Page 17 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

38 Thomas William TANFIELD, JP (1861-1948) (‘Original member’ joined
3.7.1922; resigned 15.9.1924.) Stationer, Building Society Secretary and
Bank Manager. Remarkably he held several important jobs simultaneously.
On the death of his father in 1883, at age 22 he succeeded as proprietor of
a printing works and stationery business in the Market Place, which at first
operated as T W Tanfield but by 1907 had been incorporated as The
Fountain Stationery Co. Ltd. Also in 1883 he succeeded his father as
Secretary of the Dudley and District Building Society, a position he held for
54 years until retiring in March 1937. From 1906 he was also Manager of
the new Market Place branch of the Birmingham, District & Counties Bank, soon renamed the
United Counties Bank. He continued until or soon after United Counties was taken over by
Barclays Bank in 1916. The stationers, bank and building society all had the same address of 224
Market Place. This became the entrance to the Fountain Arcade, constructed in 1926 with 18
shops and professional offices above. He personally was the developer of the arcade.
Thomas Tanfield was a Dudley councillor for 27 years from 1905 to 1932, Mayor for 1922-23
and ’23-24, and an Alderman from 1923. He was also a Dudley magistrate from 1906 to 1938.
He was senior trustee of the King Street Wesley Methodist Church and a stalwart of the Dudley
Temperance Society. He was a generous benefactor: • He acted as Secretary of the Building
Society without reward for the first 25 years, and then accepted an honorarium of £50 on the
understanding that £35 was placed on deposit with the Society and the interest paid annually
to the [Guest Hospital] Eye Infirmary. • He organised the Dudley Guest Hospital Fayre of 1925
which raised over £14,000 (about £750,000 in today’s money). • He presented the automatic
scoreboard to Dudley Cricket Club (in 1936). • He gave land and an interest free loan to Dudley
Council about 1924 to set up a campsite at Astley Burf near Stourport that was soon visited every
year by up to 1000 poor children of the town. Moreover he matched the repayment of the loan
pound for pound, and donated part of the equipment. • After his wife’s death in 1941 he handed
over his house in Stourbridge Road, with most of its furniture, to become the new premises of
St Agnes Hostel for Homeless Girls.
He moved to a hydro at Matlock and died there in 1948. He was father of Doylah and Reginald
Tanfield and grandfather of Doylah E T Tanfield, all of whom became members of the Rotary
club.

39 Henry (‘Harry’) PREEDY (1872-1950) (‘Original member’ joined 3.7.1922; resigned 17.3.1924.)
Tobacconist. Chairman and Managing director of Alfred Preedy & Sons, the
firm founded by his father. At the time it had retail outlets in Dudley
Market Place and Lichfield Street, Wolverhampton, and a wholesale
warehouse in Dudley High Street but under Harry it grew into a national
tobacco wholesale business and a chain of 140 confectioners and
newsagents across the West Midlands, Yorkshire and around London and
the South Coast. He joined the company at age 16, travelling around the
district by horse and trap selling his father’s special blend of tobacco under
the slogan ‘For men, not boys.’ From about 1899 he was in partnership
with his father and brother Charles, but took charge following his father’s death in 1921.
He was a Dudley councillor 1925-1928 and Chairman of Dudley Conservative Club 1926; a
leading member of Dudley Chamber of Commerce and president 1935 & 1936; and member of
the Council of the Wholesale Tobacco Trade Association for over 30 years and its President in
1916 and 1920-21. However it was as a singer that Midlanders knew him best: he sang bass
with Dudley Amateur Operatic Society and played in over 50 operas either as principal or in the
chorus, and for 30 years from 1900 was secretary and stage manager. He also sang in the choir
at ‘Top Church’ Dudley for 50 years and left £1000 in his will to the choir to make sure they sang
his favourite anthems each year. In his youth he was a champion swimmer: he held office in