Famous Freemasons - Sir Thomas Lipton, Tea magnate
Sir Thomas Lipton, 1st Baronet, KCVO, 1848 - 1931
Food For Thought
Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet, KCVO was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage and a self-made man, as well
as being a Freemason.
He is often credited as being a leader in methods of advertising, which he used for promoting his chain of grocery stores and
his brand of Lipton teas and other products. He is often quoted that his secret for success was selling the best goods at the
cheapest prices, harnessing the power of advertising, and always being optimistic.
He was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America's Cup.
Early years
Lipton believed he was born in a tenement in Crown Street, Glasgow on 10 May 1850, but 1851 census records showed that
he was 3 years old. His birthdate is therefore considered to be 1848. He was the youngest but survived his siblings, three
brothers and one sister, who all died in infancy,.
His parents, Thomas Lipton senior and Frances Lipton (née Johnstone), were Ulster-Scots from County Fermanagh and had
been smallholders in Fermanagh. The family had been their for generations but had now been forced to leave Ireland due to the
potato famine of 1845. His parents had moved to Glasgow in 1847 in search of a better life. His father held several jobs such as
working as a labourer and as a printer, but by the 1860s his parents were the proprietors of a shop at 11 Crown Street in the
Gorbals where they sold ham, butter, and eggs.
Thomas Lipton was educated at St. Andrew's Parish School starting in 1853. He left school early so he could supplement
his parents' limited income. Although not academically inclined, he had mastered the three Rs. It was around this time that he
had begun his interest in sailing as he and some of his friends had formed a club which raced toy yachts on the pools of High
Fields near Crown Street. He even carved and rigged his first model boat, which he called Shamrock (a name that was to be
resurrected later in his life).
He left school in November 1860 and began his first job in A & W Kennedy, Stationers in Glassford Street receiving a wage
of half-a-crown. However, looking to move up, his next job was with Messrs. Tillie & Henderson in Miller Street, and the cutting
of shirt patterns. This was extremely dull but he had doubled his wage to four shillings a week. He soon showed his confidence
by asking for a 25% increase which was refused with the answer: "You are getting as much as you are worth and are in a devil
of a hurry asking for a rise". After this refusal he lost interest in the job. During this period he had also enrolled at a night
school, the Gorbals Youth's School.
The call of the sea and the new world
In 1864 Lipton signed up as a cabin boy on a steamer running between Glasgow and Belfast and was captivated by life
aboard the ship. He eagerly lapped up the stories told by the sailors about the United States. Later in life he claimed that he
was "never happier...than when in the atmosphere of ships, sailors, boats and the waterside generally" . This love of water and
boats continued throughout his life. However, his job at the Burns Line didn't last as he was given a week's notice for allowing a
cabin lamp to smoke and discolour the white enamel of the ceiling.
While at the Burns Line, he had managed to save some of his wages and tips and this allowed him to pay the cost of a
steerage passage to New York. After a discussion with his parents, he was soon on his way.
Arriving in New York, he couldn't find work and accepted a job in the tobacco fields of Virginia, then one on a rice plantation
in South Carolina where he was responsible for the finances and book-keeping. This gave him a good grounding in running an
enterprise. Next he took a job as a door-to-door salesman in New Orleans, then a farmhand in New Jersey, and finally as a
grocery assistant in a prosperous New York grocery store.
He liked this work from the very start: He is reputed to have said that "People must eat...and the store that tempted people
to buy goods would never be empty of customers", a maxim that was to be the basis of his success. He quickly learned the
grocery trade and the secrets of his future success, picking up many of the American techniques of salesmanship and
advertising which were to become his trademark.
Barely 20 years old, he returned to Glasgow in 1870, and initially helped his parents run their small shop in the Gorbals.
Soon after his return he took over his parents' shop and quickly turned its fortunes around. This wasn't without some resistance
from his father who was hesitant about Thomas's grand plans.
A youthful Lipton, the family shop, Lipton's first shop, Lipton a successful young entreprenur
After two years working in his parents' shop, on his 21st birthday, Lipton opened his first shop at 101 Stobcross Street in
Glasgow. This was in the heart of industrial Glasgow, with its smoke and fog. The shop was said to be so brightly lit at night
that it became a beacon in the street, Goods were stacked in the American fashion, not for the convenience of the proprietors,
but with the purpose of catching the customers' attention.
Lipton used another trading technique, this one learned from his mother. When his parents had opened their small shop,
Mrs. Lipton, rather than deal with middlemen at the markets, had dealt directly with the farmers of her homeland (Ulster). Lipton
followed this example. He bought his bacon, eggs, butter and other produce directly from Irish farmers.
It would be true to say that he lived, worked and breathed his business, frequently working 18 hours a day, and sleeping in a
bed, under the counter. In 1876 he moved to larger premises, and began adding shops to his chain. In 1882 he had expanded
into Dundee, Edinburgh, Paisley and Leeds.
In 1880, Lipton had invested in the young stockyards of Omaha, Nebraska, founding a large packing plant in South Omaha
which he sold to American interests in 1887. However, while Lipton was expanding his empire, tea prices were falling and
demand was growing among his middle class customers.
Pioneer in Advertising
It was with stunts and advertising that Lipton made his mark. For instance, he employed the talents of Willie Lockhart, a
leading cartoonist of the day, to produce weekly posters for him. One of the most famous shows a "typical Irishman, knee
breeches, cutaway coat, billycock hat, shillelagh an' all an' all" with a pig, its eyes full of tears, slung in a sack over his
shoulder". The caption reads "What's the matter with the pig, Pat?" The Irishman replies "Sure, Sir [sic], he's an orphan so, out
of pity, I'm taking him to Lipton's!"
Lipton subsequently took to buying pigs in the market, tying ribbons to their tails, and having them driven through the streets
under a banner which declared them to be "Lipton's Orphans". Each day the pigs were driven to his shop by a different route,
bringing in new customers.
The opening for each new Lipton shop was cause for newspaper adverts, posters and parades. Lipton himself would be at
each opening to offer prizes to the first customers. In 1881 Lipton announced that he was to import the world's largest cheese
from New York. Apparently, 800 cows were milked for six days and the labour of 200 dairymaids was necessary to make this
enormous cheese. The streets were lined with spectators cheering the giant cheese on its way to Lipton's new store in High
Street. As an added touch Lipton announced, since it was Christmas, his cheese, like clootie dumpling or Christmas puddings,
would contain sovereigns and half sovereigns. When the cheese went on sale, the last piece was sold within two hours of the
store opening. These giant cheeses became part of Lipton's Christmas displays. One was so large that the manager of Lipton's
shop in Nottingham hired an elephant from the local circus to transport it through the town.
It is recorded that in 1888 Lipton had 300 shops throughout Britain. By 1890 Lipton was a very rich and successful man.
Later in life he remarked that the only policy he had was to open a new shop every week.
Tea
He then turned his attention to tea. Drinking tea had become very popular in the late 1880s but it was still prohibitively
expensive for the working class family. And after investigating the trade further with tea brokers in London he made the decision
to do what he had done with ham, butter and eggs, i.e. is to cut out the middleman to the benefit of himself and his customers.
3 of Liptons early advertisements for black and white (newspaper?) printed material
He also packaged the tea in small quantities, and within a year huge amounts of tea were selling in pound, half pound and
quarter pound packets of blends. These blends were made especially for the area around the shops so that Lipton could
advertise "the perfect tea to suit the water of your town".
Lipton expanded into tobacco and cigars, An early tin of tea, and a tin of teabags which he invented
Lipton then set about cutting out the middleman. The only way he could was to control the whole production process. He
secretly booked a passage to Australia in 1890, but disembarked at Colombo, Ceylon. He made business deals with James
Taylor, who introduced tea gardens to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) with Tamil workers from India. Lipton's company purchased Ceylon
tea, distributing it through Europe and the USA beginning in 1890. Within a short period he owned 5 tea plantations.
When his 300 shops could not satisfy the demand for his small packets of tea, he decided to sell it anywhere there was a
demand, advertising it himself, his name soon became synonomous with tea. In doing so his business grew and grew.
As colour became better so did the designs,he entered the European markets (French above), and expanded into cocoa
He broke in to the American market, and not satisfied with just tea, he provided other good such as coffee, cocoa, and
invested in fruit farms, bakeries, curing stations, wine stores and Chicago packing companies and meat stores. There were even
tobacco, cigarettes and cigar brands in Liptons name.
Move to London
On the death of his mother in 1889 and his father a few months later he decided to move south to London. He opened up new
offices in Bath Street, City road.
In 1892 Lipton bought a new home, Osidge, in Southgate, and moved from Muswell Hill after he had redecorated the house
completely, built a new billiards room and moved the existing pathway as far away from the house as possible. Before the
coming of the motor car, his home's newly enlarged stables contained at least three pairs of fast carriage horses, of which he
was proud. He was driven to his offices in City Road each day, and did not use the nearby railway.
In 1898 Lipton reluctantly bowed to pressure and allowed his empire to become a limited company. The professional view of
the company was that while it was rock solid it was no longer capable of drastic expansion. Slow and steady growth would lead
to long term investment but no quick wins. What the professionals didn't take into account was the high regard and affection the
public had for the Lipton brand. There was an unprecedented rush for shares. At the National Bank of Scotland the police had to
regulate the crowds. Applications were received for almost £50m worth of shares. On the 2nd of June that year, Lipton directed
his first shareholders' meeting. It was also the first time in thirty years, since the opening of his first shop in Glasgow, that he
had to answer to anyone but himself.
As a public company, Lipton's continued to prosper increasing turnover and dividends year after year. However, the situation
rapidly changed in the 1920s when large companies such as Home and Colonial Stores and Van den Berghs (later part of
Unilever) were the main competition. In 1927 Van den Berghs acquired 25% of the shares and Sir Thomas retired from active
control of the company. Sir John Ferguson took over as chairman retaining Lipton as life president. However it was a title with no
power and within two months Sir Thomas had sold his interests in the company to the Meadow Dairy Company (controlled by
Home and Colonial). He was reputed to have been paid £1,000,000. He did not however, relinquish control of his American
company, Thomas J. Lipton Inc. or his tea interests in Ceylon.
In 1902 he was created a baronet of Osidge in the Parish of Southgate in the County of Middlesex.
Lipton cups
Sir Thomas Lipton loved sports and presented many “Lipton” cups throughout the world for a wide range of sports.
His generosity spilled over into other fields including sport; there was hardly a corner in the world which could not boast a
'Lipton' cup whether for sailing, racing, cricket or football.
In 1909 Lipton was made a Knight Commander of the Grand Order of the Crown of Italy. By way of thanks for presented them
with The Sir Thomas Lipton football challenge trophy - to be used for an international football competition. The Football
Association declined to nominate a team so Lipton turned to West Auckland Town to represent Britain. The team was made up
mostly of coal miners and, in a story as romantic as Lipton's own, they beat Red Star of Zurich and Juventus to win this cup in
1910 then successfully defended the title in 1911. He donated a second cup “The Lipton Crown of Italy World Cup” which was
contested by teams from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and England. This competition is considered the catalyst for the Football
World Cup.
In 1914 he presented the silver Sir Thomas Lipton Cup to his friend Con Riley of Winnipeg as a means of promoting the sport
of rowing in the central portions of Canada and the United States. Since then the rowing clubs of the Northwestern International
Rowing Association (NWIRA) have fiercely battled each year for the honor of having their names engraved upon the Lipton Cup.
He also donated the Copa Lipton trophy which has been contested between Argentina and Uruguay since 1905.
Was there any New Zealand connection to Sir Thomas Lipton?
Well there was one very tenuous connection, which was related by a Mr. Ian Douglas in Brisbane to the website
<http://www.ruyc.co.uk/ruyc/Sir_Thomas_Lipton.html>
“Ponsonby Cruising Club
An amusing incident occurred in 1919 when members of the Ponsonby Cruising Club posed outside the hotel (A very plush
hotel. Ed)
The photo was sent to Sir Thomas Lipton, along with a request to donate a trophy to the club.
Sir Thomas, impressed by the "Clubhouse", sent out a solid silver cup then valued at £1800 for the competition, stating that
he would like to visit the clubhouse if he came to New Zealand.
The Ponsonby Cruising Club, which did not even have a clubhouse, were relieved when hearing of Sir Thomas' s death as he
never managed to visit New Zealand and find out the embarrassing truth.”
SOURCE: http://www.ruyc.co.uk/ruyc/Sir_Thomas_Lipton.html
Yachting and The America’s Cup
Today the sport that the world remembers Sir Thomas Lipton is yacht racing, and especially the Americas Cup.
Lipton's charitable work catapulted him into this whole new world. He was, until then, a man devoted entirely to work. His
friendship with the Prince of Wales, soon to be Edward VII, developed rapidly, strengthened by a passion for the shared interest
of yacht racing. He was to be as ambitious a sportsman as he was a business man. His very first racing venture was to
compete in the world's most famous yacht race: The America's Cup.
3 photographs of his earlier Americas cup boats in action
It is yachting that Lipton's name is synonomous with. He is almost universally known for his challenges for the Americas
cup. 5 times in all in 1899, 1901, 1903, 1920 and finally 1930. In all these challenges he called his yacht Shamrock, a flashback
to his model yachts of childhood, and his acknowledgement of his Irish lineage, and finally and most importantly the Royal
Ulster Yacht Club. whom he was challenging on behalf of.
Although he never managed to "lift that auld mug - surely the most elusive piece of metal in all the world so far as I am
concerned". However, thirty years of chasing the America's Cup brought him 'joy... health and splendid friends' and it also kept
him "'young, eager, buoyant and hopeful". He also captured the imagination of the American people. He was presented with a
solid gold loving cup and a donors' book in which the flamboyant mayor of New York had written "possibly the world's worst
yacht builder but absolutely the world's most cheerful loser".
Shamrock 4 in dry dock, Shamrock 5 in action,and The Lipton Crown coin minted to commemorate the Freemantle challenge
His well-publicised efforts to win the cup made his tea famous in the United States.
Both King Edward VII and King George V shared their interest in yachting with Lipton and enjoyed his company. Despite this
Lipton, a self-made man, was not a natural member of the British upper class and it showed throughout his life. It is no more
clearly illustrated than the fact that the Royal Yacht Squadron only admitted him shortly before his death. It is interesting to note
that Sir Thomas Lipton was one of the inaugural group of inductees into the America's Cup Hall of Fame when it was formed in
1993.
Even after the transfer of his headquarters to London, Lipton remained a familiar figure in his native Scotland. He was a
frequent visitor to Glasgow for business and pleasure. The Erin was often seen cruising in the Clyde - especially during Clyde
Yacht Week when one of the Shamrocks usually claimed a trophy. Lipton and yacht racing were so popular, that he even
makes an appearance in Neil Munro's Para Handy Tales where, much to the relief of MacPhail and the annoyance of the
Captain, Shamrock snatches victory from White Heather. In recognition of his popularity and his contribution to yachting on the
Clyde, Lipton was presented with the freedom of Rothesay in June 1931.
Philanthropy
Throughout his career Lipton was noted for his charitable work. One of the earliest and best known was his gift in 1897 of
£25,000 for the Princess of Wales' plea to provide dinners for the poor of London during the Queen's Diamond Jubilee
celebrations. He worked with Queen Alexandra to set up the Alexandra Trust which provided meals at a very affordable price to
the poor in London.
Lipton and a party sailing on the Clyde, Lipton standing beside the machine gun installed in WW 1, A Lipton cartoon
During World War I, Sir Thomas Lipton helped organisations of medical volunteers. He placed his yachts at the disposal of
the Red Cross, the Scottish Women's Hospitals Committee of Dr. Elsie Inglis, the Serbian Supporting Fund, etc., for the
transport of medical volunteers (doctors and nurses) and medical supplies. In Serbia during the winter of 1914-1915 and the
spring of 1915, several British hospital teams were working with Serbian military and civilian doctors and nurses. A catastrophic
typhus epidemic erupted. killing thousands of civilians, soldiers, and prisoners of war; medical staff, however, were among the
first victims. At the height of the epidemic, Sir Thomas Lipton decided to visit Serbia, traveling aboard his yacht Erin via Sardinia,
Malta, Athens, and Thessaloníki. Once in Serbia, he visited hospitals and medical missions in Belgrade, Kragujevac, Niš,
Vrnjačka Banja, and elsewhere. His modesty made him very popular among the people. He asked only for modest lodgings and
requested meals that the common people ate under war conditions. He also liked to pose for photographs with Serbian officers
and soldiers. In addition to visiting many hospitals, where he encouraged doctors, nurses and soldiers, he found time to attend
traditional fairs and to take a part in blackberry gathering and fishing. Sir Thomas Lipton was proclaimed an honorary citizen of
the city of Niš.
Lipton portrayed in his younger years, the Americas cup first day issue with Square and Compasses symbol, the front cover of Time magazine, and a photo in his later years still promoting tea.
Despite his considerable wealth and social standing he never forgot his humble origins and always showed compassion for the poor and unemployed, particularly in his native Glasgow. In 1902, when a stand at Ibrox Park collapsed killing scores of spectators, he was quick to send a cheque for the relief of the families of the victims.
Personal life
A portrait of Lipton appeared on the cover of Time magazine on 3 November 1924.
He died at Osidge on 2 October 1931 and 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.
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Lipton
Freemasonry
This article is printed with permission from the Lodge Scotia
Undoubtedly, the one member of Lodge Scotia who has achieved most fame outwith Freemasonry is Tommy Lipton. He was born at 13 Crown Street in Glasgow on 10th. May 1850 of Irish immigrant parents, who had come over to Scotland as a result of the lack of opportunities in their homeland.
He sailed to America as a steerage passenger on the Anchor Line, staying there for five years, during which time he took up work where he could find it, firstly on a rice plantation, then as a tramcar driver, a fireman, and, finally, as a grocer's assistant in a New York department store.
His hard work had obviously been well rewarded, for he returned to Glasgow in 1870 with savings amounting to approximately £100, all of which he used wisely, because almost immediately he was Initiated into Lodge Scotia on 31st. May that year.
He was Passed on 17th. August 1870 and Raised later that same evening. On his twenty-first birthday, he opened his first shop at 101 Stobcross Street in Finnieston, where he slept in the back room while attempting to build up his business. Within ten years he had outlets all over Britain. To gain control over prices and quality, he bought over most of the companies who had originally supplied him with goods, including tea, coffee and cocoa plantations in Ceylon, baking houses, fruit farming interests and rubber estates in a variety of locations, packing houses for hogs in Chicago, and British bacon-curing factories.
The year 1898 held special significance for him, because he was Knighted by Queen Victoria for his contribution to the business world and for his many and varied charitable works. Appropriately, he actually received his Knighthood at the Queen's holiday residence on the Isle of Wight, only a few miles South-East of Cowes, the headquarters of the Royal Yacht Squadron, which was later to play a prominent part in his life.
While he was consolidating his business interests in London, and mainly because of his yachting interests, he became friendly with Edward the Seventh, then Prince of Wales, and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark. Co-incidentally, Edward had been a Patron of Scottish Freemasonry since 1870, the year of Brother Lipton's Initiation, and Alexandra is the lady in whose honour the local park and Alexandra Parade were named.
In 1899, he made the first of five challenges for the America's Cup in a yacht named "Shamrock". Subsequent attempts were made in 1901, 1903, 1920 and 1930, all of which failed, but his repeated efforts endeared him to the American public, who collected subscriptions and presented him with a Loving Cup engraved "To possibly the World's worst yacht builder, but absolutely the World's most cheerful loser".
When Queen Victoria died early in 1901, her eldest son, Albert Edward, succeeded her on the Throne as King Edward 7th., and he then honoured his friend Thomas Lipton by initially inducting him into the Royal Victorian Order as a Knight Commander of the Order ( K.C.V.O.) and then, only one year later, by conferring a Baronetcy on him. Continuing in this same vein, Lipton was appointed an Honorary Colonel of the 6th. Volunteer Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry, and a Lieutenant of the City of London, representing the King.
In 1909, he put up the football trophy competed for by tiny West Auckland of England and mighty Juventus of Italy. The scoreline of 2-0 in favour of West Auckland inspired another trophy, "The Lipton Crown of Italy World Cup" which cost £105, and was contested by teams from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and England, and is generally thought to have been the inspiration behind the formation of the World Cup as it now stands.
His varied interests did not go unnoticed, for he received the "Grand Order of the Crown of Italy and of the Order of St. Sava" from the King of Italy in April 1910, while his opulence was mentioned in the original words of the Music Hall song "Burlington Bertie", penned in 1914, and in at least another thirty songs written since then.
He was the principal speaker during the first authenticated wireless telephone call across the Atlantic in October 1922, a small town in Canada was named after him in 1924, and, in 1925, to commemorate his 75th. birthday, he handed over the keys of a large villa in Cambuslang for conversion to the "Lipton Memorial Nursing Home".
The City Fathers recognised the credit and renown he had brought to his native City, and they also paid tribute to the respect and admiration in which he was universally held. In 1923, he was made a Burgess of the City of Glasgow, receiving the Freedom of the City at a ceremony in St. Andrew's Halls, because of the "exemplary and patriotic services he had rendered during the Great War. He had plied his yacht 'Erin' between Marseilles in France and Salonika in Greece, carrying urgently required medical supplies, until sunk by a hostile submarine in a one-sided contest".
During July 1927, he was the guest at a luncheon of the Honourable Company Of Master Mariners held within Fishmonger's Hall, at the original Billingsgate Market. He shared the top table with the Prince of Wales and Rudyard Kipling, two other prominent Freemasons of the day, with the latter being one of the many Freemasonic writers who have based their works on the Craft.
By this time, his prodigious business interests had almost completely been overtaken and overshadowed by his outside involvements, because, apart from those activities already mentioned, he was a Patron of the Arts in general, and also took a great personal interest in promoting bagpiping, canoeing, swimming, rowing, golf, aviation, athletics, equestrianism, tennis, billiards, and cricket. Incredible as it may seem, the area of ground he originally purchased for the use of his London staff cricket team, is now the site of the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club stadium in White Hart Lane.
Despite all his achievements and his fame and fortune, one thing especially dear to his heart had always eluded him, but this was put to rights on 13th. May 1931, when he learned that he had finally been elected to membership of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Unfortunately, he had little time left to him to enjoy what turned out to be his final triumph, for he died on 2nd. October that year at his home, "Osidge", which stood on a sixty acre estate in Southgate, Middlesex.
At the time of his death, he was the oldest member of Lodge Scotia.
In deference to his express wish to be re-united with his parents, his body was brought back to his native City, and was laid out in St. George's Church at the top of Buchanan Street, where thousands of ordinary people took the opportunity of filing past the coffin to pay their respects to someone who had retained the aura, despite all his successes in business and sport, of being one of their own. After the funeral service, the cortege passed by the old City Halls in Trongate, down through the Saltmarket, across the Albert Bridge into Crown Street, and, finally, to the Southern Necropolis in Caledonia Road, where he was interred in a grave adjoining his parents.
Some time later, a Memorial Service was held by his numerous personal, business and sporting acquaintances and friends within Saint Columba's Church in London, at which an attendance in excess of five hundred mourners was officially recorded.
His will specifically mentioned how the estate of approximately one million pounds was to be distributed, including the large house in Middlesex where he spent his last years, which was to be converted for use as a nursing home, while the considerable residue of his estate was "gifted to the City of Glasgow for disbursement to charitable causes in the area".
His sizeable collection of trophies, cups, medals, etc., were all donated to the local museum of his childhood, the People's Palace on Glasgow Green. He also kept a scrapbook of his press cuttings, which were housed in eighty-four special albums, and these are now in the Arts Department of the Mitchell Library.
Everyone has heard Thomas Lipton's name, but it's only when a close look is taken at his life that the realisation dawns of just how well he exemplified the virtues we would all like to live by. He was a great ambassador for Freemasonry in general and Lodge Scotia in particular.
In a book published in New York to commemorate the Centenary of his birth, the author actually states, "During the first twenty-seven years of his life, Lipton did not meet a single person who had made a mark in the world whatsoever. He was not a member of any club, nor any group, athletic or cultural, whose activities have been recorded". Patently, that was not very well researched, but may be excused in part because, although extremely publicity conscious in his business affairs, Brother Lipton could be diffident in his private life.
During the 1980s, he was the centrepiece of a show in the Kelvingrove Art Galleries and Museum, and, befitting his past eminence, he was again feted by his native City when some of his memorabilia appeared at the "Glasgow's Glasgow" exhibition underneath the arches leading to Central Station, this being one of the major events to celebrate Glasgow's nomination, in 1990, as official European Cultural Capital.
Every newspaper carried a glowing Obituary, accompanied by the stereotyped photograph of him dressed in yachting cap and polka-dot tie, and a tribute from the New York Times simply stated:-"They will speak his name in superlatives".
He was certainly one of the greatest entrepreneurs of his day, and, having studied his life-style, I'm sure these words encapsulate exactly how he would wish to be remembered in death.
SOURCE: http://www.lodgescotia178.co.uk/page9.htm
There is no doubt that he was a proud Freemason, and not only was this acknowledged by the America's Cup yachting fraternity in the graphics on First day issue enveloppe, but his actions of benevolence confirmed his commitments to the Craft's ideals.
His Legacy
Sir Thomas Lipton died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Osidge on the 2nd October 1931. He was 81 years of age and was said to have been planning his sixth attempt at The America's Cup. He was buried beside his beloved mother and father in the Southern Necropolis, Glasgow. Thousands of Glaswegians filed past his coffin in St George's Church and huge crowds lined the streets as the funeral cortege made its way to the cemetery.
The terms of his will were to benefit the city of his birth. £80,000 was left to establish the Frances Lipton Memorial Fund for the benefit of poor mothers and their children. His yachting trophies and press cuttings collection were also left to the city, the former housed at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, the latter forming the Sir Thomas J. Lipton Collection at the Mitchell Library. He left specific bequests to Glasgow hospitals, servants and friends. His London house, Osidge, became The Sir Thomas Lipton Memorial Hospital for Retired Nurses in memory of his mother. The residue of his estate was to be used by his trustees for the benefit of the poor in Glasgow. In 1937, six years after Lipton's death, a High Court order allowed his trustees to sell his interests with the proceeds going to the Lipton Trust for the benefit of the poor in Glasgow.
By 1946, when the last payment was made, The Lipton trust had donated a total of £821,000 to the City. The Lipton brand, now owned by Unilever, is still going strong.
SOURCE: http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/lipton/index.php?a=eb11
TIMELINE
1848 Born 10th May
1853 Started School
1860/63 Left School to work in shop
1864 Cabin Boy
1864 Sacked as cabin boy left for America
1864 - 1869 Worked in America - labourer on a tobacco plantation, book keeper, door-to-door salesman, a farmhand and a grocery shop assistant.
1869/70 Returned to Glasgow with Life savings of 100 pounds
1970 Initiated into Lodge Scotia on 31st May, passed on 17th August
1870/71 Worked in Parents store
1871 Opened his own store on his 21st birthday
1876 Moved to larger premises
1880 Invested in Stockyard in Omaha, Newbraska and packing plant
1881 Imported the world's largest cheese
1882 3 stores in Glasgow, and stores in Dundee, Paisley, Edinburgh & Leeds
1888 300 shops
1888 Entered Tea Trade
1889 Mother and father died
1890 Opened new offices in London
1890 Visited Sri Lanka
1892 Bought his house Osidge, in Southgate, Middlesex
1897 Gave 25,000 pounds to the Proncess of Wales appealto provide dinners for the poor
1898 Lipton empire formed into a Limited Company
1898 Knighted by Queen Victoria
1898 Purchased and refitted the 1,240 ton steam yacht Aegusa and renamed it Erin
1899 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1901 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1902 Lipton became a baronet
1902 Sent money to help families of those killed at Ibrox Park stand collapse
1903 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1909 Made a Knight Commander of the British Empire
1909 Made a Knight Commander of the Grand Order of the Crown of Italy
1910 Lipton presented Italy with a cup to foster International football
1910 The Football Association declined to represent Britain so Lipton sponsored West Auckland
1910 West Auckland beat Red Star of Zurich to win cup
1911 West Aucklandbeat Juventus to retain the cup
1914 With the outbreak of World War 1 the Erin was fitted out as a hospital ship for the war effort
1915 Lipton goes with Erin to Serbia with support for the Red Cross
1915 Lipton proclaimed an honorary Citizen of the City of Nis
1920 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1922 Principal speaker of the first authenticated transatlantic wireless telephone call
1923 Lipton receives the Freedom of the City of Glasgow
1927 Van den Bergh (Unilevers) bought 25% of business
1927 Lipton sells his interests to the Meadow Dairy Company (reputedly 1 million pounds)
1930 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1931 Lipton given the Freedom of Rothesay
1931 Finally elected a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron
1931 Lipton died at Osidge on 2nd October 1931 leaving most of his fortune to Glasgow
REFERENCES
Some of the following websites have been the source of my research. I recommend them to you to look at. Thomas Lipton's life is one that is full of great stories, and anecdotes. These contain some that are both humorous and very telling as to the character and career of the man. They are good reads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Lipton
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/lipton/index.php?a=eb11
http://www.ruyc.co.uk/ruyc/Sir_Thomas_Lipton.html
http://www.lodgescotia178.co.uk/page9.htm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128568385
http://www.teamuse.com/article_020201.html
Personal life
A portrait of Lipton appeared on the cover of Time magazine on 3 November 1924.
He died at Osidge on 2 October 1931 and 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.
SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Lipton
Freemasonry
This article is printed with permission from the Lodge Scotia
Undoubtedly, the one member of Lodge Scotia who has achieved most fame outwith Freemasonry is Tommy Lipton. He was born at 13 Crown Street in Glasgow on 10th. May 1850 of Irish immigrant parents, who had come over to Scotland as a result of the lack of opportunities in their homeland.
He sailed to America as a steerage passenger on the Anchor Line, staying there for five years, during which time he took up work where he could find it, firstly on a rice plantation, then as a tramcar driver, a fireman, and, finally, as a grocer's assistant in a New York department store.
His hard work had obviously been well rewarded, for he returned to Glasgow in 1870 with savings amounting to approximately £100, all of which he used wisely, because almost immediately he was Initiated into Lodge Scotia on 31st. May that year.
He was Passed on 17th. August 1870 and Raised later that same evening. On his twenty-first birthday, he opened his first shop at 101 Stobcross Street in Finnieston, where he slept in the back room while attempting to build up his business. Within ten years he had outlets all over Britain. To gain control over prices and quality, he bought over most of the companies who had originally supplied him with goods, including tea, coffee and cocoa plantations in Ceylon, baking houses, fruit farming interests and rubber estates in a variety of locations, packing houses for hogs in Chicago, and British bacon-curing factories.
The year 1898 held special significance for him, because he was Knighted by Queen Victoria for his contribution to the business world and for his many and varied charitable works. Appropriately, he actually received his Knighthood at the Queen's holiday residence on the Isle of Wight, only a few miles South-East of Cowes, the headquarters of the Royal Yacht Squadron, which was later to play a prominent part in his life.
While he was consolidating his business interests in London, and mainly because of his yachting interests, he became friendly with Edward the Seventh, then Prince of Wales, and his wife, Alexandra of Denmark. Co-incidentally, Edward had been a Patron of Scottish Freemasonry since 1870, the year of Brother Lipton's Initiation, and Alexandra is the lady in whose honour the local park and Alexandra Parade were named.
In 1899, he made the first of five challenges for the America's Cup in a yacht named "Shamrock". Subsequent attempts were made in 1901, 1903, 1920 and 1930, all of which failed, but his repeated efforts endeared him to the American public, who collected subscriptions and presented him with a Loving Cup engraved "To possibly the World's worst yacht builder, but absolutely the World's most cheerful loser".
When Queen Victoria died early in 1901, her eldest son, Albert Edward, succeeded her on the Throne as King Edward 7th., and he then honoured his friend Thomas Lipton by initially inducting him into the Royal Victorian Order as a Knight Commander of the Order ( K.C.V.O.) and then, only one year later, by conferring a Baronetcy on him. Continuing in this same vein, Lipton was appointed an Honorary Colonel of the 6th. Volunteer Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry, and a Lieutenant of the City of London, representing the King.
In 1909, he put up the football trophy competed for by tiny West Auckland of England and mighty Juventus of Italy. The scoreline of 2-0 in favour of West Auckland inspired another trophy, "The Lipton Crown of Italy World Cup" which cost £105, and was contested by teams from Germany, Italy, Switzerland and England, and is generally thought to have been the inspiration behind the formation of the World Cup as it now stands.
His varied interests did not go unnoticed, for he received the "Grand Order of the Crown of Italy and of the Order of St. Sava" from the King of Italy in April 1910, while his opulence was mentioned in the original words of the Music Hall song "Burlington Bertie", penned in 1914, and in at least another thirty songs written since then.
He was the principal speaker during the first authenticated wireless telephone call across the Atlantic in October 1922, a small town in Canada was named after him in 1924, and, in 1925, to commemorate his 75th. birthday, he handed over the keys of a large villa in Cambuslang for conversion to the "Lipton Memorial Nursing Home".
The City Fathers recognised the credit and renown he had brought to his native City, and they also paid tribute to the respect and admiration in which he was universally held. In 1923, he was made a Burgess of the City of Glasgow, receiving the Freedom of the City at a ceremony in St. Andrew's Halls, because of the "exemplary and patriotic services he had rendered during the Great War. He had plied his yacht 'Erin' between Marseilles in France and Salonika in Greece, carrying urgently required medical supplies, until sunk by a hostile submarine in a one-sided contest".
During July 1927, he was the guest at a luncheon of the Honourable Company Of Master Mariners held within Fishmonger's Hall, at the original Billingsgate Market. He shared the top table with the Prince of Wales and Rudyard Kipling, two other prominent Freemasons of the day, with the latter being one of the many Freemasonic writers who have based their works on the Craft.
By this time, his prodigious business interests had almost completely been overtaken and overshadowed by his outside involvements, because, apart from those activities already mentioned, he was a Patron of the Arts in general, and also took a great personal interest in promoting bagpiping, canoeing, swimming, rowing, golf, aviation, athletics, equestrianism, tennis, billiards, and cricket. Incredible as it may seem, the area of ground he originally purchased for the use of his London staff cricket team, is now the site of the Tottenham Hotspur Football Club stadium in White Hart Lane.
Despite all his achievements and his fame and fortune, one thing especially dear to his heart had always eluded him, but this was put to rights on 13th. May 1931, when he learned that he had finally been elected to membership of the Royal Yacht Squadron. Unfortunately, he had little time left to him to enjoy what turned out to be his final triumph, for he died on 2nd. October that year at his home, "Osidge", which stood on a sixty acre estate in Southgate, Middlesex.
At the time of his death, he was the oldest member of Lodge Scotia.
In deference to his express wish to be re-united with his parents, his body was brought back to his native City, and was laid out in St. George's Church at the top of Buchanan Street, where thousands of ordinary people took the opportunity of filing past the coffin to pay their respects to someone who had retained the aura, despite all his successes in business and sport, of being one of their own. After the funeral service, the cortege passed by the old City Halls in Trongate, down through the Saltmarket, across the Albert Bridge into Crown Street, and, finally, to the Southern Necropolis in Caledonia Road, where he was interred in a grave adjoining his parents.
Some time later, a Memorial Service was held by his numerous personal, business and sporting acquaintances and friends within Saint Columba's Church in London, at which an attendance in excess of five hundred mourners was officially recorded.
His will specifically mentioned how the estate of approximately one million pounds was to be distributed, including the large house in Middlesex where he spent his last years, which was to be converted for use as a nursing home, while the considerable residue of his estate was "gifted to the City of Glasgow for disbursement to charitable causes in the area".
His sizeable collection of trophies, cups, medals, etc., were all donated to the local museum of his childhood, the People's Palace on Glasgow Green. He also kept a scrapbook of his press cuttings, which were housed in eighty-four special albums, and these are now in the Arts Department of the Mitchell Library.
Everyone has heard Thomas Lipton's name, but it's only when a close look is taken at his life that the realisation dawns of just how well he exemplified the virtues we would all like to live by. He was a great ambassador for Freemasonry in general and Lodge Scotia in particular.
In a book published in New York to commemorate the Centenary of his birth, the author actually states, "During the first twenty-seven years of his life, Lipton did not meet a single person who had made a mark in the world whatsoever. He was not a member of any club, nor any group, athletic or cultural, whose activities have been recorded". Patently, that was not very well researched, but may be excused in part because, although extremely publicity conscious in his business affairs, Brother Lipton could be diffident in his private life.
During the 1980s, he was the centrepiece of a show in the Kelvingrove Art Galleries and Museum, and, befitting his past eminence, he was again feted by his native City when some of his memorabilia appeared at the "Glasgow's Glasgow" exhibition underneath the arches leading to Central Station, this being one of the major events to celebrate Glasgow's nomination, in 1990, as official European Cultural Capital.
Every newspaper carried a glowing Obituary, accompanied by the stereotyped photograph of him dressed in yachting cap and polka-dot tie, and a tribute from the New York Times simply stated:-"They will speak his name in superlatives".
He was certainly one of the greatest entrepreneurs of his day, and, having studied his life-style, I'm sure these words encapsulate exactly how he would wish to be remembered in death.
SOURCE: http://www.lodgescotia178.co.uk/page9.htm
There is no doubt that he was a proud Freemason, and not only was this acknowledged by the America's Cup yachting fraternity in the graphics on First day issue enveloppe, but his actions of benevolence confirmed his commitments to the Craft's ideals.
His Legacy
Sir Thomas Lipton died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Osidge on the 2nd October 1931. He was 81 years of age and was said to have been planning his sixth attempt at The America's Cup. He was buried beside his beloved mother and father in the Southern Necropolis, Glasgow. Thousands of Glaswegians filed past his coffin in St George's Church and huge crowds lined the streets as the funeral cortege made its way to the cemetery.
The terms of his will were to benefit the city of his birth. £80,000 was left to establish the Frances Lipton Memorial Fund for the benefit of poor mothers and their children. His yachting trophies and press cuttings collection were also left to the city, the former housed at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, the latter forming the Sir Thomas J. Lipton Collection at the Mitchell Library. He left specific bequests to Glasgow hospitals, servants and friends. His London house, Osidge, became The Sir Thomas Lipton Memorial Hospital for Retired Nurses in memory of his mother. The residue of his estate was to be used by his trustees for the benefit of the poor in Glasgow. In 1937, six years after Lipton's death, a High Court order allowed his trustees to sell his interests with the proceeds going to the Lipton Trust for the benefit of the poor in Glasgow.
By 1946, when the last payment was made, The Lipton trust had donated a total of £821,000 to the City. The Lipton brand, now owned by Unilever, is still going strong.
SOURCE: http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/lipton/index.php?a=eb11
TIMELINE
1848 Born 10th May
1853 Started School
1860/63 Left School to work in shop
1864 Cabin Boy
1864 Sacked as cabin boy left for America
1864 - 1869 Worked in America - labourer on a tobacco plantation, book keeper, door-to-door salesman, a farmhand and a grocery shop assistant.
1869/70 Returned to Glasgow with Life savings of 100 pounds
1970 Initiated into Lodge Scotia on 31st May, passed on 17th August
1870/71 Worked in Parents store
1871 Opened his own store on his 21st birthday
1876 Moved to larger premises
1880 Invested in Stockyard in Omaha, Newbraska and packing plant
1881 Imported the world's largest cheese
1882 3 stores in Glasgow, and stores in Dundee, Paisley, Edinburgh & Leeds
1888 300 shops
1888 Entered Tea Trade
1889 Mother and father died
1890 Opened new offices in London
1890 Visited Sri Lanka
1892 Bought his house Osidge, in Southgate, Middlesex
1897 Gave 25,000 pounds to the Proncess of Wales appealto provide dinners for the poor
1898 Lipton empire formed into a Limited Company
1898 Knighted by Queen Victoria
1898 Purchased and refitted the 1,240 ton steam yacht Aegusa and renamed it Erin
1899 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1901 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1902 Lipton became a baronet
1902 Sent money to help families of those killed at Ibrox Park stand collapse
1903 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1909 Made a Knight Commander of the British Empire
1909 Made a Knight Commander of the Grand Order of the Crown of Italy
1910 Lipton presented Italy with a cup to foster International football
1910 The Football Association declined to represent Britain so Lipton sponsored West Auckland
1910 West Auckland beat Red Star of Zurich to win cup
1911 West Aucklandbeat Juventus to retain the cup
1914 With the outbreak of World War 1 the Erin was fitted out as a hospital ship for the war effort
1915 Lipton goes with Erin to Serbia with support for the Red Cross
1915 Lipton proclaimed an honorary Citizen of the City of Nis
1920 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1922 Principal speaker of the first authenticated transatlantic wireless telephone call
1923 Lipton receives the Freedom of the City of Glasgow
1927 Van den Bergh (Unilevers) bought 25% of business
1927 Lipton sells his interests to the Meadow Dairy Company (reputedly 1 million pounds)
1930 Challenged for the Americas Cup under auspices of Royal Ulster Yacht Club
1931 Lipton given the Freedom of Rothesay
1931 Finally elected a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron
1931 Lipton died at Osidge on 2nd October 1931 leaving most of his fortune to Glasgow
REFERENCES
Some of the following websites have been the source of my research. I recommend them to you to look at. Thomas Lipton's life is one that is full of great stories, and anecdotes. These contain some that are both humorous and very telling as to the character and career of the man. They are good reads.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Lipton
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/lipton/index.php?a=eb11
http://www.ruyc.co.uk/ruyc/Sir_Thomas_Lipton.html
http://www.lodgescotia178.co.uk/page9.htm
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128568385
http://www.teamuse.com/article_020201.html