate Lupton (1832–1913).

As reported in The Yorkshire Post, wedding guests included Herbert Gladstone, son of Prime Minister William Gladstone.^[2] Kate was the daughter of Darnton Lupton of Potternewton Hall.^[3] He was Mayor of Leeds in 1844/45.^[4] Kate's first cousin, politician Francis Martineau Lupton, and his mother were also guests at the wedding.^[2]

Title

Kitson succeeded to the titles of 2nd Baron Airedale, of Gledhow, and 2nd Baronet Kitson on 16 March 1911. ^[5]As peers of the realm, the Kitsons were invited to pay homage to King George V at his coronation at Westminster Abbey on 22 June of that year. Florence Kitson's mother, Kate Schunck, was also invited but she "may have been too frail to attend as she died in 1913".^[6]

Later life

Following his father's death, the Kitsons acquired Gledhow Hall, which the artist, J.M.W. Turner, had painted in 1816. Kitson was a director of Midlands Bank, now HSBC.^[6][7] The Kitsons had seven daughters but no sons.

A music-lover, Kitson supported the Leeds Triennial Musical Festival in 1928.^[8] His nephew was composer Christian Darnton.

On 8 December 1920, the Prime Minister's wife, Margaret Lloyd George, visited Leeds and stayed with the Kitsons at Gledhow Hall. It was reported that, "Lady Airedale expressed her great pleasure at the presence of Dame Margaret Lloyd George at the very successful reception at Leeds, to which over 150 prominent ladies of Coalition Liberal sympathies were invited from all parts of Yorkshire".^[9][10]

Florence Kitson died on 8 July 1942.^[11] Albert Kitson died on 11 March 1944 at Stansted, Essex, and the barony was inherited by his younger brother Roland.^[12]

Further reading

• Wilson, Peter (1995). War, State and Society in Württemberg, 1677-1793. Cambridge University Press. p. 131. ISBN 9780521483315. 
• Edward Darnton, John (1933). The Von Schunck family : A history of the Hanau branch and connections. J. E. Darnton – Printed in England by Simpson and Co. 

References