See also

Family of Frederick Woodward Branson and Rose Mary Ellen Hartridge

Husband: Frederick Woodward Branson (1851-1933)
Wife: Rose Mary Ellen Hartridge (1863-1924)
Children: Frederick Hartridge Branson (1886-1952)
Rose May Branson (1888-1975)
Marriage 1884 Woodbridge, Suffolk

Husband: Frederick Woodward Branson

Name: Frederick Woodward Branson
Sex: Male
Father: Thomas Branson (c. 1824-1910)
Mother: Sarah Ann Woodward (c. 1828- )
Birth 6 Mar 1851 Hanslope, Buckinghamshire
Birth fact 1851 (age 0) 1851 Jun Qtr, Newport Pagnell, 6/420
Census 1851 (age 0) Living with parents (aged 3 weeks)
Census 1861 (age 9-10) Living with parents and grandparents, Hanslope
Census 1871 (age 19-20) Chemist's apprentice, 6 Drapery, All Saints, Northampton
Census 1891 (age 39-40) Chemist, 24 Mount Preston, Leeds, Yorks (1 son, 1 daughter)
Death 30 Nov 1933 (age 82) Wynneholme, Far Headingley, Leeds

Wife: Rose Mary Ellen Hartridge

Name: Rose Mary Ellen Hartridge
Sex: Female
Father: James Samuel Hartridge (c. 1824-1888)
Mother: Susanna Hills (c. 1834-1907)
Birth 1863 Woodbridge, Suffolk
Birth fact 1863 (age 0) 1863 Sep Qtr, Woodbridge, 4a/569
Census 1871 (age 7-8) Living with parents
Census 1881 (age 17-18) Living with parents
Death fact 1924 (age 60-61) 1924 Jun Q, Leeds, 9b/506 (aged 61)
Death 11 May 1924 (age 60-61) Leeds, Yorkshire

Child 1: Frederick Hartridge Branson

Name: Frederick Hartridge Branson
Sex: Male
Spouse: Virginia Muriel Carey Orchard (1886-1975)
Birth 30 Nov 1886 Leeds, Yorkshire
Birth fact 1887 (age 0-1) GRO Reference: 1887 M Quarter in LEEDS Volume 09B Page 451
Occupation 1939 (age 52-53) Managing Director & Chairman Wholesale Drug & Surgical Company, Kenilworth, Alwoodley Lane, Leeds, Yorkshire
Death fact 1952 (age 65-66) GRO Reference: 1952 M Quarter in BARKSTON ASH Volume 02D Page 603 (aged 66)
Death 10 Feb 1952 (age 65) Braeside, The Crescent, Bardsey, Yorkshire

Child 2: Rose May Branson

Name: Rose May Branson
Sex: Male
Birth 1888 Leeds, Yorkshire
Birth fact 1888 (age 0) GRO Reference: 1888 J Quarter in LEEDS Volume 09B Page 540
Death 11 Jun 1975 (age 86-87) Bexhill, Sussex

Note on Husband: Frederick Woodward Branson (1)

Frederick Woodward Branson, 1851-1933.

Had Frederick Woodward Branson lived until the 6th March 1934, he would have attained his 83rd birthday. He passed away on November 30th, 1933, at his residence - Wynneholme, Far Headingley, Leeds. He was a native of Buckinghamshire, being born in Hanslope, and served his indentures in the pharmacy of Messrs. Jays in the Drapery at Northampton. He passed the Minor examination of the Pharmaceutical Society in 1873 and the Major in 1878. He was a student at King’s College, London, in 1880-1881 and was awarded the Clothworkers Science Prize in 1881. He was with John Bell & Co. in their historic pharmacy in Oxford Street from 1878 to 1881, acting as laboratory assistant to Samuel Gale.

He became a Fellow of the Institute of Chemistry in 1888 and a Fellow of the Chemical Society in 1882.

In 1883 Branson came to Leeds and entered into partnership with Mr. Richard Reynolds and his son, Mr. Fred Reynolds as wholesale and retail chemists and surgical instrument makers. Branson developed the scientific apparatus and chemical glassware side of the business and controlled the analyses undertaken, specialising in water analysis. In 1898 the business was converted into a private company, of which Branson was chairman until 1932, when he retired and his son, Mr. F. Hartridge Branson, A.I.C., became chairman and managing director.

Branson was elected a member of the Society of Glass Technology at its inaugural meeting in November, 1916, and a member of the first council of the Society. He was for some years Chairman of the Leeds and District Chemists Association. His services to pharmacy and chemistry were considerable.

Branson was a member of the Spectacle Makers’ Company and a Freeman of the City of London. He took a very active interest in Leeds Scientific Societies, being a member for over 50 years of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. He was its President in 1928-1929 and 1929-1930.

Through his instrumentality radium was obtained from Madam Curie and exhibited in Leeds soon after its isolation. He was an early worker in radiography and devised an instrument for estimating the amount of exposure to X-rays needed to obtain a fully exposed plate. In a memoir of Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen by Otto Glasser, 1933, Branson’s invention of a qualimeter is noticed.

Branson was also a member and past President of the Leeds Photographic Society and Leeds Naturalists Club. He was a sportsman of no mean character, being an accurate shot and indefatigable in following grouse on the Yorkshire Moors. He was Secretary to the Yorkshire Anglers, and served on the Eden Conservancy Board.

Branson’s garden was a joy to him even to the very last. He was happy in it and could therein lay aside business cares and anxieties. He was particularly interested in Alpine plants. His rock garden, the limestone of which he himself collected from the moors round Pateley Bridge, contained many uncommon "Alpines", very skilfully accommodated with an environment adapted to their needs.

Music was a recreation to Branson, a pianist of no mean ability and an enthusiastic supporter of the Leeds Philharmonic Society.

His wife, Mrs. Rose Branson, who died in 1924, was a well-known member of the Headingley Golf Club, as is also Miss R. M. Branson, his daughter; she and Mr. F. Hartridge Branson are his only children.

J. H. GOUGH.

Obituary Notices, J. Chem. Soc., 1934, 2012-2014

http://pubs.rsc.org/en/results?doi=10.1039%2fjr9340002012&fcategory=journal

With grateful thanks to Vicky Bollands

Note on Husband: Frederick Woodward Branson (2)

BRANSON Frederick Woodward of Wynneholme Far Headingley Leeds died 30 November 1933. Probate Wakefield 5 February 1934 to Frederick Hartridge Branson manufacturing chemist and Hubert Walker manufacturer. Effects £5744 5s. 8d.

Note on Wife: Rose Mary Ellen Hartridge

BRANSON Rose Mary Ellen of Wynneholme Far Headingley Leeds (wife of Frederick Woodward Branson) died 11 May 1924. Administration Wakefield 30 December to the said Frederick Woodward Branson chemist. Effects £505.