Sir Thomas Lipton Collection



Press cuttings and photographs reflecting the life of the famous grocer

 

Sir Thomas Lipton (1850-1931) was born in Glasgow where his family owned a grocery store.  At the age of fourteen, he went to the United States where he found work as a farm labourer and grocery clerk.

In 1870, he returned to Glasgow and the grocery business.  By the time he was thirty, he was running a chain of grocery stores, becoming a household name for innovation in the tea business.  He even developed tea bags for his customers to ensure that his products were fresh.

 

Sir Thomas Lipton bequeathed his collection of photographs, newspaper cuttings and memorabilia to The Mitchell, where it is still housed. 

 

This collection consists of 100 large volumes of press cuttings covering the years from 1877 until his death in 1931.  There are also 48 separate volumes containing over 3,000 photographs. 

 

 

 

Photograph of Sir Thomas Lipton standing on ship

 

Sir Thomas Lipton on board ship

 

 

 

This material provides an invaluable insight into the development of his company.  They also chronicle his 5 attempts to win the America's Cup and provide a fascinating picture of Thomas Lipton's social circle, which included King Edward VII. 

 

 

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Online images from the Sir Thomas Lipton Collection

Photograph of yacht in full sail from Lipton Collection

 

Images from The Lipton collection have been digitised and can be viewed online.  This project was funded by Unilever, who now own the Lipton brand.

 

Some of the images used have been reproduced with kind permission of Unilever.

 

Browse, search and view images from the collection