Mr Fred Crisp Entrepreneur and Trainer

Fred Crisp (1849-1905), Entrepreneur and Trainer, was born in Willingham, Cambridgeshire, the son of working class parents. He moved to London to become an apprentice in a business in St. Paul's Churchyard, London, and went on to open a shop on Seven Sisters Road, North London, in 1875. During his career, he acquired approximately twenty six shops and, in 1894, Crisp & Co. became one of the largest emporiums in London. Crisp bought numerous properties in Cambridgeshire and became a farmer and stockbreeder with four thousand acres under cultivation and was a member of the Royal Agricultural Society. He was an owner of racehorses, the most famous being 'Chancellor' and was an acclaimed breeder of shire horses, some of which he sold to Queen Victoria and the future King Edward VII, and cattle. In 1901, he was Deputy Lieutenant, J.P. and High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire (1898). He died a wealthy man in 1905.

Born of humble stock.... he came to London and began to make money.... He has sixty acres of land and a mile or two of grass. He has been seen with the hounds, and he has been asked to stand for Parliament.

Vanity Fair, 'Men of the Day', No. 566, 1893.