Name Albert 2nd | ||
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.
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Family
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.
On 23 January 1890, at Mill Hill Chapel in Leeds, Kitson married Florence Schunck (1868–1942), daughter of Edward, Baron von Schunck (1816–1889) and Kate Lupton (1832–1913). The wedding guests included Herbert Gladstone, son of Prime Minister William Gladstone. Florence Schunck was the granddaughter of Darnton Lupton, the former Mayor of Leeds. Francis Martineau Lupton and his mother were also guests at the wedding. The Kitsons had seven daughters.
Kitson succeeded to the titles of 2nd Baron Airedale of Gledhow and 2nd Baronet Kitson on 16 March 1911. Kitson was a director of Midlands Bank, now HSBC. 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".
A music-lover, Lord Airedale supported the Leeds Triennial Musical Festival in 1928. His nephew was composer Christian Darnton.
When the Prime Minister's wife, Margaret Lloyd George, visited Leeds in December 1920 for a reception for women supporters of the Liberal Coalition, she stayed with the Kitsons at Gledhow Hall.
Florence Kitson died on 8 July 1942. Albert Kitson died on 11 March 1944 at Stansted, Essex, and the barony was inherited by his younger brother Roland.
Gledhow Hall
The Kitsons acquired Gledhow Hall in 1911. It was the subject of a painting by the artist, J.M.W. Turner in 1816. During World War I Lord Airedale offered the hall for use as a Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital in April 1915. The hospital was managed by the Headingley Company of the St John Ambulance Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD). On 22nd May 1915, 50 patients were moved to the hall from the 2nd Northern General Hospital at Becketts Park. Lord Airedale's cousin, Edith Cliff, was the Commandant and his daughter Doris was a VAD nurse.