John Fothergill (Entrepreneur)

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John Fothergill (* 1730 ; † 1782 ) was a British entrepreneur and engineer. As a partner of Matthew Boulton , he was instrumental in the establishment and commercial success of the Soho Manufactory , one of the first factories of the early industrial revolution in England.

Born in Russia and apprenticed to his cousin in Konigsberg , Fothergill had settled in Birmingham , where he was employed by a merchant, but intended to set up his own business. On a business trip to London in January 1762, he met Matthew Boulton, who was just about to build a plot of land in Handsworth near Birmingham with a series of workshops and machine houses, with which he would put his existing production of metal buttons and handicrafts in one place wanted to focus and expand. Since the expansion was not only expensive, but also time-consuming, Boulton needed a partner who, on the one hand, brought in money and, on the other hand, could take over the building supervision. In Fothergill, who also brought his business contacts to the continent, he found the right partner. The partnership was signed on Midsummer's Day 1762; the company was called Boulton & Fothergill . Boulton brought in the land and buildings already constructed, plus materials and some funds totaling around £ 6,200, while Fothergill brought around £ 5,400 in cash that he had borrowed. He oversaw the progress of construction on the Soho House , which had already been converted into a mansion , while Boulton took care of the day-to-day business, which was run in the classic form of the home-shop in the Snow Hill district of Birmingham, a few miles away .

From the start, Fothergill proved to be the cautious businessman who considered every issue very carefully, while Boulton was the driving force behind the realization of technical and social utopias. Together they were able to lead the company to great success, despite constant money problems and strong competition. In doing so, they established the then new entrepreneurial ideas of concentrating workplaces in one place, separating them from the residential buildings and enabling the use of large machines through the concentration.

Despite his cautious commercial approach, Fothergill came across a fraudster in 1781 who drove him into bankruptcy. Boulton felt compelled to break the partnership. The following year Fothergill died, leaving behind a wife and seven children. Boulton put the family on a pension and replaced the loan Fothergill had taken out for the partnership and not yet paid back.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ E. Robbinson, Boulton and Fothergill 1762-1768 and the Birmingham Export of hardware , University of Birmingham Historical Journal VII, no. 1 (1959); quoted in Jenny Uglow: The Lunar Men . 2nd Edition. Faber And Faber Ltd, London 2003, ISBN 0-571-21610-2 , pp. 523 .

literature

personal data
SURNAME Fothergill, John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English engineer and entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH 1730
DATE OF DEATH 1782