Ironmaster: Difference between revisions

[[File:Samuel Van Leer.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|"Capt Van Leer" [[Samuel Van Leer]], (1747-1825)]][[Samuel Van Leer]] was a well known Ironmaster during the [[American Revolutionary War]] and United States Army officer. He started a military career with enthusiasm with his neighbor [[Anthony Wayne|General Anthony Wayne]] in 1775.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vanleerplus.org/8samuel.htm|title=Samuel Van Leer welcomed the Revolution with enthusiasm.}}</ref> His furnace [[Warwick Furnace Farms]] supplied cannon and cannon balls for the [[Continental Army]].<ref>{{cite web | title = PHMC Historical Markers | work =Historical Marker Database | publisher = Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission | url =http://search.pahistoricalmarkers.com/ | accessdateaccess-date = December 20, 2013}}</ref> Van Leer's furnace was a center of colonial iron making and is associated with the introduction of the [[Franklin Stove]], and the retreat of [[George Washington]]'s army following its defeat at the [[Battle of Brandywine]], where they came for musket repairs.<ref>"General Washington retreated to Warwick to have the army's muskets repaired,," ''Warwick Furnace Historical Marker'', May 12, 1948.[https://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-2AC]</ref> The location is listed as a temporary [[List of Washington's Headquarters during the Revolutionary War|George Washington Headquarter]].[[File:Warwick Farmhouse.JPG|thumb|upright=0.6|"Warwick Farmhouse Mansion" [[Warwick Furnace Farms]]]]W<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ironandsteelheritage.org/SE/east_nantmeal.cfm|title=The Iron and Steel Heritage partners with Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.}}</ref> Van Leer's children would all join the iron business as well.

[[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 | accessdateaccess-date=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 | accessdateaccess-date=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 | accessdateaccess-date=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 = 622–627 | year = 1869 |issn = 1753-7843| doi-access = free }}</ref>