Eddie Stobart
Eddie Stobart | |
---|---|
Born | Edward Pears Stobart July 1929 Cumberland, England |
Died | 25 November 2024 | (aged 95)
Years active | 1940–1989 |
Known for | Founder of Stobart |
Spouse |
Nora Boyd (m. 1951) |
Children | 4, including Edward and William |
Edward Pears Stobart (July 1929 – 25 November 2024) was a British businessman who started an agriculture business in the late 1940s. This became Eddie Stobart Limited in 1970 and expanded to a haulage company during the 1970s with the help of his late son Edward Stobart who gradually took over the running of the company.
Life and career
[edit]Stobart was born in Cumberland (now Cumbria) in July 1929.[1][2] Stobart married Nora Boyd on 26 December 1951, and they lived in Cumbria. They had four children: Anne (born 1952), John (1953–2022), Edward (1954–2011) and William (born 1961).
In 1960, Stobart bought his first lorry (a Guy Invincible four-wheeler truck) second-hand from the local garage, and had it re-painted in his choice of colours: post office red and Brunswick green. He took over the collection of basic slag (a waste product of steelworks used as fertiliser) when local company Harrison Ivinson went out of business, and purchased two Ford Thames Trader trucks which were also painted in his favourite colours with his logo on the doors. A contract with ICI for storage of basic slag in 1963 enabled expansion of the business, and it became a limited company: Eddie Stobart Limited in November 1970 with a share value of ten thousand pounds. In 1978 with a downturn in the Economy Eddie had eight vehicles on the road along with a leased vehicle to Pickervance.[3]
Until 1976, Stobart continued to run the company, before son Edward took over running the transport side.[4]
Eddie Stobart died on 25 November 2024, at the age of 95.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ "Millom celebrates VE Day with action..." Eskdale & Liddesdale Advertiser. 11 August 2005. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ "Edward Pears Stobart". Companies House. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- ^ Noel Davidson (1998). Only the Best will do: The Eddie Stobart Story, pages 76, 88 and 124. Ambassador, ISBN 978-1-84030-043-7.
- ^ "Charting the impact of the rise of Eddie Stobart down the years..." Times and Star. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2024.
- ^ Rawlinson, Ollie (6 December 2024). "Eddie Stobart, founder of the iconic haulage firm, dies at 95". News and Star. Retrieved 6 December 2024.