By Bonnie Withers

Of all the ways there are to leave a mark on the world, funding libraries is very high on my list. Thus, we remember Sir Henry Tate, who died on December 5, 1899, at the age of 80. Tate was born in 1819 in Lancashire, England, son of a Unitarian minister. He was apprenticed to a grocer at age 13 and went on to buy his own shop, then five more, then built a sugar refinery. Several patents related to sugar refinery, including one for the sugar cube, made him a wealthy man. He then turned to philanthropy. His endowments included hospitals, the University of Liverpool library, and the Library of Manchester College (Unitarian) in Oxford, called the Tate Library and much more. You may have visited his most famous building, the Tate Gallery in London, where his great collection of paintings can be seen. 

A modest man, Tate initially refused the title of baronet. He only agreed to the honor after he was told that the Royal Family would be offended if he didn’t accept it. Tate was active in Ullet Street Chapel (Unitarian) in Liverpool.

A Bronze Bust of Sir Henry Tate