William Whiteley

Whiteley was a retail entrepreneur having started his own business with the purchase of a ‘fancy goods’ (drapery) shop in 1863. He operated from Westbourne Grove in Bayswater, London and over the next decade his customer base grew significantly along with his property expansion and by 1867, his retail outlets occupied a row of shops along Westbourne Grove, comprising 17 separate departments.

By 1872, the business had expanded to offer dressmaking and its first ventures beyond textiles followed with the addition of a house agency, decorating, food and a delivery service. ‘Whiteleys’ first opened its doors to the public in 1911 as London’s first luxury department store and at its height, there were 6,000 staff employed with the majority living in company-owned dormitories. The store was described as “an immense symposium of the arts and industries of the nation and of the world”.

On Thursday 24th January 1907 at about half past noon, a young, well-dressed man entered the store and found his way to the desk of David Goodman, William Whiteley’s chief cashier . He demanded to see the entrepreneur and mastermind behind the huge retail empire and department store he was now standing in. After being beckoned into his office, the door was closed leaving the two men alone to talk. The stranger, who was not known to Whiteley, claimed he was his illegitimate son and was therefore entitled to some financial recompense. At a few minutes after 1 o’clock, the door flung open with Whiteley asking one of his clerks to call the police. Whiteley was not in fear for his life at this point as the intruder had only threatened to kill himself if the businessman failed to comply with his demands. However, as the two men stood outside the office, the following exchange was heard, “Is that your final word?” asked one voice, “Yes” came the reply. “Then you are a dead man”.

With that, the man pulled out a revolver from inside his frock coat and shot Whiteley twice in the head at close range, killing him instantly. He then turned the gun on himself and pulled the trigger.

William Whiteley was 76 and the man who claimed to be related to him was 27-year-old Horace George Rayner. He, however, survived the attempt on his own life and after recovering sufficiently from the ordeal, stood trial for murder on 18th March that year. The court heard from various sources that indicated how there could have been some truth in Rayner’s claim but the testimonies failed to be robust enough to convince the jury. One source reveals that the jury took nine minutes to reach their verdict of guilty.

Pleading insanity, he was found not to be at the trial after being examined and interviewed by Dr. Thomas Claye Shaw, and he was sentenced to death for murder. However, his execution was commuted to a life term in prison on the recommendation of the Home Secretary after support grew for Rayner in the public eye and a petition for clemency raised 200,000 signatures in the first week. In all though, he served just 12 years and was discharged on 17th March 1919 aged 39.

When William Whiteley died, his will was read and it was discovered that he’d left a £1 million legacy to provide homes for older people of limited financial means, in need of a home. Well over £100 million at today's value, this led to the purchase of land and the building of Whiteley Village in Hersham, near Walton on Thames in Surrey.

Our first resident was Eliza Palmer, a retired nurse, who moved into her cottage on 10th October 1917. Since then, Whiteley Village has survived two World Wars, hosted two royal visits and completed two cottage refurbishment programmes. Today the almshouse village is home to over 400 older people who meet the admissions criteria of our charity, in Almshouse cottages and extra-care apartments in Huntley House.