Frederick Marquis, 1st Earl of Woolton

Woolton was born at 163 West Park Street in Ordsall, Salford, Lancashire, in 1883. He was the only surviving child of a saddler, Thomas Robert Marquis (1857–1944), and his wife, Margaret Marquis, née Ormerod (1854–1923). He was educated at Ardwick Higher Elementary School, at Manchester Grammar School and at the University of Manchester from which he graduated with a BSc in 1906.

Woolton was an active member of the Unitarian Church. He was active in social work in Liverpool (1906–1918).

Woolton hoped to pursue an academic career in the social sciences, but his wish was frustrated by his family's financial circumstances, and he became a mathematics teacher at Burnley Grammar School. He was forced to turn down a research fellowship in Sociology at the University of London but was elected a research fellow in Economics at the University of Manchester in 1910, where he took the degree of MA in 1912.

Having been judged unfit for military service in the First World War, Woolton became a civil servant, first in the War Office, then at the Leather Control Board, where he served as a civilian boot controller. At the end of the war, he became secretary of the Boot Manufacturers' Federation, joining Lewis's department store in Liverpool, where he was an executive (1928–1951), becoming director in 1928 and chairman in 1936. In 1938, he responded to the Anschluss by announcing that his stores would boycott Nazi German goods. Despite public support, he was reprimanded by Horace Wilson on behalf of Neville Chamberlain's National Government for diverging from its European policy of appeasement.

Woolton was knighted in 1935 and was raised to the peerage in 1939 for his contribution to British industry. Despite his wishes, Garter King of Arms informed him that it was not possible to take the title of Baron Marquis (because "Marquess", or "Marquis", constitutes a rank of British peerages), so he was created Baron Woolton after the Liverpool suburb of Woolton in which he had lived. He subsequently served on several government committees (including the Cadman Committee). He refused to affiliate himself with any political party.

Woolton was married firstly to Maud Smith on 10 October 1912. They had two children:

Lady Margaret Judith Marquis (21 August 1917 - 4 March 1986)

Roger David Marquis, 2nd Earl of Woolton (16 July 1922 - 7 January 1969)

The Countess of Woolton died in 1961. Lord Woolton was married secondly to Margaret Eluned Thomas on 19 October 1962. There were no children from this marriage.