Lawrence Batley OBE (15 February 1911 – 27 August 2002) was an entrepreneur and philanthropist who was born in the town of

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, in the English county of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. He pioneered the wholesale cash and carry business in UK, and supported local endeavours in arts, education and sports. Leaving school at the age of 14, Batley worked in a solicitor’s office, the

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

business, the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

, and the

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...

s business. His biggest contribution to business was when he founded "Batley's Cash and Carry"; he claims to be the first to use the phrase and the concept of "cash and carry", and his idea became popular, bringing a whole new way of working to retailers across the UK. He put his success down to daily two-hour siestas between 12pm-2pm. In later life, Batley sponsored the

Lawrence Batley Seniors The Lawrence Batley Seniors was a senior (over 50s) men's professional golf tournament on the European Senior Tour. It was played from 1992 to 2002 in the Huddersfield area of West Yorkshire, England. From 1995 the tournament was held at Huddersf ...

(a veterans golf competition), the Lawrence Batley Stand at the

Galpharm Stadium Kirklees Stadium (currently known due to naming rights, sponsorship as the John Smith's Stadium) is a multi-use stadium in Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England. Since 1994, it has been the home ground of Association football, football club ...

for its first 10 years, the

Lawrence Batley Theatre The Lawrence Batley Theatre is a theatre in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England which offers drama, music, dance and comedy. The theatre is named after Lawrence Batley, a local entrepreneur and philanthropist, who founded a nationwide cash an ...

and the National Arts Education Archive at

Bretton Hall College Bretton Hall College of Education was a higher education college in West Bretton in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. It opened as a teacher training college in 1949 with awards from the University of Leeds. The college merged with the Univ ...

(now part of the

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

). The business has now been taken over by his only child, Rita Firth. Helped by her husband, Bruce Firth, they have sold Batley's Cash and Carry and also sold L.Batley Pet Products, one of the leading pet food distributors in the UK, which the family started after Cash and Carry was sold. He died in August 2002.

References

People from Huddersfield Businesspeople from Yorkshire Officers of the Order of the British Empire 1911 births 2002 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople {{UK-business-bio-stub