Thomas Spencer (businessman)

[1] He moved to Leeds before he was 21 and worked as a book-keeper for a wholesale company started by Isaac Jowitt Dewhirst.

[1] Spencer decided that the £300 required for a half-share in the business would be a good investment.

Spencer had developed some important contacts while working for Isaac Dewhirst and these allowed him to get the best prices for goods by dealing directly with the manufacturers.

[5] Whitfield was born in the village of Marton, now a part of Middlesbrough.

His wife continued to fund charitable work such as the Church of St Agnes in Easterside, Middlesbrough, after his death, and died in 1959, now buried in the graveyard of St Cuthbert's Parish Church in Marton.