Joseph Rowntree (philanthropist) Joseph Rowntree (philanthropist) Joseph Rowntree (24 May 1836 – 24 February 1925) was an English Quaker philanthropist and businessman from York. Rowntree is perhaps best known for being a champion of social reform, partner and friend of Charles Booth, and his time as a chocolatier at family business "Rowntree's", one of the most important in Britain. Even as a powerful businessman, he was deeply interested in improving the quality of life of his employees; this led to him becoming a philanthropist, pursuing many charitable causes. In 1904 he created three trusts, the Joseph Rowntree Village Trust (JRVT) which was originally
Quaker trusteeship against manumission. While some individual North Carolinians and Quakers continued to use trusts as means of freeing their slaves, the organized community has largely abandoned such efforts in the 1830s. Quaker trusteeship In the early nineteenth century, Quakers in North Carolina used trusts to free slaves. At the time, North Carolina had adopted laws restricting the ability of slaveowners to free their slaves. To get around these laws individual Quakers began entrusting their slaves to their church. The Quaker organization held on to the slaves in conditions of virtual freedom, until it could obtain the legal freedom of the slave.