Person    | Male  Born 27/7/1817  Died 6/9/1878

Carlo Gatti

Categories: Commerce, Food & Drink, Theatre

Countries: Switzerland

Cafe owner and ice-dealer. Born Switzerland. Arrived in England in July 1847. Built up a French-style cafe business. In the 1850s he became the first seller of ice-cream to the masses. He had owned ice wells off the Regent's Canal for a few years and in 1857 he formed a company to import ice from Norway and store it at an ice well in New Wharf Road, King's Cross. He built up a fleet of 60 ice wagons and was extremely successful. He had 5 daughters but his only son died aged 9. From about 1871 he spent most of his time back in Switzerland where he died. Ian Visits gives a good explanation of how the ice trade worked.

As well as the ice business Carlo and his family also built up a chain of restaurants and places of entertainment, many in central London. He assisted other Italians to come to London, many of whom either worked for him or set up Italian restaurants of their own.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Carlo Gatti

Commemorated ati

Gatti icehouse

Victorian London has a wonderful contemporary description of the ice pit. In...

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Other Subjects

Jones's butcher's shop

Jones's butcher's shop

Family business that survived until the 1970s. This photograph was taken in 1932.

Place, Commerce, Food & Drink

1 memorial
Mohamed Al-Fayed

Mohamed Al-Fayed

Shop-keeper.  Born Egypt.  Arrived in London in the 70s and added the aristocratic "al" prefix to his name.  His shop is Harrods.  Londonist lists 11 Secrets of Harrods - we particularly like the o...

Person, Commerce, Egypt

2 memorials
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, OM, GBE, CVO, FRCA, FBA, FKC.

Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, OM, GBE, CVO, FRCA, FBA, FKC.

Investment banker. We cannot find any specific connection between Lord Rothschild and Laurence Olivier, upon whose statue his name as a benefactor appears. We asked our colleague, Andrew Behan, to ...

Person, Benefactor, Commerce

1 memorial
T. Walton

T. Walton

Fruiterer.  Born Lambeth and initially worked with his father and brother in the family greengrocer business.  By 1909 he was in business independently with at least two business addresses, one of ...

Person, Commerce

2 memorials