John Boot, the founder of what is now Boots the Chemist, died an exhausted man at the age of 45. His herbal medicine business had no cure for overwork.
He was an unlikely businessman, who combined trade with a religious zeal to improve the living standards and social conditions of the poor.
He was all too well aware of how hard life could be for those at the bottom of the social ladder.
He was born in 1815 - the year of Waterloo -and spent his early years as a farm labourer, travelling into Nottingham for services at the Weslyan chapels before moving into the city to live in one of its poorest areas.
Drawn into community life, he started a shop in 1849 to provide herbal medicines for those too poor to afford a doctor. It went by the grand title of the British and American Botanic Establishment.
The business got off the ground with the financial support of his father in law and local Methodists, and the herbal expertise of his mother.
Boots today probably dispenses more prescriptions for modern medicines than any other company in the UK. But its roots were firmly based in alternative medicines.
When John died in 1860, his wife took over the running of the business, helped by Jesse, their son, aged 10.
Jesse was to become the driving force which turned one shop into a national business. Initially he opened other shops in run-down areas of the city, and upset rivals by cutting costs and advertising widely.
He improved what the modern businessman would call cash flow by asking for cash rather than offering credit. He also outflanked rivals who criticised his remedies by employing his own qualified pharmacist in 1884.
Five years' later, Jesse took a holiday in Jersey where he met Florence Rowe, a bookseller 's daughter. After they married, Florence's influence on the business soon became evident as its product range was expanded to cover books, stationery, and artists' materials.
Florence was behind the launch of the Boots subscription library which was to last until 1965. She was also credited with introducing stylish cafes into larger stores to attract middle class shopper.
Her husband continued to expand manufacturing - to keep control of quality and margins.
The factories were used during both world wars to make everything from sterlizers to gas masks. During the 1939-45 conflict they produced the equivalent in saccharin of 731,000 tons of sugar.
In 1920, Jesse, plagued by arthritis and anticipating tough times ahead, sold his company to Louis Liggett, head a large US pharmaceutical company, for £2.25m. His son John continued to work for the company.
Liggett's company went bust during the 1929 Depression, and Boots was sold to a group of British financiers for £6m. John Boot emerged as chairman and managing director.
During the 1930s Boots expanded into horticultural and veterinary products and launched its No7 cosmetics range in distinctive art deco packaging.
In 1987 a new Boots label appeared, Boots Opticians. This has proved more successful than the group's foray into DIY through Do It All, which was sold off in 1998 after costing £400m over nine painful years.
The group also owns Halfords, the car and cycle parts and accessories business which is now expanding from the high street into a variety of new locations.
This week Boots announced its latest development: a pilot scheme of laser hair removal centres. A scheme that takes the company a long way from poverty and herbal medicines.
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