{{Short description|Banker}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Sir Edward Donner, 1st Baronet''' (2 August 1840 – 29 December 1934), was a British banker, philanthropist and supporter of Liberal causes.
==Biography== Donner was the eldest son of Edward Sedgfield Donner, a solicitor, of Scarborough, Yorkshire, and his wife, Elizabeth. He was educated at the Royal Institution School in Liverpool and at Corpus Christi College, Oxford.<ref name="Girls 1974 p. 32">''Manchester High School for Girls'' (1974); p. 32</ref>
Donner was head of the shipping firm of Chamberlin, Donner & Co. and from 1904 chairman of the Manchester and Liverpool District Banking Society.<ref name="walford">[http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/edward-walford/the-county-families-of-the-united-kingdom-or-royal-manual-of-the-titled-and-un-fla/page-107-the-county-families-of-the-united-kingdom-or-royal-manual-of-the-titled-and-un-fla.shtml Walford, Edward. ''The County Families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland'', page 107, edition 59, 1919.]</ref><ref>''100 Years of Manchester High School for Girls, 1874–1974''. Manchester: Manchester High School for Girls (compiled by K. L. Hilton); pp. 32–33</ref> He was one of the founders of the Manchester High School for Girls in 1874<ref>''Manchester High School for Girls'' (1974); p. 31</ref> and was a governor of the Victoria University of Manchester and of the Manchester Grammar School.<ref name="walford"/> He resided at Oak Mount, Fallowfield, and his firm's offices were in Aytoun Street, Manchester. Towards the end of his life he was known as the Grand Old Man of Manchester.<ref name="Girls 1974 p. 32"/>
He was elected to the membership of Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society on 21 October 1884 <ref> Complete List of the Members & Officers of the Manchester Literary & Philosophical Society. From its institution on February 28th 1781 to April, 1896. </ref>
In the late 1870s he organised an appeal for funds for the high school and in 1877 a new constitution was adopted which made the school a joint stock company instead of a voluntary association. Before this change Donner was personally responsible for the school finances and legally liable in case of a lawsuit.<ref>''Manchester High School for Girls'' (1974); p. 10</ref> He was Lord of the Manor of Cayton.<ref>[http://www.caytonparish.org.uk/ Cayton Parish Council] (information from an account compiled in the 1880s)</ref> He donated the Ashfield estate, now part of Platt Fields Park in Rusholme and Fallowfield, to the city of Manchester. Among his other benefactions were donations to the University, particularly to its Physical Laboratory, to the Manchester Grammar School, to the High School for Girls, where he was a governor for 61 years, from 1874 to 1934. It was said of him in 1892 that "the school [MHSG] owes more to him than to any living man", and on another occasion "he was incapable by temperament of anything but moderation and courtesy, whether on the platform or in private life, [and] he did much to sweeten and elevate the public life of the city".<ref>''Manchester High School for Girls'' (1974); pp. 32–33</ref>
Donner was also one of the leading supporters of the Liberal Party in Manchester. He entertained Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman on the prime minister's visit to the city in 1907<ref name="clarke"> Clarke, P.F. [https://books.google.com/books?id=K6NB_NkCZTwC&q=donner&pg=PA232 ''Lancashire and the New Liberalism'', p. 231. Cambridge University Press, 1971]</ref> and was created a baronet, of Oak Mount in the City of Manchester, later that year.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28084|date=29 November 1907|page=8331 }}</ref> In 1908 he was chairman of Winston Churchill's election campaign for Manchester North West (Churchill was defeated by William Joynson-Hicks).<ref name="clarke"/>
Donner married Anna Maria Cunningham, elder daughter of William Cunningham, a banker, of Manchester, in 1866.<ref name="walford"/> Anna Maria, Lady Donner, was awarded the DBE for her work in organising the Fairview Auxiliary Hospital, Fallowfield. The couple had no children.<ref name="Girls 1974 p. 32"/> Sir Edward Donner died in 1934, aged 94 and the title became extinct for lack of heirs.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{s-start}} {{s-reg|uk-bt}} {{s-new|creation}} {{s-ttl|title=Baronet'''<br />(of Oak Mount)'''|years=1907–1934 }} {{s-non|reason=Extinct}} {{succession box | title= 20px<br />Donner baronets <br />''of Oak Mount'' | before= Cory baronets | years= 28 November 1907 | after= Hollins baronets }} {{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Donner, Edward}} Category:1840 births Category:1934 deaths Category:19th-century English businesspeople Category:20th-century English businesspeople Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Category:British bankers Category:British philanthropists Category:Businesspeople from Manchester Category:People educated at the Royal Institution School