Henry Walton Smith (1738 – 23 August 1792) was an Englishman who was the founder of W. H. Smith, one of the United Kingdom's largest bookselling and newspaper vending businesses.
Career
[edit]Brought up in Wrington in Somerset, Henry Walton Smith moved to London and became a personal assistant to Charles Rogers, an English customs official and art collector.[1]
In 1792, together with his wife Anna, he founded his news vending business in London.[2]
He died only a few months later[2] on 23 August 1792.
Family
[edit]In 1784 he married Anna Eastaugh, a servant girl (1756-c. 1816), leading to the loss of his inheritance.[3] They went on to have two sons, Henry Edward Smith and William Henry Smith, and one daughter, Mary Anne Smith.[4][5]
References
[edit]- ^ "Henry Walton Smith 1738 - 1792". genealogy.links.org. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022.
- ^ a b "History of WHSmith 1792-1900". WHSmith plc. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010.
- ^ "Secrets of our favorite brands revealed". AZ Vision. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- ^ Reade, Compton (1904). The Smith Family, being a popular account of most branches of the name - however spelt - from the fourteenth century downwards, with numerous pedigrees now published for the first time. London: Elliot Stock. p. 142.
- ^ "Anna Eastaugh (Easter) 1756 - c. 1816". genealogy.links.org. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022.
Further reading
[edit]- Wilson, Charles (1985). First with the News: The History of W.H. Smith, 1792-1972. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 978-0-22402-156-2.
 | This United Kingdom business-related biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |