Seebohm Rowntree
| Seebohm Rowntree | |
|---|---|
| Born |
7 July 1871 York, England |
| Died | 7 October 1954 (aged 83) |
| Occupation | Industrialist, sociological researcher and writer |
| Nationality | English |
| Period | 1901–1954 |
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, CH (7 July 1871 – 7 October 1954) was an English sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist. He is known in particular for his three York studies of poverty conducted in 1899, 1935, and 1951.
The first York study involved a comprehensive survey into the living conditions of the poor in York during which investigators visited every working class home. Rowntree's argument that poverty was the result of low wages went against the traditionally held view that the poor were responsible for their own plight.
Seebohm Rowntree was born in York, the second son of the Quaker Joseph Rowntree, who had been a master grocer but was becoming a successful cocoa and chocolate manufacturer, and Emma Antoinette Rowntree. He was educated first privately and then from the age of 10 at Bootham School. Rowntree studied chemistry at Owen's College, Manchester for five terms before joining the family firm in 1889, where he laid the foundations of the firm's first chemistry department. He became a director in 1897 when the firm became a limited liability company and was the chairman from 1923 to 1941.
In 1897 he married Lydia Potter (1868/9–1944), daughter of Edwin Potter, an engineer; they had four sons and one daughter. After his wife died, he lived in a wing of Disraeli's old house, Hughenden Manor, where he died after a heart attack.
Rowntree investigated poverty in York, inspired by the work of his father Joseph Rowntree and the work of Charles Booth in London. He carried out a comprehensive survey into the living conditions of the poor in York during which investigators visited every working class home. This amounted to the detailed study of 11,560 families or 46,754 individuals. The results of this study were published in 1901 in his book Poverty, A Study of Town Life.
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