John Wilhelm Rowntree

John Wilhelm Rowntree (September 4,1868 – March 9,1905) was a chocolate and confectionery manufacturer and Quaker religious activist and reformerODNB article by Edward H. Milligan, ‘Rowntree, John Wilhelm (1868–1905)’, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/40229] accessed 20 Jan 2007] cite book
last =Allott
first =Stephen
authorlink =Stephen Allott
coauthors =
title =John Wilhelm Rowntree (1868-1905) and the beginnings of Modern Quakerism
publisher =Sessions Book Trust
date =1994
location =York
pages =138
url =
doi =
id =ISBN 1-85072-137-8] .

He was born September 4,1868 in York, the eldest son of Joseph Rowntree (1836–1925) and his second wife, Antoinette Seebohm (1846–1924).

He was a successful business man, vastly expanding the already successful family chocolate business. He played a large part in enabling the Religious Society of Friends to incorporate an understanding of modern science (such as the theory of evolution), modern biblical criticism, and the social meaning of Jesus's teaching into their belief systems. He helped establish Woodbrooke, the Quaker study centre in Bourneville, Birmingham.

He died March 9,1905, in New York.

His only son Lawrence was killed in action during the Great War. Originally a volunteer orderly with the Friends Ambulance at Dunkirk, he subsequently joined the British Army and fought in the first tank action at Flers-Courcellette on 15 Sep 1916 as a member of the crew of HMLS Creme-de-Menthe. He was later commissioned into the Royal Field Artillery and was killed on 25 Nov 1917 in the Ypres Salient.

Publications

* A History of the Adult School Movement (with Henry Bryan Binns). 1903.
* Essays and addresses. 1905.
* The Lay Ministry
* Man's Relation to God, and other addresses ... With life of the author (compiled by S. Elizabeth Robson from the introductions written by Joshua Rowntree to “Essays and Addresses” and “Palestine Notes” 1917
* Palestine Notes, and other papers ... Edited by Joshua Rowntree.1906.
* Present Day Papers. Vol. 1 edited ... by J. W. Rowntree. (Vol. 2-5, etc., edited by J. W. Rowntree and H. B. Binns.).1898-1902.

References

Persondata
NAME=Rowntree,John Wilhelm
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Businessman, Religious reformer
DATE OF BIRTH=September 4,1868
PLACE OF BIRTH=York
DATE OF DEATH=March 9,1905
PLACE OF DEATH=New York