Joseph Brotherton

Who was Joseph Brotherton?

Joseph Brotherton was a reforming British politician, Nonconformist minister and pioneering vegetarian.

He was born in Whittington, near Chesterfield, Derbyshire, and was the son of John Brotherton, an excise collector, and his wife Mary. In 1789 the family moved to Salford, Lancashire, where John Brotherton established a cotton and silk mill.

Joseph received no formal education, instead joining the family firm, of which he became a partner in 1802. On the death of his father in 1809 he went into partnership with his cousin William Harvey. In 1806 he married his business partner's sister, Martha.