Bristol Brass Company
1702: Bristol Brass Company formed with its headquarters at Baptist Mills. The partners in the
company were a group of Quaker merchants and businessmen:
-
Edward Lloyd
-
Benjamin
Coole
-
Arthur Thomas
-
John Andrews
The
company was later joined by:
c.1704: Abraham
Darby travels to Low Countries.
1706: Join-Stock Company formed. Chew Mill, Keynsham acquired.
Bristol Brass
& Wire Company
c.1708: Abraham Darby moves to Coalbrookdale to pursue iron smelting.
c.1709: Partnership established
with the Esher Brass Wire Company. Bristol company renamed Bristol Brass & Wire Company.
1710: Company found
copper works at Conham - The Cupolas
c.1711: Company found copper works at Crews Hole, under the control of John &
Thomas Coster.
1711: Baptist Mills (Headquarters & Brass Melting); Chew Mill (Battery); Woodborough Mill(Battery); Weston
Mill (Battery) in operation.
1721: Saltford Mill acquired (Battery Mill)
1724: Nehehiah Champion (elder) patents
process for manufacture of brass.
c.1730: Avon Mill, Keynsham, established as a Wire Drawing Mill.
Warmley Company
1746: William Champion leaves the Bristol company and founds rival 'Warmley Company' to 'make
copper and brass, spelter and various utensils of copper and brass'. Partners in the company:
-
William Champion
-
Thomas Goldney
-
Sampson Lloyd
-
Thomas
Crosby
1768: Warmley Company
attempts expansion which is challenged as it would create a monopoly, threatening the industry, which is upheld by the Lord's
Committee of the Privey Seal. William Champion attempts to withdraw his investment, is dismissed the company and declared bankrupt.
Warmley company auctioned.
1777: Partners in the Bristol company were:
-
Sir Jarrit Smith
-
Edward
Harford (the elder)
-
Mark Harford (the elder)
-
Edward
Harford (the younger)
-
Mark Harford (the younger)
-
- Harford
Lloyd
- George Champion
- William Battersby
Harfords'
& Bristol Brass Company
1786: Shares in the United Brass Battery, Wire and Copper Company of Bristol
sold. Company restructured and renamed as Harfords' & Bristol Brass Company; managed by Mark Harford the younger.
1789:
Harfords' & Bristol Brass Company buys Warmley works.
1790s: Woodborough Mill derelict.
1796: Mark Harford retires.
Joseph Harford (cousin) takes over as manager. Company known as Joseph Harford & Bristol Brass Company
1802:
Mark Harford, 2nd son of Mark Harford (younger), takes over as manager.
1809: Manufacture of copper and brass ceases
at Warmley.
1811: Weston Mill sold.
1814: Baptist Mills abandoned.
1820: Company ceases copper production.
1825:
Bitton Battery Mill sold.
Charles Ludlow Walker
1833: Harfords & Bristol Brass Company cease manufacturing.
Premises leased to Charles Ludlow Walker.
Donald & David Bain
1865: Premises bought by Donald and David Bain who
continue brass battery and wire manufacture.
1903: Donald Bain dies. Alfred Davies, a Cornish mining engineer who
had joined the company in the 1880s, takes over as manager.
Alfred Davies
1925: Alfred Davies takes over company on
death of Donald Bain's nephew who had inherited the mill in 1903. Operations cease at Saltford.
1927: Operations
cease at Keynsham.
Bristol Brass Company
The history of Saltford Brass Mill is inextricably linked with the fortunes of the Bristol Brass Company,
the key events in it history being summarized in the following notes:
Related Events
Rownham 'Cupiloe'
c.1680: Arthur Coster, erects a reverberatory furnace at Rownham on the river Avon for
the smelting of metals.
Upper Redbrook Copper Works
1691: John Coster & partners establish a copper works at Redbrook
on Wye, on the Welsh border in Gloucestershire.
English Copper Company
1691: Sir Joseph Herne establishes English
Copper Company at Lower Redbrook
Conham Copper Works
1696: Abraham Elton, a Merchant Venturer, founds a copper works
on the River Avon at Conham.
Manufacture of Brass
1700: Group of five Bristol Quakers petition Privy Council for a
Charter of Incorporation to manufacture brass. Group includes:
· Edward Lloyd
· Charles
Harford
Shipham, Calamine Mines
Calamine mined at Shipham, on the Mendip, on land owned by:
· Abraham
Elton
Bibliography
A. The Resources, Products and Industrial History of Birmingham and the Midland Hardware District. Samuel
Timmins. 1866
B. Annals of the Harford Family. Alice Harford. 1909
C. Quakers in Science and Industry: Quaker Contributions to
Science and Industry in the 17th and 18th Centuries. Arthur Raistrick. 1950
D. Bristol Brass: A History of the Industry.
Joan Day. 1973
'All the foregoing works were carried on by Joseph Loscombe and Brass Works Company for nearly fifty years, they were then taken on
by a new firm, composed of three or four of the family of the Harfords, a Sir Jarret Smith and a Mr Battersby, who styled themselves
"Harfords' and Bristol Brass Battery and Wire Company".
Industrial History of Birmingham, 1866
United Brass Battery, Wire and Copper Company of Bristol, Esher, Upper Redbrook and Barton Regis
1734: Bristol Brass & Wire
Company take over John Coster's company at Redbrook on Wye. Redbrook is closed in favour of Crews Hole and Conham.
1738:
William Champion, son of Nehemiah (elder) patents process for zinc smelting.
1749: Partners in the Bristol company were:
-
Walter
Hawksworth
-
Edward Harford
-
Trueman Harford
-
Harford Lloyd
-
Andrews
Lloyd
-
Richard
Champion
-
Nehemiah Champion (younger)
-
Henry Swymmer
-
Joseph
Loscomb
In his history of the brass industry, Samuel Timmins observed:
Saltford Brass Mill Project
Copyright (C) 2020 Saltford Brass Mill Project. All Rights Reserved
Registered Charity Number
Scheduled Monument
Grade II* Listed Building
1174901
1004607
1384676
Quaker
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Quaker
Wine Merchant & Cider Maker
Merchant
Pewterer
Merchant
'Active Man' (Manager) of the Company
Merchant
Industrialist and Copper Smelter
Merchant Venturer and Copper Smelter
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant
Merchant Venturer
Merchant Venturer
Birmingham Iron-founder
Step-father of Joseph Harford
Quaker
Quaker
Wine Merchant & Cider Maker
Merchant Venturer