John Hargreaves

John Hargreaves JP (22 October 1800 – 18 December 1874) was an English carrier, railway entrepreneur and manufacturing businessman. John and his father, also called John Hargreaves, were carriers in the north west of England at the time when railways were being built and taking business away from the canals. Personal life John Hargreaves was born on 22 October 1800 in Lancashire, England. He married Mary Hick (born 1813), daughter of Benjamin Hick of Benjamin Hick & Sons, on 19 October 1836 in St Peter's Parish Church, Bolton le Moors. The Hargreaves lived in Bolton, initially at Newport House and then at Rose Hill. Hargreaves served as a town councillor from 1845 to 1848 and was a local magistrate. In later years the Hargreaves purchased the Selwood Park Estate in Sunninghill, Berkshire. Hargreaves died in 1874, aged 74, leaving eight surviving children and his widow well provided for, his fortune amounting to £600,000.