The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-02-10
WHITLEY TRADE ROMANCE
Policy to Supply Everything Needed
From Birth Until Death.
New York AmericanO

The death of William Whiteley, who
was assassinated recently. removes the
dominant figure in the retail world of
england. The name of Whitley had
become d household word and the
Universal Provider" furnished the
material for jokes and jests and stories
of all kinds.
Whitley was the pioneer department
store merchant of England. He was
porn on farm near Wakefield, York
shire. in 1881, and was apprenticed to a
dry goods merchant there. At the ex-
pIration of his apprenticeship. when he
was 20 years old, Whitley went to
London with $50 i'm his pocket He OBJ
tanned employment, saved some more
money and then borrowed from friends,
and, with a capital of $500, opened a
Westbourne Grove in the then thinly
populated West End Of London. This
store was opened in 1868. and whitley
had two women assistants and a boy.
Four years later he added a second
store to the original establishment, and
gradually expanded his business until
the Whitley stores covered huge
block and gave employment to 5000
persons.
Whitley claimed that he could pro-
vide anything from a needle to an ele-
plant. His innovations so enraged 9TH
er shopkeepers of his neighborhood
that he was publicly burned in effigy.
| In 1899 the business was. transformed
into limited liability company, with
Whitley as chairman of the board of
control and his son William as secre-
tary. The capitalization of the COM
pany was $4,5O0000. whitley was the
active head of the business up to the
moment of his death. He could be
| found at his store up to o'clock IN
the evening five days in the week.
The policy of the store was to supply
everything needed by man or woman
from birth to death, including medical
| attendance and the funeral. 1t sup
piled servants. actors, tutors. cOuriers,
! governesses and all classes Of employees;
did an express business; sold railroad
and steamship tickets, and even a
yacht, If one desired TO travel that way
| One of the stories told concerning him
| is that a wager was made by an Eng
/ lish officer to a messmate that the uni
versal Provider' could furnish anything
he could name. The wager was accept
ed and the officer named elephants as
the article to be called for at the
Whitley store.
The first officer said he felt certain
that Whitley could furnish them and
| after privately communicating with the
merchant, took the second officer to the
store.
/ elephants? Certainly" said the
clerk who met them and led them tc
the basement. where six elephants were
chained. whitley had secured then
from a menagerie
In answer to the charge Of unfairness
in investing in so many businesses
whitley once said:
ct believe in man Investing his
money in any way that he sees fit. but
II should be invested and not hoardeC
up. He should circulate pay rent anC
taxes, increase the trade in gas. Goa
and water, and give employment to the
greatest number of people possible.
do not own TO any limit The world I:
my parish. and l have a perfect righ
to do business I'm any or all parts of it
in as many ways as / think proper. 81
that do il honorably and lawfully"