William Henry Smith (1792–1865)

He was born at Little Thurlow, Suffolk, but ran his business in London, where he died.

His parents established a news vendor in Little Grosvenor Street, London, the precursor of W H Smith in 1792.

In 1816 his mother died and the business was equally divided between him and his brother Henry Edward Smith.

[2] Book stalls at railway stations proved an especially successful endeavour.

[4] In 1817, William Henry married Mary Ann Cooper, a rigorous practitioner of Wesley's Protestantism: they married at St George's, Hanover Square and eventually they had eight children: seven girls, and one boy, who was also named William Henry Smith.