Charles Holcroft

Sir Charles Holcroft, 1st Baronet (1831–1917) was a British iron and coal master. He was known as also a collector of fossils and a benefactor to the University of Birmingham.

Life He was born in Bilston, the son of Thomas Holcroft (1794–1865) and his wife Phoebe Sedgeley. It was a large family, with four sons and three daughters surviving their father. He was the youngest of those sons, and was later a business partner of the eldest, James. James's will of 1894 named the other brothers as William and Thomas; and the sisters as Mary, Sarah Hill and Catherine Henn. By her marriage to the Rev. John Henn, Catherine was mother to Percy Henn and Sydney Henn. Thomas Holcroft senior, in the cement and lime business, was in 1854 running the Deepfield Cement Company at Deedfields, near Coseley.

From 1848 Charles Holcroft worked in the drawing office at Tipton for the Engineering Works at Horseley Heath. After two years, in poor health, he gave up the position. He later returned to the firm, as a director. Also with James, he set up J & C Holcroft, owning an iron foundry in the Dudley Port area of Tipton, and the Portfield Ironworks nearby. He became chairman of the Littleton Colliery, and a landowner.

Holcroft gave £100,000 to the University of Birmingham, support solicited by Joseph Chamberlain. He died unmarried. The title became extinct on his death in 1917.