1871-1954. British entrepreneur and
philanthropist. Much of the money he acquired
as chair (1925-41) of the family firm of
confectioners, H I Rowntree, he used to fund
investigations into social conditions. His
writings include Poverty 1900. The three
Rowntree Trusts, which were founded by his
father Joseph Rowntree (1836-1295) in 1904,
fund research into housing, social care, and
social policy, support projects relating to
social justice, and give grants to pressure
groups working in these areas. Rowntree
joined the York-based family business in 1889
after studying at Owens College (later the
University of Manchester). The introduction
of company pensions (1906), a five-day
working week (1919), and an employee
profit-sharing scheme (1923) gave him a
reputation as an enlightened and
paternalistic employer. An associate of David
Lloyd George, he was director of the welfare
department of the Ministry of Munitions
during World War I. His pioneering study of
working-class households in York 1897-98,
published as Poverty, was a landmark in
empirical sociology; it showed that 28% of
the population fell below an arbitrary level
of minimum income, and 16% experienced
`primary poverty'. Rowntree also wrote on
gambling, unemployment, and business
organization.