Career
Born at Lindley in Huddersfield, Joseph Hepworth left school at ten to join George Walker"s Mill in Leeds in 1844. By 1881 their factory in Wellington Street employed 500 people and, unusually, 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 in 1911 and within 6 years of his death Joseph Hepworth & Son was the largest clothing manufacturer in the United Kingdom.