Description: Mary Boot, the daughter of Mr and Mrs Charles Boot, photographed at Thornbridge Hall. Charles Boot, a Sheffield entrepreneur, purchased Thornbridge in 1929 and it remained the family's home until 1945. Gertrude Mary Boot (known as Mary) was born in 1906 and married Spencer Mortimer Reis at Holy Trinity Church, Ashford in the Water on 14 October 1933.
Her grandfather, Henry Boot founded the well-known Sheffield-based civil engineering firm that bears his name, starting out aged 35 in 1886 as a builder 'with one handcart and later one horsedrawn cart'. By the time he died in 1931 the company had operations in England, France, Spain and Greece, being engaged in the construction of military installations, harbours, underground railways, waterworks, roads, bridges, drainage and irrigation systems, as well as land reclamation and house building.
Following his father's death Charles Boot took control of the firm and in 1934 embarked on the design and construction of Pinewood Film Studios, located on the 100 acre Heatherden Hall estate at Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire.
At Thornbridge Hall he added a great deal of statuary to the gardens, and made use of fittings retrieved from other demolished country houses, including Clumber Park, Nottinghamshire and Derwent Hall, Derbyshire.