List of Quaker businesses, organizations and charities

This is a list of notable businesses, organizations or charities founded by Quakers. Many of these are no longer managed or influenced by Quakers. At the end of the article are businesses that have never had any connection to Quakers, although some people may believe that they did or still do.

Businesses, organizations or charities with Quaker origins

A

• Albright and Wilson, manufacturing chemists
• Allen & Hanburys, founded in London in 1715 by Quaker Silvanus Bevan and his brother Timothy; grew to be a leading pharmaceutical company with operations in Argentina, Australia, Britain, Canada, China, India and South Africa before being acquired by Glaxo Laboratories in 1958
• Alternatives to Violence Project, volunteer-run conflict transformation program started in a New York prison in 1975
• American Friends Service Committee, Quaker peace and social justice organization founded in 1917
• Amnesty International, human rights organization; Eric Baker was a founding partner

B

• Barclays Bank, finance^[1][2][3]
• Bethlehem Steel, founded by Quaker entrepreneur Joseph Wharton
• Bradshaw's, Victorian and Edwardian publisher of the most widely used railway timetables in Britain, Europe and India, founded by Quaker George Bradshaw
• Bryant and May, former match manufacturing company, founded by two Quakers, Francis May and William Bryant

C

• Cadbury plc, chocolate and drinks manufacturer, founded by Quaker John Cadbury, and expanded by Quaker sons Richard and George
• Canadian Friends Historical Association, association of Quakers and historians who seek to preserve and communicate the ongoing history and faith of Friends (Quakers) in Canada and their contribution to the Canadian experience
• Carr's, UK biscuit manufacturer^[4]
• Clarks, shoe manufacturer
• Coalbrookdale Company, iron manufacturer
• Cornell University, Ivy league educational institution in Ithaca, New York, US
• Crosfield's, British chemicals company founded in 1814 by Quaker Joseph Crosfield, now a subsidiary of Ineos

D

• Duane Morris, now one of the 100 largest law firms in the US, and still committed to Quaker values^[5]

F

• Friends Provident, life insurance company, founded by Quakers Samuel Tuke and Joseph Rowntree
• Furness Withy, British Marine Transport company, originally founded as Withy and Co., iron and steel shipbuilders, of West Hartlepool by Quaker brothers Henry Withy (1852-1922) and Edward Withy (1844-1927); grew to own in excess of a thousand ships

G

• Gilkes Wilson and Company, British locomotive manufacturer
• Greenpeace, campaigning environment organization; the four founding members include Irving Stowe^[6] and Dorothy Stowe of Vancouver Monthly Meeting.

H

• Hilton, Anderson, Brooks, & Co, Victorian cement producer, became the largest employer in Essex, England, founded by Quaker Edmund Wright Brooks
• Huntley and Palmers biscuits, manufacturer in Reading, Berkshire
• Huntsman, steel manufacturer
• Hussey Seating Co., a North Berwick, Maine manufacturer of stadium and gymnasium seating systems, founded by the Hussey family in 1835^[7]

I

• The Inman Line, Victorian passenger shipping line on the North Atlantic, founded in 1850 by Irish Quaker industrialist John Grubb Richardson and Englishman William Inman

J

• J. S. Fry & Sons, chocolate manufacturer
• John Fowler & Co., manufacturer of agricultural tools and machinery, founded by Quaker engineer and inventor John Fowler
• Johns Hopkins University, renowned private university in Baltimore, Maryland, originally started as a graduate university by Quaker abolitionist Johns Hopkins, early board positions were partly filled by Friends
• Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

L

• Lloyds Bank, finance^[8]

M

• Marigold Health Food, London-based health food distributor founded in 1975 by Quaker entrepreneur David Swinstead^[9]
• Merz & McLellan, British electrical engineering consultancy co-founded by Charles Hesterman Merz
• Miami Beach Improvement Company, first land developer in Miami Beach, founded in 1911 by Quaker John S. Collins
• Mount of Olives, Irish company founded by Richard Kimbell, imports and distributes olives from Jenin in the West Bank and distributes all profits to youth projects and schools

N

• Neptune Bank Power Station, designed by Merz & McLellan, first power station in the United Kingdom to generate three-phase electric power, and the first to supply electricity for industrial purposes rather than just lighting
• Neptune Works, also known as Wigham Richardson, a British shipbuilder founded in 1860 by John Wigham Richardson that pioneered steel construction for ships; it later merged with Swan Hunter to become the largest shipbuilder of its day
• Newcastle Electric Supply Company, founded by John Theodore Merz, pioneered the use of high-voltage three-phase AC power distribution in the United Kingdom

O

• Oxfam, charity^[10]

P

• PQ Corporation, chemical industry firm, founded as Philadelphia Quartz by Philadelphia Quaker businessman Joseph Elkinton in 1831^[11]

Q

• Queen City Oil Company, headquartered in Toronto, founded by Samuel and Elias Rogers and evolved into Imperial Oil, which is now the Canadian subsidiary of Exxon

R

• Renovaré, interfaith group founded by Richard J. Foster
• Robert Roberts, large Irish tea and coffee company founded in 1905 by the Quaker Goodbody family, with roots that reach back to the 1700s through a merger with Baker Wardell, founded by Quaker John Wardell^[12]
• Rogers Communications, Canadian media conglomerate
• Rogers Vacuum Tube Company, Canadian retailer and manufacturer of radio transmitters using alternating current vacuum tubes
• Rowntree's (now Rowntree Mackintosh, owned by Nestlé), chocolate manufacturer, founded by Quaker Joseph Rowntree

S

• Sandy Spring Bank, founded in 1868 by Quaker farmers, now the largest bank in the state of Maryland, USA^[13]
• Scott Bader Commonwealth, British manufacturer of advanced resins and composites, founded by Ernest Bader in 1951
• Sony (formerly Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo, or Tokyo Telecommunication Engineering, Co.), TTK's founding board president was Tamon Maeda, a Japanese Quaker, prewar Japanese ambassador to ILO, and postwar Minister of Education
• Stockton and Darlington Railway, established in 1825 by Quaker Edward Pease, operated the world's first permanent steam locomotive-hauled railway line
• Strawbridge and Clothier (now part of Macy's), department store chain, USA (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware)

W

• Waterford Crystal, former producer of crystal glass, founded by Quakers in 1783, closed in 1851; the modern Waterford Wedgwood was not founded by Quakers, being the merger of a separate Waterford Crystal company founded in 1947 by non-Quaker Charles Bacik, and Wedgwood, founded by the Unitarian, Josiah Wedgwood

Businesses with no Quaker connection

• Quaker Funds, investment firm^[14]
• Quaker Oats Company, food manufacturer
• Quaker State, motor oil brand
• Quaker Steak & Lube, casual dining restaurant chain based in Sharon, Pennsylvania

References

External links

• BBC article on Quakers successes in business
• Video of a lecture given by James Walvin "Quakers, business and morality" on 25 April 2005 at Gresham College, Barnard’s Inn Hall

Further reading

• The Biographical Dictionary of British Quakers in Commerce and Industry 1775-1920