Frank Harris Fulford was an entrepreneur, art collector and businessman. Born in Canada in 1868, Fulford was educated in Leipzig then he returned to Brockville, a city in Eastern Ontario, where he worked as a dealer in music. [1] He married sometime before 1902 and had three children. [1] An older brother to Charles Edward Fulford, he moved to Leeds, in England, during 1902 to manage the British division of Charles's manufacturing business, C. E. Fulford Limited. [2] The company produced patent medicines, manufacturing products including Bile Beans and Zam-Buk ointment, and was first established in the UK in 1899 after achieving success in Australia. [3] The company undertook an unsuccessful court action, and a later appeal, against an Edinburgh pharmacist in 1905 but it continued to trade and prosper despite the judge opining that the business was "founded on, and conducted by fraud". [4] A year later after the sudden death of his wealthy brother, Charles, Fulford took up the reins of the family business. [1] [a] He purchased Headingley Castle, Leeds, in 1909 and it became the family's main residence. [1]
A love of music remained a constant factor in Fulford's life; he had been a skilled viola player from a young age and he composed the music for the Bile Bean March, part of the marketing campaign of the company, in 1898. [1] While studying in Leipzig he began collecting modern and classical chamber music from all over the world; the collection was donated to the library at Leeds University in 1936 [2] after ill health meant he was unable to play instruments. [1]
A founder member of Leeds Art Collections Fund, Fulford was also a collector of Chinese jade and other objet d'art. [2] He donated several items to be displayed in the Blue Drawing Room at the Temple Newsam museum in 1939. [2]
Fulford died at Headingley Castle, Leeds, in August 1943. [2] His wife, Lily, [8] and a daughter, Frances, [9] survived him; [2] his estate amounted to more than £198,000. [10] [b] A son, Jack, predeceased him in 1940. [2]