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EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LONDON
IRONMONGERS
The Worshipful Company
The company is nominally
responsible for conduct of the trade within the City of London, and has
probably considerable influence outside it.
Nevertheless many ironmongers who feature prominently in the Cort story
seem to play no part in the affairs of the company.
Location of premises
London ironmongers appear to
congregate around Thames Street, close to the river on the northern bank. Many also have a warehouse down stream.
Presumably most goods arrive by
sea, and are kept at the warehouse. They
travel upriver by barge (they have to pass under London
Bridge) when needed at the shop.
Bicklewith
This name has appeared only in
connection with the career of Richard Crawshay.
Jukes Coulson
Perhaps the most significant
name among London ironmongers in Cort's time.
Probably a name shared by father and son, both in the business.
Premises with wharf at 10
Allhallows Lane from 1767 to 1790. Then
at 95 Upper Thames Street. Also
registered as anchorsmith at Rotherhithe.
Closely
involved with Ironmongers Company, supervising their estates as early as 1763.
Makes piston rods for Watt's
engines, using Swedish iron. A link with
the Lindegrens is confirmed in Coulson's 1794 will, which names one of them as
a beneficiary.
The will also refers to a
partnership with Millington and Vardon.
Claimed by the Oxford DNB as
"probably London's leading iron merchant" whose "interests
stretched from Stockholm to Smyrna" according to Chris Evans's The
Labyrinth of Flame.
Claimed "23 years in
business" during a legal dispute in the 1780s, but does not appear in
Ironmongers Company books.
Took over a business in Thames
Street previously owned by Bicklewith.
Moved several times without leaving the area: one address at 3 Bull
Wharf Lane, Queenhithe, suggests proximity to the Lindegren business.
Eventually settled at 3 George
Yard, Upper Thames Street, where his "house" continued in business
long after his death.
Involved in several London
partnerships, the later ones involving William Thompson from Government
Ordnance at the Tower of London. Gave a
job to William's brother Robert at Cyfarthfa.
Dealings are recorded with Cramond, Millington, Raby and William Reynolds.
Described William Wilkinson as his "friend for 20
years" in a letter of introduction to Swedish iron traders in 1788.
Also connections with Samuel
Thornton (a signatory to the 1791 petition), Brook
Watson (presenter of the petition) and William
Wilberforce.
Member of Society
of Arts, 1789.
Moves to Cyfarthfa in 1792.
Edward Jones
Influential member of
Ironmongers Company, suggests long association with Coulson and Vardon. Not listed in London trade directories.
Premises at 7 All Hallows Lane
near Coulson's and Raby's.
Probably the supplier of cannon
who persuades the Government to revoke Wilkinson's
patent.
Later crosses swords with Raby
after hiring out his nearby wharf while Raby's is being repaired. Raby complains to head of Government William Pitt that Jones is using his influence to
deny him a licence to use his wharf once the repair is complete
Brothers Andrew & Charles
Lindegren
Evidently the main importers of
Swedish iron for a long period.
In Mincing Lane to 1767. Then to 1 Red Bull Wharf, Thames Street.
Charles becomes a Director of
Royal Exchange Assurance. His son Andrew
moves to Portsmouth, where he has a lengthy career, which includes “many years
agent to the Hon. East India Company” (to quote from an obituary). Young Andrew’s brother Charles evidently
joins the East India Company’s maritime service, where he rises to the rank of
captain. For some time I wondered about
Andrew senior’s son: does he die shortly after his father? Eventually (September 2010) I got the “no”
message from one of his descendants!
This period also sees an
application for bankruptcy, within months of Andrew senior’s death in 1783,
from his “surviving partners Charles and Andrew Lindegren”. Andrew extricates himself with a certificate of conformity in January 1784, while there
is no mention of a bankrupt state in Charles senior’s will made the following
May.
Isaiah Millington
Takes
over the Crowley business in Upper Thames Street.
Forms partnership with Coulson
and Vardon.
Supplies locks and other
ironmongery to the Navy.
Alexander Raby
Ironmonger
with earliest documented connection with Cort.
Also manufactures hoops.
Partners Rogers and Holmer in
turn, moving from Dockhead to Steelyard in All Hallows Lane. Wharves adjacent to Coulson and Jones.
Complains to Pitt in 1787 about
business difficulties he attributes to Jones.
Information from the Web shows
him owning coalmines and other property, including a large estate in Surrey.
Later becomes interested in
ironworking in Wales. Moves to Llanelly.
Thomas Vardon
Another stalwart of Ironmongers
Company.
Premises at 61 Gracechurch
Street. Partner at first of George
Franklin.
Later forms partnership with
Millington and Coulson.
Supplies to Navy include
anchors and camp forges.
The Wilson family
Brothers Robert, John and
William. Originates at Carnwath in
southern Scotland, where Robert stays.
John spends time in Sweden,
then sets up in London (Cornhill) with William, importing Swedish iron.
In 1779 the three brothers
combine to set up the Wilsontown Ironworks near
Carnwath.
The London firm is the only
iron company involved in the 1791 petition on
behalf of Cort.
Cort's daughter
Charlotte marries a John Wilson, who may be the son of ironmonger
John. By 1811 the couple are in Guiana,
where John later becomes agent for John Gladstone. On leaving Guiana, John becomes Gladstone’s
partner for ten years.
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