John Spedan Lewis

Who was John Spedan Lewis?

John Spedan Lewis was an English businessman and the founder of the John Lewis Partnership.

The elder of two sons of John Lewis, who had opened the John Lewis department store on Oxford Street, London, Spedan Lewis joined the business at 19 and in 1914 assumed control of his father's second shop, Peter Jones in Sloane Square, London.

After assuming control of the Oxford Street store with his father's death in 1928, Spedan Lewis officially formed the John Lewis Partnership, and began the distribution of profits among its employees in 1929, and completed the move towards employee-ownership in 1950, with the transfer of control to the employees.

Spedan Lewis resigned as chairman in 1955, and was known within the company from that point on as "The Founder". In retirement, he lived at Longstock Park, near the village of Longstock in Hampshire until his death. In accordance with his wishes he was buried at sea.