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

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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

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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

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  1. ^ "Henry Walton Smith 1738 - 1792". genealogy.links.org. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022.
  2. ^ a b "History of WHSmith 1792-1900". WHSmith plc. Archived from the original on 12 November 2010.
  3. ^ "Secrets of our favorite brands revealed". AZ Vision. 21 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ "Anna Eastaugh (Easter) 1756 - c. 1816". genealogy.links.org. Archived from the original on 14 February 2022.

Further reading

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