# Joseph Henry Nettlefold

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British businessman

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**Joseph Henry Nettlefold** (19 September 1827 – 22 November 1881) was a British [industrialist](/source/Industrialist), the Nettlefold in [Guest, Keen & Nettlefolds](/source/GKN).

He was born in London to [John Sutton Nettlefold](/source/John_Sutton_Nettlefold) who, in 1854, dispatched him to manage the business of [Nettlefold and Chamberlain](/source/Nettlefold_and_Chamberlain) in Birmingham with his brother Edward John and cousin [Joseph Chamberlain](/source/Joseph_Chamberlain). The Chamberlains left the firm in 1874 and Edward John died in 1878, leaving effective control of Birmingham manufacturing and engineering to Joseph, and his younger brother [Frederick Nettlefold](/source/Frederick_Nettlefold) as chairman in London. **Nettlefolds Ltd** was launched as a [limited company](/source/Limited_company) in 1880.[1] Nettlefold, by a series of astute [mergers and acquisitions](/source/Mergers_and_acquisitions), went on to establish a virtual [monopoly](/source/Monopoly) in the British [wood](/source/Wood)-[screw](/source/Screw) market.

Nettlefold was a sober man whose principal interests were technical. He became a member of the [Institution of Mechanical Engineers](/source/Institution_of_Mechanical_Engineers) in 1860. Though both his parents were [Unitarian](/source/Unitarianism), Nettlefold married a [Roman Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholic), Mary Maria Seaborne (born 1835), in 1867. None of their three daughters went on to have any connection with the family business.

Nettlefold died of [apoplexy](/source/Apoplexy), aged 54, in November 1881 at his Scottish residence, *Allean House*, near [Pitlochry](/source/Pitlochry), [Perthshire](/source/Perthshire). He bequeathed several paintings by [David Cox](/source/David_Cox_(artist)) to the [Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery](/source/Birmingham_Museum_%26_Art_Gallery), on condition that it open on Sundays.[2] He left a further £1000 to the [King's Heath and Moseley Institute](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=King%27s_Heath_and_Moseley_Institute&action=edit&redlink=1).

Sometime after Nettlefold's death, *Nettlefold & Co.* was acquired by [Arthur Keen](/source/Arthur_Keen_(businessman))'s *Guest, Keen & Co.* to create *Guest, Keen and Nettlefold* which is, as of 2007[\[update\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Joseph_Henry_Nettlefold&action=edit), still trading. For many years, this company has been better known as [GKN](/source/GKN).

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Jones, Edgar (1987). ["Nettlefolds Ltd. and the Screw Industry, 1880–1902"](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-349-06629-2_7). *A History of GKN*. Palgrave Macmillan UK. pp. 199–236. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1007/978-1-349-06629-2_7](https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-1-349-06629-2_7). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-349-06631-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-349-06631-5). Retrieved 6 November 2024.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Donation call for lost paintings is dismissed"](https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/donation-call-lost-paintings-dismissed-3975517). *Business Live*. 1 October 2006. Retrieved 6 November 2024.

v t e GKN People Arthur Keen Thomas Lewis Joseph Nettlefold Kevin Smith Chow Chung-kong Isaac Wilkinson Subsidiaries GKN Driveline John Lysaght and Co. Vandervell Volvo Aero Former subsidiaries Lysaght (50%) Products FV432 GKN Simba Tactica Related facilities Dowlais Ironworks

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