George Harold Winterbottom was an Edwardian business magnate, who dominated global bookcloth manufacture for bookbinding, making him "one of the wealthiest men of England".

[3] Winterbottom seized the opportunity to effectively monopolise the production and supply of high quality bookcloth, which facilitated a country life for himself as a gentleman farmer and philanthropist.

According to contemporary accounts, it was clear from the outset that he was determined to learn everything possible about bookcloth production, which was to prove crucial in running the company when his father died five years later.

[11] Winterbottom focused his attention on stabilising the bookcloth market and exploring new business, while his brother consolidated existing production, principally from Victoria Mills.

Bookcloth production from Victoria Mills was strong but uneconomic as a result of severe downward pressure on prices caused by the intense competition.

[c] By 1890, Winterbottom had managed to align a syndicate to control prices consisting of the top four bookcloth companies, including some smaller operators in England.

[16][17] At the age of thirty in the space of four years, with ruthless efficiency, Winterbottom had ensured that The WBCC dominated bookcloth trade in Britain and America for the next century and that his brand became the global standard for bookbinding.

This view was supported by a group of New England cotton merchants, who opened Interlaken Mills, in Arkwright, Rhode Island with the express intent of supplying bookcloth to the local printing and bookbinding industry.

[28] As production began, Interlaken Mills gradually obtained an increasing share in the US market for bookcloth, threatening the dominance of importation from Winterbottom.

[32] Winterbottom continued to grow and consolidate the business in Rhode Island, fending off competition in 1904 with record sales over the next ten years, earning him large sums of money.

[37] Winterbottom would tolerate no compromise on quality control, with all production standards set by Victoria Mills, which were subsequently applied to the ten other factories in the Group.

Significant investment in new machinery and changes in production methods were required at Interlaken Mills and the Bamberg Works, keeping up with emerging technologies and markets, while maintaining strict quality control.

[k] The US Government commissioned a study on the industry in 1899 and found that world trade was divided largely between Winterbottom and two or three German firms, who also sourced their best grades from Manchester.

Over the same period that he was confronting business adversaries with ruthless efficiency around the world, he was also pushing for social reform closer to home,[45] providing medical care for the poor,[46] arguing in public for improved conditions for workers and their families.

[57] Winterbottom and Minnie spent the next ten years alternating between living in London and Manchester,[n] and travelling together for extended breaks to the US in 1892, 1894 and 1896 aboard Majestic.

[68] As a child, Winterbottom had always been a keen sportsman, playing cricket at school,[94] at County level since his early twenties,[95][96] and as an "Old Player" at Horton,[97] sponsoring annual matches with the local constabulary.