Joseph Hickman Pearson esq

Description:Abridged version of the biography from the Handsworth Magazine Volume One June 1895.

There is probably no resident in Handsworth who is more widely known and certainly there is no one who is more highly esteemed than the subject of our present sketch. For many, many years now, Mr Pearson has been distinguished for the active part which he has taken in all public works of benevolence and charity, as well as in the educational institutions with which he has been always connected.

Mr Joseph Hickman Pearson was born April 17th, 1830. His progress has been very remarkable and the iron and coal trade in which he has been all his life and is now engaged, is very extensive and is a proof of the indomitable energy, united with a sound judgement, which are so eminently remarkable in everything which he undertakes - in his public work as well as in the more personal portion of his life. The Parkhouse Colliery and Ironstone Works, at Chesterton, North Staffordshire, is one of his establishments. Some sixteen years since, he also purchased the Netherton Furnaces from Messrs. B. Hingley and Sons and other undertakings have been proofs of his business capacity and of the energy by which the commercial part of his life have been distinguished.

In 1880, he was elected on the Handsworth Local Board and remained a member until the District and Parish Councils became law in 1894 and was then elected a member of the District Council. During his long service on the old Board, he was remarkable for the earnestness and regularity with which he attended to all the duties of the office and by his courtesy, urbanity and geniality of manner.
As a Governor of the Bridge Trust School, he has had much experience on the subject of secondary education. His long connection with the Boulton Road Schools has made him equally familiar with elementary work. In 1884, the Handsworth voters decided not to have a School Board and raised a large sum to build a school sufficient to meet requirements and to supply the deficiency then existing in school accommodation. The Boulton Road Schools were the fruits of this appeal and Mr Pearson was elected Chairman of the Committee and for nine years he held this important office and held it up to the time when the Education Department insisted on the formation of a School Board for Handsworth. In this honourable and honorary office, Mr Pearson displayed those admirable qualities which have always distinguished him and which invariably win the goodwill and not infrequently the friendship and affection of his colleagues.

In a conversation we had with him he expressed himself very warmly and he has done much to place the subject in the present high position which it holds in Handsworth. On the 16th May of the present year (1895) Mr Pearson distributed the prizes and certificates to successful students. There are 117 art and 56 science students in the school. Sketch plans of the proposed new Science and Art Schools at the corner of Stafford Road and Gold's Hill Road had been prepared and an application had been made to the Department for a building grant of £1,000. It was estimated that the building would cost £10,000. It was hoped that the Staffordshire County Council would make the full grant of 25 per cent of the cost
In 1888 he was elected a member of the Staffordshire County Council, but did not offer himself as a candidate at the next election.

In politics Mr Pearson is an earnest Liberal Unionist. In the last contest for the Handsworth Division he took a most active part and contributed not a little to the success of Sir Henry Mesey-Thompson.

(Note: Mr Pearson resided at "Farcroft", Sandwell Lane, Handsworth)

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