Hainsworth Family Members

In 1783 at the age of 14 Old Bim founded his clothiers business, before long he was employing handloom weavers and had 4 packhorses to take his cloth to sell at Leeds City hall. By 1810 he rented Cape Mills in Farsley. He died in 1836, the wealthiest man in the district, many generations and characters from his family followed in his foot steps.

AW Hainsworth

Old Bims grandson,  Young Bim married his bosses daughter and went into business with his father-in-law. Young Bim became a little eccentric and difficult following a blow to the head in 1900, he was eventually persuaded to leave the business in 1913 by his sons.

Captain Charles Hainsworth

One of the sons and nephews of Old Bim running and expanding the business as partners after his death. In 1854 following the death of the last remaining partner Charles continued to run the business alone, on his death in 1875 there were no sons old enough to run the business so it was sold to Reuben Gaunt, another grandson of Old Bim who was a successful manufacturer in his own right.

David and John Hainsworth

David and John Hainsworth

Reubens two sons both entered the business after university. John was the force behind uniting the two divisions and changing the way the Mill was run. He also rebuilt the mill following devastating fire in 1955. John was also responsible for the purchasing of troubled firms in the woollen trade leading to great product diversification.

David concentrated on exploring new markets and travelled the world selling the companies products. He was the key to identifying the changing requirements in firemans  uniform cloth, which had been moving away from wool to new manmade fibres.

Peter Hainsworth

Peter Hainsworth

Peter followed in his fathers footsteps into the business and saw the mill through some very difficult times alongside his brother Reuben. Following Reubens sudden death Pete was left as the senior director until he retired at 70 however he visited the mill daily into his 80s.

Tom Hainsworth

Tom Hainsworth

Born in Leeds in 1967 Thomas Hainsworth is the 7th generation of the Hainsworth family to run A.W. Hainsworth & Sons Ltd. He entered the business in 1992 following a period of globe trotting, working in Germany and India . Tom has continued to develop the fireproof manmade cloths his father developed whilst also developing a strategy to take the business into the 21^st Century.