Peter Kendal Hargreaves

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 5 October 1946) is an English co-founder with

Stephen Lansdown Stephen Philip Lansdown CBE (born 30 August 1952) is an English-born Guernsey billionaire. He co-founded the British financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown with Peter Hargreaves. He is a founder of Bristol Sport and majority shareholder o ...

Hargreaves Lansdown Hargreaves Lansdown Limited is a British financial services company based in Bristol, England. It sells funds, shares and related products to retail investors in the United Kingdom. It is the largest investment platform in the UK. The company wa ...

, one of the United Kingdom's largest financial services businesses, where he retains a 14 per cent shareholding. He is a partner in Blue Whale Capital, an investment company that was launched in 2017.

Early life

Hargreaves was born in

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

and educated at

Clitheroe Royal Grammar School Clitheroe Royal Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school in the town of Clitheroe in Lancashire, England, formerly an all-boys school. It was founded in 1554 as "The Free Grammar School of Philip II of Spain, King Philip and Mary I of ...

in Lancashire.Bristol’s deadly duo hit the City
''The Times'', 6 May 2007

Career

Trained as an accountant, Peter Hargreaves initially worked as a computer salesman. He then started

trading from a bedroom in 1981; in 2010, he stood down as chief executive and, in the same year, received £18 million in payouts from dividends. He was succeeded as CEO by

Ian Gorham Ian David Gorham (born 30 November 1971) is a British businessman. He was the chief executive (CEO) of Hargreaves Lansdown plc, a British financial service company from 2010 to 2017. Since 2017 he has been a stock market and fund investor and o ...

. His wealth was reported at £2,315 million according to the ''Sunday Times'' Rich List 2017, making him the 51st richest person in the UK. Hargreaves joined the board of

ITM Power ITM Power plc designs, manufactures, and integrates electrolysers based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology to produce green hydrogen using renewable electricity and tap water. Hydrogen produced via electrolysis is used for mobility, Pow ...

in February 2004 as a non-executive director: he has invested heavily in ITM Power. In March 2016 he joined the

Leave.EU Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the June 2016 referendum. Founded in July 2015 as The Know, the campaign was relaunched in September of th ...

movement to campaign for the UK's exit from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

. He was the top donor to the

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

campaign contributing over £3 million to the Leave campaign. In September 2017, Hargreaves announced a £25 million backing in Blue Whale Capital – a new asset management company set up by previous colleague, Stephen Yiu. It was announced in August 2020 that Hargreaves would receive £63.4 million in dividends after Hargreaves Lansdown's profits increased by 24% to £378.3 million in the 12 months leading up to 30 June 2020. According to The ''

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and has been published as a magazine supplement by British national ...

'' in 2020 his net worth was estimated at £2.4 billion. In 2021, he came ninth in a list of the top ten biggest taxpayers in the UK, having paid a tax bill of £91.4 million that year. In April 2025, Hargreaves nominated himself as a non-executive board member of Hargreaves Lansdown, which he is able to do as a shareholder. He also nominated his son as a board observer.

Honours

Hargreaves was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to business innovation, financial services, and the City of Bristol.

Politics

Hargreaves financially supported the

campaign in 2016, donating £3.2m to the Leave.EU campaign founded by

Arron Banks Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman, political donor, and Reform UK politician. He was the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independe ...

and wrote to 15 million UK householders asking them to support the leave campaign in the European Union membership referendum. In May 2016, Hargreaves said that Brexit will lead to insecurity, which will turn out to be very effective. Hargreaves said that

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...

should reassure the three million EU nationals already in the UK that their current rights would be maintained. Hargreaves donated £1m to the Conservatives’ election fund in 2019.

Personal life

In 1986 he married Rosemary; they have one son and one daughter.Fame & Fortune: Peter Hargreaves
''The Times'', 22 March 2009 They live in a Georgian property in the

West Country The West Country is a loosely defined area within southwest England, usually taken to include the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset and Bristol, with some considering it to extend to all or parts of Wiltshire, Gloucestershire and ...

. He owns three

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

References

External links

Peter Hargreaves
biography page on the Hargreaves Lansdown website.
Peter Hargreaves
biography page on the Blue Whale Capital website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hargreaves, Peter British chief executives of financial services companies English businesspeople 1946 births Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School People from Clitheroe British Eurosceptics Conservative Party (UK) donors