Sir John Barran, 1st Baronet

Sir John Barran, 1st Baronet (3 August 1821 – 3 May 1905) was a British clothing manufacturer and Liberal Party politician.

In 1876, he was returned to Parliament as one of three representatives for Leeds, a seat he held until 1885, and later sat for Otley from 1886 to 1895, when he was created a baronet, of Chapel Allerton Hall in Chapel Allerton in the West Riding of the County of York and Queen's Gate, St Mary Abbots parish, in Kensington in the County of London.

Later Barran moved his factory to Park Row and in 1869 bought land to the south of the recently widened Boar Lane.

[citation needed] In 1877 he bought 8 houses at Park Square and employed Thomas Ambler again to design a new factory and warehouse in a Spanish Moorish style that is still there.

[1] In addition to the adult market, John Barran & Sons produced children’s clothing, mainly boys suits and school uniforms but also some girlswear and fancy dress, with its juvenile wear contributing to a successful export market to Canada, Australia, South Africa, South America and Europe.

[3] By the 1870s he had 2,000 machines, and in 1904 he employed 3,000 people,[citation needed] and between 1873 and 1900 the firm registered more than 380 designs for boys'clothing, more than any other company.