Entrepreneur. He was the founder of William Whiteley Limited, a department store at Queensway in London. His father was a prosperous corn dealer, the family therefore enjoying a healthy open-air life. His parents apprenticed him to Harnew & Glover, a drapery firm in Wakefield. In 1851, he traveled to London to experience the Great Exhibition, which fired his imagination, particularly the magnificent displays of manufactured goods. On completion of his apprenticeship, he traveled to London with about $10 in his pocket. After working for various companies to learn all aspects of the trade, he saved about $700, which was enough to start his own business. He opened his first shop in Westbourne Grove, with two girls in the shop and one boy running errands. In 1867, he acquired a row of shops and turned them into 17 departments, including dressmaking, a house agency and refreshment room. Between 1875 until 1876, he began to sell food and a decorating department was added, which proved very lucrative. By 1890 over 6,000 staff were employed in the business. In 1896, he earned an unsolicited warrant from Queen Victoria. He had purchased some two hundred and thirty-four acres of land at Hanworth for farming and to house employees. By the mid-1890s, a series of small fires were started in his stores as a result of arson. In 1897, disaster struck and the store was burnt to the ground, but a new store rose up from the flames like a Phoenix from the fire and opened as "the largest store in the world" on November 21, 1911. He did not see the store reopen as he was shot to death in his office. He met his death by the hand of Horace George Rayner, who claimed that he was Whiteley's illegitimate son and was in dire need of a job, but was rejected by Whiteley. Rayner attempted suicide before the police arrived, and sources state he was carrying at the time of his arrest the documents to prove his relationship. Convicted of murder, Rayner was originally sentenced to death but after over 200,000 signatures petitioned for his reprieve, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment with him being released on medical grounds in 1919, serving 11 years, 9 months, 16 days. After Whiteley's death, his two sons managed the business but sold the business in 1927 to the American Harry Selfridge. In his will he left what would be over $110 million in 2021, with which the town of Whiteley, a retirement village near Walton-on-Thames in Surrey, was created. One of the shop girls, Sarah Hill, became his wife on March 2, 1867 and they had two daughters and two sons before they separated. He did have extramarital relationships with at least one more son than the three mentioned.