John Sutton Nettlefold (23 September 1792 – 12 April 1866) was a British industrialist and entrepreneur.[1]
Nettlefold was born in London. Nettlefold was a Unitarian; he married a co-religionist, Martha Chamberlain (1794 - 1866). Hers was a family of Birmingham manufacturers and politicians: her brother's son, Joseph Chamberlain (1836 - 1914), was a radical Liberal and a leading imperialist. They lived in The Grove, Highgate.[2]
They had three sons: Edward John Nettlefold (1820 - 1878), Joseph Henry Nettlefold (1827 - 1881) and Frederick Nettlefold (1833 - 1913). One of Edward John's sons was named after him, John Sutton Nettlefold, who was a social reformer.
In 1823, he opened a hardware store at 54 High Holborn. This was followed in 1826 by a workshop to make woodscrews 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. He renamed the business Nettlefold and Sons, Ltd., and it expanded rapidly in London and Birmingham.[3] [4]
In 1854, Nettlefold acquired the opportunity to purchase a licence to manufacture to a U.S. patent for a novel woodscrew. The licence, 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 Joseph Chamberlain.[3]
In later years, the management of the partnership, Nettlefold and Chamberlain, was passed to Joseph and Frederick Nettlefold, and later was absorbed into Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds,[3] a multinational engineering company headquartered in Redditch.