Robert Butcher Mather
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Robert Butcher Mather | |
|---|---|
| Mayor of Blackpool | |
| In office 8 November 1897 – 7 November 1998 | |
| Preceded by | James Ward |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Heap |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1851 |
| Died | 27 July 1933 (aged 82) |
| Party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Jane (m. 1875) Ellen (m. 1890) |
| Children | 13 |
Alderman Robert Butcher Mather, JP (1851 – 27 July 1933), was a prominent figure in Blackpool, Lancashire, England in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a member of the town council for many years, serving as mayor in 1897–98, and is recognised as one of the driving forces behind Blackpool's development into a major tourist resort town.
Mather was also an architect, surveyor, businessman, innkeeper and magistrate. He became one of the richest men in Blackpool;[1] he was a director of several businesses and owned many properties in and around the town, including The New Inn and Central Hotel, where he lived with his family for many years.
In 1914, in recognition of his service to the Blackpool area, Mather was awarded the Freedom of the Borough.[2][3][4]
Mather was born at Anchor Cottage in South Shore, Blackpool in 1851.[3] His father Robert was a schoolmaster turned innkeeper who had moved to Blackpool from Preesall in the 1940s to take up a position at Baines Endowed School in Marton. His mother was Ellen Salthouse, daughter of the landlord at the Clifton Arms in Little Marton. He had an elder brother, William Thomas, who was born in 1848. The family moved to Poulton-le-Fylde as Mather's father became the licensee of the Black Bull Hotel, which he combined with work for Blackpool Local Board as a surveyor and collector; he would later be elected as a member of Blackpool's first town council, representing the Brunswick Ward. The family later moved into central Blackpool, to the New Inn next to Hounds Hill.[5]
Mather was educated at Bamber's School in Blackpool.[6]
He was married to Elizabeth Jane Kay in 1875; they had five children, but only two survived more than a few years. Elizabeth died from tuberculosis in 1890. Later that year Mather was remarried, to Ellen Ireland; together they had eight children, two of whom died young. In 1896, the New Inn was demolished and rebuilt several yards back from the road in order to ease congestion; upon reopening, it was renamed the New Inn and Central Hotel.[7] By the turn of the century, the family had moved to live at Courtfield on Hornby Road, a house designed by Mather himself.[8][9]
Mather's two sons, Robert and William Bernard, both served in the army during World War I, after which they returned to become architects and surveyors in their father's business, renamed R. B. Mather, Sons and Wilding when they became partners, which continued until shortly after Mather's death in 1933.[10]
Other than his firm of arctitects and surveyors, Mather's business interests included the Royal Hotel Company, the Blackpool Passenger Steamboat Company and the North Pier Company; he was also owner of the Clarence Hotel, and owner and licensee of the New Inn. He also built and owned a large number of commercial and residential properties in Blackpool, which included the creation of Mather Street in Layton. He was a devout Roman Catholic, known for his charitable donations, with the Church of the Sacred Heart on Talbot Road, Victoria Hospital, of which he was chairman of the board of management for many years, and the local Conservative Club being regular beneficiaries.[2][3]
Mather died at his home on 27 July 1933, and was laid to rest in Layton cemetery. He was survived by Ellen and six of his children. The family remained at Courtfield until 1945, when the house was sold and converted into a hotel and catering college.[9]
In his will, Mather left Queenstown Park to the people of Layton. In 1937, a marble altar was erected at Sacred Heart Church as a memorial.[11]