Robert Newbald Kay

Sir Robert Newbald Kay (6 August 1869–9 October 1936) was an English solicitor and politician, based in York. He was also Liberal Member of Parliament for Elland from 1923 to 1924, and Lord Mayor of York in 1925.

The son of William Kay and his wife Ann (née Newbald), [ [http://genforum.genealogy.com/kay/messages/1155.html Re: William Lambert KAY, Bedale ] at genforum.genealogy.com] Kay passed his final Law Society examinations in 1892 and the next year he founded the firm of Newbald Kay in York. [ [http://www.allukbusiness.co.uk/newbald-kay.html Newbald Kay ] at www.allukbusiness.co.uk]

A Methodist, he was for a time a member of the Methodist Conference and funded the construction of a chapel in Acomb, Yorkshire. ["Yorkshire Gazette", 1 June 1934]

For his wartime services as Sheriff of York, 1914–1915, and chairman of the local recruiting committee, he was knighted in the 1920 New Year Honours. [LondonGazette |issue=31712 |date=30 December 1919 |startpage=3 |supp=yes]

Around 1929 he became a Governor of Elmfield College and was instrumental in closing the college down during the Great Depression, as he bought the college estate, demolished the buildings, and sold off the estate off as building plots, having previously worked with H. B. Workman on the school's merger and decline.

It is said that he did something similar regarding an estate on South Bank, York, and the streets on that estate are actually named after his children.

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