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", before he sold out his controlling interest to American investors in 1920.

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.

Boot was knighted in 1909, created a baronet in 1916, and in the New Year's Honours of 1929 was elevated to the peerage as Baron Trent, of Nottingham in the County of Nottingham. 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.

He died in Jersey in 1931. The Sir Jesse Boot Chair in Chemistry at the University of Nottingham was named in his honor.

External links

• Biography - on Boots corporate website
• Boots family philanthropy - on Boots corporate website
• Chemists to the Nation - article in Pharmaceutical Journal

People in UK retailing | English business people | Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom | Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom | People associated with the University of Nottingham | Natives of Nottinghamshire | 1850 births | 1931 deaths