HOMFRAY TRUST
We work with the Homfray Trust; a charity created by Henry Homfray over a century ago
A little history: Homfray & Co. became a company in the 18th Century when Francis Homfray
started iron mining at Penydarren. In 1804 Samuel Homfray took delivery of an engine from Richard Trevithick which he used to win a bet against his father in law, famously the richest man in England, to build the world's first locomotive. In winning his bet Samuel delivered the World's first locomotive journey on the works tramway, running a train thirteen miles and winning Samuel a thousand guinea bet. Thirty years later Robert Stephenson found a practical use for Samuel's invention.
Henry Homfray founded the second incarnation of Homfray & Co in1891. He returned to Yorkshire (the family home notwithstanding the peripatetic Samuel and his siblings) with his wife Marie Theresa Woodward to produce carpets around Halifax. The company expanded to employ over three thousand people in Yorkshire as well as having operations in Portugal, Pakistan and Australia. In 1952 Homfray & Co. was the first company to make carpets by the tufting process on a narrow machine at Albert Mill, Halifax.
Today the Homfray Trust supports charitable funds and organisations connected with Yorkshire. Henry Homfray's great grandson, David Murray Wells, acts as trustee.