Joseph Hepworth (1834–1911) was the clothing manufacturer who founded ''Joseph Hepworth & Son'', a company which grew to become the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

's largest clothing manufacturer and which is now known as

Next plc Next plc, trading as Next (styled as NEXT) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, Leicestershire, Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of ...

Career

Born at Lindley in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

, Joseph Hepworth left school at ten to join George Walker's Mill in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

in 1844.Joseph Hepworth at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> In 1864 Joseph Hepworth went into business with his brother-in-law James Rhodes as a

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

. By 1881 their factory in Wellington Street employed 500 people and, unusually for the time, made all three pieces of a gentlemen's three-piece suit. In the 1880s they innovated further establishing shops to sell their suits direct to the public. By 1890 they employed 2,000 operatives who sold their stock through 107 shops. Joseph Hepworth died in

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

in 1911 and within 6 years of his death ''Joseph Hepworth & Son'' was the largest clothing manufacturer in the

. He donated several paintings to

Leeds Art Gallery Leeds Art Gallery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, is a gallery, part of the Leeds Museums & Galleries group, whose collection of 20th-century British Art was designated by the British government in 1997 as a collection "of national importance ...

including work by

Hubert von Herkomer Sir Hubert von Herkomer (born as Hubert Herkomer; 26 May 1849 – 31 March 1914) was a Bavarian-born British painter, pioneering film-director, and composer. Though a very successful portrait artist, especially of men, he is mainly remembered fo ...

in 1899.

Family

Hepworth married Sarah Hepworth, née Rhodes on 8 December 1855 they went on to have three sons and four daughters.

References

1834 births 1911 deaths British retail company founders English businesspeople in fashion English businesspeople in retailing 19th-century English businesspeople People from Huddersfield English Methodists Businesspeople from Yorkshire British tailors {{England-business-bio-stub