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- 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. (en)
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