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INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION: A DOCUMENTARY HISTORY
Series Four: Sources from the Record Offices in the United Kingdom

Part 4: The Darby Family, Coalbrookdale Estate and the Iron Bridge – sources from Shropshire Archives

Coalbrookdale has been described as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution because it was here that the Darby family pioneered the world’s first successful coke-fired blast furnaces. They produced cast iron in vast quantities making it thinner and cheaper than had previously been possible and opening it up to a wide range of applications.

Their cast iron spanned the country in the form of railroad tracks. It was used in textile mills to replace the combustible wood of earlier frames. It was used by Boulton & Watt and other engineering companies to build the industrial machinery of the age. It was also used to create the iconic Iron Bridge across the River Severn at Coalbrookdale – the world’s first cast iron bridge.

This transformed the landscape – and nowhere was this more evident than at the place of production. Philip James de Loutherbourg’s painting of Coalbrookdale at night (1801), is one of the great images of the Industrial Revolution, showing what had once been an idyllic landscape, with carthorses and a human figure in the foreground, now dominated by the red incandescent furnaces creating a vision of Hell on Earth.

In this part we offer access to a cluster of collections from the Shropshire archives describing the activities of successive generations of the Darby family of Coalbrookdale, ironmasters of the Industrial Revolution.

The Papers of the Coalbrookdale Company contain items relating to the management of the company, including observations, memorandums, correspondence, reports, resolutions, articles of agreement and bonds. There are calculations of the amount of iron needed for various jobs, and lists of subscribers for projects undertaken. There are production figures for Ketley, Horsehay and Dawley Castle furnaces, 1799, and a memorandum of the final adjustment and dissolution of the co-partnership of the Coalbrookdale, Horsehay and Ketley concerns following the death of Abraham Darby III, c.1796.

The Archives of the Iron Bridge include the Minute Book of the Trustees of the intended iron bridge between Madeley Wood and Benthall, 1775-1798, written in a clear legible handwriting (Abraham Darby III?). Other items are: Assignment and Transfer of Shares 1779-1945; Book of Certificates of the Iron Bridge Trust 1892-1948; Ten original share certificates on vellum; Account Book May 1831-Dec 1841; Account Book Dec 1841-June 1861; Accounts of dividends paid to the proprietors of the Iron Bridge 1st June 1827-Dec 1842; Minute Book of the Trustees of the Iron Bridge June 1800-Dec 1828; Minute Book of the Trustees of the Iron Bridge 1830-1861.

The Deeds and Family papers of the Darby Family form the bulk of the collection and provide valuable material on legal, commercial, societal, family and personal matters during the 18th and 19th centuries in Coalbrookdale and the surrounding industrial area.

They include mortgages, lease agreements, and purchases and exchanges of land, properties and businesses. There are marriage settlements, articles of agreement, receipts for payment, deeds for tenants and wills.

These relate mainly to Abraham Darby II (1711-1763), a managerial and technological innovator in iron-making whose success is compared to that of Richard Arkwright in cotton-spinning and Abraham Darby III (1750-1789), the builder of the Iron Bridge. There is a limited amount of material relating to Abraham Darby I, Dud Dudley and Abraham Darby IV. There is much on their wives and families.

Sample documents include a Mortgage of one third of Ketley Ironworks, 5 August 1758; and abstract of title to the Washbrook Piece in Madeley sold by Henry Goodman to Abraham Darby, [c.1776]; an attested copy of the assignment of Mr Samuel Darby’s share in certain iron and other works in Coalbrookdale and elsewhere on various trusts, 4 February 1794; the Probate and copy of the will of Abraham Darby of Coalbrookdale, Madeley, ironmaster, proved 26 July 1763; and Deeds relating to Sunniside a three-storey, three-bay mansion built for Abraham and Abiah Darby. Such documents tell us a huge amount about the scale and value of the business, the way that capital was raised, the success of ventures, and also about the prosperity that this brought to the Darby family.

There are letters relating to experiments and general family correspondence. Another outstanding source is the collection of cashbooks of Abraham Darby III, which reveal his personal spending and lifestyle with accounts of furnishings and luxury goods from London and Bristol, chocolate from Joseph Fry and purchases of wine, newspapers and magazines,1769-81 and 1784-89.

Scholars of the Industrial Revolution will be delighted to have access to these archives which describe the evolution of one of the central companies of the industrial age.



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