Sir Henry Ripley, 1st Baronet

Sir Henry William Ripley, 1st Baronet (23 April 1813 – 9 November 1882), was a British businessman, philanthropist and Liberal Party politician who switched to the Conservative Party. Ripley became a principal partner in Edward Ripley and Son, an important dyeing company based at Bowling Dyeworks, Bowling, Bradford established by his grandfather in about 1806. In 1836 he married Susan Milligan of 'Acacia', Rawdon. West Yorkshire where he was living in 1881 with his family and a household of thirteen servants. In the late 1870s he bought an estate at Bedstone, Shropshire and in about 1882-4 he built a new mansion house Bedstone Court in Shropshire which became the family seat. He was active in local politics and sat as a town councilor for the Borough of Bradford. He was also a JP, chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and took an active role in founding and running the Yorkshire Penny Bank. In 1866 he commenced construction of Ripley Ville an estate of "model houses" for the working classes. When completed it had many of the aspects of an "industrial model village" – though residents were not limited to H.W. Ripley's employees. Ripley Ville can be compared with Akroydon (Halifax, built by H.W Ripley's friend and former schoolmate Edward Akroyd) and with Saltaire