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Joseph Rank was born in March 1854 at his father's flour mill on the Holderness Road in Hull. On his father James' death in 1874, Joseph inherited £500 from an estate of some £30,000 and the following year he started business on his own account by renting a windmill on the Holderness Road. Initially his business was not succesful, but in 1883 Joseph saw his first roller mill and immediately saw the great advantage to be gained by grinding with steel rollers in preference to millstones. He also saw that if the process could be automated the possibilities were enormous.

1883 also saw his conversion to Methodism and once his business prospered he was generous in his support of various aspects of the work of the Methodist Church, initially from his own pocket and then from the various charitable trusts that he established. In 1934 Joseph Rank settled £150,000 stock on trustees for grants to local charities and for pensions to poor people in, and within two miles of Hull from which the payments from the Benevolant Fund were made.

In 1880 Joseph married Emily Voase to whom he was married for 35 years until her death in 1915. Joseph died in 1943 having shunned publicity or recognition of his work all of his life.

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