William Pollitt
{{short description|English railway manager}}
{{for|the New Zealand cricketer|William Pollitt (cricketer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = Colonel
|name = Sir William Pollitt
|honorific-suffix = VD DL
|image = William Pollitt.jpg
|caption = Pollitt in 1899
|office = High Sheriff of Cheshire
|monarch = Edward VII
|term_start = 1908
|term_end = 1908
|predecessor = Sir Gilbert Greenall
|successor = Herbert Wheeler Hind
|birth_date = 24 February 1842
|death_date = 14 October 1908 (aged 66)
}}
Sir William Pollitt {{post-nominals|country=GBR|VD|DL}} (24 February 1842 – 14 October 1908) was an English railway manager and civic dignitary. From 1886 to 1902, he served as general manager of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MSL&R), which was renamed Great Central Railway in 1897. He was knighted in 1899 and appointed High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1908.
Railway career
Pollitt joined the MSL&R in 1857{{Cite web|url=http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubid=2967e6f5-c5d1-43eb-8f93-6c4d7cdf4ede&edid=5d916d22-94b3-4a92-8446-e5d5c31ec98f&pnum=3|title=Illustrated Interviews - No.22 Mr William Pollitt|date=April 1899|website=Railway Magazine|access-date=2017-07-24}} and had been appointed Accountant for the company in 1869 having previously served as chief clerk to that post. As Accountant he was responsible for an initiative in 1878 to reduce third-class fares to a penny a mile, which increased the net contribution from that class of passengers.
He was appointed to the newly created post of Assistant General Manager in 1885. This post appears to have been created to bolster Underwood, the General Manager, whose health was failing. In turn Pollitt acceded to the General Managership in 1886 when Underwood was elected to the Board.
Among other achievements he piloted the MSL&R's strategic line from Beighton to Annesley via Chesterfield, which came into law in 1889. He was chairman or director of several other railways, and a conservancy Commissioner for rivers Humber and Dee.
Pollitt's disputes with John Bell of the Metropolitan Railway were notorious.{{examples|date=August 2014}}
Knighthood and civic offices
Pollitt was knighted in 1899. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Cheshire in 1907{{London Gazette | issue=28083 |page=8191 | date=26 November 1907}} and High Sheriff of Cheshire in 1908.
In 1902 the King of the Belgians appointed him an Officer of the Order of Leopold.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Court Circular|date=2 October 1902 |page=7 |issue=36888}}
Volunteer Corps
Pollitt was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the British Army's Engineer and Railway Staff Corps on 28 April 1886.{{London Gazette|issue=25581 |page=2032|date= 27 April 1886}} He was subsequently promoted to Honorary Colonel and received the Volunteer Officers' Decoration on 8 November 1898.{{London Gazette|issue=27021 |page=6509|date= 8 November 1898}} He resigned his commission on 14 May 1902.{{London Gazette|issue=27433|page=3181|date=13 May 1902}}
Family
William Pollitt was born in Ashton-under-Lyne on 24 February 1842 to William Pollitt (1807 - 1874) and Jane Burton (1808 - 1861) and died on 14 October 1908 at Southport.[http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/CHESHIRE/2000-01/0946827473 POLLITT of Bowdon] at RootsWeb In 1862 he married Esther Crompton, daughter of Robert Crompton (1812 - 1899) and Mary Walker (1819 - 1848).{{Cite web |title=Subscribe |url-access=subscription |access-date=March 19, 2023 |url=https://www.Ancestry.co.uk |website=ancestry.co.uk}}
His son Harry Pollitt (not to be confused with a British Communist party leader of the same name) was a distinguished locomotive engineer who worked for his father's company, the other Harry Pollitt was apprenticed in the same company.
Portrait
A portrait of Sir William Pollitt was painted by William Powell Frith in 1896. The portrait is in the collection of the National Railway Museum.[http://www.nrm.org.uk/ourcollection/art/CollectionItem?objid=1976-9393 National Railway Museum Collection record]. The painting can be viewed online [https://es.pinterest.com/pin/259731103483000108/ here].
References
{{reflist}}
- {{cite book|author=Dow, George|title=Great Central, Vol. 2: Domination of Watkin 1864-1899|publisher=Locomotive Publishing Co|location=London|year=1962}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-bus}}
{{s-bef| before=Thomas Parker}}
{{s-ttl| title=Locomotive superintendent for
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway| years=1893 – 1897}}
{{s-non|reason=Company reorganized as
Great Central Railway}}
{{s-new| reason=Company reorganized from
Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway}}
{{s-ttl| title=General Manager of
Great Central Railway| years=1897 – 1902 }}
{{s-aft| after=Sir William Fay}}
{{s-hon}}
{{succession box | before=Sir Gilbert Greenall, Bt | title=High Sheriff of Cheshire | years=1908 | after=Herbert Wheeler Hind}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollitt, William}}
Category:Deputy lieutenants of Cheshire
Category:Great Central Railway people
Category:Engineer and Railway Staff Corps officers
Category:High sheriffs of Cheshire