Boots was established in 1849, by John Boot. Upon his death in 1860, his mother and ten-year-old son, Jesse Boot ran his legacy - the family's herbal medicine shop in Nottingham[4] - which became a private limited company in 1883 when it was renamed to Boot and Co. Ltd, doing so again in 1888 to Boots Pure Drug Company Ltd. In 1920, Jesse Boot sold the company to the American United Drug Company,[5] however due to the Great Depression in the United States Boots was sold back into British hands in 1933.[5] It was then that John Boot, Jesse's son,[6] decided to introduce an own-brand to the store. That own brand was No. 7, which was developed, and was eventually launched in 1935[7] as a selection of eleven skincare products and was expanded in 1937 with some colour cosmetics.