Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Transition at Dowlais, The 1850s and 1860s

  • Chapter
A History of GKN

  • 25 Accesses

Abstract

By March 1848, when after the death of Lord Bute it became clear that his Trustees would renew the lease, the ironworks at Dowlais had been allowed to fall into a state of considerable disrepair. Little had been spent on maintenance and renewals in the immediate past and, in view of Lord Bute’s implacability and consistent refusal to reach an agreement, there had been virtually no substantial investment in new plant and technology over the recent five years. The plight of the Dowlais Iron Co. was compounded by the debilitating effect of Sir John Guest’s illness. Just when he was needed to invigorate his managers with fresh enthusiasm and set about re-building the ironworks and modernising the mines, Guest suffered from growing ill health. He was forced to spend increasing periods in the unpolluted air at Canford where he could rest without being overly troubled by the pressing problems of his family business. Who, then, would occupy Dowlais House, take responsibility for negotiating the renewal of the lease and make the decisions needed to rejuvenate the ailing iron and coal company?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Lady Charlotte Guest, ‘Journal’, Vol. VIII, March 1848–February 1851, 17 March 1849, p. 286.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ibid., 24 December 1848, p. 212.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Ibid., 20 November 1850, p. 760; GRO, D/DG Miscellaneous, Box 1, Dowlais Works Accounts 1831–48, 31 May 1848, p. 77; Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, p. 44.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Guest, ‘Journal’, 22 April 1850, p. 577; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, p. 241; M. Stenton (Editor), Who’s Who of British M.P.s, Vol. I, 1832–1885, Hassocks (1976), p. 206.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Ibid., p. 578.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Ibid., Vol. IX, February 1851–September 1853, 5 July 1851, pp. 89–90.

    Google Scholar 

  8. E.E. Edwards, Echoes of Rhymney, Risca (1974), p. 27.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Guest, ‘Journal’, Vol. VIII, 20 November 1850, p. 760.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ibid., 10–11 December 1852, pp. 517–518.

    Google Scholar 

  11. PIME, Vol. 8 (1857), William Menelaus, ‘Description of the Large Blowing Engine and New Rolling Mill at Dowlais Iron Works’, p. 112.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. IX, 14 July 1853, p. 731.

    Google Scholar 

  13. GRO D/DG, Box 8, Miscellaneous,’ summary of Expenditure on New Works Since 31 May 1848 to 11 November 1854’.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. IX, 8 November 1852, pp. 464–65.

    Google Scholar 

  15. ‘Coal Reports, C.E.G., 1851–53’ (Manuscript volume in the possession of the Dowager Viscountess Wimborne), 30 April 1851, p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Ibid., p. 8.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Ibid., p. 10.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Ibid., p. 13.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Ibid., p. 17.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Ibid., Mr. Evans’ Report, 9 January 1852, p. 43.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Ibid., p. 25.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Ibid., p. 26.

    Google Scholar 

  23. GRO, Microfilm Reel No. 129, Lady Charlotte Guest’s Works Journal 1852–55, 8 December 1852, p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  24. Ibid., 28 December 1852, p. 11.

    Google Scholar 

  25. Ibid., Mr Evans’ Report on Proposed New Coal Pits, March, 1853, pp. 39–40.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Ibid., pp. 37–38.

    Google Scholar 

  27. GRO, Microfilm Reel No. 129, Lady Charlotte Guest’s Works Journal, 1852–55, 16 March 1853, p. 27.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Ibid., p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  29. ‘Coal Reports’, Mr Nicholas Wood’s Report, 22 April 1853, p. 52.

    Google Scholar 

  30. Ibid., p. 54.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Ibid., p. 63.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Ibid., p. 64.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Ibid., p. 69.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Ibid., p. 70.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Ibid., p. 71.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Ibid., p. 72.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  38. GRO, Works Journal, 6 May 1853, p. 51.

    Google Scholar 

  39. Ibid., p. 74.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Ibid., p. 76.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Ibid., p. 78.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Ibid., p. 80.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Ibid., p. 81.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Ibid., p. 82.

    Google Scholar 

  48. Ibid., p. 86; see also GRO, D/DG, ‘Works Journal’, 18 April 1853, p. 44.

    Google Scholar 

  49. Ibid., p. 86.

    Google Scholar 

  50. Ibid., p. 87.

    Google Scholar 

  51. GRO, Works Journal, 16 March 1853, p. 27.

    Google Scholar 

  52. GRO, Works Journal, 28 May 1853, p. 62.

    Google Scholar 

  53. Ibid., p. 63.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Ibid., 1 June 1853, pp. 64–65.

    Google Scholar 

  55. Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, p. 136.

    Google Scholar 

  56. R. Walters, The Economic and Business History of the South Wales Steam Coal Industry, New York (1977), pp. 158, 162; Church, Coal Industry, p. 418.

    Google Scholar 

  57. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. XI, January 1856–January 1863, 3 February 1859, pp. 217–18; The Earl of Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Extracts from her Journal 1853–1891 London (1952), p. 98.

    Google Scholar 

  58. Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, pp. 60–61.

    Google Scholar 

  59. GRO, D/DG, Section D, Collieries, Letter from William Jenkins to G.T. Clark, 15 November 1861.

    Google Scholar 

  60. GRO, D/DG, Section D, Letter to G.T. Clark from W. Menelaus, 7 November 1861.

    Google Scholar 

  61. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Church, Coal Industry, p. 405.

    Google Scholar 

  64. GRO, D/DG, Box 6, Section C, Miscellaneous, ‘Report on the Dowlais Works’ 14 November 1857, from William Menelaus.

    Google Scholar 

  65. Ibid., p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  66. GRO, D/DG, Section E, Box 2, Letter to G.T. Clark from H.A. Bruce, 26 July 1860.

    Google Scholar 

  67. GRO, D/DG, ‘Report’, p. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  68. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Ibid., pp. 2–3.

    Google Scholar 

  70. Ibid., p. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  71. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  72. Ibid., p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  73. Ibid., p. 7.

    Google Scholar 

  74. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  75. Ibid., p. 8.

    Google Scholar 

  76. Ibid., p. 9.

    Google Scholar 

  77. Owen, op. cit., p. 58.

    Google Scholar 

  78. Ferdinand Kohn, Iron and Steel Manufacture, London (1869), p. 87.

    Google Scholar 

  79. JISI, Vol. I (1869), W. Menelaus, ‘On Improved Machinery for Rolling Rails’, p. 187.

    Google Scholar 

  80. PIME, Vol. 8 (1857), Menelaus, ‘On Improved Machinery’, p. 114.

    Google Scholar 

  81. Ibid., p. 115; Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, p. 58.

    Google Scholar 

  82. Ibid., p. 117.

    Google Scholar 

  83. TSWIE, Vol. II (1861), W. Menelaus, ‘On Rolling Heavy Iron’, pp. 77–78.

    Google Scholar 

  84. Ibid., p. 79.

    Google Scholar 

  85. GRO, D/DG, Report, p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  86. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  87. Ibid., p. 17.

    Google Scholar 

  88. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. XI, 24 November 1857, p. 14; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, p. 14.

    Google Scholar 

  89. GRO, D/DG, ‘Report November 1857’, W. Menelaus, p. 18.

    Google Scholar 

  90. ‘Coal Reports’, Nicholas Wood’s Report, p. 88.

    Google Scholar 

  91. Elsas, Iron in the Making, William Chessell to James Wise, 1827 (I), f. 104, p. 90; William Chessell to Richard Wood, 1833 (I), f. 189, p. 93.

    Google Scholar 

  92. J.D. Marshall, Furness and the Industrial Revolution, pp. 187, 194, 197.

    Google Scholar 

  93. GRO, D/DG, Letter Book 1842 (2), 14 July 1842, f. 389; Elsas, op. cit., pp. 95–96.

    Google Scholar 

  94. Ibid., p. 96.

    Google Scholar 

  95. Marshall, Furness, pp. 194, 202.

    Google Scholar 

  96. GRO, D/DG, Letter Book 1846 (I), 22 January 1846, f. 572; Elsas, op. cit., p. 98.

    Google Scholar 

  97. GRO, D/DG, Section C, Notebook, ‘List of Contracts at Dowlais House’, 1852–54.

    Google Scholar 

  98. GRO, D/DG, Miscellaneous, Assay Book 1865–69, 6 December 1866, Hodbarrow Ore, p. 68; A. Harris, Cumberland Iron, The Story of the Hodbarrow Mine 1855–1968, Truro (1970), pp. 27–31, 49.

    Google Scholar 

  99. GRO, D/DG ‘Works Journal’, 27 December 1852, p. 9.

    Google Scholar 

  100. Ibid., 19 February 1853, p. 20.

    Google Scholar 

  101. Owen, op. cit., p. 77.

    Google Scholar 

  102. GRO, D/DG, Works Journal, 18 January 1854, p. 203.

    Google Scholar 

  103. Ibid., 20 January 1854, p. 204.

    Google Scholar 

  104. Ibid., 1 February 1854, p. 208.

    Google Scholar 

  105. Ibid., 3 February 1854, p. 209.

    Google Scholar 

  106. Ibid., 9 February 1854, p. 211.

    Google Scholar 

  107. Ibid., 12 February 1854, p. 212.

    Google Scholar 

  108. Ibid., 15 March 1854, p. 220.

    Google Scholar 

  109. Ibid., 29 March 1854, p. 230; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, p. 33.

    Google Scholar 

  110. Ibid., 4 April 1854, p. 232.

    Google Scholar 

  111. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  112. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. X, September 1853–June 1855, 6 May 1854, p. 258; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, p. 34.

    Google Scholar 

  113. Ibid., 20 May 1854, p. 264; Ibid., p. 35.

    Google Scholar 

  114. Ibid., 6 June 1854, p. 37.

    Google Scholar 

  115. Guest, ‘Journal’, Vol. X, latter part of 1854 and 5 December 1854; Ibid., p. 44.

    Google Scholar 

  116. Guest, ‘Journal’, 10 April 1855; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, p. 45.

    Google Scholar 

  117. Ibid., 20 December 1852, p. 525.

    Google Scholar 

  118. Montague Guest, Lady Charlotte Schreiber’s Journals, 2 vols., London (1911), passim.

    Google Scholar 

  119. David Watkin (et al.), A House in Town, 22 Arlington Street, Its Owners and Builders, London (1984), pp. 139–40.

    Google Scholar 

  120. Wilkins, Iron, Steel, Tinplate, p. 302; DBB, Vol. 1, London (1984), L.J. Williams, ‘G.T. Clark’, pp. 686–89.

    Google Scholar 

  121. Roger L. Brown, ‘The Lewis’ of Greenmeadow’ (typescript history 1984), p. 4.

    Google Scholar 

  122. Stenton, Who’s Who of MPs, Vol. I, p. 111.

    Google Scholar 

  123. PIME, Vol. 34 (1883), Memoir, W. Menelaus, p. 20; JISI, Vol. 1882 Part II, Obituary, p. 633.

    Google Scholar 

  124. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. VIII, 20 November, 1850, p. 759; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, p. 251.

    Google Scholar 

  125. Ibid., p. 760; Ibid., p. 251.

    Google Scholar 

  126. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. IX, 30 January 1851, p. 271; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, p. 288.

    Google Scholar 

  127. Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Guest, pp. 297–98.

    Google Scholar 

  128. GRO, D/DG, Works Journal, 16 March 1853, p. 25.

    Google Scholar 

  129. Ibid., 10 February 1854, p. 211.

    Google Scholar 

  130. Ibid., 29 March 1854, p. 230.

    Google Scholar 

  131. GRO, D/DG, Section E, Box 2, Letter to G.T. Clark and H.A. Bruce, presumably from W. Menelaus, 26 July 1860.

    Google Scholar 

  132. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  133. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  134. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  135. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. XI, 24 November 1857, p. 14; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, p. 73.

    Google Scholar 

  136. GRO, D/DG, Section E, Letter to G.T. Clark, op. cit., July 1860.

    Google Scholar 

  137. GRO, D/DG, Section C, Box 4, Report, W. Jenkins Dowlais Office, to W. Menelaus, 14 November 1857.

    Google Scholar 

  138. GRO, D/DG, Section C, Box 4, William Jenkins to W. Menelaus, ‘Comparative Account of Makes and Coal Yields at Dowlais 1856–1857’, 6 November 1857.

    Google Scholar 

  139. Ferdinand Kohn, Iron and Steel Manufacture, London (1869), p. 90.

    Google Scholar 

  140. PIME, Vol. 31 (1880), W. Menelaus, p. 322.

    Google Scholar 

  141. Jones, Industrial Architecture, pp. 162–63, 173–75.

    Google Scholar 

  142. PIME, Vol. 31 (1880), p. 323.

    Google Scholar 

  143. Ibid., Edward Williams, p. 321.

    Google Scholar 

  144. TSWIE, Vol. 1857–1859, President’s Address, p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  145. GRO, D/DG, Works Journal, 16 March 1853, p. 26.

    Google Scholar 

  146. Webster & Co’s Postal and Commercial Directory of the City of Bristol and County of Glamorgan (1865), p. 494.

    Google Scholar 

  147. Good Words, 1 January 1869, ‘The Merthyr Iron Worker’, p. 42.

    Google Scholar 

  148. GRO, D/DG, Works Journal, 14 March 1853, pp. 24–25.

    Google Scholar 

  149. GRO, D/DG, Section C, Box 5, ‘Report on the Employment of Women and Children’, by W. Menelaus, 16 May 1866.

    Google Scholar 

  150. Guest, ‘Journal’, Vol. IX, 9 March 1853, p. 364.

    Google Scholar 

  151. GRO, D/DG, Letter to G.T. Clark from W. Menelaus, 7 November 1861.

    Google Scholar 

  152. TSWIE, Vol. (1857–59), p. 3.

    Google Scholar 

  153. GRO, D/DG, Works Journal, 16 June 1853, p. 76; 10 December 1853, p. 188.

    Google Scholar 

  154. Cleveland Iron and Steel, J.K. Harrison, ‘The Production of Malleable Iron in North East England and the Rise and Collapse of the Puddling Process in the Cleveland District’, pp. 142–43.

    Google Scholar 

  155. Ibid., p. 155.

    Google Scholar 

  156. Ibid., p. 145.

    Google Scholar 

  157. Ibid., pp. 145–47.

    Google Scholar 

  158. Carr and Taplin, British Steel Industry, pp. 56–57.

    Google Scholar 

  159. JISI, Vol. 1875, Presidential Address, pp. 17–18.

    Google Scholar 

  160. Ibid., pp. 23–24.

    Google Scholar 

  161. JISI, Vol. 1882, Part 1, p. 144.

    Google Scholar 

  162. Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, Appendix G, p. 143.

    Google Scholar 

  163. Carr and Taplin, British Steel Industry, p. 20; Derry and Williams, A Short History of Technology, p. 482.

    Google Scholar 

  164. Guest, ‘Journal’, Vol. XI, 15 August 1856, p. 140.

    Google Scholar 

  165. Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, p. 52.

    Google Scholar 

  166. J.S. Jeans, Steel: Its History, Manufacture, Properties, and Uses, London (1880), p. 62.

    Google Scholar 

  167. GRO, D/DG, Section C, Box 2, Draft Agreement with respect to Patent Rights for the Manufacture of Iron, 1857, pp. 5–6; Letter Books 1857 (I), 19 January 1857, f. 48; Elsas, Iron in the Making, p. 195.

    Google Scholar 

  168. Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, p. 53.

    Google Scholar 

  169. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  170. The Wigan Examiner, Vol. XII, No. 605, 7 July 1865, p. 6.

    Google Scholar 

  171. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  172. David Brooke, Journal of Transport History, Vol. VIII (1986), ‘The Advent of the Steel Rail 1857–1914’, p. 21.

    Google Scholar 

  173. Kohn, Iron and Steel Manufacture, p. 88.

    Google Scholar 

  174. Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, p. 143.

    Google Scholar 

  175. MPICE, Vol. XXVII (1867–1968), Christer Peter Sanberg, ‘The Manufacture and Wear of Rails’, p. 353.

    Google Scholar 

  176. Ibid., p. 408.

    Google Scholar 

  177. GRO, D/DG, Section D, Letter, W. Menelaus to G.T. Clark, 7 November 1861.

    Google Scholar 

  178. GRO, Works Journal, 28 December 1852, p. 11.

    Google Scholar 

  179. Ibid., 4 May 1853, p. 50.

    Google Scholar 

  180. GRO, D/DG, Section F, Railways, Boxes 4 and 5, W. Menelaus ‘Notes on the History of the Colly Line’, 23 February 1880, pp. 1–2; Owen, Dozvlais Iron Works, pp. 78–79.

    Google Scholar 

  181. Owen, Dowlais Iron Works, p. 80.

    Google Scholar 

  182. GRO, Works Journal, 21 December 1852, p. 8.

    Google Scholar 

  183. ‘Coal Reports 1851–1853’, handwritten note.

    Google Scholar 

  184. GRO, Works Journal, 21 December 1852, p. 8; Journal, 3 February 1853, p. 542; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, p. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  185. Coal Reports.

    Google Scholar 

  186. GRO, Works Journal, 14 June 1853, p. 75.

    Google Scholar 

  187. GRO, Works Journal, 1 July 1853, p. 82.

    Google Scholar 

  188. Ibid., 2 July 1853, p. 82.

    Google Scholar 

  189. Ibid., 4 July 1853, p. 84.

    Google Scholar 

  190. GRO, Works Journal, 6 July 1853, p. 86.

    Google Scholar 

  191. Coal Reports, Journal, 20 July 1853, p. 744; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, p. 20.

    Google Scholar 

  192. Ibid.

    Google Scholar 

  193. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. IX, 20 July 1853, pp. 744–45; Bessborough, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, p. 20.

    Google Scholar 

  194. GRO, Works Journal, 26 July 1853, p. 107.

    Google Scholar 

  195. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. IX, 20 July 1853, p. 743.

    Google Scholar 

  196. Coal Reports.

    Google Scholar 

  197. GRO, Works Journal, 1 August 1853, p. 110.

    Google Scholar 

  198. Ibid., 4 August 1853, p. 111.

    Google Scholar 

  199. Ibid., 10 August 1853, p. 114.

    Google Scholar 

  200. Ibid., 17 August 1853, p. 117; 18 August 1853, p. 119.

    Google Scholar 

  201. Coal Reports.

    Google Scholar 

  202. GRO, Works Journal, 23 August 1853, p. 122.

    Google Scholar 

  203. Ibid., 31 August 1853, p. 125.

    Google Scholar 

  204. Coal Reports.

    Google Scholar 

  205. GRO, Works Journal, 4 September 1853, p. 135; 7 September 1853, p. 139.

    Google Scholar 

  206. Ibid., 24 September 1853, pp. 148–49.

    Google Scholar 

  207. Guest ‘Journal’, Vol. IX, 11 July 1853, p. 725.

    Google Scholar 

  208. GRO, D/DG, Section C, Box 5, ‘Report on the Employment of Women and Children in the Iron works of South Wales’, by William Menelaus, 16 May 1866.

    Google Scholar 

  209. Ibid., p. 1.

    Google Scholar 

  210. Ibid., p. 2.

    Google Scholar 

  211. Ibid., p. 15.

    Google Scholar 

  212. Ibid., p. 16.

    Google Scholar 

  213. Ibid., p. 17.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors
  1. Edgar Jones
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Copyright information

© 1987 GKN plc

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Jones, E. (1987). Transition at Dowlais, The 1850s and 1860s. In: A History of GKN. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-06629-2_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation