Joseph Watson, 1st Baron Manton

Early life

Watson was the only son of George Watson, soap manufacturer, of Donisthorpe House near Moor Allerton, Leeds, Yorkshire. He was educated at Repton School and Clare College, Cambridge. he was recalled to the family firm before completing his degree, becoming chairman at a young age.

Joseph Watson & Sons

Joseph went to work at his grandfather's company, Joseph Watson & Sons, and turned the company from the medium-sized concern built up by his father and uncle Charles into one which ruled the soap market of North-East England, with national and international markets, becoming William Lever's biggest rival

Soap Trust monopoly

On 4 August 1906 Watson and William Lever, by then the largest manufacturer, met in the Grand Hotel in London to finalise a plan to set up a "Soap Trust" which would merge the major soap manufacturers into a monopoly, thereby gaining economies of scale in advertising and production costs. Watson favoured the use of a parent company whilst Lever preferred a scheme of exchange of shares between participating companies to bind them together. This occurred during a period of many corporate trusts in the United States. The scheme was strongly opposed by the Daily Mail newspaper which campaigned for a boycott by its readers of the trust brands. Profits at participating firms were thereby severely reduced. The Northcliffe Press in its expanding and highly popular campaign overstepped the mark by falsely asserting trust soaps to be made from scented fish oil. Although Watson and Lever won substantial libel damages from the press, losses in reputation and profits had been suffered all round. On the proposal of Watson and Crosfield, another large manufacturer, the scheme was abandoned in November 1906. By then Watson had already disposed of much of his shareholding, previously all held by himself and his uncle Charles, to William Lever, in exchange for Lever Brothers shares to set up the trust.

Lever Brothers and Jurgens

In 1912/13 Watson sold much of his remaining shareholding to Lever (Lever Brothers Ltd., later Unilever) and sold to him the remainder in July 1917, but remained as chairman. He had sold his half share in the Planter's Margarine Co Ltd. to Lever in July 1915, a joint venture established in November 1914 at Godley in Cheshire with Levers, in response to Government anxiety at the wartime loss of Dutch supplies, which by 1915 was the country's second largest margarine manufacturer. He had supplied it from his Olympia Oil & Cake Co. Ltd. at Selby, Yorks which operated the largest linseed oil crushing and refining plant in Europe. It also hardened whale oil and in 1917 during WWI was allocated by the government 21% (later 25%) of British whale oil for hardening. Watson then suffered substantial losses in an unsuccessful speculation in linseed and he sold Olympia Oil & Cake to the Dutch firm Jurgens, which had outbid Levers.

Pioneer of industrialised agriculture

Spurred on by wartime food shortages, Watson began the pioneering of industrialised agriculture, and he funded the Agricultural Research Department at Leamington Spa. He founded the Olympia Agricultural Co Ltd. and invested much of his proceeds into agricultural estates totalling some 20,000 acres (81 km²) at Selby (Yorks), the 5,500 acre Manton Down Estate (Wiltshire), Sudbourne (Suffolk), Offchurch (Warwickshire) and at Thorney (Cambridgeshire). His Olympia Oil & Cake Co. under the brand name "OCO" produced animal feeds for dairy cows, calves, lambs and pigs, all from the new source of linseed oil. The company acquired sites near Selby within the parish of Barlby between 1909–10 and their buildings later dominated the road and river frontages. Soon after 1910 the company built the first "village estate" of workers' housing in the area which was later expanded by other nearby employers. Before 1921 the "Olympia Hotel" opened near the site at Barlby Bank, which took its name from the company and used a sign showing seed-crushing machinery. The company since 1952 became part of British Oil and Cake Mills Ltd.

Following Manton's death his executors claimed he had put £1,000,000 into agriculture and received £750,000 from sales of the properties.

Wartime munitions work

At the start of the First World War Watson's industrial and organisational expertise was used to assist the government in the establishment and operation of national munitions factories, most notably at the First National Shell Filling Factory at Barnbow, Leeds.

Following the heavy consumption of munitions in the opening battles of WWI at the Somme, the Northcliffe Press (Daily Mail) brought to the public's attention what became known as "The Shell Crisis", signifying that the nation had given little thought to securing long-term munitions supplies needed to successfully wage an unprecedented protracted war. The Asquith government fell, to be replaced by that of Lloyd George, recently appointed Minister of Munitions to resolve the crisis. Watson as chairman of a six-man "Leeds Munitions Committee" made up from local industrialists, formed in August 1915, was charged by the government to immediately establish the first of 12 National Shell Filling Factories. A factory was promptly established on a 400-acre (1.6 km²) greenfield site at Barnbow, close to Leeds. It resembled a small town of detached houses and huts more than a traditional factory, to contain and localise any accidental explosions. It remained the largest such operation in the country, having despatched 566,000 tons of finished ammunition overseas by the Armistice. At its height it employed 16,000 workers, 93% of whom were women and girls. Its fire brigade responded to three accidental explosions, the most serious of which occurred in 1916, killing 35 women and injuring many more.

Racehorse owner

Watson hunted with the Bramham Moor Foxhounds in Yorkshire, near his home at Linton Spring, Wetherby. He was a prominent racehorse owner and in 1918 acquired from Alec Taylor, Jr. the famous Manton training establishment near Marlborough in Wiltshire. and spent £30,000 on yearlings. In 1921 he won the Epsom Oaks with Love-in-Idleness, and the Grand Prix de Paris, the world's richest racing prize (400,000 Francs), with Lemonora which also had gained third place in the Derby that year, all ridden by jockey Joe Childs. He was termed by the racing press Mr "Lucky" Watson.

Philanthropy

In 1921 Watson donated £50,000 to the Leeds General Infirmary, of which he was a board member from 1906 to his death. The monies were used to replace some of its investments which had to be sold during WWI. A half-length bronze bas-relief portrait of Watson in his baronial robes is displayed there in the George Street entrance hall, under which is inscribed A Wise Counsellor and Generous Benefactor.

Elevation to the peerage

On 25 January 1922 he was raised to the peerage for his war services as Baron Manton of Compton Verney in the County of Warwick. He had purchased the Robert Adam neo-classical mansion Compton Verney and its 5,079-acre (20.55 km²) estate in 1921 from Lord Willoughby de Broke, intending to make his seat there, which intention was not realised due to his sudden death in March 1922, before having taken up residence. Whether his elevation, at the behest of Lloyd-George, was the result of a political donation, has not been proved but the title is not amongst those generally quoted by commentators as falling into this category.

Armorials

Joseph Watson adopted, or was allocated by the heralds, a variation of the armorials of the Watson Earls of Rockingham, which earldom had become extinct in 1746 on the death of Thomas Watson, 3rd Earl of Rockingham. The arms of Baron Manton became :"Argent, on a chevron azure between 4 martlets 3 in-chief and 1 in-base sable a crescent between 2 roses of the field". For supporters he also adopted a variant of Rockingham: "On either side a gryphon per fesse azure and argent, charged on the shoulder with a rose also argent". The arms of the Earls of Rockingham were: "Argent, on a chevron azure between 3 martlets sable as many crescents or". The Rockingham supporters were: "2 griffins argent ducally gorged or". Manton adopted the Rockingham motto without alteration: "Mea Gloria Fides" (Trust is my Renown). For his crest, Manton adopted a variant of the oak tree arms of the 17th-century Watson family of Saughton, Edinburgh: crest of Baron Manton: "a gryphon passant sable in front of an oak tree proper". The armourials of Watson of Saughton were: "Argent, an oak tree growing out of a mount in base proper surmounted of a fess azure". The latter family was granted in 1818 the griffin supporters of the Earls of Rockingham, noted above.

Marriage and progeny

In 1898 Joseph Watson married (Frances) Claire Nickols (d.1944), 3rd daughter of Harold Nickols (1848–1925), of Sandford House, Kirkstall, Leeds, proprietor of "Joppa Tannery", 87 Kirkstall Road, Leeds. Joppa Tannery was built in 1828 by Harold's father Richard Nickols as an expansion from the small tannery he had established in Bramley in 1823. The Joppa Tannery employed 300–400 people at its height and produced "upper leather" for shoes. It closed briefly but was re-openrd by Harold Nickols in 1900 under the name "Harold Nickols Ltd". It continued to be run by Harold's son Richard III Nickols, and closed in 1955. Watson had four sons by Claire Nickols:

Death and burial

He died in March 1922, aged only 49, from a heart-attack, whilst out hunting beside two of his sons. They were with the Warwickshire Foxhounds, at Upper Quinton, close to his new mansion. He died having held his title for less than two months. He was buried at his nearby manor of Offchurch, in his hunting apparel. His estate was sworn for probate at exactly one million pounds. His widow continued to reside until her death in 1936 in the mansion house of Offchurch Bury. A portrait of Joseph Watson mounted on a hunter was painted by Lynwood Palmer.