Jesse Boot

Jesse Boot was born in 1850. His father was John Boot, a farm labourer, and his mother was Mary Wells.

The family lived in Hockley, an overcrowded, poor area of 19^th Century Nottingham.

While Jesse was still a young child his father opened a small shop selling herbal remedies – medicines made from plants. The shop was on Goose Gate, a short distance away from the family home.

The plants for the medicines were collected by John and Mary Boot, who would then make the remedies from the plants.

At just 10 years old Jesse’s father died. His mother continued to run the family shop with help from family and friends. As Jesse grew up he began to help by collecting plants from the countryside.

Jesse left school aged 13 and began to do more work in the shops. He would serve behind the counter, prepare the remedies, count the money in the till and stack the shelves. Jesse learnt about running the shop and began to manage it with his mother. When Jesse was 21 he became a partner in ‘MARY & JESSE BOOT – HERBALISTS’ as the shop became known.

Jesse knew that the poor people who lived around the shop could not afford to pay a lot for medicine, and so he kept his prices low. More and more people began to buy from him.

The shop changed its name again to ‘M & J Boot’ in 1877, and again in 1883 to ‘ Boot and Company Limited’. In the same year the shop was moved along the street into a much bigger store. The new store had room for a shop, offices, and a home above. The new store also had a unique addition – a lift to take customers to the first floor.

With the shop making lots of money Jesse Boot began to expand and open new shops around Nottingham. The following year, in 1884, Jesse Boot opened his first shop outside Nottingham – in Sheffield.

During a holiday and rest on the Island of Jersey, Jesse met Florence Rowe. They married and in 1889 they had their first child – John Boot.

Florence helped with the business, and introduced many new ideas to the stores. Instead of selling only remedies and medicines, Boots began to sell books, fancy goods and picture frames.

A new store was built in Pelham Street, Nottingham. This store was the pride of the business and allowed shoppers to shop in the winter evenings thanks to the use of a new idea – electric lights hanging down from the ceiling.

With lots of new shops being opened, Jesse needed a larger factory to make all of the medicines. In 1892 the manufacturing side of Boots moved to factories on Island Street. This site rapidly grew and soon was known as the Island Street works.

At the turn of the century Boots began to take over other chemists. Shops appeared all over the country, and Boots had become a nationwide company.

Jesse and Florence took care of their staff as well. They organised regular trips and visits. Sometimes to the countryside for picnics, other times to the seaside. Florence also realised that some of the workers were arriving in the morning without having had breakfast, and so made sure that every worker had a hot cocoa before beginning work.

The City of Nottingham also received generous gifts from Jesse Boot. He helped to rebuild the Albert Hall, destroyed by a fire, and also paid for a new organ to be installed. After the Crimean War Jesse built houses for the soldiers to live in.

In 1909 Jesse Boot was knighted for his hard work and became Sir Jesse Boot.

As he grew older he became ill, and suffered with arthritis, but continued to expand his business. By 1913 he had opened 560 shops around the country. The running of the company became too difficult and in 1920 Boots was sold to an American for £2¼ million. In the same year Jesse Boot gave £50,000 to Nottingham General Hospital, and bought 20 acres of land along the Victoria Embankment - by the side of the River Trent – to build a memorial gate and playing fields.

In 1920 Sir Jesse was given the Freedom of the City by Nottingham.

The following year he bought Woodthorpe Grange, and gave it to the City He also gave ‘Highfields’ - an area of land he had bought previously – and £50,000 to begin the construction of Nottingham University.

Sir Jesse became ‘Lord Trent of Nottingham’ in 1928, but had become so ill he spent much of his time in Jersey and France. In 1931 he died.

In 1933 the Boots factories moved from Island Street to a new factory at Beeston. In the same year the 1,000^th Boots store was opened in Galashiels, Scotland.

John Boot, Jesse’s son, bought the company back in 1933 and began to expand it further.

John died in 1956, leaving a company known around the world. Boots has continued to grow and grow, and still shares a close friendship with Nottingham and its people.

This information is Ó Southwold Primary School. Copying for Educational Purposes is allowed.