Thomas Spencer

Spencer (1852 – 25 July 1905) was a founder of Marks and Spencer, a major British retailer. He was born in Skipton, Yorkshire who married Agnes Spencer Whitfield at St Saviour, Cross Green, Leeds in 1892.
He was a cashier from the wholesale company I.J Dewhirst and in 1894 he joined Michael Marks to form Marks and Spencer. Spencer decided that the £300 required for a half-share in the business would be a good investment.
The running of the business was split between Spencer, who managed the office and warehouse, and Marks, who continued to run the market stalls. 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. Together, Spencer and Marks were able to open stores in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Middlesbrough, Sheffield, Bristol, Hull, Sunderland and Cardiff.
A new warehouse in Manchester was built in 1897. This store became the centre of a business empire that by then included thirty-six branches. New stores had been built in Bradford, Leicester, Northampton, Preston, and Swansea. London had a total of seven branches.
In 1903 Marks & Spencer became a limited company. Spencer's original £300 investment had grown to a value of £15,000, and he retired later that year.
Spencer's wife Agnes was born in the village of Marton, North Yorkshire. The couple met and married in Leeds. Agnes funded charitable work such as the Church of St Agnes in Easterside. She died in 1959 and is buried in the graveyard of St Cuthbert's Parish Church in Marton.

Michael Marks

Marks was born in Slonim, at that time part of the Russian Empire and now in Belarus, as Michał Marks of Jewish ancestry, and emigrated to England. His date of birth is unknown; his naturalisation papers say 1859, but his marriage certificate suggests 1863 or 1864. He moved to Leeds where a company called Barran was known to employ Jewish refugees. He married Hannah Cohen at the Great Synagogue on Belgrave Street, Leeds, in 1886.
Marks met Isaac Dewhirst, the owner of a Leeds warehouse, in 1884. A deal was arranged whereby Marks agreed to buy goods from Dewhirst and to sell them in nearby villages. The venture was a success and enabled Marks to raise enough capital to establish a stall in Leeds' open market. He also sold goods at Castleford and Wakefield markets.
Marks also made the decision to rent an area at the new covered market in Leeds, which traded six days of the week. Famously, one of his stalls sold goods that cost only one penny. Next to the stall was a poster with the words "Don't Ask the Price, It's a Penny". Over the next few years, Marks expanded his business and opened similar stalls in covered market halls all over Yorkshire and Lancashire.