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'''Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet''' {{postnom|country=GBR|KCVO}} (10 May 1848{{snd}}2 October 1931) was a [[Scotsman]] of [[Ulster Scots people|Ulster-Scots]] parentage who was a [[self-made man]], as company founder of [[Lipton|Lipton Tea]], merchant, [[philanthropist]] and yachtsman who lost 5 straight America's Cup
He engaged
==Parentage and childhood==
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He returned to Glasgow in 1870, initially helping his parents run their small shop in the Gorbals. The following year he opened his first provision shop—Lipton's Market—at 101 Stobcross Street in the [[Anderston]] area of Glasgow. This enterprise proved to be successful and Lipton soon established a chain of groceries, first across Glasgow, the rest of Scotland, until finally he had stores throughout Britain. While Lipton was expanding his empire, tea prices were falling and demand was growing among his middle-class customers.
In 1880, Lipton invested in the
Lipton visited [[British Ceylon]] in 1890 and made business deals with [[James Taylor (tea planter)|James Taylor]], who introduced tea gardens to the country with indentured [[Tamil people|Tamil]] workers from [[British Raj|British India]]. Lipton's company purchased Ceylon tea, distributing it through Europe and the USA beginning in 1890.<ref>[http://www.liptontea.com/article/detail/157721/lipton-history ''From the tea garden to the tea pot: Sir Thomas Lipton's Vision''] on ''liptontea.com''</ref> At [[Queen Victoria]]'s [[diamond jubilee]] in 1897 he gave £20,000 for providing dinners for a large number of the London poor.<ref>{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Lipton, Sir Thomas Johnstone|volume=16|page=744}}</ref>
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[[File:TIMEMagazine3Nov1924.jpg|200px|thumb|''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' cover, 3 Nov 1924]]
[[File:Thomas Lipton by Devred cr.jpg|thumb|left|170px|Photo of Lipton taken shortly before his death in 1931]]
Lipton was sometimes described in the press as 'the world's most eligible bachelor', and carefully cultivated a public image as a 'ladies man'. He never had a relationship with a woman, using as the excuse that none measured up to his mother. Instead, he maintained a thirty-year relationship with one of his early shop assistants, William Love, with whom he lived. When they parted other male companions followed, including an orphan from Crete whom Lipton met during a cruise in 1900.<ref>Mackay, James (1998) ''Sir Thomas Lipton: The Man Who Invented Himself
Lipton came to his home, Osidge, in [[Southgate, London]], from [[Muswell Hill]] in 1892. Before moving in, he 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Newby |first=Herbert |year=1949 |title={{-"}}Old" Southgate |publisher=T.Grove |page=115}}</ref>
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==Further reading==
* ''Sir Thomas Lipton: The Man Who Invented Himself
* ''A Full Cup'', Michael D'Antonio, Riverhead, 2010
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