(Sir) Philip Sidney Stott

• Born 20 February 1858.
• Married 1 : Hannah, (d 1935) daughter of James Nicholson of Oldham
• Married 2 : Mary Bridges Lee of London
• Baronet : 1920
• Died 31 March 1937.
• Funeral : Stanton Parish Church 3 April 1937

The member of the Stott family who constructed more mills than any other in the Oldham area was the third son of Abraham Henthorn Stott, senior, Philip Sidney Stott. Educated at Oldham Grammar School, he was a partner in his father's firm from 1881 to 1884 before leaving to set up on his own account. His first job was a mill for the Chadderton Mill Company Limited, Chadderton, which job he said had been given to him by his football friends to keep him out of mischief. In Oldham he was the most active of the Stott family during the Edwardian period, being responsible for 18 of the 66 new mills put up between 1900 and 1915, although this total was exceeded by the 23 of F. W. Dixon. Altogether he put up more than 124 mills, both spinning and weaving, of which 28 were in Oldham and 28 were overseas. His overseas work covered the continent of Europe including Bulgaria, Austria and Germany, Denmark and Norway in Scandinavia, Mexico, Argentina and Chile in South America, Syria and Egypt and China. By 1906 he had amassed sufficient wealth to purchase the estate of Stanton Court, Broadway, in Gloucestershire. Unlike his father and brothers, Sidney became active in political and public life. Originally a Liberal he left over the question of Home Rule for Ireland and joined the Conservative Party, was knighted in 1920 and became the High Sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1926.  Eventually he fell out with the Conservatives, resigning in 1935 over the India Bill. The only Stott to become a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, his funeral at Stanton in 1937 was attended by the architect Detmar Blow. He was joined in partnership by Alfred T. Howcroft, who left in 1898 to set up on his own and by his eldest son, Sir George Edward Stott, who joined in 1907, becoming senior partner in 1921. In business he always used the name Sidney Stott, although after his knighthood he took the title Sir Philip Sidney Stott.

He was one of the last architects to adopt the concrete floor, preferring triple brick arches supported on steel beams as did George Stott. In a career spanning over 40 years, he claimed to have designed mills with an aggregate total of 9 million spindles. Twenty-two of the mills were in Oldham and fifty-five elsewhere in Lancashire. These accounted for 44% of the increase of the spinning capacity of the county between 1887 and 1925. In Oldham his mills housed 2.7 million spindles or 40% of the new spindles laid down between 1887 and 1914 Undoubtedly benefited from the innovations in mill design made by his father and Edward Potts. His mills were identified by two corbelled rings of brickwork on the chimney.

Although his practice continued to design cotton mills, there emerged another facet of Philip Stott’s architectural work – that in Arts and Crafts style. By 1906 he had amassed sufficient wealth to purchase the estate of Stanton Court, Stanton, near Broadway, in Gloucestershire, a house dating from around 1620. In his biography, John Lang noted “He bought the Stanton Court Estate on 10th August 1906 at an auction in London. For the sum of £26,971 he acquired the mansion, Stanton Court itself, together with 882.5 acres of land. There were four farms (two of them let as a pair) and twenty-six cottages. Stott described his acquisition, perhaps with some exaggeration, as derelict. Certainly, it was in urgent need of attention.”

There followed a systematic programme of improvement work which eventually encompassed every building in the village and continuing until his death in 1937. Stott began with his own house, Stanton Court. Almost immediately he built a reservoir to provide Stanton Court and the village with running water. Later he furnished the village with a Swimming Pool, extensions and heating to the School, a Parish Hall and electric street lighting featuring lanterns on wrought iron brackets very much in the Arts and Crafts style and to Stott’s own design. Philip Stott moved permanently to Stanton Court in 1913 and continued to repair and improve the village to a state of almost unbelievable perfection until his death in 1937. Pevsner considered it architecturally perhaps the finest of the small North Cotswold villages.

Sir Philip Stott was the first baronet, the honour having been conferred on him in 1920. He was FSA and honorary ARIBA. He married first in 1884, Hannah, daughter of Mr James Nicholson of Oldham. She died in 1935. The had four children, two sons and two daughters. The younger son lost his life in the War. Secondly he married Miss May B. Lee, the portrait and miniature painter, daughter of John Bridges Lee, barrister-at-law. Sir Philip was succeeded by his son Captain George Edward Stott FIAA, LRIBA. 

Address    
1883 :  Clegg Street Oldham
1890 : York Chambers, Yorkshire Street Oldham (c1890)

Residence   
1890 : “Broomhurst” off Frederick Street Oldham
1913-1937 : Stanton Court, Broadway, Gloucestershire (purchased in 1906)