Mark Firth (25 April 1819 – 28 November 1880) was an
English industrialist and
philanthropist
Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...
.
Biography
Firth was born in
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
, the son of Thomas Firth (1789–1850), of
Pontefract
Pontefract is a historic market town in the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district in West Yorkshire, England. It lies to the east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the ...
, York, and Mary Loxley.
He joined the
crucible steel
Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron, cast iron, iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. Crucible steel was first developed in the middle of the 1st millennium BCE in Sout ...
works of Sanderson Brothers where his father worked as head
smelter
Smelting is a process of applying heat and a chemical reducing agent to an ore to extract a desired base metal product. It is a form of extractive metallurgy that is used to obtain many metals such as iron, copper, silver, tin, lead and zin ...
, but left in 1842 to set up his own business with his brother, Thomas Jr. Their father joined them shortly afterwards, and in 1852
Thomas Firth & Sons had expanded into larger premises at the Norfolk Works in Savile Street, which had the largest
rolling mill in Sheffield.
The Firth's business expanded into the armaments market, installing two large
steam hammer
A steam hammer, also called a drop hammer, is an industrial power hammer driven by steam that is used for tasks such as shaping forgings and driving piles. Typically the hammer is attached to a piston that slides within a fixed Pneumatic cylin ...
s in 1863. In 1871, the company cast the thirty five ton "Woolwich Infant" gun. In 1875 they produced an eighty-ton gun.
Firth was elected to the office of
Master Cutler in 1867, which he held for the following two years. He was elected
Mayor of Sheffield in 1874. In 1875, he presented a thirty-six acre estate to the town of Sheffield as
Firth Park. He also built a mansion for himself on the outskirts of Sheffield at Oakbrook,
Ranmoor, now part of
Notre Dame High School. In 1879, he opened
Firth College to teach arts and science subjects, which later became part of the
University of Sheffield
The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...
. Firth lends his name to the Firth Wing of the
Northern General Hospital
The Northern General Hospital is a large teaching hospital and Major Trauma Centre in Sheffield, England. Its departments include accident and emergency for adults, with children being treated at the Sheffield Children's Hospital on Western Ba ...
, and
Firth Court of the University.
He was a
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...
and a
Liberal.
[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]
On 16 November 1880 Firth was at his Norfolk Works when he suffered a
stroke
Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...
, and died 12 days later.
He is buried in
Sheffield General Cemetery on Cemetery Road, where his monument is Grade II listed.
Personal life
Firth was twice married and had twelve children.
He first married Sarah Bingham Taylor (1818–1855) in Sheffield on 15 September 1841, and they had five children:
* Sarah Bingham Taylor Firth (1843–1927), married Marriott Hall, , in Sheffield, 24 May 1866.
* Thomas and Ann Elizabeth Firth (b. & d. 1845).
* Mary Ellen Firth (1847–1848).
* Margaret Maria Firth (1853–1869).
Secondly, he married Caroline Gedling Bradley (1833–1894) at The Methodist New Connexion Chapel, Nottingham on 3 September 1857. They had seven children:
* John Bradley Firth (1859-c.1930), father of Major
John Charles Bradley Firth, , (1894–1931).
* Mark Firth, , (1860–1929).
* Alfred Firth (1862–1883).
* Caroline Bradley Firth (1864–1949).
* Lieutenant–Colonel Bernard Alexander Firth, , (1866–1929),
CO, 4th Battalion,
York and Lancaster Regiment.
* Charles Henry Bramley Firth (1868–1959)
* Rachel (1870–1940) Married George Charles Hague in 1897
See also
*
List of people from Sheffield
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firth, Mark
1819 births
1880 deaths
Master Cutlers
English philanthropists
Lord mayors of Sheffield
English Methodists
Burials at Sheffield General Cemetery
19th-century British philanthropists
19th-century English businesspeople