The working class woman who went on to build a high street empire

A portrait of Florence Boot, the first female director of Boots, has been installed at the National Portrait Gallery (Picture: Stephen Chung/PinPep/Boots)

In 1870 Queen Victoria decreed: ‘Let women be what God intended, a helpmate for man, but with totally different duties and vocations.’ 

However, there was one woman determined to flout such societal norms: Lady Florence Boot.

Such was her ambition, in 1913, the Bystander magazine wrote that she ‘was the most wonderful example...