While the name Anthony Bamford may not ring any bells for many people in the UK, his family’s company will definitely be familiar. The chairman of J.C. Bamford Excavators Ltd, also known as JCB, Anthony and his family have long been among the UK’s wealthiest and most politically connected.
With an estimated net worth of £7.5billion. according to Forbes, it makes the family among Britain’s richest and among the top 300 in the entire world. But with all that wealth, how did the family become so rich? Anthony came to inherit JCB from his father, Joseph Bamford, who set the company up in Staffordshire shortly after the Second World War. At just 30 years old, Anthony soon found himself having a knack for business and would take over the role as chairman in 1975.
Over the next five decades, the JCB brand would grow globally, from its origins in a small garage in Uttoxeter to 22 factories across continents. JCB now employs around 12,000 to 15,000 people across the globe and even has clients such as the U.S military.
Put frankly by Forbes: “The brand is so ingrained in British culture that a JCB is to a backhoe what a Kleenex is to a tissue.”
With that success comes even more wealth, and the family has seen their net worth rise from £1.7billion in 2016 to more than £7billion in 2025.
However, Anthony Bamford’s wealth is shared within the Bamford family through dividends from JCB and other family-related business ventures, including with his three children. His son Jo who owns Wrightbus, a bus manufacturer as well as a green hydrogen investment fund.
But outside of JCB, Bamford has been involved in his fair share of politics. He became a Conservative peer in the House of Lords in 2013, but last year stepped down to focus on running the business.
The businessman was also an outward supporter for Brexit and backed Boris Johnson on several of his campaigns, donating millions of pounds to the Conservative Party and even finding Boris’s accommodation after he stepped down as Prime Minister.
However, late last year, the former Lord made many Tories sweat after it was revealed that JCB paid £8,000 for a private helicopter ride for Nigel Farage and one of his aides.
The company said the Clacton MP had been given the helicopter trip to tour a JCB site, and that the firm, but a spokesman for Farage told The Guardian that “Nigel and Lord Bamford are friends.”
Although Bamford is not thought to have personally attended Farage’s conference earlier this week, in the corner of the hall, there was a huge display of the JCB PotholePro, echoing a sign that the Bamford funds may have found a new party.