John George Sears
John George Sears (1870–1916) was a shoe manufacturer and the founder of Sears plc, which was one of the United Kingdom's largest retail businesses.
Career
Born in Northampton and educated at the local elementary school, John Sears became an apprentice with the Manfield Company. In 1891 he set up his own business as a boot-maker with the help of his younger brother, William, trading under the name J. Sears & Co. In 1897 he opened his first retail outlet and by 1900 he had established his first shop in London. He expanded the business rapidly particularly on the retail side and soon had 2,000 shops branded as Trueform.
In 1913 he bought Collingtree Grange in Northamptonshire. The House was demolished in the mid-20th century and the grounds now form part of Collingtree Park with a golf course. He died in 1916 at the early age of 46 and is buried at St.Columba's Church in Collingtree.
Family
In 1896 he married Caroline Wooding and they had a daughter and two sons.
References
George W. Sears
George Washington Sears (December 2, 1821 – May 1, 1890) was a sportswriter for Forest and Stream magazine in the 1880s and an early conservationist. His stories, appearing under the pen name, "Nessmuk" popularized self-guided canoe camping tours of the Adirondack lakes in open, lightweight solo canoes and what is today called ultralight camping.
Canoeing had been popularized by Scottish lawyer John MacGregor in the 1860s, but the typical canoe trip of the day employed expert guides and heavy canoes. Sears, who was 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m) tall and 103 pounds (47 kg) had a 9-foot-long (2.7 m), 10 1⁄2-pound (4.8 kg) solo canoe built by J. Henry Rushton of Canton, New York. He named it the Sairy Gamp (the name of a Dickens character) and in it he completed a 266-mile (428 km) journey through the central Adirondacks. He was 62 years old and in frail health (tuberculosis and asthma) at the time. William Henry Harrison Murray's Adventures in the Wilderness, published in 1869, had praised the Adirondacks as having a healthy atmosphere for consumptives and Verplanck Colvin's enthusiastic writing about the Adirondack wilderness had further inspired the trip. The Sairy Gamp was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution and is now on loan to the Adirondack Museum.
John George
John George may refer to:
Americans
Britons
John George (racing driver)
John George (born 22 March 1961) is a Cornish mobile phone entrepreneur and race car driver, best known for driving in the British Touring Car Championship.
Racing career
Early years
He raced in the Elf Clio Renaultsport UK Cup for Mardi Gras in 2002 and 2003, without much success. He also did some EERC Endurance races for them in 2003/2004 winning the saloon car class. He also did Britcar in 2005 winning his class in the Britcar/Silverstone 24hr and coming 2nd in 2006.
British Touring Car Championship
Mardi Gras Motorsport (2004)
George made his British Touring Car Championship debut in 2004, his entry for Mardi Gras was notable as the first car to use Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) fuel. He drove both a Honda Civic Type-R and a Peugeot 406 during the season. A 2005 ride for Vic Lee Racing fell through when Lee was jailed for drug-dealing.
TH Motorsport (2007–2009)
In 2007 he returned to the BTCC claiming the TH Motorsport team's first ever BTCC points, with a top finish of 8th, and two pole starts in the reverse grid format, driving an ex-Matt Neal Honda Integra for the TH Motorsport team.
John George (died 1677)
John George (1594–1677) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1626 and 1678.
George was the eldest surviving son of Robert George of Baunton and his wife Margaret Oldisworth, daughter of Edward Oldisworth of Gloucester. He was baptised on 15 September 1594. He was awarded BA from Magdalen Hall, Oxford on 6 July 1614. He entered Middle Temple on 1 July 1615 and was called to the bar on 23 May 1623. He was Lord of the Manor of Baunton and a J.P. and Deputy Lieutenant for Gloucestershire.
In 1626 George was elected Member of Parliament for Cirencester, and was re-elected in 1628 until 1629 when King Charles decided to rule without parliament for eleven years. In April 1640, he was re-elected MP for Cirencester in the Short Parliament and in November 1640 he was re-elected for the Long Parliament. In August 1642, he formed a garrison for Parliament at Cirencester, but was captured by Prince Rupert in the spring of 1643 and taken to Oxford. The Earl of Forth threatened to execute George if Colonel Fiennes, the parliamentary governor of Bristol, executed his prisoners. Although Fiennes did put his prisoners to death, the Earl of Forth relented and spared George. George thereupon changed his views and supported the king. He was accordingly disabled from sitting in parliament and retired to his estates. He became a bencher of his inn in November 1653 and Treasurer in November 1658.
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