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Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton

Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton by Spy

Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton Bt KCVO (born May 10, 1848 in Glasgow; died October 2, 1931 in London) was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, merchant, and yachtsman. He created the famous Lipton tea brand and was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America's Cup.[1]

Lipton's parents, Thomas Lipton senior and Frances Lipton (nee Johnstone), were Ulster-Scots, who came from County Fermanagh. The Liptons had been smallholders in Fermanagh for generations, but by the late 1840s, Thomas Lipton's parents had decided to leave Ireland and return to the land of their roots (Scotland) in search of a better living for themselves and their young family. By 1847, the Liptons had settled in Glasgow. Lipton's father would hold a number of occupations throughout the 1840s and 1850s, including working as a labourer and as a printer.

Although Thomas Lipton would later state that he was born at his family's home in Crown Street in the Gorbals in 1850, there is no record of this in the parish register for that period. However, in the 1851 census, the family were recorded as living in the north of Glasgow, with young Thomas being listed as being aged 3 years old. It would appear that he was therefore born in 1848.

Thomas Lipton was educated at St. Andrew's Parish School close to Glasgow Green between 1853 and 1863. By the early 1860s, his parents were the proprietors of a shop at 11 Crown Street in the Gorbals, where they sold ham, butter, and eggs. It was with the aim of supplementing his parents limited income that Thomas Lipton left school at the age of thirteen and found employment as a printers errand boy, and then as a shirtcutter. He also enrolled at a night school, the Gorbals Youth's School, during this period.

In 1865 Lipton signed up as a cabin boy and sailed from Glasgow to the U.S., where he would spend five years working and travelling all over the country. Lipton had a number of jobs during this time: at a tobacco plantation in Virginia, as an accountant and bookkeeper at a rice plantation in South Carolina, as a door-to-door salesman in New Orleans, a farmhand in New Jersey, and finally as a grocery assistant in New York.

He returned to Glasgow in 1870, initially helping his parents run their small shop in the Gorbals. The following year he opened his first provision shop - Lipton's Market - at 101 Stobcross Street in the Anderston area of Glasgow. This enterprise proved to be successful and Lipton soon established a chain of groceries, first across Glasgow, the rest of Scotland, until finally he had stores throughout Britain. While Lipton was expanding his empire, tea prices were falling and supply was growing among his middle class customers. In 1888, when his empire had grown to 300 stores, he entered the tea trade and opened his tea-tasting office. He started bypassing traditional trading and wholesale distribution channels (most UK tea-trading was focused in London's Mincing Lane) in order to sell teas at unprecedented prices to the untapped poor working class market. In order to provide his shops with goods Lipton bought plantations and in doing so - amongst other things - he established the famous Lipton tea brand which is still in existence today.

Thomas Lipton visited Sri Lanka in the 1890s and made business deals with James Taylor the man who introduced tea plantations to Sri Lanka (Ceylon). Lipton's company purchased good quality tea from Sri Lanka and distributed it through Europe and the USA.

King Edward VII and King George V both shared their interest in yachting with Lipton and enjoyed his company. Between 1899 and 1930 he challenged the American holders of the America's Cup through the Royal Ulster Yacht Club (Lipton was of Ulster-Scots descent) five times with his yachts called Shamrock -Shamrock V. His well publicised efforts to win the cup, which earned him a specially designed cup for "the best of all losers", made his tea brand famous in the U.S. As a self-made man Lipton, however, was no natural member of the British upper class and the Royal Yacht Squadron only admitted him shortly before his death.

Before the first Football World Cup was held in 1930, Thomas Lipton donated the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy which was contested in two international tournaments in Turin in 1909 and 1911.

Lipton married Margaret McAuslan in Glasgow in 1871, who was then pregnant with their child. This son, Thomas, was born later that year, but died in infancy. Although the couple had another son, William, in 1873, the couple drifted apart. Margaret and her infant son emigrated to Canada, much to Lipton's relief, and with his financial assistance.

Thomas Lipton died at his home, Osidge, in Southgate, London on October 2, 1931. He bequeathed the majority of his fortune to his native city of Glasgow, including his yachting trophies, which are now on display at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Sir Thomas Lipton was buried alongside his parents and siblings in Glasgow's Southern Necropolis.

• James Taylor (Ceylon)
• Ceylon tea

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Thomas Lipton

• Lipton official website
• Taylor, Lipton and the Birth of Ceylon Tea