Frederick Rushbrooke

Frederick William Rushbrooke (9 December 1861 - 1953) was the founder of Halfords, the United Kingdom's largest chain of cycle shops.

Career

The son of a miller and confectioner from Willenhall in Staffordshire, Frederick Rushbrooke initially established himself in business in 1892 as a wholesale ironmonger in Birmingham.[1] For recreation he enjoyed cycling on his pennyfarthing.[1] In 1902 he opened a branch of his business in Halford Street in Leicester and called it the Halford Cycle Shop.[1]

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.[2]

He died in 1953.[3]

Family

In 1896 he married Lily Jenks Wilkinson[3] and they had a son and two daughters.[2]

References
  1. And it's all thanks to a passion for a penny-farthing bicycle The Times, 30 May 2005
  2. Burcot Grange: History
  3. Snelson family


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