Arnold
Rowntree, the son of John Stephenson Rowntree, was born in York
in 1872. Educated at the Quaker Bootham
Friends' School, Arnold joined the family Rowntree
Cocoa business.
A member of the Liberal Party, Rowntree
was elected the MP for York in the 1910
General Election. A strong critic of the foreign policy of Herbert
Asquith and Sir Edward Grey, Rowntree
was opposed to Britain's involvement in the First
World War.
In 1914 Rowntree joined with Charles Trevelyan,
E.D. Morel, George
Cadbury, Ramsay MacDonald, Arthur
Ponsonby, Arthur Ponsonby to form
the Union of Democratic Control (UDC). The
UDC eventually became the leading anti-war organisation in Britain.
However, under pressure from the Liberal Party,
Rowntree decided to leave the UDC.
Like other anti-war MPs, Rowntree was defeated in the 1918
General Election. Rowntree returned to the business world and
became a director of Rowntree & Company,
Westminster Press and Associated Papers. Arnold Rowntree died on 21st
May, 1951.
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