Anthony Bacon (industrialist)
Encyclopedia
Anthony Bacon was an English
-born merchant and industrialist who was significantly responsible for the emergence of Merthyr Tydfil
as the iron-smelting centre of Britain.
near Whitehaven
in Cumberland
the son of William Bacon, a ship's captain trading in coal
from that port to Ireland
.
The family were said to be descended from Sir Nicholas Bacon
(1540–1624); however, since very little is known about his ancestry and upbringing, the connection may be spurious or illegitimate. Nicholas Bacon was Member of Parliament
for Beverley
(1563–1567) and Suffolk
(1572–1583) (as one of the two knights representing the county) and ancestor of the Bacon Baronets
. Sir Nicholas Bacon was the eldest (half) brother of Sir Francis Bacon
, 1st Viscount St. Albans and Baron Verulam, and the eldest son of Nicholas Bacon (1509–1579), a prominent Elizabethan politician.
to live with his maternal uncles, who were tobacco
merchants there. He was trained as a merchant and mariner, expanding his trade to include Virginia
and the import of Spanish
wine
. During the Seven Years' War
he became a government contractor for shipping and victualling in partnership with William Biggin, a London merchant, also from Whitehaven.
, Tobago
, Dominica
, and Grenada
) in the West Indies and west Africa. At the same time to aid his business in government contracts, he was elected as Member of Parliament
for the venal borough of Aylesbury
, which he represented until 1784, by which time the participation of MPs in government cointracting had been prohibited.
In 1765 he went into partnership with William Brownrigg
of Whitehaven, taking out a lease on 4000 acres (16.2 km²) of land in the Merthyr valley. obtained the mineral-rich land very cheaply, they employed Charles Wood
to build Cyfarthfa
forge using his patented potting and stamping
process to make pig iron
into bar iron
. This was followed by a blast furnace
at Cyfarthfa
, 50 feet high and opened in 1767. Bacon took over the Plymouth Ironworks
in 1766 to supply pig iron to his forge. The partnership with Brownrigg was dissolved in 1777. Bacon leased the Hirwaun ironworks in 1780.
Bacon's government contracts extended to the supply of ordnance. In 1773, after the Carron Company
's guns had been withdrawn from service as dangerous, he offered to provide three cannon for a trial, made respectively with charcoal, coke, and mixed fuel. He also delivered a fourth with then 'cast solid and bored'. This gun was reported to be 'infintely better than [those cast] in the ordinary way, because it makes the ordnance more compact and consequently more durable', despite the greater expense. This led to a contract in 1774. These guns were apparently cast by John Wilkinson
until Bacon's contract with him ended in 1776. A year later, Bacon asked for Richard Crawshay
's name to be included in his warrants, and from this time the cannon were cast at Cyfarthfa. This continued until Bacon as a Member of Parliament was disabled from undertaking government contracts in 1782, when the forge and gunfoundry business were leased some of his interests to Francis Homfray
.
, who was one of the witnesses to the father's will, and Thomas to his uncle Richard Hill. Both took on estates in Berkshire
.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born merchant and industrialist who was significantly responsible for the emergence of Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
as the iron-smelting centre of Britain.
Background
Bacon was born at St BeesSt Bees
St Bees is a village and civil parish in the Copeland district of Cumbria, in the North of England, about five miles west southwest of Whitehaven. The parish had a population of 1,717 according to the 2001 census. Within the parish is St...
near Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
in Cumberland
Cumberland
Cumberland is a historic county of North West England, on the border with Scotland, from the 12th century until 1974. It formed an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 and now forms part of Cumbria....
the son of William Bacon, a ship's captain trading in coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
from that port to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.
The family were said to be descended from Sir Nicholas Bacon
Sir Nicholas Bacon, 1st Baronet, of Redgrave
Sir Nicholas Bacon, 1st Baronet , of Redgrave in Suffolk, English Member of Parliament, and in 1611 was the first man to be created a baronet, making his successors Premier Baronets of England....
(1540–1624); however, since very little is known about his ancestry and upbringing, the connection may be spurious or illegitimate. Nicholas Bacon was Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Beverley
Beverley (UK Parliament constituency)
Beverley has been the name of a parliamentary constituency in the East Riding of Yorkshire for three separate periods. From medieval times until 1869, it was a parliamentary borough, consisting solely of the market town of Beverley, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons...
(1563–1567) and Suffolk
Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency)
Suffolk was a county constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1290 until 1832, when it was split into two divisions.-Boundaries and franchise:...
(1572–1583) (as one of the two knights representing the county) and ancestor of the Bacon Baronets
Bacon Baronets
There have been three Baronetcies created for members of the Bacon family, all in the Baronetage of England. As of 2008, one creation is extinct and two of the creations are extant. The extant titles have been merged since 1755...
. Sir Nicholas Bacon was the eldest (half) brother of Sir Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
, 1st Viscount St. Albans and Baron Verulam, and the eldest son of Nicholas Bacon (1509–1579), a prominent Elizabethan politician.
Early life
Following the death of both his parents he went to MarylandMaryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
to live with his maternal uncles, who were tobacco
Tobacco
Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...
merchants there. He was trained as a merchant and mariner, expanding his trade to include Virginia
Virginia
The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...
and the import of Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
. During the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
he became a government contractor for shipping and victualling in partnership with William Biggin, a London merchant, also from Whitehaven.
Career
In 1764, he withdrew from the tobacco trade, and concentrated on trade to and contracting in new British colonies (the ceded islands—St VincentSaint Vincent (island)
Saint Vincent is a volcanic island in the Caribbean. It is the largest island of the chain called Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. It is located in the Caribbean Sea, between Saint Lucia and Grenada. It is composed of partially submerged volcanic mountains...
, Tobago
Tobago
Tobago is the smaller of the two main islands that make up the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located in the southern Caribbean, northeast of the island of Trinidad and southeast of Grenada. The island lies outside the hurricane belt...
, Dominica
Dominica
Dominica , officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island nation in the Lesser Antilles region of the Caribbean Sea, south-southeast of Guadeloupe and northwest of Martinique. Its size is and the highest point in the country is Morne Diablotins, which has an elevation of . The Commonwealth...
, and Grenada
Grenada
Grenada is an island country and Commonwealth Realm consisting of the island of Grenada and six smaller islands at the southern end of the Grenadines in the southeastern Caribbean Sea...
) in the West Indies and west Africa. At the same time to aid his business in government contracts, he was elected as Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for the venal borough of Aylesbury
Aylesbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Aylesbury is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Conservative Party has held the seat since 1924, and held it at the 2010 general election with a 52.2% share of the vote.-Boundaries:...
, which he represented until 1784, by which time the participation of MPs in government cointracting had been prohibited.
In 1765 he went into partnership with William Brownrigg
William Brownrigg
William Brownrigg M.D. F.R.S. was a doctor and scientist, who practised at Whitehaven in Cumberland. While there, William Brownrigg carried out experiments that won him not only a place in The Royal Society but the prized Copley Medal....
of Whitehaven, taking out a lease on 4000 acres (16.2 km²) of land in the Merthyr valley. obtained the mineral-rich land very cheaply, they employed Charles Wood
Charles Wood (ironmaster)
Charles Wood was an ironmaster and one of the inventors of the potting and stamping method of making wrought iron from pig iron.-Parents:...
to build Cyfarthfa
Cyfarthfa Ironworks
The Cyfarthfa Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales.-The beginning:...
forge using his patented potting and stamping
Potting and stamping
Potting and stamping is a modern name for one of the 18th century processes for refining pig iron without the use of charcoal.-Inventors:The process was devised by Charles Wood of Lowmill, Egremont in Cumberland and his brother John Wood of Wednesbury and patented by them...
process to make pig iron
Pig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
into bar iron
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...
. This was followed by a blast furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...
at Cyfarthfa
Cyfarthfa Ironworks
The Cyfarthfa Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located in Cyfarthfa, on the north-western edge of Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales.-The beginning:...
, 50 feet high and opened in 1767. Bacon took over the Plymouth Ironworks
Plymouth Ironworks
The Plymouth Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located at Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales....
in 1766 to supply pig iron to his forge. The partnership with Brownrigg was dissolved in 1777. Bacon leased the Hirwaun ironworks in 1780.
Bacon's government contracts extended to the supply of ordnance. In 1773, after the Carron Company
Carron Company
The Carron Company was an ironworks established in 1759 on the banks of the River Carron near Falkirk, in Stirlingshire, Scotland. After initial problems, the company was at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom. The company prospered through its development and...
's guns had been withdrawn from service as dangerous, he offered to provide three cannon for a trial, made respectively with charcoal, coke, and mixed fuel. He also delivered a fourth with then 'cast solid and bored'. This gun was reported to be 'infintely better than [those cast] in the ordinary way, because it makes the ordnance more compact and consequently more durable', despite the greater expense. This led to a contract in 1774. These guns were apparently cast by John Wilkinson
John Wilkinson (industrialist)
John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson was an English industrialist who pioneered the use and manufacture of cast iron and cast-iron goods in the Industrial Revolution.-Early life:...
until Bacon's contract with him ended in 1776. A year later, Bacon asked for Richard Crawshay
Richard Crawshay
Richard Crawshay was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster.Richard Crawshay was born in Normanton in the West Riding of Yorkshire...
's name to be included in his warrants, and from this time the cannon were cast at Cyfarthfa. This continued until Bacon as a Member of Parliament was disabled from undertaking government contracts in 1782, when the forge and gunfoundry business were leased some of his interests to Francis Homfray
Francis Homfray
Francis Homfray was an English industrialist and one of the founders of the iron industry in South Wales.Homfray, whose family were originally from Yorkshire, had been successful in the iron trade in Coalbrookdale, Staffordshire, and made his home at Wollaston Hall, Worcestershire. He married...
.
Family
Bacon married Elizabeth Richardson, but their only son had died in 1770, aged 12. Bacon therefore made his mistress and his illegitimate children his heirs. When he died, the sons received princely amounts for the time. Bacon's eldest son, Anthony Bushby Bacon (1772–1827) was to receive the Cyfarthfa estate when he came of age. The second son Thomas Bacon was to receive the Plymouth furnace, etc. In addition, "The Hirwaun furnace and collieries became the joint property of Anthony II and Thomas, while Robert, it seems, had the mines, etc., at Workington. Elizabeth was to receive a clear annuity of £300 when she became 21. William, then a baby, was to receive the remainder of the trust funds, provided the sum did not amount to more than £10,000, when he came of age." However, the sons showed little or no interest in their father's businesses and rapidly sold or leased them, Anthony II to Richard CrawshayRichard Crawshay
Richard Crawshay was a London iron merchant and then South Wales ironmaster.Richard Crawshay was born in Normanton in the West Riding of Yorkshire...
, who was one of the witnesses to the father's will, and Thomas to his uncle Richard Hill. Both took on estates in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
.
Sources
- Jacob M. Price, ‘Bacon, Anthony (bap. 1717, d. 1786)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2008 subscription needed, accessed 26 May 2008.
- Welsh Biography Online