Joseph Gillott

Joseph Gillott (11 October 1799 – 5 January 1872) was an English pen-manufacturer and patron of the arts based in Birmingham.

After a brief period of schooling, Gillott began working in the cutlery trade in his home town of Sheffield.

Gillott also invested in the new railway companies and especially in property and land – not only in Birmingham, where he bought a large estate in Edgbaston, but also in London and Wales.

He socialised with a small group of friends at the Hen and Chickens Hotel and the Theatre Royal (which he part-owned) in New Street, Birmingham.

[6] A white marble bust of Gillott stands in the main foyer of Birmingham Council House.

Bust of Gillott in the foyer of the Council House, Birmingham