Fact File

Flanged iron wheels were cast for the first time in Coalbrookdale in 1729

Abraham Darby 11

Abraham Darby's son, Abraham, was only six years old when his father died, and there could have ended the Darby's involvement with the Coalbrookdale works.

In 1717 the control of the works passed to Thomas Goldney, a merchant from Bristol to whom half of the works had been mortgaged and to Richard Ford, the son-in-law of Darby's widow, Mary. There was a great deal of legal wrangling over the succession but due to the timely intervention of a Quaker called Joshua Sergeant a three-sixteenth share was secured and held in trust for Abraham Darby 11 and his brothers and sisters. With the death of Mary, soon after her husband, Joshua Sergeant was appointed as one of the trustees responsible for the education of her children.

The Coalbrookdale works continued to produce cast-iron household utensils: cooking pots, frying pans, skillets and grates; mostly for the West Midlands and Borderland region.

In the 1720's and 30's Coalbrookdale's significance was regional rather than national, but it was the production of cast-iron parts for steam engines that brought Coalbrookdale to national prominence.

Thomas Newcomen had erected the first steam engine for pumping out mines in 1712, near Dudley, and a similar engine was installed at pits on the glebe land in Madeley parish.

During this period the worlds first iron railway wheels were cast at Coalbrookdale.

It was at this time of national recognition that Abraham Darby 11 took an active role in the management of the Coalbrookdale works. At the age of 17, in 1728, he was acting deputy to Richard Ford; being granted the rights and privileges of full partner in 1738.

With the death of Richard Ford in 1745, his interests in the company passed to his three sons; eventually being bought out by Abraham Darby 11 in 1756.

One of the great problems of running a water-powered furnace was the lack of water during the summer months, necessitating the shutting down of operations. To combat this loss of production, he soon saw the potential of using steam engine pumps in order to recycle water from the lower to upper reservoirs: a simple solution that had an enormous impact.

He forged many new partnerships with other ironmasters, and many new furnaces were built; in essence, he modernised an iron-making industry that would be taken to new heights by the most famous of all the Darbys.

Abraham Darby 11 died at the age of 51, on the 31 March 1763, and was buried in the new Quaker graveyard at Coalbrookdale.

N.B.

Despite being Quakers, the Darbys manufactured armaments from 1740 to 1744, and 1756 to 1763.

Written by Colin Ayling © 2006