1842 - 1896
Colonel North was born in Hunslet: his father was a coal merchant. He was apprenticed to Shaw, North & Watson and worked at John Fowler Steam Plough Works. In 1869 Fowlers sent him to the west coast of South America to erect and commission equipment. He started distilling water for domestic purposes at Valparaiso Chile and patched up a wrecked tramp steamer as a water tank. He bought some land at Tarapaca in the northern part of Chile and started the extraction of nitrate of soda for fertilisers and also worked the guana deposits. Col North developed the silver mines and gas works accumulating a fortune. He returned to England in 1882-3. He worked in London and was the Honorary Colonel of the Tower Hamlets Voluntary Engineers. In December 1888 the Trustees of the Earls of Cardigan offered the Kirkstall Abbey ruins for sale by auction. The Borough Council bid £6100 although the reserv of £10,000 was not attained and the lot withdrawn. Col North was visited by two friends who persuaded him to buy the ruins for the City of Leeds and he added extra lands valued at £900. John North presented Kirkstall Abbey to the Borough of Leeds at a special ceremony in the Victoria Hall on January 25th 1889 and became the first Honorary Freeman of Leeds in the same year. He made donations to the Yorkshire College (University), General Infirmary and acquired Hunslet Moor as a public park. Col. North died in his Gracechurch Street London offices on March 5th 1896.
North, Col. John (1842 - 1896)
b. Leeds, son of a coal merchant.
1869 went to Peru as an engineer, probably working in the recently discovered nitrate reserves of the Atacama Desert. Following war with Chile 1879-81 the area was annexed by the latter. 1881 J.T North & Harvey established with Sir Robert Harvey, Cornish born mining engineer and Inspector General of Trapanca Province. The company bought reserves cheaply and made a vast fortune mining nitrate for fertiliser etc. known as 'The Nitrate King', North was the largest nitrate producer in Chile and also controlled rail transport, water supply, a bank and export companies. 1888 North acquired the collieries and ironworks of the Llynvi & Tordu Co. near Bridgend. North was also politically powerful and when the Chilean government threatened to nationalise nitrate mines he and other owners funded and promoted an armed rebellion, leading to the Civil War of 1890-91 and the overthrow of the government.
1882 rented Avery Hill, Eltham as London residence. The house was redeveloped to include sculpture and picture galleries for his art collection, and a large glasshouse. Largely destroyed in World War Two, the remainder is now part of the University of Greenwich. 1888 he bought the Kirkstall Abbey estate and gave the Abbey to Leeds in 1889. he sold Abbey House to Col Walter T. Harding in 1893.
Awarded the title of Honorary Colonel of the Tower Hamlets Volunteer Engineers after funding the organisation.
Don Townsley's notes:
"John T. North (1842-1896) First went to Chile to commission equipment manufacturered by John Fowler's Plough Works. Made his fortune from production of sodium nitrate in the deserts of northern Chile and from bond and share dealings in the Chile/Peru and Bolivia conflict 1879-1883. Became known as "the Nitrate King". Bought up the coal deposits and remnants of the iron industry in the Llynfi Valley, South Wales and formed North's Navigation Collieries Ltd. to become a principal supplier of steam coal to the Royal Navy and others. Later merged with Powell Duffryn. Given rank of honorary Colonel following financing of Tower Hamlets militia. In 1889 the Countess of Cardigan sold Kirkstall Abbey to John North, who then presented it to the City of Leeds. John North's London residence was Avery Hill in Eltham, now part of the University of Greenwich. A major feature of Avery Hill was a unique Turkish bath finished in Burmantofts tiles, unfortunately destroyed during a Second World War bom
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