Sir Henry Tate - sugar merchant and founder of the famous Gallery
Sir Henry Tate was an English sugar merchant and philanthropist, noted for establishing the Tate Gallery in London.
In 1872, Tate acquired the patent for making sugar cubes, and opened a refinery at Silvertown, London, which is still operational today. He built the Tate Institute opposite, with a bar and dance hall for the workers' recreation.
Born in 1819 in White Coppice, a hamlet near Chorley, Lancashire, Tate became a grocer's apprentice in Liverpool at the age of 13. After a seven-year apprenticeship, he was able to set up his own shop. His business was successful, and grew to a chain of six stores by the time he was 35. In 1859 Tate became a partner in John Wright & Co. sugar refinery, selling his grocery business in 1861. By 1869, he had gained complete control of the company, and renamed it as Henry Tate & Sons.
In 1872, Tate purchased the patent for making sugar cubes, and in 1877, established a refinery at Silvertown on the Thames in the Docklands area, which is still operational today. For his workers, he built the Tate Institute with a bar and dance hall.
Tate rapidly became a millionaire and donated generously to charity. In 1889 he donated his collection of 65 contemporary paintings to the government, on the condition that they be displayed in a suitable gallery. To help the construction of this, he also donated £80,000. The National Gallery of British Art, nowadays known as Tate Britain, was opened on 21 July 1897, on the site of the old Millbank Prison.
Tate made many donations, often anonymously, including for the Library of Manchester College, and for libraries in Balham, South Lambeth, and Brixton.
Tate was made a baronet in 1898. He had refused this title more than once previously, but he was told the Royal Family would be offended if he refused again, after his creation of the Millbank Gallery, and endowment of it with his personal art collection.
In 1921, after Tate's death, Henry Tate & Sons merged with Abram Lyle & Sons to form Tate & Lyle, which is still trading as part of American Sugar Refining, to which it was sold in 2010, with the New York-based company pledging: "We will be keeping them open. There will be no job losses as a result of this transaction. This is not like Kraft and Cadbury. We need these operations, and Tate & Lyle's refinery in Lisbon.".
Tate lived at Park Hill by Streatham Common, South London, and is buried in nearby West Norwood Cemetery, the gates of which are opposite a public library that he endowed. Park Hill became a nunnery after his death until refurbishment as housing around 2004. In 2001, a blue plaque commemorating Sir Henry was unveiled on the site of his first shop at 42 Hamilton Street, Birkenhead.
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