He was born on 14 November 1870, the third son of Henry Wethered, a colliery owner of Clifton, Bristol. His father Henry, who died in 1916, was the son of William Wethered and was born in Little Marlow, moving to the Bristol region around 1854, where he worked with his father and two brothers, Edwin and Joseph, in the coal business. Their sister Elizabeth married Handel Cossham. Cossham and H. O. Wills ultimately controlled the colliery.
