Whiteley’s Folly

The Life and Death of a Salesman.

This is the rags to riches to murder story of William Whiteley, founder of Whiteleys stores Bayswater. This iconic larger-than-life character started his business with just one small shop and went on to manage an empire covering fourteen acres and employing 6,000 people.

What was the secret of his success?

And was genial Mr Whiteley quite the ‘jolly good fellow’ he purported to be?

The world was shocked, when, in 1907 he was gunned down in his shop by Horace Rayner, a young man claiming to be his illegitimate son, and secrets emerged which Mr Whiteley would much rather have remained hidden.