Open Collections

[between 1770 and 1829]

1 bookplate : steel engraving ; 4.6 x 7.1 cm

England

Prints

image/jpeg

Benjamin Gott (24 June 1762 - 14 February 1840), of Armley House in Leeds, was a leader in the Industrial Revolution for his contributions to the cloth trade. Following his secondary education, Benjamin Gott started working as an apprentice to Wormald and Fountaine, one of the principle cloth merchants in Leeds, whom he was related to by marriage. In 1791, Gott became a senior partner in the firm. Over the next couple of decades, Gott began building some of the biggest textile factories in the world and frightened a lot of independent clothiers by merging the previously exclusive trades of merchant and factory owner. He is credited with modernizing the woolen industry in Yorkshire, especially due to his innovations with steam in the dyeing processes. His was involved in a few controversies in his life ; disputes with the master cloth dressers, and he was prosecuted for "smoke nuisance." And as a leader in the industrialization of the textile industry, Gott received death threats from the Luddites, and anti-industrialization group. But Gott was a leading member of the tory merchant elite, and became mayor of Leeds in 1799, as well as captain commandant of the Leeds Volunteers. He was also a great patron of the arts. His second cousin, Joseph Gott, a sculptor, erected a statue of Benjamin in Armley after his death. Gott's personal and business papers are in the Leeds University Archives.
References:
1) Binfield, Kevin. Writings of the Luddites. Baltimore: JHU Press, 2004.
2) Burke, Bernard. Burke's Genealogical and Heralding History of the Landed Gentry, ed. H. Pirie-Gordon. vol. 2. (London: Shaw Publishing Co., LTD., 1937), 928-929.
3) Hancock, Roland. "Leeds Industrial Heritage Trail." 24 Hour Museum City Heritage Guides. http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/leeds/local/TRA23360.html?ixsid (accessed 8 January 2009).
4) Industrial Leeds. "Benjamin Gott." Leeds City Council. http://www.leeds.gov.uk/discover/discovery.asp?page=2003219_348858059&topic=200335_73055447&subsection=2003724_663265408&subsubsection=2003911_593959988 (accessed 8 January 2009).
5) Learning With Museums, Libraries and Archives in Yorkshire. "Enterprise, Industry and Benjamin Gott." My Learning. http://www.mylearning.org/jpage.asp?journeyid=160&jpageid=586&return=true (accessed 8 January 2009).
6) Leeds University Library. "Gott Papers." Leeds University. http://lib.leeds.ac.uk/search~S4/?searchtype=X&searcharg=GOTT%2

RBSC Bookplates

2009

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