Montague Burton

Born Meshe David Osinsky and a Lithuanian Jew in Kurkliai, Kaunas province, he came alone to the United Kingdom in 1900 to escape the Russian pogroms. He was well-educated, having studied in a yeshiva, but arrived unable to speak English.

In 1901, he was staying in Cheetham Hill, Manchester. He started as a pedlar, then set up as a general outfitter in Chesterfield in 1903 selling readymade suits bought from a wholesaler.

Following his marriage to Sophie Marks in 1909 the name of the company was changed from M. Burton to Burton & Burton. On the birth of his twin boys in 1917, he gave his name as Montague Maurice Burton. However, he had not changed his name legally, which caused problems during the First World War.

By 1913 Burton had five men's tailor shops with headquarters in Sheffield and manufacturing in Leeds. He had four hundred shops, factories, and mills, by 1929, when the company went public. His firm made a quarter of the British military uniforms during World War II and a third of demobilisation clothing.

In 1909, he married Sophia Amelia Marks: they had one daughter, Barbara (1910), and three sons, Stanley (1914) and twins Raymond and Arnold (1917).