Jesse Boot, 1st Baron Trent (1850-1931), Retail and manufacturing chemist

Sitter in 1 portrait
One of the great entrepreneurs of the Victorian period whose firm remains a household name today. The son of a medical herbalist in Nottingham, Boot began working in his father's shop aged ten. By 1914 he had built up a retail chain of 560 branches combining the sale of medicines with books and fancy goods: the 'no 2 department' developed by his wife, Florence. Boot sold his interest in the company in 1920 and devoted the remainder of his life to philanthropy, notably in his native city where he funded the building of the University of Nottingham.