Merchant and philanthropist. Born at White Coppice, near Chorley, Lancashire. By the time he was thirty-five he had established a successful chain of grocery stores. In 1872 he purchased the patent for making sugar cubes and opened refineries in Liverpool and Silvertown, London. He donated his collection of contemporary paintings to the government, on condition that they be displayed in a suitable gallery. This became the National Gallery of British Art (built on the site of the Millbank Prison), which was later renamed as the Tate Gallery and is now known as Tate Britain.
Funded libraries in south London: Streatham, Balham, Brixton, and South Lambeth. He made many other donations to charity, usually anonymously. Died at his home Park Hill in Streatham.
While Tate owned no slaves himself and was not involved in the slave trade, he dealt in sugar, a profitable business, founded on the production of the sugar by the slaves in Barbados or Jamaica.
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Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
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