Thomas Lipton

Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet, KCVO (10 May 1848 – 2 October 1931) was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, merchant, and yachtsman. He created the Lipton tea brand and was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America's Cup.

Parentage and childhood

Lipton was born in Glasgow on 10 May 1848. His parents, Thomas Lipton senior and Frances Lipton (née 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...
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