The Most Famous

BUSINESSPEOPLE from United Kingdom

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This page contains a list of the greatest British Businesspeople. The pantheon dataset contains 847 Businesspeople, 68 of which were born in United Kingdom. This makes United Kingdom the birth place of the 2nd most number of Businesspeople.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary British Businesspeople of all time. This list of famous British Businesspeople is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of British Businesspeople.

Photo of Cecil Rhodes

1. Cecil Rhodes (1853 - 1902)

With an HPI of 82.27, Cecil Rhodes is the most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 82 different languages on wikipedia.

Cecil John Rhodes ( SES-əl ROHDZ; 5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was an English mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. He and his British South Africa Company founded the southern African territory of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe and Zambia), which the company named after him in 1895. He also devoted much effort to realising his vision of a Cape to Cairo Railway through British territory. Rhodes set up the Rhodes Scholarship, which is funded by his estate. The son of a vicar, Rhodes was born at Netteswell House, Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. A sickly child, he was sent to South Africa by his family when he was 17 years old in the hope that the climate might improve his health. He entered the diamond trade at Kimberley in 1871, when he was 18, and with funding from Rothschild & Co, began to systematically buy out and consolidate diamond mines. Over the next two decades he gained a near-complete monopoly of the world diamond market. His diamond company De Beers, formed in 1888, retains its prominence into the 21st century. Rhodes entered the Cape Parliament at the age of 27 in 1881, and in 1890, he became prime minister. During his time as prime minister, Rhodes used his political power to expropriate land from black Africans through the Glen Grey Act, while also tripling the wealth requirement for voting under the Franchise and Ballot Act, effectively barring black people from taking part in elections. After overseeing the formation of Rhodesia during the early 1890s, he was forced to resign in 1896 after the disastrous Jameson Raid, an unauthorised attack on Paul Kruger's South African Republic (or Transvaal). Rhodes's career never recovered; his heart was weak, and after years of ill health he died in 1902. At his request he was buried at Malindidzimu in what is now Zimbabwe; his grave has been a controversial site. In his last will, he provided for the establishment of the international Rhodes Scholarship at University of Oxford, the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. Every year it grants 102 full postgraduate scholarships. It has benefited prime ministers of Malta, Australia, and Canada, United States President Bill Clinton, and many others. With the strengthening of international movements against racism, such as Rhodes Must Fall, Rhodes' legacy is a matter of debate to this day. Critics cite his confiscation of land from the black indigenous population of the Cape Colony, and false claims that southern African archeological sites such as Great Zimbabwe were built by European civilisations.

Photo of Andrew Carnegie

2. Andrew Carnegie (1835 - 1919)

With an HPI of 73.03, Andrew Carnegie is the 2nd most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 74 different languages.

Andrew Carnegie (English: kar-NEG-ee, Scots: [kɑrˈnɛːɡi]; November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late-19th century and became one of the richest Americans in history. He became a leading philanthropist in the United States, Great Britain, and the British Empire. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away around $350 million (equivalent to $10.5 billion in 2023), almost 90 percent of his fortune, to charities, foundations and universities. His 1889 article proclaiming "The Gospel of Wealth" called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, expressed support for progressive taxation and an estate tax, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy. Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. He immigrated to what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States with his parents in 1848 at the age of 12. Carnegie started work in a cotton mill and later as a telegrapher. By the 1860s he had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman, raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $303,450,000 (equal to $11,113,550,000 today); it formed the basis of the U.S. Steel Corporation. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American of the time. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on building local libraries, working for world peace, education, and scientific research. He funded Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Peace Palace in The Hague, founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others.

Photo of Thomas Cook

3. Thomas Cook (1808 - 1892)

With an HPI of 70.72, Thomas Cook is the 3rd most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was the founder of the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was born into a poor family in Derbyshire and left school at the age of ten to start work as a gardener's boy. He served an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker before becoming an itinerant Baptist preacher. He was a supporter of the temperance movement and his first foray into tourism was a railway excursion to Loughborough for members of the Leicester Temperance Society in 1841. Following the success of this excursion, Cook, by now settled with his family in Leicester, began to organise tours further afield in the British Isles and, eventually, to the United States, Egypt and the Holy Land. In 1872, he went into business with his son as Thomas Cook & Son, with a head office in London. Following his retirement in 1878, he returned to Leicester and took an interest in the Baptist church and charitable work until his death. Cook is credited with having, through his all-inclusive tours, made travel and tourism accessible to a wider public.

Photo of Bernie Ecclestone

4. Bernie Ecclestone (b. 1930)

With an HPI of 70.04, Bernie Ecclestone is the 4th most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 42 different languages.

Bernard Charles Ecclestone (born 28 October 1930) is a British business magnate, motorsport executive and former racing driver. Widely known in journalism as the "F1 Supremo", Ecclestone founded the Formula One Group in 1987, controlling the commercial rights to Formula One until 2017. Born in Suffolk and raised in Bexleyheath, Ecclestone began his business career trading automotive parts after World War II. He started racing in Formula Three in 1949, winning multiple races at Brands Hatch driving a Cooper Mk V. After purchasing two Connaught chassis in 1958, Ecclestone entered the Monaco and British Grands Prix in Formula One as a privateer, but did not qualify at either. He then became a driver manager for Stuart Lewis-Evans and Jochen Rindt, the latter winning the World Drivers' Championship posthumously in 1970. Ecclestone purchased Brabham in 1972—who he operated for 15 years—leading the team to 22 victories, as well as two World Drivers' Championship titles with Nelson Piquet. He co-founded the Formula One Constructors' Association two years later, leading them through the FISA–FOCA war. His control of the sport, which grew from his pioneering sale of television rights in the late-1970s, was primarily financial; under the terms of the Concorde Agreement in 1987, Ecclestone and his companies also controlled the administration, setup and logistics of each Formula One Grand Prix. He also founded International Sportsworld Communicators in 1996, controlling the commercial rights to the World Rally Championship until 2000. Ecclestone placed fifth on the Sunday Times Rich List in 2002, and declined both a CBE and a knighthood from Elizabeth II. Ecclestone co-owned association football club Queens Park Rangers with Flavio Briatore from 2007 to 2011, overseeing their promotion to the Premier League. Ecclestone sold the Formula One Group to Liberty Media in 2017, subsequently being appointed as chairman emeritus and adviser to the board of directors until his departure in 2020. Over his four-decade career as an executive in Formula One, Ecclestone was involved in several controversies. With the birth of his son in 2020, he became the sixth-oldest father in human history, aged 89. In October 2023, Ecclestone was convicted of tax fraud at Southwark Crown Court, and agreed to pay HM Revenue and Customs over £650 million in back taxes and penalties; he was sentenced to 17 months in prison, suspended for two years.

Photo of J. Bruce Ismay

5. J. Bruce Ismay (1862 - 1937)

With an HPI of 69.87, J. Bruce Ismay is the 5th most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages.

Joseph Bruce Ismay (; 12 December 1862 – 17 October 1937) was an English businessman who served as chairman and managing director of the White Star Line. He was the highest-ranking White Star official to survive the 1912 sinking of the company's flagship RMS Titanic, for which he was widely criticized.

Photo of Richard Branson

6. Richard Branson (b. 1950)

With an HPI of 69.85, Richard Branson is the 6th most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 66 different languages.

Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and as of 2016 controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneur at a young age. His first business venture, at the age of 16, was a magazine called Student. In 1970, he set up a mail-order record business. He opened a chain of record stores, Virgin Records—later known as Virgin Megastores—in 1972. Branson's Virgin brand grew rapidly during the 1980s, as he started the Virgin Atlantic airline and expanded the Virgin Records music label. In 1997, Branson founded the Virgin Rail Group to bid for passenger rail franchises during the privatisation of British Rail. The Virgin Trains brand operated the InterCity West Coast franchise from 1997 to 2019, the InterCity CrossCountry franchise from 1997 to 2007, and the InterCity East Coast franchise from 2015 to 2018. In 2004, he founded spaceflight corporation Virgin Galactic, based at Mojave Air and Space Port in California, noted for the SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane designed for space tourism. In March 2000, Branson was knighted at Buckingham Palace for "services to entrepreneurship". Due to his work in retail, music, and transport, his taste for adventure, and for his humanitarian work, he has become a prominent global figure. In 2007, he was placed in the Time 100 Most Influential People in the World list. In June 2023, Forbes listed Branson's estimated net worth at US$3 billion. On 11 July 2021, Branson travelled as a passenger onboard Virgin Galactic Unity 22 at the edge of space, a suborbital test flight for his spaceflight company Virgin Galactic. The mission lasted approximately one hour, reaching a peak altitude of 53.5 miles (86.1 km). At 70, Branson became the third oldest person to fly to space.

Photo of Stanley Rous

7. Stanley Rous (1895 - 1986)

With an HPI of 69.24, Stanley Rous is the 7th most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Sir Stanley Ford Rous (25 April 1895 – 18 July 1986) was an English football referee and the 6th President of FIFA, serving from 1961 to 1974. He also served as secretary of the Football Association from 1934 to 1962 and was an international referee.

Photo of Brian Epstein

8. Brian Epstein (1934 - 1967)

With an HPI of 68.51, Brian Epstein is the 8th most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 46 different languages.

Brian Samuel Epstein ( EP-stine; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him in charge of their music shop, where he displayed a gift for talent-spotting. He first met the Beatles in 1961 at a lunchtime concert at Liverpool's Cavern Club. Although he had no experience of artist management, Epstein put them under contract and insisted that they abandon their scruffy image in favour of a new clean-cut style. He also attempted to get the Beatles a recording contract, eventually securing a deal with EMI's Parlophone label. Within months, the Beatles were international stars. Some of Epstein's other young discoveries had also prospered under his management. They included Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Tommy Quickly, Cilla Black and The Big Three. In 1967, he died of a combined alcohol and barbiturate overdose, ruled as accidental, at the age of 32.

Photo of John McAfee

9. John McAfee (1945 - 2021)

With an HPI of 65.80, John McAfee is the 9th most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

John David McAfee ( MAK-ə-fee; 18 September 1945 – 23 June 2021) was a British and American computer programmer, businessman, and two-time presidential candidate who unsuccessfully sought the Libertarian Party nomination for president of the United States in 2016 and in 2020. In 1987, he wrote the first commercial anti-virus software, founding McAfee Associates to sell his creation. He resigned in 1994 and sold his remaining stake in the company. McAfee became the company's most vocal critic in later years, urging consumers to uninstall the company's anti-virus software, which he characterized as bloatware. He disavowed the company's continued use of his name in branding, a practice that has persisted in spite of a short-lived corporate rebrand attempt under Intel ownership. McAfee's fortunes plummeted in the financial crisis of 2007–2008. After leaving McAfee Associates, he founded the companies Tribal Voice (makers of the PowWow chat program), QuorumEx, and Future Tense Central, among others, and was involved in leadership positions in the companies Everykey, MGT Capital Investments, and Luxcore, among others. His personal and business interests included smartphone apps, cryptocurrency, yoga, light-sport aircraft and recreational drug use. He resided for a number of years in Belize, but returned to the United States in 2013 while wanted in Belize for questioning on suspicion of murder. McAfee was a vocal advocate for privacy and personal freedom, central to his libertarian campaigns in 2016 and 2020. He opposed government surveillance and supported cryptocurrency as a way to reduce state control over financial systems. He framed his legal issues, including tax evasion charges, as resistance to unjust government overreach. In October 2020, McAfee was arrested in Spain over U.S. tax evasion charges. U.S. federal prosecutors brought criminal and civil charges alleging that McAfee had failed to file income taxes over a four-year period. On 23 June 2021, he was found dead due to an apparent suicide by hanging in his prison cell near Barcelona shortly after the Spanish National Court authorized his extradition to the U.S. His death generated speculation and theories about the possibility that he was murdered. McAfee's wife, Janice McAfee, said she did not believe McAfee died by suicide.

Photo of Thomas Lipton

10. Thomas Lipton (1848 - 1931)

With an HPI of 65.68, Thomas Lipton is the 10th most famous British Businessperson.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Sir Thomas Johnstone Lipton, 1st Baronet (10 May 1848 – 2 October 1931) was a Scotsman of Ulster-Scots parentage who was a self-made man, as company founder of Lipton Tea, merchant, philanthropist and yachtsman who lost 5 straight America's Cup races. He engaged extensive advertising for his chain of tea stores and his brand of Lipton teas. He boasted that his secret for success was selling the best goods at the cheapest prices, harnessing the power of advertising, and always being optimistic. He was the most persistent challenger in the history of the America's Cup yacht race.

People

Pantheon has 68 people classified as British businesspeople born between 1636 and 1980. Of these 68, 29 (42.65%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living British businesspeople include Bernie Ecclestone, Richard Branson, and Ron Dennis. The most famous deceased British businesspeople include Cecil Rhodes, Andrew Carnegie, and Thomas Cook. As of April 2024, 16 new British businesspeople have been added to Pantheon including John Cockerill, Jim Ratcliffe, and Angus Ogilvy.

Living British Businesspeople

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Deceased British Businesspeople

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Newly Added British Businesspeople (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Businesspeople were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 25 most globally memorable Businesspeople since 1700.