Elliott Brothers is a builders' merchant based in Southampton, United Kingdom. The company's headquarters is in Millbank Street, Northam and it has a chain of outlets in and around Hampshire and Dorset. It also operates an online tool warehouse that serves the whole of the United Kingdom. Elliott Brothers and Elliotts Premier Roofing constitute the two components of the holding company, Elliott Brothers Limited.
The company can trace its origins to October 1840 when 26-year-old Thomas Elliott took over the Southampton business of Robert Young who had died earlier in the year. Young's business had been based at Godfrey's Town on the banks of the River Itchen about 0.5 km south-west of the headquarters of the present-day company. Within five years Thomas had purchased a nearby cement works and had extended the range of products sold to include cement, lime, bricks, chimneypieces and many other items. Over the ensuing 40 years until his death in 1886 Thomas continued to expand the firm though at a slower rate. Meanwhile, his brother John was involved with the building and restoration of several churches around Southampton and in Sussex until his death in 1891.
Shortly before his death Thomas handed over control of the firm to two of his sons, Frank and Walter, and it was they who first gave the firm the name Elliott Brothers. They reinvigorated the enterprise and, by 1893, it merited the description "General Builders Merchants". In 1901 the firm was incorporated with the name Elliott Brothers Ltd. The doubling of Southampton's population between 1890 and 1920 stimulated a further increase in Elliotts' business and, by the late 1930s, annual sales were regularly exceeding £50,000.
Sales plummeted during World War II but, by 1956, when Elliotts' first branch was opened at Bishop's Waltham, they were on the increase again. Between 1960 and 1973 turnover increased sixfold and, in 1980, turnover passed the £5 million mark. In 1982 a second branch was opened at Fareham. New branches continued to be opened until, by 2015, including the Millbank headquarters, there were 13 outlets in Hampshire and Dorset.
Thomas and John Elliott and Robert Young
Thomas Christopher Elliott, born 1814, was one of the six children of John Elliott and his wife Maria née Strong of Lewes, Sussex. John senior was a grocer and wine merchant with a shop at 49 High Street, Lewes. The Elliott family of Sussex can be traced back to a Thomas Elliott who died in Bury north of Arundel in 1551. The family had lived in that area of west Sussex until John senior moved to Lewes during the first decade of the 19th century.
The sons of John and Maria Elliott involved in the early years of the firm were Thomas Elliott and John Elliott Jr. However, they were not the brothers to which the present-day name of the company refers. They were Thomas's sons, Frank and Walter, to whom he handed over the enterprise.
During the mid-1830s, working at first from their father's shop, Thomas and his older brother John, born 1811, operated as commissioning agents for emigration to the colonies. Later in the decade John moved west to Chichester where he set up business as an architect, builder and writer on architectural subjects. There he designed the Corn Exchange and the east wing and ballroom of Goodwood House near Chichester. Both buildings were erected in 1837. In 1838, John was commissioned to design and build St James' Church in the Sussex village of Emsworth, close to the Hampshire border. On 14September 1841, he married Maria Martin of Cheltenham in Chichester and, three weeks later, when his neo-Norman church at Emsworth was consecrated, John and his new wife would undoubtedly have been present.
In 1840, John began work on the build of a new chapel of ease in Broadwater, near Worthing but, during its construction, the church authorities who had commissioned and approved the design, change their minds. As a result of their failing to reach agreement with Elliott they refused to pay him and he was driven into bankruptcy. In subsequent years John Elliott was involved in many projects relating to churches in Sussex and Hampshire. Most of these involved restoration but he also received the occasional commission to design and build a new church. After his experiences in Worthing, he was always careful to get a binding agreement before he started work.
In 1839, Thomas was still in his father's shop in Lewes but, during the following year, he moved to Southampton and took up lodgings in the home of Robert Young and his wife Charlotte née Shayer. They lived in St Mary's Cottage, St Mary's Place, in the parish of St Mary's. Charlotte was related to the Southampton painter William Shayer. Robert Young started his working life as a slater but, in 1826, he also became the landlord of the Crown and Anchor Inn, in Four-Posts in the Southampton suburb of Freemantle. He therefore transferred the slate business to the inn. By the mid 1830s, he had given up the inn and had become slate merchant, slater and general builder. By the time Robert Young died August 1840, Thomas Elliott may already have taken up residence in St Mary's Cottage. By October that year, it had been agreed between him and Charlotte that he should take over Robert's business. Charlotte Young died in April 1852. During 1841 and 1842, when Thomas was in the early stages of developing the business that he had taken over from Young, John was still living in Chichester but he too was soon to move to Southampton.
The early days
After his 1826 advertisement announcing his relocation, Robert Young had never advertised his business and it had remained small. However, when Thomas Elliott took over the business an advertisement to that effect did appear in the Hampshire Advertiser of 17October 1840.
Young's stores and works in Godfrey's Town had been on the west bank of the lower reaches of the River Itchen. During his first two years, Elliott also based his operations there. But he was determined to expand and, in the late summer of 1842, the opportunity arose to purchase the business of the London Cement Works. The proprietor was one William Hale and, as implied by his 1841 advertisement, the cement was not produced in London but rather was manufactured on the 'London principle'.
Elliott took the opportunity to purchase the cement works and, on 17September 1842, an advertisement to that effect appeared in the Advertiser. They were situated on the banks of the River Itchen adjacent to Millbank Wharf, Northam, only north of the Godfrey's Town stores that Elliott had purchased from Robert Young. Godfrey's Town was also known as Crabniton and is marked as such on the 1871 Ordnance Survey town plan of Southampton. With the acquisition of Hale's works, Elliott could add Roman cement, Plaster of Paris, various types of lime and gypsum to his stock list. The Millbank works became the base of Elliott's operations and has remained as such ever since.
In his bid to expand the business, Elliott inserted frequent advertisements in the Advertiser and also in the Southampton directories of 1843, 1845 and 1847. The 1845 advertisement, perhaps for the last time also mentions the commission agency that he and John had been operating both in Southampton and Chichester. Soon after, that activity was discontinued.
In 1843, Thomas Elliott took a lease out on a property just across the river at 2 Bridge Road, Itchen. It became the home not only of Thomas himself, but also for John and Maria. It was also used as an office by both brothers. To get to the Millbank site, Thomas would have crossed the river by means of the Itchen ferry and the Woolston Floating Bridge that had been constructed in 1836. By the time of his marriage in 1847, Thomas Elliott had moved to Portswood Villa in Portswood leaving the use of the Bridge Road property. to John, Maria and Agnes, the daughter who had been born to them in 1844.
By 1849, Thomas Elliott had extended his business to the sale of bricks, tiles, chimney pieces, dairy fittings, baths, washstands, cattle troughs and paint. Meanwhile, John was engaged in a survey of old churches for the diocese of Chichester. He had become honorary architect to the Sussex Diocesan Association and had already participated in the rebuilding of several churches in Sussex.
In the late 1840s, Thomas was involved in the building of about 30 houses on Millbank Street, a road that ran north-east from the wharf. It is very likely John too partook in the project as he had already published an essay on the construction of cottages. Also in the late 1840s, by taking out leases on adjoining land, Thomas doubled its original acreage of the Millbank site. In the 1850s and 1860s both Thomas and John Elliott were involved in the sale and rent of property.
The descendants of Thomas Elliott
On 5October 1847, Thomas Elliott married Mary Jane Mason, the second daughter of Thomas Mason, town clerk of Doncaster in Yorkshire. Over the first twenty years of their marriage, Mary was to bear Thomas ten children three of whom, Frank (1852–1918), Walter (1857–1935) and Frederick (1855–1928), were to play important parts in the family firm. A fourth, Edgar (1861–1937), was to run a brewing enterprise that Thomas had started in the 1870s. Mary's surname was later used in the given names of about 15 descendants of Thomas and Mary. Four of them were to play important parts in the operation of the firm: Edgar's son, Newlyn Mason Elliott (1890–1968), known as Mason, managing director 1935–1966. Mason's son, George Edgar Newlyn Mason Elliott (1924–2007), known as Newlyn Mason, chairman 1969–1985. Newlyn Mason's son, Stuart Graham Mason-Elliott (born 1951), known as Stuart, the current chairman. Stuart's son, Thomas Edgar Mason Elliott (born 1984), known as Tom, the current managing director.
The later years of the 19th century
By 1864, Thomas Elliott and Robert Young before him had been manufacturing Roman cement on the banks of the Itchen for over 40 years. Roman cement is a natural product and its manufacture does not generate particularly obnoxious fumes. However, in 1864, Elliott started producing Portland cement, the manufacture of which releases pollutants, notably sulphur dioxide. As a result of complaints from neighbours, Elliott was taken to court. Whilst three hearings were taking place in late 1865 Elliott implemented measures designed to reduce the nuisance. These were found sufficient for the case to be dismissed. However, at the same time, a further summons was taken out against him and, this time, he was fined £5 with costs. The costs were much greater than the fine itself for, all told, Elliott was the poorer by £150.
For Thomas Elliott the 1860s and 1870s would have been a period of consolidation. He no longer needed to advertise regularly. A few small classified advertisements appeared from time to time but no large display advertisements were placed. Also there were occasional advertisements for the sale or let of houses, sometimes inserted by John. In 1871, Thomas Elliott's firm had over 30 employees including his sons, Frank and Walter. At about same time, in partnership with Henry Vincent, he acquired a Southampton brewery along with four Public houses.
In January 1883, Thomas transferred as a gift the whole of his business to Frank and Walter who gave it the name of Elliott Brothers. When Thomas himself died aged 71, on 26April 1886, his estate amounted to close on £84,000 – a very considerable sum for the time. The estate included a house at Bassett Mount with stabling, gardens, meadows, land and all household effects plus his interests both in the Millbank Works and the brewery. By comparison, his brother John, who died in 1891 in Uckfield, Sussex, left only £583.