FRUGAL MILLIONAIRE

Evening Star, Issue 18809, 6 December 1924, Page 3

FRUGAL MILLIONAIRE

WOOL MERCHANT’S RICHES. PECULIAR ECONOMIES. Reputed to be n millionaire, Mr John Reddihough, of Baildon, Yorkshire, was recently found dead in bed at Southport. In spite of his wealth, Mr Reddihough’s early frugality clung to him all his life, and he was not easily distinguished from a working man. Ho had been spending a holiday at Southport. ITo was a wealthy man even before the war, and during the war years his riches increased by leaps and bounds. This made no difference, however, to his mode of life,. He made no display of his wealthy and wos never seen dining out. Seeing him in the street, one would have judged him to he an ordinary working man earning £4 or £5 a week. The one hobby of Kir Reddihough was his business. He took all the responsibilities on his own shoulders, and would not allow anything to bo done without his being consulted. Everything had to pass through his hands, lie was chairman and also permanent director of John Reddihough, Ltd., woollen merchants, woolcombers, and top-makers, a private Bradford limited company, with an authorised capital of £1,000,000 in £1 ordinary shares, all of which have been issued and paid up. He was also chairman of S. Bottomley and Bros., Ltd., mohair and alpaca spinners and manufacturers, of Bradford’, a company with an authorised capital of £160,000. Aged eighty-three, Mr Reddihough was one of tho oldest and best-known wool merchants in Bradford, and could have Jived in a most extravagant style, with a fleet of luxurious cars, had he wished. Instead, he lived in a small home, and would rather beg a lift in a milk cart than ride in a motor, though he preferred generally to walk. The son of a small farmer at Oxenhopo, deceased was apprenticed to a local tailor at an early age, nnd followed that trade until he was twenty-four. Then he set up in business for himself as a waste merchant, going to and from the different markets with an old hag on his back. ‘‘lf ever he made a bargain, he'd always stick to it, and always seemed to come out on the right side,” an old friend said of him after his death. Success always attended Iris ventures, and gradually he amassed a huge fortune. 15ut he never stopped working, and never changed his mode of living. Over thirty years ago Mr Reddihough moved from Oxenhope to Baildon, and continued to farm his land himself up to about a year ago. He used to work in the haytield, and was always ready to swing Ills hay on his back and carry it off to the.'rick. He was a strict Sabbatarian, and when tho Sunday delivery of letters was introduced at Baildon he refused to allow the postman to bring his correspondence, and would always wait for it until Monday morning. Only once in his lifetime is he known to have travelled in a railway train on a Sunday, and that was on the occasion of the death of his wife's mother. Tho deceased was a groat walker, shunning every form of transport. A Baildon man once said to him : “ If I’d thy money, Kir Rcddinhough, I’d have a carriage or a motor.” “If you had you would do, the .same as I do, William—you’d walk,” was the reply. A Baildon resident said of Mr Rcddihough : "He used to go about as if lie were worth only a bob. He’d go down into tiie village, and take his own groceries hack. But he was never niggardly. He, often gave, but never allowed his generosity to ho paraded. Many poor people in Boildon will have cause to mourn in’s death.” He was also a generous contributor to the Wesleyan Church.