Joseph Rowntree (Senior) (10 June 1801 – 4 November 1859) was an English shopkeeper and educationalist. Rowntree was born in Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England, the son of the Quakers John Rowntree (1757–1827) and his wife, Elizabeth Lotherington (1764–1835). He was educated at two-day schools in Scarborough, his parents not being in a position to send him to the Quaker Ackworth School. By the age of 13 he was assisting his father and his brother John in the grocery business on Bland's Cliff, which his father had established.