Early Life
Christy was born at Kingston upon Thames, the second son of William Miller Christy of Woodbines, a Quaker banker who started out in hat manufacture with interests in Stockport, before becoming a financier.
Trained to business by his father, Henry Christy became a partner in the house of Christy & Co. in Gracechurch Street, and succeeded his father as a director of the London Joint-Stock Bank. He was still a board member of the bank at the end of his life, despite other activities. Henry contributed to the success of the family firm, known as W. M. Christy & Sons Ltd. once his father took it over. Samples of textiles he brought home from the Ottoman Empire provided the idea for looped cotton towelling, taken up by his brother Richard, and amenable to mechanical manufacture with a technique devised by an employee. Christy also innovated with woven silk rather than beaver for the manufacture of top hats.
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