Jonathan Priestman

Jonathan Priestman
Born	1786-04-29 Malton, North Yorkshire, England
Died	1863
Occupation(s)	Businessman, Quaker minister
Known for	Equity holder in Consett Iron Company; director of Great North of England Railway; co-founder of Northumberland and Durham District Bank

Jonathan Priestman (1786–1863) was an English businessman and Quaker minister based in Newcastle upon Tyne. He held significant equity in the Consett Iron Company, acted as a director for the Great North of England Railway, and was a co-founder of the Northumberland and Durham District Bank, which ultimately failed in 1857. He was the father of noted reformers Margaret Tanner and Anna Maria Priestman, and his son-in-law was Radical politician John Bright.

Life

Born on 29 April 1786 in Malton, North Yorkshire, Jonathan was a younger son of David Priestman and Elizabeth Taylor, who herself was a Quaker minister. He attended Ackworth School between 1800 and 1801. Following this, he undertook an apprenticeship in his family’s leather tanning enterprise in Malton.

Tanning business

David Priestman was one among seven sons of John Priestman (born 1708), who had acquired tanning skills from William Richardson of Ayton, Cleveland, Yorkshire. His sister Hannah married Henry Richardson (1740–1808) from Whitby.

Henry's brother, John Richardson (1733–1800), a devout Quaker, owned a tannery located in the Low Lights district of North Shields near the coal staithes. This tanyard passed down to his son Henry (died 1827), who took in several orphaned children from his sister Elizabeth’s marriage to Joseph Procter, thereby integrating the business into the Procter family. Other relatives established a tannery in Newcastle’s Newgate area.

In 1808, Jonathan Priestman relocated to Newcastle to join his Richardson cousins in tanning. Circa 1812, he entered into partnership with William Richardson as leather dressers. William Richardson (born 1771), John Richardson’s third son, had married Sarah Priestman from York. By 1827, their firm Richardson & Priestman operated at 66a Newgate Street, Newcastle, dealing in tanning and leather trade. In 1834, a fire destroyed Priestman's bark mill on Low Friar Street, which produced tanning agents.

An 1867 directory of tanneries records Priestman & Son in Newcastle, J. & J. Priestman in Malton, John Richardson Procter at Lowlights, North Shields, and Edward & James Richardson at Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne.

Later life

Priestman purchased Benwell House in 1848.

Banking

The financial crisis of 1857 led to the suspension of payments and eventual failure of the Northumberland & Durham District Bank, which Priestman had co-founded in 1836. This collapse affected both local industries and the Quaker community. To manage the fallout, Priestman initially set up a private bank named Hawks, Grey, Priestman & Co., but it proved unsustainable during liquidation proceedings. Subsequently, he collaborated with Quaker bankers Thomas Hodgkin and John William Pease to establish Hodgkin, Barnett, Pease and Spence & Co. in 1859, which helped restore financial stability. This banking revival enabled the reformation of the Derwent & Consett Iron Company as the Consett Iron Company.

Associations and interests

Priestman was an advocate for temperance and served as the first President of Newcastle's Moderation Temperance Society. He supported educational initiatives and orphan care locally, participated on the committee of the Newcastle-upon-Tyne Society advocating gradual abolition of slavery, and engaged with national peace efforts such as the League of Universal Brotherhood. Additionally, he contributed to the British and Foreign Bible Society and aided relief campaigns during both the Lancashire Cotton Famine and following Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation.

During his early years in Newcastle, Priestman maintained extensive correspondence with his Richardson cousins, exchanging literary materials including Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Friend and selections from the Eclectic Review.

Family

In 1814, Priestman wed Rachel Bragg (1791–1854), one of the two daughters of Hadwen Bragg (who passed away in 1823), a Newcastle-based draper originally from Cumberland. Rachel's mother, Margaret Wilson, was a Quaker minister. Priestman earned the nickname "handsome Quaker." Together, they had nine children: six daughters and three sons. Rachel passed away in 1854 while visiting Irish Quakers with Jonathan at the residence of minister Richard Allen near Waterford.

Their daughter Lucy entered into marriage with John Bright in 1839 but died two years later in 1841. She was the mother of Helen Priestman Bright, born in 1840.

Among their sons, David, born in 1824, died during infancy in 1825.

• Hadwen Bragg Priestman (1820–1884) married Emily Jane Slagg in 1860.
• Jonathan Priestman II (1825–1888) married Lucy Ann Richardson, daughter of Jonathan Richardson (1802–1871) and Ann Robson, in 1852.

Jonathan Priestman II

Jonathan II was once engaged to Anna Deborah Richardson, sister to Elizabeth Spence Watson; however, the engagement ended in 1850. Their father, Edward Richardson (1806–1863), a leather manufacturer, maintained close ties with William Richardson, who was a partner of John Priestman I. The Richardson family hailed from Kingston-upon-Hull before relocating to Sunderland; their residence was at Benfieldside. Jonathan II and Lucy Ann had five children: two sons and three daughters.

The collapse of the Northumberland & Durham District Bank caused significant distress for Jonathan II, as his father-in-law Jonathan Richardson had initially served as the bank’s manager when it was established in 1836 and later became a director. The bank’s failure had a profound effect on the local Quaker community: Newcastle Meeting conducted an inquiry into six Friends associated with the bank, singling out Richardson for responsibility. Most of his children resigned from the Meeting except for Lucy Ann. Facing financial difficulties, Jonathan II relocated his family from Shotley Bridge back to their ancestral home in Benwell.

In 1864, Jonathan II took on the role of joint managing director at the newly established Consett Iron Works company alongside Sir David Dale. Subsequently, he also became involved as a coalowner.