Name Frederick Rushbrooke Died 1953 | Organizations founded Halfords | |
Spouse Lily Jenks Wilkinson (m. 1896) | ||
Frederick William Rushbrooke (9 December 1861 - 1953) was the founder of Halfords, one of the United Kingdom's largest chains of cycle shops.
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Career
The son of a miller and confectioner from Willenhall in Staffordshire, Frederick Rushbrooke initially established himself in business as a wholesale ironmonger in Birmingham. For recreation he enjoyed cycling on his pennyfarthing. In 1902 he opened a branch of his business in Halford Street in Leicester and called it the Halford Cycle Shop.
He bought Burcot Grange, a country house in Burcot in 1927 but ten years later decided to donate it to the Birmingham & Midland Eye Hospital as an annex to treat inflammation of the eye.
He died in 1953.
Family
In 1896 he married Lily Jenks Wilkinson and together they went on to have a son and two daughters.