The Rowntree Society

The Rowntree Society is set up as a charity with a mission to further knowledge about the very rich Rowntree legacy.

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Our work is enabled by grant funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust. If you would like to make a financial donation to further support our work, it is easy to pay online (with or without Gift Aid) by clicking the link below. You can get in touch with us about other ways of giving via info@rowntreesociety.org.uk

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The Trusts contribute to the foundation of the University of York.

In 1960 the Rowntree trusts jointly made a grant of £100,000 towards the foundation of the University of York. John Bowes Morrell, a director of Rowntree and Co, was instrumental in founding both the University of York and the Borthwick Institute for Archives.

Several other directors and trustees have over the years held positions of responsibility in the University, which has a building in Social Sciences named after Seebohm Rowntree.

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The Aero girls are introduced

Another example of Rowntree’s imaginative advertising is seen in the 1950s, when a series of pictures are commissioned, to advertise Aero, in print and on television.

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Powerful retailers change market conditions

The bargaining power of grocery supermarkets impacts Rowntree and distribution plans include new ideas, such as introducing multipacks of KitKat.

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Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust

The Joseph Rowntree Village Trust’s name is changed to the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust and its powers are widened to enable it to support research into housing and social questions.

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A new factory opens near Newcastle

Labour shortages in York lead to a subsidiary works being set up in Fawdon, 3 miles from Newcastle. Railway links allow goods to be transported efficiently and quickly between it and the Cocoa Works in York. By summer 1958 all fruit gum, pastille and jelly production has been transferred to Fawdon.

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Don’t forget the fruit gums, Mum!

Rowntrees commissions its first TV advert, whch goes out in November, advertising Fruit Gums. It is just one more innovation in marketing Rowntrees’ products. Both Henry and Arnold have prepared the ground, but George Harris becomes the strongest advocate of the value of advertising the Rowntree brand. He is company Chairman from 1941 to 1952 and oversees the company’s recovery after WW2.

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Michael Rowntree

Michael ‘Mike’ Rowntree (son to Arnold & May) becomes a member of the Executive Committee at Oxfam (and serves there most of the rest of his life.)

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A changed world?

The last of Seebohm’s investigations into poverty is published. The introduction of family allowances in 1946, the NHS in 1948 – along with the raft of other legislation introduced to fulfil the promises of the Beveridge Report – is transforming many aspects of life for people in the UK.

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Dunollie House opens

Dunollie House opens officially in 1947, to provide a sanctuary for those suffering with stress and ill health. The respite offered by this comfortable house in Scarborough is remembered with great affection by many who stayed there, though over time the strict routines become less popular and some folk “got fed up with being told what to do”.

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