Gillett and Johnston, Croydon
William Gillett started his small clock-making business in Hadlow, Kent. In 1844 he relocated to Croydon, Surrey, now an outer borough of London. Charles Bland became a partner in 1854 and their company, Gillett and Bland, began manufacturing larger-scale public clocks and carillon machinery. In 1877, Arthur Johnston joined the company and established its bell foundry. Bland died around 1884 and the company was renamed Gillett and Johnston. Johnston’s son Cyril became a partner in 1907. Driven by a special interest in making carillons, Cyril expanded the bell-founding side of the business and developed his own highly regarded system of bell tuning. During the 1920s and 1930s, Gillett and Johnston manufactured bells and supplied carillons to countries around the world, including Canada.
