1797. 13 Feb. 6 March. 8 May have cost new, and equally good—and this roof being of one span makes this part of the Works more airy and commodious.* -Men began working 24 hours at a stretch. complains of them stealing much of his coal. Mr. Parsons 'Tis not true that the French had landed at Swansea. Mr. R. Parsons should send us better coals and better measure. Mr. Weaver, a Partner of Roe & Co. (of Macclesfield and Neath Abbey) is here and makes the same complaint. Mr. Keates remarks upon this-"Roe & Co. had nothing to do with the Cheadle Works. Roe & Co. were Brass manufacturers at Macclesfield, in Cheshire, making their Copper at Neath Abbey, probably at the Works, afterwards occupied by the Cheadle Co. They later on built Copper Works close to Liverpool, and finally went out of the Copper and Brass trade about 1800." 12 June -Carmac and Co., of Ireland, have sent 32 tons of Copper to Swansea for sale. Produce, 18 cwts. fine Copper per ton. -The Furnacemen, on account of bad Coals, left their work this morning. 18 Dec. 25 1798. II Jan. 18 -By reason of the Mail not arriving, my letter would, I fear, be too late for the meeting of our Company. The "Mines Royal" is still at the Mumbles, with convoy, weather bound. -All the men have left their work. They complain they do now work for less money than Roe & Co.'s men, -Our men have returned to their work, and I have promised them 6d. per day more, in all 16s. per week. 27 Aug. Men are scarce on account of the harvest and Militia work. For the above extracts from the original books, I am indebted to Mr. Wm. Edmond, of Clase, the late Manager of the Mines-Royal Works, Neath. * This roof is still sound and on the works, 1866 and in 1881. The "Mines Royal" Sailing Vessel was afterwards captured by the French. Though so many individuals and Companies issued Copper Tokens for the use of their workmen and the public, at the latter end of the 17th and the beginning of the 19th centuries, I cannot find that the Mines Royal struck any; a singular fact, when we reflect on its metallic and mechanical ability for such a monetary necessity. A friend has informed me that he has seen a Token issued by the * Brass Battery Company, but I have not been so fortunate. That the dignity of these Companies should be fully sustained, they each received regular Grants of Arms from the Herald's College, and from amongst the armorial bearings of the Great Companies of the City of London given by Edmondson in his "Complete Body of Heraldry," from which I quote as follows: : MINES-ROYAL, OR MINE ADVENTURERS' COMPANY. † Incorporated 22 May, 1568. "ARMS.-Argent a mine open of Earth colour, the upper part variegated with various shrubs vert.; within the mine a miner proper, vested sable on his head a cap argent, round his body a belt of the last, and in the attitude of working the dexter side of the mine, with two hammers: on the sinister side a candle argent, lighted proper in a candlestick azure fixed in the mine; on a chief brown, a square plate or, between a bezant on the dexter, and a plate on the sinister. CREST.-On a wreath, a demi miner proper vested and capped as in the arms, holding in his dexter hand a pointed spade, erect argent, and his sinister hand a compass. SUPPORTERS.-The dexter a miner, his face, legs and arms of a brownish colour, vested in a frock argent, tied about his knees as at work, cap and shoes of the last, holding in his dexter hand a hammer azure handled proper, the sinister supporter another miner proper, the cap, frock, and shoes argent, the frock loose and down to the ancles, in his sinister hand a fork azure, handled proper." *See No. 29 Token, in APPENDIX. I suspect that the initials "B. B. Co." misled my friend.-G. G. F. + Sic in Edmondson, but evidently a mistake, the correct name is to be found in the Charter itself, at page 45, ante. MINERAL AND BATTERY WORKS SOCIETY. Incorporated 28 May, 1568. "ARMS.-Argent on a mount vert, a square Brazen pillar, supported on the dexter by a Lion rampant regardant; and on the sinister by a Dragon segreant, both or; in chief, on the top of the pillar a bundle of wire tied and bound together of the last, between a bezant on the dexter side and a plate on the sinister. CREST.-On a wreath two arms embowed proper, both hands holding a Calamine Stone argent, spotted with red, yellow, and blue. SUPPORTERS.-Two emblematic figures, viz.: the dexter, a Female proper representing Science, vested in a short bodice, coat, ruff, &c, argent (being the dress of the ladies in the reign of Queen Elizabeth). In her dexter hand a pair of compasses, and on her head a crescent, both or; crined of the last; the sinister figure an old Man proper, representing Labour, vested in a long frock turned up over his elbows, argent, in his sinister hand a hammer, or." Elaboration could scarcely farther go, and the attempt to compel ordinary matters of routine life to fall under the technology of Heraldry is truly unfortunate, but the Companies being authorized to have "Common Seals; " that the devices must be supplied, was, I suppose, the argument used. I have already stated how and when these Great Companies came to an end so far as respects their Chartered rights: * the old Works on the Neath River are now held by Messrs. Williams, Foster and Co., and are conducted under the ordinary commercial arrangements of the day. Having at length exhausted my materials connected with the history of The First Copper Works established in Glamorgan by the Mines-Royal Society, I shall proceed with the next; but here a difficulty meets us at the very threshold. Did the "Mine Adventurers' or "The Governor and Company of Copper Miners in England" first light their furnaces, and if so, where, in this County? I am disposed to give the priority to Sir Humphrey Mackworth's COMPANY OF "MINE ADVENTURERS,"* at Melincrethyn, about one mile from the Town of Neath, *The Mine Adventurers also had a Charter from William and Mary, dated 7 Sept., 1693. Vide a "familiar discourse," &c., 1700—p. 104. on the London Road, where great heaps of Copper Slag remain to this day. Of the latter, or "The English Copper Company" as it is generally called for brevity, I know that its Charter is dated 1691, while Sir Humphrey himself tells us that he began in 1695, and the Company, as a Joint-stock, was not in possession of* a Crown Grant until the year 1704; still, there is no evidence that I am aware of for giving the Governor and Company a position in Glamorganshire before the 18th century. It is said they had works at Redbrook, in Gloucestershire, so far back as their first Charter, but I can find no testimony of their working in Wales before 1720. I shall therefore proceed to give Notes extracted from original documents and papers in the British Museum relating to the Mine Adventurers, under the title of XIX. MACKWORTH (SIR HUMPHREY) v. BREWER. Press-mark 522-6 M.-Old Catalogue. It appears from these papers that Sir Humphrey Mackworth became engaged in Collieries and Copper Smelting Works at Neath, Anno 1695-that he was at first engaged on his own account, and that afterwards he transferred his Mines and Works to a Company called "The Corporation of the Governor and Company of the Mine Adventurers of England," of which the Duke of Leeds was Governor, and Sir Humphrey was Deputy-Governor and Resident Manager * Here it is, however, shown that "the Co." held its first meeting in May, 1699. † Chadwick in his life of De Foe 1859, p. 296, says that "De Foe being consulted on this scheme, and its probable chances of rubbing off the borrowed capital by the profits, referred to their own printed work entitled an Account of the clear profits of extracting Silver out of Lead, by the Governor and Commissioners of the Mine Adventurers of England, taken from their original accounts, and signed Thomas Horn, Accountant to the Co.'"-G. G. F. G of the Works at Neath. The Company consisted of a great number of members, many of them of aristocratic rank. The papers contain a list of the members.* This Company must not be confounded with the better known and existing Company called 66 THE GOVERNOR AND COMPANY OF COPPER MINERS IN ENGLAND," which afterwards erected Copper Works at Taibach. Amongst the papers is a printed copy of Articles of Agreement, dated 20 July, 1720, by which the latter Company acquired by purchase from Thomas Chambers, of the Transfer Office in the East India House, London, Gentleman, a lease of Copper Works, Furnaces, Forge, and Mill, at Lower Redbrook, in the County of Gloucester, for 30 years, at a rent of £100 per annum. The most consecutive account of Sir H. Mackworth's Mines and Works is contained in a pamphlet, which seems to have been prepared by himself for local circulation, in 1705, with the following title: XX. "THE CASE OF SIR HUMPHREY MACKWORTH AND OF THE MINE ADVENTURERS WITH RESPECT TO THE ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS OF For the County of Glamorgan, their Agents and Dependants." From this case, in which it may be assumed Sir Humphrey loquitur, the following are abridged extracts :— "The Coal Trade had been totally lost at Neath for 30 years and upwards for want of carrying on the Coal-works there—until Sir Humphrey Mackworth, in 1695, began to adventure great sums of money in finding and recovering the Coal in that neighbourhood; since which time the town of Neath, which was grown very poor for want of trade, was then become one of the best towns of trade in South Wales. *The Rules, Orders, and Bye-laws of the Company, under date of 1706, and an engraving of its Corporate Seal, are also amongst these papers. |