John Hargreaves

John Hargreaves (1780 - 1860) was an English carrier and businessman. Hargreaves and his son, also 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. Early life John Hargreaves was the son of John (1739 - 1796) and Ann Hargreaves (nee Hamer) who had married in 1763. Hargreaves had three siblings, an older brother James, an older sister Elizabeth and a younger brother Hamer. The family established a carrier business at Hart Common, Westhoughton and Hargreaves's father had expanded it until it had become a substantial enterprise with "wagons to be seen on highways all over the North of England". Hargreaves was only 16, and therefore a minor, when his father died but he was the residuary legatee of his father's estate. His inheritance was therefore held in trust until his coming of age, the trustee was Elizabeth's husband John Pennington.