Sir Alfred Allen Booth, 1st Baronet (17 September 1872 – 13 March 1948) was a British businessman and

shipowner A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain frei ...

. A scion of the Booths of

Dunham Massey Dunham Massey is a civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. The parish includes the villages of Sinderland Green, Dunham Woodhouses and Dunham Town, along with Dunham Massey Hall and Park, formerly th ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, his great-grandfather moved to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the mid-18th century. Booth was created a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

in 1916 by

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

for supporting Britain's

war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative size ...

and services to industry.

Biography

Early life

He was born on 17 September 1872, the son of Alfred Booth and Lydia Allen Butler. His maternal grandfather was

Benjamin Franklin Butler Benjamin Franklin Butler (November 5, 1818 – January 11, 1893) was an American major general of the Union Army, politician, lawyer, and businessman from Massachusetts. Born in New Hampshire and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts, Butler is best ...

(1795 – 8 November 1858), who served as the 12th

Attorney General of the United States The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

from 1833 to 1838. Booth was educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

, before going up to

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, where he graduated with the degree of Masters of Arts.

Career

Booth served on the board of directors of the

Cunard Steamship Company Cunard () is a British shipping and cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. Since 2011, Cunard and its three ships have been registered in Hamilton, Berm ...

(now a subsidiary of

Carnival Corporation & plc Carnival Corporation & plc is a British-American cruise operator with a combined fleet of over 100 vessels across 10 cruise line brands. A dual-listed company, Carnival is composed of two companies – Panama-incorporated, US-headquartered Carniv ...

) and the

Alfred Booth and Company Alfred Booth and Company was a British trading and shipping company that was founded in 1866 and traded for more than a century. It was founded in Liverpool, England, by two brothers, Alfred and Charles Booth. It grew into a significant merch ...

. On 24 January 1916 he was granted a

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, with the territorial designation of Allerton Beeches, City of Liverpool. Sir Alfred received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from

Liverpool University , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

Personal life

On 15 December 1903 Booth married Mary Blake Dwight. On 9 November 1925 he married secondly, to Margaret Lucy Brightwen. They had two sons,

Sir Philip Booth, 2nd Baronet Sir Philip Booth, 2nd Baronet (8 February 1907 – 5 January 1960) was an aristoctratic British television director and producer who emigrated to California. Biography Early life Born on 8 February 1907, the son of Sir Alfred Allen Booth, 1st B ...

(1907–1960) and Edmund Booth (born 1908) and one daughter, Sylvia Emily Booth (1905–1968). Sir Alfred died on 13 March 1948.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage, 107th edition, vol. 1, ed. Charles Mosley, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 2003, p. 427 He was a cousin of fellow shipping manager Paul Crompton, who, along with his wife and children, died in the sinking of the RMS ''Lusitania'' in 1915.

References

External links

www.burkespeerage.com – BOOTH, Bt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Sir Alfred Allen, 1st Baronet 1872 births 1948 deaths Businesspeople from Liverpool People educated at Harrow School Alumni of King's College, Cambridge Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom British people of American descent Liberal Party (UK) politicians