Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent

"Jesse Boot" redirects here. For the cricketer, see Jesse Boot (cricketer).
Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent
Born (1850-06-02)2 June 1850
Nottinghamshire
Died 13 June 1931(1931-06-13) (aged 81)
Jersey[1]
Spouse(s) Florence Anne Rowe
Children Dorothy Florence Boot
Margery Amy Boot
John Boot, 2nd Baron Trent
Parent(s) John Boot (father)
Mary Wills (mother)

Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent (2 June 1850 – 13 June 1931)[2] transformed The Boots Company, founded by his father, John Boot, into a national retailer, which branded itself as "Chemists to the Nation", before he sold his controlling interest to American investors in 1920.

John Boot offered his close friend and business associate John Harston, the opportunity of going into business with him, but Barrett declined, feeling the venture was not worth investing in.

Boot was a great benefactor to the City of Nottingham. He donated land for the new University College at Highfields, now the University of Nottingham, which opened in 1928 and was presented with the Freedom of the City of Nottingham in 1920. He was also a significant benefactor to his wife's home, Jersey.

Boot was knighted in 1909,[3] created a baronet in 1917,[4] and announced in the New Year's Honours of 1929 was elevated to the peerage, and created Baron Trent, of Nottingham in the County of Nottingham on 18 March 1929.[5] These latter honours probably owed as much to his solid support of the Liberal Party as to his philanthropy to the city of his birth.

Memorial in Highfields Park

He died in Jersey in 1931. The Sir Jesse Boot Chair in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham was named in his honour. His widow commissioned the French glass artist René Lalique to refit the church of St Matthew, Millbrook (popularly known as the "Glass Church") as a memorial to him.

In 1934 a Primary school was built in Bakersfield in Sir Jesse Boot's memory named "Jesse Boot Primary School". Jesse Boot Primary School was closed in 2009 and was replaced under the name "Nottingham Academy" which connected to "Greenwood secondary school" and others. The building was destroyed the following year.

His portrait, by Noel Denholm Davis, is in the collection of the University of Nottingham.[6] Another, by the same artist, is on loan to the National Portrait Gallery.[7]

Bibliography

16-22 Goose Gate in Nottingham

References

Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Trent
1929–1931
Succeeded by
John Campbell Boot
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Nottingham)
1917–1931
Succeeded by
John Campbell Boot
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