Bristol Brass Company

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:

Abraham Darby
Nehemiah Champion (Elder)
John Coster
Thomas Coster

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)
Joseph Harford
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: