Sir Edmund Vestey, 1st Baronet

Who was Sir Edmund Vestey, 1st Baronet?

Sir Edmund Hoyle Vestey, 1st Baronet was an English food producer and importer and shipowner, co-founder of Vestey Brothers.

Vestey was born in Liverpool, the fifth child of provision merchant Samuel Vestey and younger brother of William Vestey, later to become his business partner. He was educated at the Liverpool Institute and then joined his father's firm in 1883. He was soon given the management of his father's corned beef cannery in Chicago. In 1890 he joined William in his new business of importing refrigerated meat from Argentina. The Union Cold Storage Company was to become one of the world's largest cold storage operations. They began to diversify into other food products and in 1906 also began importing from China. In 1909 they purchased two tramp steamers for the China trade and converted them into refrigerated ships. This was the beginning of the Blue Star Line, which was registered in 1911. They set up their own cattle ranches in Argentina. By 1925 the Blue Star Line was the largest refrigerated fleet in the world. In the United Kingdom the Vestey brothers owned 2,365 butcher's shops.