John Boosey

John Boosey (1740-1820) married Mary Chater (c. 1730-1822) at Hackney on 10 September 1772. He was a widower listed as from Old Buckingham, Norfolk, but he was the same John Boosey who became a bookseller from a location in King Street where her first husband, John Chater (c. 1730-71), a former Independent minister, had also operated a bookshop and circulating library in conjunction with Thomas Vernor, both men members by 1766 of the Sandemanian congregation in London, the same congregation in which Boosey was a member when he married Mary Chater.  Like Chater, Boosey appears to have studied for the Independent ministry as well (possibly at Mile End), and may have preached somewhere for a time, before joining Chater, Vernor, and the other former Independents and Baptists at the London Sandemanian congregation. After assuming the business in King Street, Boosey continued to work closely with Vernor, appearing with him on five of his 24 titles during his career. Boosey’s work was not so much with individual titles as with the Circulating Library, which he continued at the King Street shop until his retirement in 1792, becoming one of the premier libraries of its kind in London during that time. Vernor appeared on far more imprints than Boosey (130 between 1766 and 1793) but like his fellow church member, he also created his own circulating library, moving it each time his business locations changed, from St. Michael’s Alley, Cornhill (1770-1784) and Fore Street (1779-84), and then at Birchin Lane from 1786 until his death in 1793, when he was succeeded by his son-in-law, Thomas Hood (1759-1811). Thus, Boosey and Vernor competed among London’s dissenting culture as the two primary venues for acquiring second-hand books and books on loan, though without any disagreements as fellow Sandemanians and dissenters, both enjoying profitable businesses within that culture’s thriving community of avid readers. Boosey sold his business in King Street to R. Cheesewright. Two years after his retirement, Boosey’s son, Thomas Boosey, opened his own bookshop to 4 Old Broad Street in 1792 (he had been apprenticed by his father from 1782 until 9 January 1792) and specializing in foreign language titles, especially works in French. Later the Booseys would become famous as music publishers. The Booseys were all members of the Sandemanian congregation meeting first in St. Martins le Grand and then at Paul’s Alley, the Barbican (1778-1862). Mary Chater Boosey died in 1822 at Old Buckingham, though it appears she and her husband lived in King Street for a time after his retirement in 1792. For information on the Boosey family and its connection with the Sandemanian church, see the exceptional work done by genealogist Trevor Pickup at

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Sandemanian_%28Glasite%29_Church#Introduction.