Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton
Michael Arthur Bass, 1st Baron Burton, KCVO, known as Sir Michael Arthur Bass, 1st Baronet, from 1882 to 1886, was a British brewer, Liberal politician and philanthropist. He sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1886 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Burton.
Michael Arthur Bass
As depicted by "Spy" (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, November 1908
Statue of Michael Arthur Bass outside Burton upon Trent Town Hall
Baron Burton, of Burton-on-Trent and of Rangemore in the County of Stafford, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1897 for the prominent brewer, philanthropist and Liberal politician Michael Bass, 1st Baron Burton. He had already been created a baronet in 1882 and Baron Burton in 1886. However, the three titles had different remainders. The Bass family descended from William Bass, who founded the brewery business of Bass & Co in Burton upon Trent in 1777. His grandson Michael Thomas Bass transformed the company into one of the largest breweries in the United Kingdom. He also represented Derby in Parliament as a Liberal for thirty-five years and was a great benefactor to the town of Burton. However, Bass declined every honour offered to him, including a baronetcy and a peerage.
Statue of Michael Thomas Bass
Bass caricatured by Spy for Vanity Fair, 1905