Arthur Heath

Arthur Howard Heath TD (29 May 1856 – 24 April 1930) was a British industrialist, first-class cricketer, Rugby union international and Conservative Party politician.

Background and education Born at Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire on 29 May 1856, he was the younger son of Robert Heath (died 1893), owner of coal mines and iron works, His elder brother was Sir James Heath, 1st Baronet. He was educated at Clifton College and Brasenose College, Oxford, where he graduated MA.

Rugby and cricket He was well known as a rugby player in the 1870s, representing Oxford University RFC against Cambridge in 1875, 1877, 1879, and 1880, and appearing for England against Scotland in 1876.

The family was also very involved in cricket and his main sporting fame was as a cricket player and administrator. On the field he was a free-hitting batsman, strong on the off-side, fielded well at long-leg or cover-point, and bowled fast round-arm.

From 1879 on, his loyalty was to his native Staffordshire. He played for the county until 1898, being captain from 1884 to 1893 and leading the county team in its first ever Minor Counties Championship match. In addition, he served as honorary secretary from 1886 to 1888, and for many years as honorary treasurer. His highest scores for the county were 217 against Lincolnshire at Stoke-on-Trent in 1889, made in four hours, and 155 not out against Cheshire in 1882. He was promoted lieutenant on an unknown date, and captain on 16 October 1886. He was promoted honorary major on 9 September 1896, honorary lieutenant-colonel on 12 July 1905, substantive lt-col, and commanding officer, on 7 April 1906, and honorary colonel on 31 May 1906. He was awarded the Territorial Decoration on 2 April 1909. He retired on 6 April 1910. In the First World War he was lt-col with the 48th Midlands (Howitzer) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, until 1915.

Business career He was involved in founding the Staffordshire Post in 1892, but this did not last long, The title was bought out by the Staffordshire Sentinel and Heath subsequently served as a director of that company, and later chairman, until the title was sold in 1928. According to his obituary in The Times Birchenwood did well during the First World War when its chemical products were in demand for explosives, but in the depression that followed, the company began to struggle, but the brothers kept it going to provide employment to the people of Kidsgrove, though it returned no profit to them.

After losing his seat at the 1906 general election, He did not stand again at the December 1910 general election.

Family On 10 January 1884 at Thornton, Buckinghamshire, he married Alice (1854–1942), eldest daughter of the Reverend Herbert Richard Peel (1831–1885), a nephew of the prime minister Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, and his wife Georgiana Maria (1830–1907), daughter of the Reverend Thomas Baker. Alice's sister Amy married the Reverend James Henry Savory, a cricketer for Oxford and MCC and an FA Cup finalist in football.

With Alice, he had two children: Georgina Beatrice Heath (1885–1969), unmarried. Robert Arthur Heath (1887–1943), who married a daughter of Rudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh and had two children.