Sir John Maria Emilio Gatti (13 August 1872 – 14 September 1929) was an Anglo-Swiss theatre manager, restaurateur and businessman who was also a prominent Conservative politician in London local government.[1]

Born as Joannes Maria Aemilius Gatti in Dongio, in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland, he was the eldest son of the entrepreneur Agostino Gatti.[1][2] The Gatti family had built up a large family business in Westminster, including the Adelphi and Vaudeville Theatres, a string of cafe-restaurants and the Charing Cross and Strand Electricity Supply Corporation Ltd, which supplied power to most of the West End of London.[1]

Gatti was educated at Stonyhurst College and St John's College, Oxford, before being called to the bar at the Inner Temple.[1][2] He married Lily Mary Lloyd in 1897 and they had seven children.[1] In the same year his father died, and he took over the family businesses along with his younger brother Rocco Joseph Stefano Gatti.[1]

His business interests, in particular the construction of electricity infrastructure, led him to become interested in the local government of the capital.[1] In 1903 he was elected to Westminster City Council as a representative of the Charing Cross ward.[3] He was a member of the Conservative-backed majority Moderate Party on the council, and was elected Mayor of Westminster for 1911–1912.[4]

In 1908 he was a founding member of the Society of West End Theatre Managers.[5] In 1919–1920 he was chairman of the society, and was involved in negotiating a standard theatrical contract for West End performers.[6]

In 1918 Gatti was co-opted onto the London County Council as a Municipal Reform Party councillor for the Strand division. When elections resumed after World War I, he was elected a councillor for the Westminster Abbey division, holding the seat until his death.[7] Gatti was short-listed to be Official Conservative candidate for the Westminster Abbey by-election in 1924, but lost out to Otho Nicholson who won the poll.[8]

He served as chairman of the county council's finance committee for six years, and was chairman of the county council in 1927–1928.[2][9] At the end of his term as chairman he received a knighthood.[10]

Sir John Gatti died suddenly at Littleton Golf Club in September 1929 aged 57.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Barber, Peter (September 2004). "Sir John Maria Emilio Gatti (1872–1929) in Gatti family (per. 1847–1981), restaurateurs, theatre owners, and entrepreneurs". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53171. Retrieved 13 September 2009. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Sir John Gatti". The Times. 16 September 1929. p. 4.
  3. ↑ "London Borough Council Elections". The Times. 4 November 1903. p. 11.
  4. ↑ "The Mayoral Elections. List for London and the Country". The Times. 10 November 1911. p. 7.
  5. ↑ "Society of West End Theatre Managers". The Times. 24 April 1908. p. 17.
  6. ↑ "Actor's Trade Union, The First Year's Work". The Times. 2 January 1920. p. 8.
  7. ↑ "LCC Elections". The Times. 8 March 1919. p. 14.
  8. ↑ "The Abbey Seat, Official Candidate Chosen". The Times. 4 March 1924. p. 14.
  9. ↑ "London County Council. Sale Of Surplus Lands". The Times. 9 March 1927. p. 16.
  10. ↑ "No. 33398". The London Gazette. 29 June 1928. p. 4410.
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