Alfred Dunhill was an English tobacconist, entrepreneur and inventor.
23 Facts About Alfred Dunhill
2.
From 1893 Alfred Dunhill ran a company selling motoring accessories, and in 1902 opened a shop in Mayfair.
3.
Alfred Dunhill developed a pipe designed for motorists in 1904.
4.
Alfred Dunhill opened a tobacconist's shop in St James's in 1907, offering tailored tobacco blends.
5.
Alfred Dunhill retired from business in 1929, and married his mistress in 1945, following the death of his wife.
6.
Alfred Dunhill was born on 30 September 1872 at 2 Church Path, Hornsey, Middlesex.
7.
Alfred Dunhill was the second son of five children of Henry Dunhill, a master blind-maker, and his wife and cousin, Jane, nee Styles.
8.
Alfred Dunhill's father occupied premises on Euston Road, manufacturing harnesses for horses.
9.
Alfred Dunhill was educated at The Lower School of John Lyon in Harrow on the Hill and by tutors until he was 15, when he was apprenticed to his father's business.
10.
In 1893, Alfred Dunhill inherited his father's business and shortly afterwards began to supply accessories for motor cars under the name Alfred Dunhill's Motorities.
11.
Alfred Dunhill married Alice Stapleton on 15 June 1895.
12.
Alfred Dunhill entered the pipemaking business in 1904 when he developed a "windshield pipe" to allow motorists to smoke while driving.
13.
Alfred Dunhill offered tobacco blends tailored for the individual customer.
14.
The business expanded, and by 1910 Alfred Dunhill had taken additional premises in Duke Street.
15.
In 1912 he was joined in the business by his youngest brother, Herbert, and his eldest son, Alfred Dunhill, followed by his second son, Vernon, in 1913.
16.
In 1912 Alfred Dunhill introduced the white spot trademark to its pipes.
17.
Alfred Dunhill always ensured its products were covered by patent and trade mark, a policy prosecuted with vigour from the outset.
18.
Bloomberg Businessweek opined that Alfred Dunhill prefigured the modern luxury goods market with its international ambitions.
19.
Also in 1924, Alfred Dunhill published The Pipe Book, a monograph which detailed the history of the smoking pipe.
20.
Alfred Dunhill was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 1925.
21.
Alfred Dunhill left his wife and moved to Worthing to join his long-term mistress, Vera Mildred Wright, who changed her name to his by deed poll.
22.
Alfred Dunhill married Wright on 28 March 1945, shortly after the death of his first wife.
23.
Alfred Dunhill died in a nursing home in Worthing on 2 January 1959, and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium.