Benjamin Gott (24 June 1762 – 14 February 1840) was one of the leading figures in the

industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...

, in the field of

textiles Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

. His

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

at Armley Mills,

Armley Armley is a district in the west of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It starts less than from Leeds city centre. Like much of Leeds, Armley grew in the Industrial Revolution and had several mills, one of which houses now the Leeds Industrial ...

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, was once the largest factory in the world and is now home to the

Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills The Leeds Industrial Museum at Armley Mills is a museum of industrial heritage located in Armley, near Leeds, in West Yorkshire, Northern England. The museum includes collections of textile machinery, railway equipment and heavy engineering amon ...

Early life

Gott was born in

Calverley Calverley is a village in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, on the A657 road, about from Leeds city centre and from Bradford. The population of Calverley in 2011 was 4,328. It is part of the City of Leeds w ...

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds, City of Leeds Borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford, Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, to John Gott who was a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and

county surveyor A county surveyor is a public official in the United Kingdom and the United States. United Kingdom Webb & Webb describe the increasing chaos that began to prevail within this same period in field of county surveying in England and Wales, with c ...

. Benjamin was sent to

Bingley Grammar School Bingley Grammar School (BGS) is a Voluntary aided school for students from the ages of 11–18 and is located on the outskirts of Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. Bingley Grammar School was a specialist school for Business & Enterprise from ...

until he was 17. When he finished school in 1780, his father apprenticed him to Wormald & Fountaine,

wool Wool is the textile fibre obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have properties similar to animal wool. As ...

merchants. His sons John and

William Gott Lieutenant-General William Henry Ewart Gott, (13 August 1897 – 7 August 1942), nicknamed "Strafer", was a senior British Army officer who fought during both the First and the Second World Wars, reaching the rank of lieutenant-general while s ...

joined Gott & Sons and managed the company from about 1825.

Life

Gott's most notable contribution to the industrial revolution happened at Armley Mills, which he leased in 1804. The mill had been badly damaged by fire when he bought the ruins and ordered that the rebuilding include

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

internal frames and other

fireproofing Fireproofing is rendering something (structures, materials, etc.) resistant to fire, or incombustible; or material for use in making anything fire-proof. It is a passive fire protection measure. "Fireproof" or "fireproofing" can be used as a n ...

measures. When the repairs were completed in 1805, the new factory was the largest wool factory in the world. Gott experimented with new ways of making wool cloth, introducing innovations such as using

steam power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

and

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of weaving during the early Industrial Revolution. The first power loom was designed in 1786 by Edmund Cartwright and first built that same year. ...

s. Gott made a large fortune, and he reinvested much of it back into improving his mills and buying new ones. He also founded

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

s in

, collected fine art, and presided over the founding of the Leeds Philosophical & Literary Society in 1819. His other mills included Bean Ings (1792), the first wool factory, Burley Mills (1798), and St Ann's Mills (1824). Gott became

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

in 1799, and, by the time he died in 1840, he was a millionaire. His home from 1812, Armley House (now

Gotts Park Mansion Gotts Park Mansion, formerly known as Armley House, is a Grade II listed country house in Armley Park, 3 miles from Leeds city centre. Formerly the home of industrialist Benjamin Gott, it is now the home of Gotts Park Golf Club. The mansion wa ...

) and grounds designed by

Humphrey Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of ...

overlooked the

Kirkstall Kirkstall is a north-western suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on the eastern side of the River Aire. The area sits in the Kirkstall ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds West parliamentary constituency, represented by Rachel Reeves. Th ...

Valley and the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

from the Armley side. In 1928 Gott's house and grounds were leased by

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

to create a municipal

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...

and

Armley Park Armley Park is a large public park located next to Stanningley Road in Armley, on the outskirts of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, Northern England. The park stretches from Armley down the hill to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, near the canal the pa ...

. He died on 14 February 1840. He is buried in

Parish church. The tomb, with his recumbent figure, is sculpted by his son

Joseph Gott Joseph Gott (1785–1860) was a 19th century British sculptor. His terracotta groups and animal and children pieces were very popular in the 1830s. Life He was born at Calverley near Leeds in 1785 the son of industrialist Benjamin Gott, a ...

Family

He was father to the sculptor

and philanthropist

. He was grandfather to Bishop John Gott. He was great grandfather to Beryl Katherine Gott, née Robins, who married her cousin Frank Gott. Frank Gott was Lord Mayor of Leeds, 1917-1918. Beryl was Lady Mayoress and she also became Leeds's first woman

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

and one of the first four women magistrates to be appointed to the Leeds Bench.

References

External links

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(available through membership of most UK public libraries) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gott, Benjamin 1762 births 1840 deaths People of the Industrial Revolution People from Pudsey British textile industry businesspeople People educated at Bingley Grammar School