John Priestman

Who was John Priestman?

Sir John Priestman, 1st Baronet was a British shipbuilder and charitable benefactor.

Priestman was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, the son of Robert Priestman, a baker, and Jane Smith.

Aged 14, Priestman became an apprentice to John Blumer, a shipbuilder at Sunderland, and later became chief draughtsman at W. Pickersgill & Sons. In 1882, he set up his own yard at Castletown. He married Naomi Huntly in 1881 at Sunderland.

Priestman donated £6000 to the building of St Andrew's Church, Roker, which was built in memory to his mother. In 1931, he established the Sir John Priestman Trust, whose purposes included 'feeding of poor... in times of distress', the 'employment and payment of nurses for the sick and infirm' and the building, 'maintaining and furnishing' of 'churches and mission halls and schools'. In 1933 he donated £35,000 to the rebuilding of St Michael's Church, Sunderland, he paid for the building of St Wilfrid's Church, Halton, Leeds and in 1939 he financed £20,000 for the construction of the Priestman Building, originally a library for Sunderland Technical College and now part of the University of Sunderland.