Isaac Wilkinson
Encyclopedia
Isaac Wilkinson was an English
industrialist, one of the founders of the iron
industry and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution
. However, his business ethics were precarious and his commercial affairs frequently chaotic. He became much addicted to litigation.
, then in County Durham
. He was the fifth child of John Wilkinson and his wife, Margaret Thompson. His mother died soon after his birth and his father in 1704, leaving him to be brought up by his elder brother John, a wool
merchant
. He seems to have received some basic education before being apprenticed a foundry
man, probably at the nearby Swalwell
works. There, he established himself as a highly skilled iron-worker, able to demand high wages.
where he worked at the Little Clifton furnace
which probably produced cast iron
by smelting
with coke
. Here Wilkinson operated as a specialist subcontractor
to the furnace. In 1735 he moved to Backbarrow
furnace, which smelted with charcoal
, buying iron from the firm and selling his own produce. He was an influence on John Wilkinson
his son.
In 1738 he patent
ed a cast box smoothing-iron
though it is suspected that he already knew that it was invalid owing to prior art
. He went into production in partnership
with his brother John but indulged in "creative accounting
" to cheat his brother of the profit
s and the partnership folded. By now, Isaac was living in Cartmel
, enjoying several business interests, including the Lowwood iron company. However, the Lowwood project ended in litigation when the weakness of his patent emerged and he accused the enterprise of poaching workers from his other enterprises.
In 1753, Wilkinson moved south to Bersham
, near Wrexham
in Wales
. There he operated a furnace, the Bersham Ironworks
, with his son John
, Edward Blakeway and others. Wilkinson developed the business while maintaining his own subcontracted casting business. Another patent in 1757 was for a blowing-engine for blast furnace
s, using columns of water similar to the trempe system, though it is uncertain how effective it was. Blakeway was declared bankrupt in 1759, his shares passing to Mary Lee who married John Wilkinson in 1763. This gave the Wilkinsons control of Bersham and the business flourished. Isaac patented a novel moulding process in 1758. Isaac's personal subcontract business was a source of continued tensions. Litigation against his partners, including his son, had started as early as 1762, being exacerbated by the slump in Bersham's business following the end of the Seven Years' War
in 1763 when demand for armaments dried up. Isaac moved to Bristol
and John ended up as the owner of the Berham works.
and Cyfarthfa Ironworks
, and starting the Plymouth Ironworks
with John Guest. Disputes with coal suppliers at Cyfarthfa led to further legal action but Isaac's finances were becoming precarious. From the 1770s he was involved in further litigation, including, again, against his son John. He died in London
but was probably buried at Bristol.
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...
industrialist, one of the founders of the iron
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
industry and pioneer of the Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
. However, his business ethics were precarious and his commercial affairs frequently chaotic. He became much addicted to litigation.
Early life
Wilkinson was born in WashingtonWashington, Tyne and Wear
Washington is a town in the City of Sunderland in Tyne and Wear, England. Historically part of County Durham, it joined a new county in 1974 with the creation of Tyne and Wear...
, then in County Durham
County Durham
County Durham is a ceremonial county and unitary district in north east England. The county town is Durham. The largest settlement in the ceremonial county is the town of Darlington...
. He was the fifth child of John Wilkinson and his wife, Margaret Thompson. His mother died soon after his birth and his father in 1704, leaving him to be brought up by his elder brother John, a wool
Wool
Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and certain other animals, including cashmere from goats, mohair from goats, qiviut from muskoxen, vicuña, alpaca, camel from animals in the camel family, and angora from rabbits....
merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
. He seems to have received some basic education before being apprenticed a foundry
Foundry
A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals processed are aluminum and cast iron...
man, probably at the nearby Swalwell
Swalwell
Swalwell is a village in Tyne and Wear, Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, in the United Kingdom.-History:On 27 August 1640, an encampment of soldiers was gathered in the fields north of Whickham church on the slope down to Swalwell. This was part of the Royalist army of King Charles I preparing to...
works. There, he established himself as a highly skilled iron-worker, able to demand high wages.
Cumberland and Lancashire
Some time between 1721 and 1723, Wilkinson moved to WorkingtonWorkington
Workington is a town, civil parish and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England, at the mouth of the River Derwent. Lying within the Borough of Allerdale, Workington is southwest of Carlisle, west of Cockermouth, and southwest of Maryport...
where he worked at the Little Clifton 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...
which probably produced cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
by smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
with coke
Coke (fuel)
Coke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous. While coke can be formed naturally, the commonly used form is man-made.- History :...
. Here Wilkinson operated as a specialist subcontractor
Subcontractor
A subcontractor is an individual or in many cases a business that signs a contract to perform part or all of the obligations of another's contract....
to the furnace. In 1735 he moved to Backbarrow
Backbarrow
Backbarrow is a village in the Lake District National Park in England. It lies on the River Leven about 5 miles northeast of Ulverston in the Furness, traditionally and historically part of Lancashire and still part of Lancashire County Palatine, now also in the region of the county of...
furnace, which smelted with charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
, buying iron from the firm and selling his own produce. He was an influence on 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:...
his son.
In 1738 he patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed a cast box smoothing-iron
Ironing
Ironing is the use of a heated tool to remove wrinkles from fabric. The heating is commonly done to a temperature of 180-220 °Celsius, depending on the fabric. Ironing works by loosening the bonds between the long-chain polymer molecules in the fibers of the material...
though it is suspected that he already knew that it was invalid owing to prior art
Prior art
Prior art , in most systems of patent law, constitutes all information that has been made available to the public in any form before a given date that might be relevant to a patent's claims of originality...
. He went into production in partnership
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
with his brother John but indulged in "creative accounting
Creative accounting
Creative accounting and earnings management are euphemisms referring to accounting practices that may follow the letter of the rules of standard accounting practices, but certainly deviate from the spirit of those rules...
" to cheat his brother of the profit
Profit (accounting)
In accounting, profit can be considered to be the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market whatever it is that is accounted as an enterprise in terms of the component costs of delivered goods and/or services and any operating or other expenses.-Definition:There are...
s and the partnership folded. By now, Isaac was living in Cartmel
Cartmel
Cartmel is a village in Cumbria, England, situated north-west of Grange-over-Sands and close to the River Eea. Historically it was in Lancashire; boundary changes brought it into the newly created county of Cumbria in 1974, yet keeping it within the boundaries of the traditional County Palatine...
, enjoying several business interests, including the Lowwood iron company. However, the Lowwood project ended in litigation when the weakness of his patent emerged and he accused the enterprise of poaching workers from his other enterprises.
Wales
Bersham
Bersham is a small Welsh village in the suburbs of the county borough of Wrexham that lies next to the River Clywedog. Wrexham owes a large amount of its original industrial heritage to Bersham, but despite this the village still retains a rural feeling....
, near Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...
in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. There he operated a furnace, the Bersham Ironworks
Bersham Ironworks
Bersham Ironworks were large ironworks at Bersham, near Wrexham, North Wales. They are most famous for being the original working site of John Wilkinson...
, with his son John
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:...
, Edward Blakeway and others. Wilkinson developed the business while maintaining his own subcontracted casting business. Another patent in 1757 was for a blowing-engine for 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...
s, using columns of water similar to the trempe system, though it is uncertain how effective it was. Blakeway was declared bankrupt in 1759, his shares passing to Mary Lee who married John Wilkinson in 1763. This gave the Wilkinsons control of Bersham and the business flourished. Isaac patented a novel moulding process in 1758. Isaac's personal subcontract business was a source of continued tensions. Litigation against his partners, including his son, had started as early as 1762, being exacerbated by the slump in Bersham's business following the end of 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...
in 1763 when demand for armaments dried up. Isaac moved to Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and John ended up as the owner of the Berham works.
Later life
Isaac became a foundryman in Bristol with involvement in the south Wales Dowlais IronworksDowlais Ironworks
The Dowlais Ironworks was a major ironworks and steelworks located at Dowlais near Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. Founded in the 18th century, it operated until the end of the 20th, at one time in the 19th century being the largest steel producer in the UK...
and Cyfarthfa Ironworks
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:...
, and starting the Plymouth Ironworks
Plymouth Ironworks
The Plymouth Ironworks was a major 18th century and 19th century ironworks located at Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales....
with John Guest. Disputes with coal suppliers at Cyfarthfa led to further legal action but Isaac's finances were becoming precarious. From the 1770s he was involved in further litigation, including, again, against his son John. He died in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
but was probably buried at Bristol.
Private life
Wilkinson was Presbyterian in religion. In 1727 he married Mary Johnson (died 1786) and they had seven children including:- John WilkinsonJohn 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:...
(1728–1808); - Mary Wilkinson (1743–1796) who married Joseph PriestleyJoseph PriestleyJoseph Priestley, FRS was an 18th-century English theologian, Dissenting clergyman, natural philosopher, chemist, educator, and political theorist who published over 150 works...
; and - William Wilkinson (1744–1808).