Frederick Lewis, 1st Baron Essendon

Frederick Lewis was born in 1870 in Witton Park.

In 1883, aged 13, he joined Furness Withy & Co, a major shipping company based in Hartlepool.

[1] By 1919 he had risen to be a Director of the Company and in that year he led a consortium that took ownership of the business.

[3][4] He was instrumental in developing a system of sea water distillers which could produce fresh water in lifeboats during an emergency at sea.

They had a son, Brian, who became a well-known racing driver, and daughter Frieda (1898–1979), who married Ian Patrick Robert Napier in 1927.