Bradford

Turner served his draper's apprenticeship at an unknown location, and then in 1827 became a linen draper's assistant at John Sayer's shop, next to the Old Bowling Green Inn, Bradford, and also at Sayer's shop at Keighley. in the West Riding of Yorkshire. While working for Sayer, Turner "was one of the swells of the period, and took great pride in adorning himself with rings, gold guards,^{[nb 4]} and jewellery, having in this respect higher aspirations than drapers' assistants usually entertain".^[1][2]

Sayer found the Bradford shop unprofitable, and he was already trying to let it in 1827,^[10] so around 1831 he offered it to Turner, and Turner started business with an advance of £1000 (equivalent to £90,694 in 2021) on the security of an expected inheritance from his family – and his appearance and demeanour changed at once. He sold all his jewellery, apart from his watch and gold guard, which he hid away. "He was never afterward seen to wear a vestige of anything except the most needful apparel". He earned, but did not spend, willingly; "he literally carried his life in his hands in order to achieve success". He and his apprentices worked long hours, opening the shop between four and six in the morning, well before his neighbours opened theirs, and closing between ten and twelve in the evening. Passing coachmen who changed horses behind the Bowling Green Inn would sometimes spot Turner still working at one hour past midnight. Turner drove himself hard to keep the shop "packed from basement to attic" with stock, and he would sleep for perhaps a few hours per night among those goods.^[1][2]

Smith did not share his fortune with others. He did not marry early in his career. He had a housekeeper, and a pair of apprentices under contract, for whom premiums were paid to him by their sponsors. He economised on transport costs by walking everywhere, including those occasions when he had to travel between Bradford and Manchester to purchase stock,^[1] the beeline distance being 29 miles (47 km).^[11] He "occasionally got a lift in a carrier's wagon, but whether he paid for the ride is doubtful, as parting with money was with him one of the unpardonable sins". He took advantage of independent cottage weavers, too.^[2] The Knaresborough Post describes his modus operandi:^[1]

In the days when little makers were numerous, and not so well off as perhaps operatives are nowadays, it was the custom for manufacturers to be their own weavers and their own salesmen, travelling the country with the produce of their wooden looms on their backs or on the backs of packhorses or asses. Turner, knowing from experience the chronic impecuniosity of many of these men, waited until they had travelled the country unsuccessfully with their webs, and then, rather than return home empty-handed, they accepted prices from him which meant privation for many days to come.^[1]

Besides extreme hard work and frugality, Turner needed to make money out of his savings. He did this by investment, and his first such venture was made about two years after going into business. by buying the deeds of a pub in Bradford. However, paying the whole purchase price upfront brought public attention to his hidden wealth for the first time, because until that moment he had given the appearance of poverty. It was at that point that his reputation as a miser began.^[1][2]

Turner's draper's shop continued to open for long hours and it did well, but he became ill, and around 1840, nine years after starting in business, he sold the shop, which fetched a good price, being known to be a prospering business. With the sale of the shop and his savings, he had accrued £16,000 (equivalent to £1,536,946 in 2021).^[1][2][4]

Starbeck

Around 1840, for the sake of his health, Turner migrated from industrial Bradford to Beech Cottage, also known as Beech Villa or Beech Grove House, in Starbeck near the spa town of Harrogate, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. The house was near the North Eastern Railway line. He regained his health and became a moneylender to the people of Harrogate. This was a fortuitous step, because when he arrived, Harrogate consisted of two small villages, but as its fame and size grew and businesses moved in, it filled with rich residents and visitors, and he drew from these as his customer base.^[1][12] As a moneylender, he was "sought after by persons who were in financial embarrassment ... Tradesmen in their winter difficulties, property-owners with deeds to mortgage, sought him without ceasing". Turner was "never known to be entangled in a lawsuit". He always charged the same rate of five per cent for loans, he held pledges, and pledges were redeemed. He was now in good health, and secure in his business, but his behaviour continued to draw attention, as it had in Bradford:^[2] The Knaresborough Post somewhat dramatises the story:^[1]

Here, secluded in his own house, in the privacy of his own grounds, with re-established health, did the Bradford draper accumulate with greater eagerness than before. Nothing that would realise money escaped his cold grey eyes. Belated travellers and those up betimes encountered him on the highways gathering the refuse of the roads on his wheelbarrow, or picking up stones on the roadside, which, after being broken in sufficient quantities, he would dispose of as road metal. Having on one occasion a debtor at Ripon who was unable to repay him, he took as a security on account a grindstone. Unlimbering it from the frame, he wheeled the stone before him to Starbeck, but unhappily, when within a short distance from his home, it broke in two, and there lay, until he returned with his wheelbarrow for the fragments. The ever present companion of his daily journeys was a dark blue moreen bag,^{[nb 5]} which a friendly lawyer may have discarded, and without which he was rarely seen abroad. No trifle was too inconsiderable to find a home within it; even a stray feather from a fowl by the wayside would be carefully picked up and added to the stock previously gathered. Bits of old iron, stray nails, bags of woollen, cotton, or linen were commodities much too valuable to be left behind. Old boots, shoes and bits of leather were pounced upon and disposed of for what they would realise at the hands of some economical cobbler, or when too valueless for his uses they were hoarded yet a little longer until the whole could be profitably disposed of to the manufacturer of glue.^[1]

Turner had tenants in Bradford. He walked from Starbeck with a pre-packed lunch to collect rent, and was once seen walking barefoot across Rombalds Moor, carrying his shoes to "save leather". He was a landlord who never missed the dates when rents were due, and tenants were served a distraint order as soon as they defaulted.^[1][2] Turner did see fit to pay a solicitor, though. In 1875 he paid solicitors Kirby & Son of Harrogate to present a petition for the bankruptcy of the whitesmith, ironmonger and alleged forger William Leek of Harrogate. Leek owed money to Turner, "filed a petition for liquidation of his affairs by arrangement", then absconded, saying he was "going to America". Leek was declared bankrupt on Turner's petition, but as of January 1875 the police were still looking for him.^[13]