Frederick Lewis, 1st Baron Essendon

Frederick Lewis, 1st Baron Essendon (1870–1944), known as Sir Frederick Lewis, Bt, between 1918 and 1932, was a British shipping magnate.

Sir Frederick Lewis in 1920, by Herbert Arnould Olivier

Biography

Frederick Lewis was born in 1870 in Witton Park. In 1883, aged 13, he joined Furness Withy & Co, a major shipping company based in Hartlepool.[1] By 1919 he had risen to be a Director of the Company and in that year he led a consortium that took ownership of the business.[1] In 1932 he became Chairman of Royal Mail Lines, which was created from the assets of the collapsed Royal Mail Steam Packet Company after the Royal Mail Case.[2]

Lewis was created a Baronet in 1918 and raised to the peerage as Baron Essendon, of Essendon in the County of Hertford, on 20 June 1932.[3][4]

He was instrumental in developing a system of sea water distillers which could produce fresh water in lifeboats during an emergency at sea.[1]

He died in 1944.[1]

Family

He married (Daisy Ellen) Eleanor Harrison. They had a son, Brian, who became a well-known racing driver, and daughter Frieda (1898–1979), who married Ian Patrick Robert Napier in 1927.

References
  1. "Prince Line". The Red Duster. Merchant Navy Association. Archived from the original on 13 May 2008.
  2. Nicol, Stuart (2001). MacQueen's Legacy; Ships of the Royal Mail Line. Vol. Two. Brimscombe Port and Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing. p. 138. ISBN 0-7524-2119-0.
  3. "No. 33838". The London Gazette. 24 June 1932. p. 4111.
  4. "Lord Essendon". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 85. House of Lords. 5 July 1932. col. 539.
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