John Sutton Nettlefold

John Sutton Nettlefold (1792 – 1866) was a British industrialist and entrepreneur.

Life

In 1823, Nettlefold opened a hardware store at 54 High Holborn, London. This was followed in 1826 by a workshop to make wood-screws based in Sunbury-on-Thames. The Sunbury factory was powered by a waterwheel and Nettlefold saw the importance of motive power when he took advantage of steam power in a new factory in Baskerville Place, off Broad Street, Birmingham.^[1]

Nettlefold was a Unitarian and he married a co-religionist Martha Chamberlain (1794–1866), the sister of a Joseph Chamberlain and the aunt of Joseph Chamberlain, his more famous son and namesake. In 1854, Nettlefold acquired the opportunity to purchase a license to manufacture to a U.S. patent for a novel woodscrew. The license, and the establishment of a new factory, demanded an investment of £ 30,000. Nettlefold sought and obtained the involvement of his brother-in-law as equal partner for an investment of £10,000 and the two established a factory in Smethwick, leaving its management to their sons, Edward John and Joseph Henry Nettlefold, and the junior Joseph Chamberlain.^[1]

One of John's grandsons was John Sutton Nettlefold JP, son of Edward John.

In later years, the management of Nettlefold and Chamberlain was passed to Joseph and Frederick Nettlefold, and later was absorbed into Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds,^[1] now GKN plc is a multinational engineering company headquartered in Redditch.

References

Bibliography

• Jones, E (1987). A History of GKN Volume 1: Innovation and Enterprise 1759-1918. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-34594-0. 
• Smith, B.D.M (2004) "Nettlefold, Joseph Henry (1827-1881)", rev., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, accessed 27 July 2005 (subscription or UK public library membership required)