Ironmaster: Difference between revisions

An early ironmaster was [[John Winter (royalist)|John Winter]] (about 1600–1676) who owned substantial holdings in the [[Forest of Dean]]. During the [[English Civil War]] he cast cannons for [[Charles I of England|Charles I]].<ref>{{cite book |publisher = Collins |author = Wedgewood, C.V. |url = https://openlibrary.org/books/OL25430542M/The_King's_War_1641_-_1647 |title = The King's War 1641 - 1647 |edition = |publication-date = 1958|ol = 25430542M }}</ref> Following the [[Restoration (England)|Restoration]], Winter developed his interest in the iron industry, and experimented with a new type of [[Ferrous metallurgy#Transition to coke in England|coking oven]]. This was a precursor to the later work of [[Abraham Darby I]] who successfully used [[coke (fuel)|coke]] to smelt iron.<ref name="knight">{{cite book |last=Knight |first=Jeremy |title=Civil War and Restoration in Monmouthshire |publisher=Logaston Press |year=2005 |isbn=1-904396-41-0}}</ref>

[[Lowthian Bell]] (1816–1904) was, like Abraham Darby, the forceful patriarch of an ironmaking dynasty. Both his son [[Sir Hugh Bell, 2nd Baronet|Hugh Bell]] and his grandson Maurice Bell were directors of the Bell iron and steel company. His father, Thomas Bell, was a founder of [[Losh, Wilson and Bell]], an iron and alkali company. The firm had works at Walker, near Newcastle upon Tyne, and at [[Port Clarence]], [[Middlesbrough]], contributing largely to the growth of those towns and of the economy of the northeast of England. Bell accumulated a large fortune, with mansions including [[Washington New Hall]], [[Rounton Grange]] near [[Northallerton]], and the mediaeval [[Mount Grace Priory]] near [[Osmotherley, North Yorkshire|Osmotherley]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Howell | first=Georgina | title=[[Gertrude Bell]]: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations | publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux | year=2008|edition=paperback|pages=5–6, 64–66}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/30/101030690 | title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | publisher=Oxford University Press | work=Lowthian Bell |last=Tweedale |first=Geoffrey | year=2011 | accessdate=28 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/about/news/arts-and-crafts-mount-grace/ | title=Arts and crafts revival planned at Mount Grace | publisher=English Heritage | date=14 January 2010 | accessdate=28 November 2012}}</ref>

[[Henry Bolckow]] (1806–1878) and [[John Vaughan (Ironmaster)|John Vaughan]] (1799–1868) were lifelong business partners, friends, and brothers-in-law. They established what became the largest of all [[Victorian era]] iron and steel companies, [[Bolckow Vaughan]], in Middlesbrough. Bolckow brought financial acumen, and Vaughan brought ironmaking and engineering expertise. The two men trusted each other implicitly and "never interfered in the slightest degree with each other's work. Mr. Bolckow had the entire management of the financial department, while Mr. Vaughan as worthily controlled the practical work of the establishment." At its peak the firm was the largest steel producer in Britain, possibly in the world.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/38/101038091 | title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography | publisher=Oxford University Press | work=John Vaughan | accessdate=14 March 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | author1 = Institution of Civil Engineers (Great Britain) | doi = 10.1680/imotp.1869.23113 | title = Obituary. John Vaughan, 1799-1868 | journal = Minutes of the Proceedings | volume = 28 | issue = 1869 | pages = 622622–627 | year = 1869 | pmid = | pmc = |issn = 1753-7843}}</ref>