Sir John Brunner, 1st Baronet

The Right Honourable Sir John Brunner, 1st Bt DL
John Brunner in 1885
Born	John Tomlinson Brunner 8 February 1842 (1842-02-08) Everton, Liverpool, England
Died	1 July 1919 (1919-08) (aged 77) Chertsey, Surrey, England
Education	St. George's House, Everton
Occupation	Chemical industrialist, politician
Title	Baronet
Spouse(s)	Salome Davies Jane Wyman
Children	John Fowler Leece, 2nd Baronet, Grace, Harold Roscoe, Mabel Alicia, Hilda, Maud Mary, Ethel Jane
Parent(s)	John Brunner Margaret Catherine Curphey

Sir John Tomlinson Brunner, 1st Baronet, PC DL (8 February 1842 – 1 July 1919) was a British chemical industrialist and Liberal Party politician. At Hutchinson's alkali works in Widnes he rose to the position of general manager. There he met Ludwig Mond, with whom he later formed a partnership to create the chemical company Brunner Mond & Co., initially making alkali by the Solvay process. As a Member of Parliament he represented Northwich, Cheshire, in 1885–1886 and then from 1887–1910. He was a paternalistic employer and as a politician supported Irish Home Rule, trade unions, free trade, welfare reforms and, leading up to the First World War, a more sympathetic stance towards Germany. Brunner was a prominent Freemason, and a generous benefactor to the towns in his constituency and to the University of Liverpool. He is the great grandfather of the Duchess of Kent.

John Tomlinson Brunner was born in Everton, Liverpool, the fourth child and second son of John Brunner (b. 20 June 1800), a Swiss Unitarian and schoolmaster, and Margaret Catherine Curphey (d. 8 September 1847), who originated from the Isle of Man, daughter of Thomas Curphey and wife Margaret Leece. His father established a school in Netherfield Road, Everton, known as St George's House, to teach children along the lines advocated by Pestalozzi. Brunner's mother died in 1847, when he was aged five; his father married Nancy Inman in 1851. She had a shrewd business sense and Brunner gave credit to her for teaching him skills in practical matters. Brunner was educated at his father's school and then, at the age of 15, he decided to follow a career in commerce. He spent four years in a shipping house in Liverpool, but found it neither exciting nor lucrative, and so decided on a change of career. In 1861, Brunner took a clerical post at Hutchinson's alkali works in Widnes, where his older brother Henry was already working as technical manager. There, he rose to the position of general manager. Shortly after starting work at Hutchinson's, Brunner met the German-born chemist Ludwig Mond.