Sir Alfred James Newton

Sir Alfred James Newton (1849-1921) was involved with the stock market flotation of several large privately owned retail stores, including Harrods in 1889 and D H Evans in 1894. He became Lord Mayor of London in 1900 and helped establish the City of London Imperial Volunteers who fought in the Second Boer War in South Africa. Mystery surrounds his death in 1921 from strychnine poisoning.

Newton was born at Hull in 1849; his father, George Beeforth Newton (1810-1889), was connected with shipping and the holder of a Masters Certificate; his grandfather had been involved with the whale fisheries industry.

In 1865, Newton was a grain and seed broker in High Street, Hull. In the 1870s he was a yeast merchant in Burton-on-Trent with his father. Later he was in partnership with his brothers, William and George Beeforth Newton Jr., in a chandlery and shipping business called Newton Brothers of Burton on Trent and Hull. In 1874 they purchased a diving cutter and specialised in salvage, raising or breaking-up sunken ships that were a danger to navigation. This sometimes involved the use of explosives, and there was at least one fatality when a diver working for them drowned in 1875. They expanded their fleet of ships, commissioning the 310 ft steamer Principia in 1881 for the India trade. In 1882 the British Government leased this ship, with others that they owned, to transport troops and materiel to the conflict in Egypt. This same year the partners opened a head office in the City of London at 19 Billiter Street.

When his brother William died in 1886 aged 48 Newton parted with the shipping business. The partnership continued between his surviving brother George Beeforth Jr., his father, and the manager William Holiday. When the father died in 1889 the firm was renamed Newton Brothers and Holiday.

Following his withdrawal from the family business Newton became involved with the stock market flotation of several private companies. In 1886, he was a director of the Norfolk and Suffolk Brewing Company (Colchester Brewing Company), in 1887 director of the New Zealand Gold Extraction Company (Newberry Vautin Process) Ltd., and in 1888 the chairman of the Gaiety Theatre. He was chairman of The President Land and Exploration Company in 1889 and the same year appointed chairman of the board of Harrods Store, raising capital to buy the store from Charles Digby Harrod for £100,000. In the next decade several other departmental stores followed suit with his involvement including D. H. Evans (chairman), J. R. Roberts’ Stores (chairman), Crisp and Company of Holloway (director) and Paquin of Paris (director). Whilst chairman of Harrods he also oversaw the purchase of the departmental stores Dickins & Jones (1914) and Swan and Edgar (1920).

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