Austin was an illiterate who had begun his working life on a farm as a scarecrow paid 1 penny per day,[8] and had worked his way up to become a drainage contractor.[9] The company was established as a for-profit joint stock company, with the objective of building new houses for the working classes "in consequence of the destruction of houses by railroads and other improvements".[9][10] The company aimed to fuse the designs of rural planned suburbs such as Bedford Park with the ethos of high-quality homes for the lower classes pioneered at Saltaire.[11] Whilst earlier philanthropic housing companies such as the Peabody Trust and the Improved Industrial Dwellings Company focused on multi-storey blocks of flats in the inner cities, the Artizans Company aimed to build low-rise housing in open countryside alongside existing railway lines to allow workers to live in the countryside and commute into the city.[12] The company attracted the attention of Lord Shaftesbury, who served as president until 1875.[9]