Sir John Scurrah Randles(25th December 1857 – 11th February 1945)
Sir John Scurrah Randles was a British businessman and Conservative politician.
John Scurrah Randles was born in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was the son of a Wesleyan minister, Rev. Marshall Randles and Sarah Dewhurst.
He was educated at the Woodhouse Grove School in Lincolnshire and lived at Bristowe Hill, Keswick, Cumbria.
In 1883 Randles married Elizabeth Hartley.
Sir John was an industrialist in the coal and steel business, amongst his positions he was the chairman and managing director of the Moss Bay Hematite Iron and Steel Company and a director of the Workington Iron and the Beckermet Mining Companies.
He was elected Member of Parliament for Cockermouth in the 1900 general election.
In 1905 he was knighted.
He was a member of the executive of the National Trust and he gave land on the shores of Derwentwater to the Trust.
He was also a member of Cumberland County Council and was active in setting up the Workington Technical College.
He funded an operating theatre in his wife's name at Keswick Cottage Hospital.
In 1919 after the First World War, he was awarded the 'Insignia Commander of the Order of the Crown' medal by the King of the Belgians. In 1920 he was also awarded The Insignia of the Second Class of the Order of the Rising Sun.
Randles donated money to purchase land for the construction of Kingswood College in Kandy, Ceylon.
He died at his home in Keswick in February 1945 and was survived by his wife Elizabeth." SOURCE: (
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