Boots says it will ‘draw lessons’ from research into links to slavery

Report looked into donations to Nottingham universities by Jesse Boot, who expanded pharmacy chain

The high-street pharmacy Boots’s links to the transatlantic slave trade have been revealed in new research that shows how the proceeds of enslavement became entangled with British capitalism.

Jesse Boot, the son of the company’s founder, expanded the chemist with the help of banks and premises linked to slavery. He was not identified as involved in the enslavement of people, the trade of enslaved people or trade in goods made by enslaved people.