Author: Booth, David
Biography:
BOOTH, David (1766-1846: ODNB)
He was born at Kinnettles, Forfarshire, Scotland, on 9 Feb. 1766 to James Booth (b 1727); his mother’s name is not known. He was largely self-educated and attended the parish school for only a short time. Booth managed a brewery near Newburgh on Tay and he taught school at Newburgh. He belonged to the Glasite or Sandemanian sect. During the French revolution he became a supporter of the ideas of William Godwin (q.v.) and the two became friends. On 28 Oct. 1797 he married Katharine Potter (b 1762) in Forfar; after her death (date not known) he married Margaret Baxter on 17 July 1809; they had a son and a daughter. Margaret was the daughter of William Baxter, a prominent Dundee manufacturer and Glasite. Booth introduced him to Godwin who sent his daughter Mary (later Shelley) to stay with the Baxters for her health. During this period Booth was working on his life’s work, An Analytical Dictionary of the English Language; the introduction was published at his expense in 1806, the dictionary was issued in parts to 1822, and the first volume appeared in 1835. Margaret died in 1813 and on 2 Oct. 1814 Booth married his sister-in-law, Isabella Baxter. This was against Scottish law and he, Isabella, and William Baxter were expelled from the Glasites. Despite this, Booth felt justified in demanding that Isabella cut off ties with Mary Godwin when she eloped with P. B. Shelley (q.v.). He and Isabella had a daughter whom he educated at home. The family moved to London where they lived with the Baxters in Homerton before moving to Charlotte St., Bloomsbury, where Booth was very involved with the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. Although he continued writing and publishing, the family suffered financial hardship and Booth first applied to the RLF after he suffered a third stroke in Dec. 1840; in total he was awarded £120. (One of the supporters of his applications was Percy Florence Shelley, son of Mary and Percy Shelley.) He was also awarded £50 from the Royal Bounty fund. The family returned to Scotland and his last years were spent at Balgonie where Booth still hoped to complete his dictionary. He died on 5 Dec. 1846 and was buried at Balgonie. Isabella’s final application to the RLF as a widow yielded a grant of £50. His other publications include A Letter to the Rev. T. R. Malthus (1823), Essay on Style (1833), and various works on accounting and other practical matters. His Dictionary was never finished. (ODNB 10 June 2023; ancestry.co.uk 10 June 2023; findmypast.co.uk 10 June 2023; RLF file 1013)