Peter Kendal Hargreaves

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(born 5 October 1946) is an English co-founder with

Stephen Lansdown Stephen Philip Lansdown CBE (born 30 August 1952) is an English-born Guernsey billionaire. He co-founded the British financial services firm Hargreaves Lansdown with Peter Hargreaves. He is a founder of Bristol Sport and majority shareholder of ...

Hargreaves Lansdown Hargreaves Lansdown plc is a British financial service company based in Bristol, England. It sells funds and shares and related products to retail investors in the United Kingdom. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a consti ...

, one of the United Kingdom's largest financial services businesses. He is a shareholder of Hargreaves Lansdown but no longer a director or employee. He is a partner in Blue Whale Capital, an investment boutique that was launched in 2017.

Early life

Hargreaves was born in

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for tourists visiting the area. In 2018, the Cl ...

and educated at

Clitheroe Royal Grammar School ; "Founded on Rock" , established = , closed = , type = Grammar school;Academy , religious_affiliation = , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head = James Keulemans , r_head_label = Deputy He ...

in Lancashire.Bristol’s deadly duo hit the City
''The Times'', 6 May 2007

Career

Trained as an accountant, Peter Hargreaves initially worked as a computer salesman. He then started

trading from a bedroom in 1981; in 2010, he stood down as chief executive and, in the same year, received £18 million in payouts from dividends. He was succeeded as CEO by Ian Gorham. His wealth was reported at £2,315 million according to the ''Sunday Times'' Rich List 2017, making him the 51st richest person in the UK. Hargreaves joined the board of

ITM Power ITM Power plc is an energy storage and clean fuel company founded in the UK in 2001. It designs, manufactures, and integrates electrolysers based on proton exchange membrane (PEM) technology to produce green hydrogen using renewable electricity an ...

in February 2004 as a non-executive director: he has invested heavily in ITM Power. In March 2016 he joined the

Leave.EU Leave.EU was a political campaign group that was first established to support the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, June 2016 referendum. Founded in July 2015 as ...

movement to campaign for the UK's exit from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. He was the top donor to the

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

campaign contributing over £3 million to the Leave campaign. In September 2017, Hargreaves announced a £25 million backing in Blue Whale Capital – a new asset management company set up by previous colleague, Stephen Yiu. It was announced in August 2020 that Hargreaves would receive £63.4 million in dividends after Hargreaves Lansdown's profits increased by 24% to £378.3 million in the 12 months leading up to 30 June 2020. According to The '' Sunday Times Rich List'' in 2020 his net worth was estimated at £2.4 billion. In 2021, he came ninth in a list of the top ten biggest taxpayers in the UK, having paid a tax bill of £91.4 million that year.

Honours

Hargreaves was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(CBE) in the 2014 New Year Honours for services to business innovation, financial services, and the City of Bristol.

Politics

Hargreaves financially supported the

campaign in 2016, donating £3.2m to the Leave.EU campaign founded by

Arron Banks Arron Fraser Andrew Banks (born 1966) is a British businessman and political donor. He is the co-founder (with Richard Tice) of the Leave.EU campaign. Banks was previously one of the largest donors to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and helped ...

and wrote to 15 million UK householders asking them to support the leave campaign in the European Union membership referendum. In May 2016, Hargreaves said that Brexit will lead to insecurity, which will turn out to be very effective. Hargreaves said that

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cabi ...

should reassure the three million EU nationals already in the UK that their current rights would be maintained. Hargreaves donated £1m to the Conservatives’ election fund in 2019.

Personal life

In 1986 he married Rosemary; they have one son and one daughter.Fame & Fortune: Peter Hargreaves
''The Times'', 22 March 2009 They live in a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

property in the

West Country The West Country (occasionally Westcountry) is a loosely defined area of South West England, usually taken to include all, some, or parts of the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, and, less commonly, Wiltshire, Glo ...

, where he grows his own vegetables. He owns three racehorses.

References

External links

Peter Hargreaves
biography page on the Hargreaves Lansdown website.
Peter Hargreaves
biography page on the Blue Whale Capital website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hargreaves, Peter English businesspeople 1946 births Living people Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Clitheroe Royal Grammar School People from Clitheroe British Eurosceptics Conservative Party (UK) donors