JESSE BOOT AND THE RISE OF BOOTS THE CHEMISTS

CHRISTMAS MISCELLANY

Jesse Boot and the rise of
Boots The Chemists

In this article Simon Phillips
focuses on aspects of the

relationship forged between
Boots The Chemists and the

nation in the period
1883 to 1945

Jesse Boot, 1909: his religiously motivated concern for the poor extended to the selling of
products with the welfare of the working-class customer in mind

A comment from the Nottingham CHEMISTS TO THE NATION It was this practice that Jesse Boot
Evening Post in 1918 encapsulat- sought to challenge, infusing the profes-
ing the remarkable rise, in both In the 19th century nearly all pharmacies sion with a philosophy of “philanthropic
size and status, of Boots Pure stocked proprietary medicines and sold retailing”, his religiously motivated con-
Drug Company and indicating how the those made by themselves for prices that cern for the poor extending to the selling
growth of the company from small begin- could frequently be beyond the means of the of products with the welfare of the work-
nings was indeed one of the “wonders of poor, the section of the population who, ing-class customer in mind. Boot was
commerce”: owing to poor living conditions, were no praised for knowing the limitations
doubt in most dire need of medicinal assis- imposed by poverty, the “lean purse” and
“Accuracy and potency are not trifles. On tance. A contemporary publication, Pearson’s the “bitterness of prohibitive prices for
the contrary they are the most important Weekly, encapsulates the old-fashioned everyday necessities”. If he could ease the
things in every-day life . . . The man exact modus operandi of the trade: debit side of the weekly budget by only a
and diligent in business, and the tidy house- few pence, he would be rendering a great
wife proud in the spotless cleanliness of her “Their profits were enormous, outrageous service to the community. In an advertise-
house, would appreciate a visit to the labora- — such, indeed, as to make it very difficult, ment in The Young Marooners from circa
tories and factories of Boots The Chemists. or even sometimes impossible, for the poor- 1895, Boots claimed that through supply-
The careful preparations to ensure scientific er classes to afford proper medicines when ing all the necessities at cheap prices, mon-
precision would delight the business man there was illness in the house. But, with a ey was left over in the family budget,
and the housewife’s heart would glory in the fatuity incomprehensible in an educated saying “we make £1 go as far as 30 or 40
immaculate cleanliness of white glazed inte- body of men, they declined to budge one jot elsewhere. We are not physicians. We
riors and spotless equipment . . . each from their ancient position, even when the never prescribe, but we prepare and sell
[branch] being specially designed and con- movement began to threaten their business pure drugs, which no family can do with-
structed as a chemist’s shop — equipped and existence, but treated the new traders with a out — honest medicines prepared from the
fitted to meet adequately the requirements lofty scorn, and kept up their prices at the best of materials — not intended to sup-
of the district.” old level.” plant the physician’s skill, but to remedy
the minor ailments which can be cured by
The eulogy was no doubt imbued with Simon Phillips is a PhD student affiliated to simple treatment.” This altruism was
more than a little civic pride but neverthe- Nottingham Trent University cojoined with inherently commercial and
less is a valuable trailer in alluding to the economic motives, the need to draw atten-
association between the worlds of work and (e-mail [email protected]) tion to the remedies on offer.
home, a method by which Boots the family
chemist could be portrayed. Jesse Boot’s approach upon taking over
the management of his father’s herbalist

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CHRISTMAS MISCELLANY

OPPOSITION FROM THE TRADE

Two advertisements from Boots Scribbling Diary: “Dainty requisites for the toilet table”, 1913, In the formative years of the company,
and “Everything for the toilet”, 1924 the philosophy of Jesse Boot was not one
that greatly endeared him to his peers in
shop in Goosegate, Nottingham, in 1877, is Jesse Boot was keen to champion the the pharmaceutical profession. The
summed up by a comment he made in later aesthetical as much as medicinal side of his Nottingham Chemists’ Association dis-
life. “I found that everywhere articles, par- trade, making shopping a leisure activity as cussed the issue of competition from
ticularly drugs, were being sold at ridicu- much as a chore. In a Fancy Goods Cata- Boots as early as 1877 with the amount
lously high prices and without any regard logue in 1911 he explained: “The unexam- of protestations (and no doubt jealousy)
for neatness and attractiveness. My idea was pled beauty of the goods and the remarkable mounting year by year. The first phar-
simply to buy tons [sic] where the others value which we offer can alone be appreciat- macist employed by the company, E. S.
bought hundred-weights or less, thus buy- ed to a personal inspection; whilst in our Waring, appointed in 1884, remembered
ing much more cheaply, and to make all the branches you will be treated as a guest, not how he entered the company in a period
articles I sold look as attractive as possible.” as a prospective customer, thus making the of unrest: “. . . in those early days the
This policy of buying and selling for cash selection of your presents a pleasant and advent of an organisation which was to
saw the name “Boots, the Cash Chemist” agreeable pastime.” wipe away much glamour and conse-
become a well-known slogan and one that quently much of the lucrativeness of a
gravitated into the formation of subsidiary In the 1920s, the company opened their semi-mysterious profession, was by no
companies at the turn of the century. Boots “Wonder shops”, veritable department means welcome. The stir in the air which
Cash Chemists Eastern, Northern, South- stores, architecturally and aesthetically somehow implied a sense of doom to
ern, Western and Lancashire enabled the pleasing (to the company at least). many old conceptions naturally incurred
co-ordination of a nationwide “conquest” of “Chemists to the nation”, however, implied animosity in the conditions then prevail-
towns and cities in Britain. By 1900, there just that, providing a service to all classes of ing.”
were 181 branches, rising to 394 by 1910, customer. As consumerism in Britain gath-
618 branches by 1920 and 876 by 1930. In ered pace from the end of the 19th century, In 1888 the formation of Boots Pure
1933 the 1,000th branch was opened in attracting clientele was not simply a matter Drug Company Limited was a response
Galashiels in Scotland, the occasion cele- of appealing to the baser instincts of the to those who doubted the quality of
brated with much pomp and circumstance. lower classes. Attention was given to the Boots’s cut-price goods. The inclusion of
The pressing of a button installed at the beautifying wants of the female customer, “Pure Drug” was to counter claims from
Savoy Hotel in London released the catch of the launch of the “Number Seven” beauty competitors that cheap prices were inter-
the door at the branch with the first pur- range and the opening of a beauty parlour at changeable with cheap products. In a
chase at the branch relayed to those in civic the Regent Street branch in 1935, the cul- pamphlet produced in the early 20th
and directorial roles assembled in London. mination of the growing strength of the century, Jesse Boot outlined reasons why
beauty trade. Two advertisements are shown Boots Cash Chemists had the right to call
This display of brazenness can be above. themselves chemists:
viewed in the context of Boots The
Chemists zeal in shop design. The Notting- Here we see an example of Boots The z We are chemists. No one who wished to
ham Journal recalled in 1926: Chemists attempt to convince that they be taken seriously would assert the con-
were indeed “Chemists to the nation” (see trary; but perhaps in this matter the
“When he established up and down the opposite). Pharmaceutical Society is not to be tak-
country his attractive business establish- en seriously
ments — everything fitting into orderly and The statistical gurus of the company
artistic displays, and literally radiating effi- made the claim that they served every per- z We have qualified managers at every
ciency in service — the star of the old type of son in Britain twice a year and indeed a R. A. branch, without exception, and at some
musty, smelly, untidy druggist’s stores began Rowlands of the Sutton branch claimed that branches several qualified men
speedily to set.” in December 1921, his shop served 24,818
people despite the population of Sutton z What are we to call ourselves seeing we
amounting to only 21,065. do a chemist’s business?

z How would the public know they could
get their prescriptions filled at our shops
if we are not allowed to let them know
we are chemists?

z Seeing we have spent all this money as
chemists, where would be the justice in
disallowing us the title? (Referring to
the amount spent on fixtures, fittings,
signs, made out of black and gold all
costing thousands of pounds.)

None of these deterred the Pharmaceuti-
cal Society from a succession of (ultimately
unsuccessful) legal actions against Boot in the
opening years of the 20th century. Yet in true
defiant style, Jesse Boot responded with the
proclamation: “We are now on friendly-foot-
ing with Pharmaceutical Authorities . . . we
retain our name. . . the name of Boots Cash
Chemists . . . and we have established a better
status for qualified chemists of whom we have
over 500 in our associated company.”

By the 1930s, it would appear that the
Pharmaceutical Society had put all its ani-
mosity towards Boots behind it, eulogising
Jesse Boot to the hilt upon his death in 1931
and in The Pharmaceutical Journal of 18 July
1936, presenting some positive figures. The

926 THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL (VOL 269) 21/28 December 2002

CHRISTMAS MISCELLANY

population of Great Britain at this time was

44,700,000 and there were 15,000 chemist

shops, with each one serving 2,980 people.

There were 22,280 qualified pharmaceuti-

cal chemists in Britain, one for every 2,006

people. Boots employed roughly eight per

cent of qualified pharmaceutical chemists

and operated 7.5 per cent of chemist’s shops.

These figures illustrate the heightened

importance of the profession at this time, by

the 1930s, the field of retail pharmacy well-

established.

A critical watershed in history was the

passing of the National Insurance Act of

1911. Before the introduction of the

National Health Insurance scheme in this

year, 90 per cent of medical prescribing was

done in general practitioners’ surgeries.

Access to professional medical services was

restricted with the pharmacist viewed as

“the poor man’s doctor”. Yet the Act meant

an increase in prescriptions as medical ben-

efits were extended to the working classes.

Pharmacists realised that it made sound

commercial sense to go beyond the mere

supply of prescriptions and extend in the

arenas of health and beauty. In October

1931, upon the occasion of National Phar- Plan of Island Street works c1887. The Bee, January 1923

macy Week in the United States, the editor

of the Drug Trade News said of pharmacists:

through the years of decline in the tradition- subsequent development of the above sites

“National Pharmacy Week is set aside once a al industries. The decline of older industries was a precursor to the magisterial structural

year to commemorate the service performed enabled Boots to develop and expand a bur- developments erected in the 1930s. In July

for society by that faithful army of profes- geoning manufacturing operation centered 1933 the “Wets” factory at Beeston opened

sional workers, one of whom is in your cor- around the city centre. By the turn of the at a cost of £300,000, the frontage composed

ner drug store, who, when sickness steals century, the company’s Island Street works almost entirely of glass and constructed

into your home or accident lays you low, skil- encompassed the production of a wealth of throughout in reinforced concrete (see pic-

fully blends those healing ingredients pre- pharmaceutical products. A sketch of the ture p928). In a souvenir brochure, com-

scribed by your physician to help you get site at this time illustrates this (see above). piled in honour of a visit to Boots’s Beeston

back your good health.” By 1914, the first purpose-built manu- factory, the writer waxed lyrical by philo-

facturing laboratory and drug warehouse sophically surmising: “The beauty of

While 10 years later, in an address to the had been completed. The acquisition and machines, the beauty of animals, and the

Pharmaceutical Society upon its 100th beauty of men and women lies in this

anniversary, the Reverend Bishop Crotty adaptation to purpose and perfect

praised the Society’s work: “More valu- expression of inward personality. It is the

able, sometimes — as you well know — same with a factory.” Further imagery-

than many medicines is the lift that can filled assessments were offered by the

be given to the depressed and the queru- Aberdeen Evening Express, which talked of

lous personality, by a man or woman who the “factory of Utopia” and “an industri-

deals with them as a human being and al crystal palace” and the North Mail &

not as a mere technician.” Boots had Newcastle Daily Chronicle of “architectur-

played a leading part in this growth, a al poetry”. Symbolism did not stop with

growth that ironically could have been newspaper reporting of the factory itself

extinguished by the actions of the Soci- but with the opening ceremony on 27

ety. July 1933. Lady Trent launched the fac-

tory on its “maiden voyage” in the fol-

CIVIC PRIDE lowing way: “With a cheery ‘This is how
to do it’ she passed her gloved hand

It is rather fitting that our protagonist, between the points of the projector on

concerned so much with the health and her left and with startled surprise saw the

beauty of the nation and the veneration suspended bottle crash against the

in which the customer was regarded, inverted silvery horse-shoe in front of

should make a strong contribution to the her. This was decorated with white

prosperity of the “Queen of the Mid- heather, the symbol of good luck. The

lands” as the City of Nottingham was broken bottle and some of its contents

termed. Boots Pure Drug Company landed in a receptacle immediately

were one of the so-called “new” indus- below the horseshoe, and for the rest of

tries (as opposed to the old industries of the day the odour of Eau de Cologne

cotton, lace and hosiery), grasping the pervaded the vicinity.”

opportunities presented by the new- As a gauge of the city’s contribution

found fads of cigarette-smoking (Player Advertisement from Boots Scribbling Diary 1934 to the pharmaceutical profession, by

& Sons), cycling (Raleigh Cycle Compa- showing an array of statistics — number of 1952 Nottingham had been chosen on

ny) and social medicine, whose enter- branches, chemists, employees, prescriptions, three occasions to hold the annual con-

prise would sustain the local economy customers, etc ference of the Pharmaceutical Society.

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CHRISTMAS MISCELLANY

The “Wets” factory, Beeston, Nottingham, opened in July 1933 at a cost of £300,000

By 1952 there were 222 pharmacies in the tilities in 1914 was to commence production ampoules for time fuses and the repairing of
Nottingham area plus four dry stores and 38 of “goods” for men at the front such as water gliders. In 1944 alone, Boots supplied the
surgical appliance suppliers. sterilisers, vermin powder, foot comfort, British and allied governments six billion
compressed medicines and the ingenious medicinal tablets, 24,000 hypodermic tablets
BOOTS AND WORLD WARS “tinned heat”, a pocket stove. Later in the and 2.5 billion water sterilising tablets. Yet the
war, at the behest of the government, most significant contribution of Boots to the
Boots played a leading part in the expansion aspirin, atrophine and phenacetin were pro- war effort, with a long-term effect, was the
of pharmaceutical and other forms of duced and crude glycerine obtained from development of a new manufacturing tech-
research. Pharmaceutical research was orig- soapmaking requisitioned for the manufac- nique for penicillin. Production began in May
inally carried out in universities and other ture of explosives. More than eight million 1944, a new factory opened in Nottingham,
academic institutions yet gradually compa- box respirators were supplied to the Allied producing by the end of the year the equiva-
nies came to realise that advantages could be Forces in connection with the anti-gas lent of a quarter of a million doses. The facto-
accrued from conducting one’s own research department of the government. A total of ry was a completely self-contained unit with
and investigations in the fields best suited to 115 million water sterilising tablets were its own power-house, laboratory, borehole
their own particular kind of business. Such produced and saccharin equal to 1,785 mil- and canteen. An outline of the company’s
was the reputation for excellence in research lion tablets. research programme from 1915 until the
that the government called upon its services 1980s is shown above.
in both world wars. During the 1939–45 war, the government
presented Boots with a contract to provide gas To sum up, that the Pharmaceutical
One of the first processes undertaken by masks, aspirin and saccharin. Special work Society’s actions were unsuccessful is a tes-
the company upon the outbreak of the hos- included the preparation of 2.5 million special tament to the strength of Jesse Boot’s
arguments and of the man himself. Imag-
Chronology ine a world devoid of the famous blue sign
that adorns so many shop fronts in the
1877 Jesse Boot takes over family’s herbalist business in Goosegate, Nottingham high street and shopping centre. Jesse
1883 Boot & Company Limited formed (nominal capital £10,000) Boot may have adopted a hitherto
1885 Manufacturing operation commences unprecedented approach to the pharma-
1887 Move to Island Street warehouse ceutical trade, one that fermented chagrin
1888 Boots Pure Drug Company Limited formed among the Society, but one that ultimately
1898 Occupation of Station Street premises, thenceforth becoming head office set the tone for retail pharmacy as we
1912–14 Planning and completion of first purpose-built manufacturing warehouse at encounter it today.

1920–33 Island Street BOOTS COMPANY ARCHIVE
Boots Pure Drug Company owned by United Drug Company Inc of
1931 Images by kind permission of The
1933 America Boots Company Archive.
Death of Jesse Boot, aged 84 The archives are not open to the
1934 Opening of D10 “Wets” factory at Beeston, Nottingham, opening of general public, although limited access
1938 can be arranged for the purposes of acad-
1,000th branch at Galashiels emic research.
1939 Five day week experiment leads to inauguration of five day week
Jubilee of Boots Pure Drug Company celebrated, D6 “Drys” factory For information contact Judy Burg,
1943 Company Archivist, D122 Records Cen-
opened tre, The Boots Company PLC, 1 Thane
D31 building opens, housing canteen, gymnasium and Boots Day Road West, Nottingham, NG90 4XY.

Continuation School
Research department begin programme of antibiotics and fermentation

research including the largest surface culture plant of penicillin in Britain

928 THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL (VOL 269) 21/28 December 2002