John Pearson (1872-1959)
John Westall Pearson was born 1872 in Gainsborough, eldest son of Isaac Pearson &
Ellen Westall. The family moved to Scotland soon after John’s birth as in 1881 Isaac
& Ellen with seven children were living in Partick in Lanarkshire with Isaac recorded
as a seed crusher. John was educated at Repton school.
John married Agnes Alice Erskine (surname unknown) on 18 September 1900 in
Glasgow. In the 1901 census John & Agnes were living in Partick with John recorded
as a seed crusher, so following his father. However by the 1911 census John & Agnes
were living in Hampstead with John now a managing director. John was employed by
British Oil & Cake Mills Limited which crushed oilseeds to produce vegetable oil. He
was chairman & managing director for 32 years. In later years he was a director of
Lever Bros, Unilever Ltd & various other companies. He was also founder &
chairman of the National Seedcrushers Association. In World War two he was
director of the Oils & Fats division of the Ministry of Food.
By 1921 John & his family had moved to Manor House, Bishops Down in Tunbridge
Wells. Agnes by then was breeding pedigree bulldogs & by 1939 she had the largest
bulldog breeding kennels in England. They lived at Manor House for over 40 years &
during their residence restored some of the lost beauties of the house. At one time he
kept seven cows, forty pigs & over two thousand head of poultry on the estate.
In 1921 John was elected as a member of the Tunbridge Wells & Counties Club. He
was honorary secretary of the club for over 35 years. His wife Agnes also played
bridge.
John & Agnes had two daughters, Matilda (known as Maud) & Dorothy, who both
learned to play bridge as teenagers. There are separate articles about Maud under her
married name of Corbett & Dorothy.
John with the help of his daughter Maud founded KCBA in 1937, he had only just
retired. He was elected the president which position he held until his death.
In 1950 John was elected as chairman of the EBU which post he held for a year. Then
in 1952 he elected chairman again & this time he served until 1955. Around this time
he presided over the annual EBU congress held at the Grand Hotel in Eastbourne.
Once his term as chairman was over he was the first vice president of the EBU, a
position he held until 1958.
Agnes died 17 February 1959 & John two months later on 17 April 1959. Both were
buried at the Kent & Sussex Cemetery in Tunbridge Wells.
Outside of bridge John was a keen golfer, although not as accomplished as his
daughter Dorothy. John was a member of both Tunbridge Wells & Nevill golf clubs,
he served as secretary of the former. Agnes was also a member of both clubs & was
on the committee of Tunbridge Wells club for many years.