Albert Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale


Albert Ernest Kitson, 2nd Baron Airedale was a British peer. He was inter alia a director of Midland Bank.

Family

Kitson was the son of James Kitson, 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 the daughter of Edward, Baron von Schunck and his wife Kate Lupton whose family, the Luptons of Leeds, were land-owners, well-connected business people and philanthropists who played an important role in the politics of the city and the U.K.. Kate's father, Darnton Lupton had been Mayor of Leeds. Frances Lupton, the educational pioneer, and her son Francis Martineau Lupton were guests at the wedding, as was Herbert Gladstone, M.P..
The Kitsons had seven daughters.
Kitson's father was elevated to the peerage in 1907. Albert Kitson succeeded to the titles of 2nd Baron Airedale of Gledhow and 2nd Baronet Kitson on his father's death on 16 March 1911. As peers of the realm, the Kitsons were invited to the coronation of George V at Westminster Abbey on 22 June 1911.

Career, politics and interests

Kitson was a director of Midland Bank. By 1918 Midland was the largest bank in the world, according to its company history. He was president of the Yorkshire and Leeds Liberal Federations. Prime Minister H. H. Asquith was his guest at Gledhow Hall in November 1913.
Like his father, Lord Airedale was a music-lover and supported the Leeds Triennial Musical Festival; in 1922, Kitson and his sister Hilda, were guarantors of the festival. His nephew was composer Christian Darnton.
He owned one the country's finest collections of Leeds pottery.
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 Lady Airedale at Gledhow Hall.

Gledhow Hall

Kitson inherited Gledhow Hall in 1911. During the First World War, he offered the hall for use as a Voluntary Aid Detachment hospital. The hospital was managed by the Headingley Company of the St John Ambulance Voluntary Aid Detachment. On 22 May 1915, 50 patients were moved to the hall from the 2nd Northern General Hospital at Becketts Park. Kitson's cousin, Edith Cliff, was the Commandant and his daughter Doris was a VAD nurse. Kitson's family maintained an interest in nursing after the Great War.

Death

Albert Kitson died on 11 March 1944 at Stansted, Essex, and the barony was inherited by his younger brother Roland. His wife had died on 8 July 1942.

Arms