Joseph Britton

Joseph Britton (1825 – July 18, 1901) was a lithographer, the co-founder of prominent San Francisco lithography studio Britton and Rey, and a civic leader in San Francisco, serving as a member of the Board of Supervisors and helping to draft a new city charter.

Britton was born in Yorkshire, England, and at age 10 immigrated to New York City, where he took up the trade of lithography. He came to California during the Gold Rush, travelling in 1849 with the George Gordon party via steamer from New York and overland travel through Nicaragua, an arduous journey that took eight months instead of the advertised two. After several unsuccessful years in various California mining camps, he settled in San Francisco in 1852.

In 1852 he became active in lithography and publishing, first under the name Pollard and Britton, and then Britton and Rey, a printing company founded with his friend and eventual brother-in-law Jacques Joseph Rey. and a member of the People's Party in the 1860s. In later years he pursued efforts to establish a local political party, the Taxpayers' party, which grew into a committee of freeholders, of which he was elected president in 1897, responsible for drafting a new San Francisco city charter.

Britton was a lifelong bachelor, and lived with his sister and Rey, who married in 1855.