Robert Hyde Greg

Robert Hyde Greg (24 September 1795 – 21 February 1875), was an English industrialist, economist, antiquary, and - briefly - a Member of Parliament.

Born in Manchester, he was the son of Samuel Greg and Hannah Lightbody, the creators of Quarry Bank Mill, a pioneering factory of the early Industrial Revolution.

His family were Unitarians, part of the prosperous dissenting community that characterised the entrepreneurial class of factory owners.

He attended the University of Edinburgh and, after the obligatory Grand Tour of the antiquities of Continental Europe, joined his father's textile manufacturing enterprise.

He was active in the city's intellectual life as a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society and was a founder of its Mechanics' Institute.