Harry Gordon Selfridge
| Harry Gordon Selfridge | |
|---|---|
Harry Gordon Selfridge circa 1910
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| Born |
11 January 1858 Ripon, Wisconsin, United States |
| Died | 8 May 1947 (aged 89) Putney, London, England, United Kingdom |
| Cause of death | Bronchial pneumonia |
| Resting place | St Mark's Churchyard, Highcliffe |
| Nationality | United States British |
| Occupation | Retail magnate |
| Known for | Founder of Selfridges |
| Spouse(s) | Rose Buckingham (m. 1890; d. 1918) |
| Children | 5 |
Harry Gordon Selfridge, Sr. (11 January 1858 – 8 May 1947) was an American retail magnate who founded the London-based department store Selfridges. His 20-year leadership of Selfridges led to his becoming one of the most respected and wealthy retail magnates in the United Kingdom. He was known as the 'Earl of Oxford Street'.
Born in Ripon, Wisconsin, Selfridge delivered newspapers and left school at 14 when he found work at a bank in Jackson, Michigan. After another series of jobs, Selfridge found a position at Marshall Field's in Chicago, where he stayed for the next 25 years. In 1890 he married Rose Buckingham of the prominent Chicago Buckingham family.
In 1906, following a trip to London, Selfridge invested £400,000 in his own department store in what was then the unfashionable western end of Oxford Street. The new store opened to the public on 15 March 1909 and Selfridge remained chairman until he retired in 1941. In later life, Selfridge lost most of his fortune.
He died of bronchial pneumonia, aged 89 and was buried in St Mark's Churchyard at Highcliffe, Dorset next to his wife and mother.
Selfridge was born to Robert Oliver Selfridge and Lois Frances Selfridge (née Baxter) in Ripon, Wisconsin, on 11 January 1858, one of three boys. Within months of his birth the family moved to Jackson, Michigan, as his father had acquired the town's general store. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, his father Robert Oliver Selfridge joined the Union Army. Rising to the rank of major, although he had been honorably discharged, he did not return home after the war ended and abandoned his children.
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