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

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

, in the field of

textiles Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

. His

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or 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. Th ...

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 now houses the Leeds Industrial ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, 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 amo ...

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, and lying north of the town of Pudsey. The population of Calverley in 2011 was 4, ...

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 25,393. History T ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, 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 i ...

and county surveyor. Benjamin was sent to

Bingley Grammar School Bingley Grammar School (BGS) is a coeducational comprehensive voluntary aided school for pupils from the ages of 11 to 18 and is located on the outskirts of Bingley, West Yorkshire, England. Bingley Grammar School was a specialist school for ...

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

wool Wool is the textile fiber 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 some properties similar to animal w ...

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 ...

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 of more than 2% and silicon content around 1–3%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloying elements determine the form in which its car ...

internal frames and other

fireproofing Fireproofing is rendering something (Building, 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 u ...

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 transf ...

and

power loom A power loom is a mechanized loom. Shuttle looms The main components of the loom are the warp beam, heddles, harnesses, shuttle, reed, and takeup roll. In the loom, yarn processing includes shedding, picking, battening and taking-up operations ...

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) is charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the Middle Ages. They were often built for the poor of a locality, for those who had held ce ...

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 corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

in 1799, and, by the time he died in 1840, he was a

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. Many national currencies have, or ...

. His home from 1812, Armley House (now Gotts Park Mansion) and grounds designed by

Humphrey Repton Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intrica ...

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), Kirkstall electoral ward, ward of Leeds City Council and Leeds Central and Headingley (UK Parl ...

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. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...

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 teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

and Armley Park. 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 – 8 January 1860) was a British sculptor. His terracotta groups and animal and children pieces were very popular in the 1830s. Life Gott was born at Calverley near Leeds in 1785 the son of industrialist Benjamin Gott ...

Family

He was father of

and

. He was grandfather to 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' first woman

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

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