Short answers, pulled from the story.
Thomas Lipton was a Scottish businessman born on the 10th of May 1848 in the Gorbals, Glasgow, who founded the Lipton Tea brand and became a major figure in late Victorian commerce. He is also remembered as the most persistent challenger in America's Cup history, entering five races between 1899 and 1930 without ever winning.
Lipton entered the tea trade in 1888 when his grocery chain had reached 300 stores. He bypassed the traditional wholesale channels concentrated in London's Mincing Lane and instead bought tea gardens directly in British Ceylon after visiting in 1890, allowing him to sell at unprecedentedly low prices to working-class customers.
Lipton challenged for the America's Cup five times between 1899 and 1930, sailing through the Royal Ulster Yacht Club with five successive yachts each named Shamrock. He never won, and was eventually presented with a specially designed cup recognising him as the best of all losers.
Lipton was born on the 10th of May 1848 in a tenement on Crown Street in the Gorbals, Glasgow. His parents were Ulster-Scots from the townland area near Roslea in County Fermanagh, Ireland, who had emigrated to Scotland after being forced to leave Ireland during the Great Famine of 1845.
During the First World War, Lipton placed his yachts at the disposal of the Red Cross, the Scottish Women's Hospitals Committee of Dr. Elsie Inglis, the Serbian Relief Fund, and other organisations to transport medical volunteers and supplies. He also personally travelled to Serbia during the typhus epidemic of 1914-1915 and was made an honorary citizen of the city of Nis.
Lipton died at Osidge on the 2nd of October 1931 and bequeathed the majority of his fortune to his native city of Glasgow. His yachting trophies are now on display at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. He left no children, so his baronetcy, created in 1902, died with him.