John Boot (1815 – 30 May 1860) was the founder of

Boots the Chemists Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand an ...

. Originally working in agriculture, he was forced by ill health to change careers and set up a shop to sell medicinal herbal remedies at Goose Gate, Nottingham. Although he had no formal qualification, he had learned the skills from his mother and from the

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

book, '' Primitive Physic'' by

John Wesley John Wesley (; 2 March 1791) was an English people, English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The soci ...

. When Boot died in 1860, his wife Mary took over the business, and his son

Jesse Boot Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent (2 June 1850 – 13 June 1931) transformed The Boots Company, founded by his father, John Boot, into a national retailer, which branded itself as "Chemists to the Nation". Biography Boot sold his controlling interest ...

would go on to expand the business by opening more stores in poor areas, eventually expanding it into the company

Boots UK Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand an ...

Biography

Early life

Boot was born in

Radcliffe-on-Trent Radcliffe-on-Trent is a large village and civil parish in the Rushcliffe borough of Nottinghamshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the Census 2011 was 8,205. Location Radcliffe has a population of about 8,000. It is to the eas ...

in 1815. His mother had practised the duty of herbal management; John was inspired by this.

Founding Boots

Originally a farm worker, he was forced to change career due to poor health. He set up a shop at Goose Gate,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, to sell medicinal herbal remedies, and called it "British and American Botanic Establishment". In the store, he offered remedies and consultations to members of the public three days a week, in a poor area of Nottingham. The career had also appealed to Boot due to his

roots, where he had studied the books of

, including ''Primitive Physic'', a book about the fundamentals of herbal biology and remedies.

Personal life

Boot married Mary Mills, and the couple had one child,

Jesse Jesse may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jesse (biblical figure), father of David in the Bible. * Jesse (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Jesse (surname), a list of people Music * ''Jesse'' ( ...

, on 2 June 1850.

Death

Boot's health did not improve and he died on 30 May 1860, leaving his wife and business behind. Mary Boot carried on with the business, renaming it as M & J Boot, Herbalists. Boot's son, Jesse, would help bring the business to a much larger custom base, by opening further shops in other poor areas of the city, and eventually evolving into the national

empire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boot, John 1815 births 1860 deaths British retail company founders English pharmacists English chemists People from Radcliffe-on-Trent 19th-century English businesspeople