William Miller Christy (1778–1858) was an English Quaker hat and textile manufacturer, known also as a banker. He is credited with the invention of the penny receipt-stamp.[1]
He was the second son of Miller Christy (1748–1820) and Ann Rist.[2] The Christy family had a hat-making business at 35 Gracechurch Street, and Christy himself was apprenticed to a hatter.[3]
The firm developed manufacturing interests in Bermondsey and Stockport, and Christy was a founder of the London Joint Stock Bank.[4] In 1824 he was a founder of Christy, Lloyd & Co, the Stockport and East Cheshire Bank, with Isaac Lloyd and two other partners. The immediate challenge of the panic of 1825 was handled with the support of Hanbury & Co., the bank's London associates.[5]
The bank was sold in 1829, and Christy acquired capital, with which he entered the cotton business, in Stockport and then Droylsden. The enterprise later made a major success of the Christy towel.[3] In 1841 the Christy Bermondsey works was reputedly the largest manufacturer of hats in the world and had 500 employees;[6][7] silk coverings for hats were made in Stockport, and the factory there had more workers.[8] The business dropped off later in the century, as the beaver hat went out of style.[9]
Miller married Ann Fell, and they had seven sons and three daughters. The second son was Henry Christy.[2]
