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
editBrought 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
editIn 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.
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