Benjamin Booth facts for kids
Benjamin Booth (1732–1806) was an English businessman. He was a director of the East India Company, which was a powerful trading company. He was also a big fan of art and collected many paintings.
Booth was the fourth son of John Booth and Anne Lloyd. In 1772, he became a member of the Royal Society. This is a famous group of scientists and thinkers in England.
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Who Was Benjamin Booth?
Benjamin Booth was an important figure in the 1700s. As a director of the East India Company, he helped manage trade between Britain and places like India. This company was very powerful and played a big role in history. Besides his business life, Booth was also known for his love of art. He spent a lot of time collecting beautiful paintings.
His Family and a Love for Art
In 1760, Benjamin Booth married Jane Salwey. She came from a wealthy family. They had four children together: one son and three daughters.
Artists in the Family
Their son, Richard Salwey Booth, became a clergyman. But he also loved art! He was an amateur artist, meaning he painted for fun. He created many watercolour paintings, especially when he traveled in Wales and Scotland. He even knew a famous artist named Paul Sandby. Richard Salwey Booth showed his own artwork at the Royal Academy, which is a very important art institution.
One of their daughters, Marianne Booth (1767–1849), also became a well-known artist. She married a lawyer named Richard Ford. Their son, also named Richard Ford, grew up to be a famous writer.
Another daughter, Elizabeth Mary, learned painting from a famous artist named John Opie. The third daughter was named Jane.
Collecting Masterpieces
Benjamin Booth was a serious art collector. He gathered a very large collection of paintings by a famous artist named Richard Wilson. Wilson was known for his beautiful landscape paintings. Booth's collection of Wilson's art was so important that it stayed in the Ford family (his daughter Marianne's family) for many years. Some of these artworks were even made into etchings and published in a book in 1825.
