When William Wrigley Jr arrived in Chicago from Philadelphia in 1891, at the age of 29, he had only $32 in his pocket.

The son of a soap manufacturer, the young Mr Wrigley kicked off his career as an entrepreneur by selling Wrigley’s branded scouring soap, sweetening the deal with some free baking powder.

The soap came from his parents' factory, where he had been sent to work after being expelled, aged 11, for throwing a pie at a nameplate over the entrance to his school.

The free baking powder proved more popular than the soap, and it was not long before he switched to selling that instead, this time using free chewing gum as an incentive.

History repeated itself very quickly and, in 1892, he switched to selling chewing gum full time.

The company took off in this third incarnation and had become one of the biggest purveyors of chewing gum by the time Philip, William’s much quieter son, took over the reins in 1932, after the death of his flamboyant father.

Philip passed the running of the group to his son, William Wrigley III, in 1961. His son — the founder’s great-grandson, William Wrigley Jr II — is now executive chairman and will continue in that role after the sale of the group to Mars.

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