John Hargreaves JP (22 October 1800 – 18 December 1874) was an English carrier, railway entrepreneur and manufacturing businessman.
[2] In later years the Hargreaves purchased the Selwood Park[a] Estate in Sunninghill, Berkshire.
[1][2] Hargreaves died in 1874, aged 74, leaving eight surviving children and his widow well provided for, his fortune amounting to £600,000.
[4] In the 1830s Hargreaves was already an established carrier in his own right based at Castlefield Wharf, Manchester, on the Bridgewater Canal.
"[6] The Liverpool & Manchester Railway (L&MR), which chose to carry all goods on its own account and exclude carriers, nevertheless contracted with Hargreaves so that he had the exclusive right to all traffic to Bolton and Leigh, thereby creating a monopoly.
[6][7] Ransom reports that the "controversy went on for years over the extent to which steam railways should either admit carriers, to avoid monopoly and keep rates down, or should not admit them, so that all trains and vehicles should be under the control of the railway company in the interest of safety....