George Sparrow, Coalmaster, and Early Steam Engines

Abstract

George Sparrow was an early eighteenth-century coalmaster and an early user of Newcomen engines in the West Midlands and beyond. His early operations were in partnership with his neighbour Richard Parrott. These covered coal and ironstone mines in north and south Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Flintshire, salt production in Cheshire, and ironmaking. They were using steam engines to drain mines from 1714 and from that time most of their new mining ventures used them. Later, his son Burslem Sparrow settled at Wolverhampton and traded in partnership with Thomas Tomkys. They concentrated on mining in the northern part of the South Staffordshire Coalfield. The dearth of records of others mining there in the 1710s to 1740s suggests that they dominated mining in the area.

Keywords:

• Coal mining
• Newcomen engine
• dewatering mines
• Black Country
• Staffordshire
• Warwickshire
• Flintshire
• Derbyshire
• Burslem Sparrow
• Stonier Parrott

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to the Lowther Estate Trust for permission to examine the Lowther correspondence.

Notes

1. P. W. King, ‘Black County Mining before the Industrial Revolution Mining History,’ Bulletin of Peak District Mining History Society, 16 (2007), 34–49.

2. Derbys. RO, D3155/7913; D 518M/E110: also P. W. King, ‘Correspondence (Concerning Newcomen Engine),’ The International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology, 80 (2010), 304–5.

3. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P18/B15, Sparrow v Bowyer.

4. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P40/B6, 26 Jan 1711[2].

5. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P16/B35, 26 Dec. 1711 (formerly part of B16).

6. P. W. King, ‘The Vale Royal Company and Its Rivals,’ Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 142 (1993), 7.

7. Staffs. RO, D 1798/HM46/2; cf. D(W) 1788/P18/B15, Sparrow v Bowyer.

8. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B9, 8 Aug. 1715.

9. M. B. Rowlands, ‘Stonier Parrott and the Newcomen engine,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, XLI (1968–9), 49–67. A. W. A. White, Mining and Men in Warwickshire (Coventry and N. Warwick Hist. Pamphlet no. 7, 1970), 37–45; and as note 4.

10. A. W. A. White, op. cit., 25–36.

11. T. Lones, ‘Site of Newcomen’s Engine of 1712,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, XIII (1932), 2 from Desaguliers.

12. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P18/B15, Sparrow v Bowyer.

13. J. S. Allen, ‘Some Early Newcomen Engines and Legal Disputes Surrounding Them,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 185–92.

14. A. W. A. White, op. cit., 37–45; Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B9; M. B. Rowlands, op. cit.; J. S. Allen, op cit, 181–201; A. W. A. White, ‘Early Newcomen Engines in the Warwickshire Coalfield,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, XLII (1969–70), 203–16; Staffs. RO, D 1798/HM46/4, passim; cf. D 1798/HM Bourne/31/23 and D 1798/HM Bourne/41.

15. J. S. Allen (1968) op cit, 194–7; M. B. Rowlands, op cit, 51–2; J. N. Rhodes, ‘Early Steam Engines in Flintshire,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, XLI (1968–9), 217–55; Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P46/B2; D(W) 1788/P31/B4, articles 11 Nov. 1715; D(W) 1788/P61/B4, 8 Aug. 1716 and Chancery Bill, 29 Feb 1723[4].

16. J. S. Allen, ‘Introduction of the Newcomen Engine,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, XLI (1968–9), 179–81, nos. 35 43 46.

17. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P34/B1, Hilary 6 Geo. II.

18. TNA, C 54/5438, no. 4; according to the Flintshire Record Office Calmview website, the counterpart lease survives: D/GR/155 and recites a prior agreement dated 27 Feb. 1710.

19. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B4, 22 Dec. 1715.

20. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B4, 25 May 1716; M. B. Rowlands, op. cit., 52.

21. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P 34/B1, 18 May 1716; D(W) 1788/P61/B9, 20 Jul. 1717.

22. N. Kirkham, ‘Yatestoop Sough,’ Bulletin of the Peak District Mines Historical Society, 1 (Oct. 1962), 5–22, no. 7.

23. J. S. Allen, ‘Introduction of the Newcomen Engine,’ 176–82, nos. 19 and 53; M. B. Rowlands, op cit., 52; Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P34/B1, Chancery bill 26 Jun 1726; Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/99, 9 Dec. 1738.

24. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B9.

25. Staffs. RO, D 3697/5/2; this refers to a deed of 1712.

26. Staffs. RO, D 3697/5/13-14.

27. Birmingham City Archives, Galton 84; Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/1/99, 5 Dec. 1738; for William Wood generally, see P. W. King, ‘The History of the Tern Company,’ Transactions of the Shropshire Archaeological and Historical Society, 83 (2011 for 2008), 68–82; and P. W. King, ‘Frizington Fraud: William Wood’s Patent Iron Process,’ Transactions of Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society, 4th series, 14 (2014), 161–86.

28. Staffs. RO, D 3697/5/3-5.

29. J. S. Allen, ‘The Newcomen Engine at Great Wyreley, 1722,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, XLI (1968–9), 173–80.

30. Staffs. RO, D 593/I/1/16.

31. J. S. Allen, ‘Introduction of the Newcomen Engine,’ 178, no. 30.

32. Ches. RO, DCR/19/6, 1683.

33. Staffs. RO, D 593/I/2/14.

34. Ches. RO, DCR/19/6, various deeds dated 1689–1698. The 1698 transaction is also mentioned in S. Shaw, Stafforshire, 89.

35. Ches. RO, DCR 59/13/1, 1704 rental, disbursements.

36. Ches. RO, DCR 59/1/3, p. 56.

37. Ches. RO, DCR 59/1/5, f.3; 59/1/6.

38. Staffs. RO, D(W) 1788/P61/B4, draft articles, 5 Geo.

39. Ches. RO, DCR 19/6, 22 Apr. 1719.

40. Worcs. RO, b899:31 BA10470/3, no. 141.

41. Ibid., account for 1734/5.

42. Dudley archives, D/OH/IV/3/2/1.

43. R. A. Mott, ‘The Newcomen Engine in the Eighteenth Century,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, XXXV (1962–3), 74; J. S. Allen, ‘Introduction of the Newcomen Engine,’ no. 33.

44. R. A. Mott, op cit; J. S. Allen, op cit, no. 3.

45. J. A. Ede, History of Wednesbury (1962), 116–7.

46. Staffs RO, D 593/B/1/26/10/4.

47. J. S. Allen, ‘John Fidoe’s 1727 Newcomen Engine at Wednesbury Staffs,’ Transactions of the Newcomen Society, XXXVI (1963–4), 149–52; H. Lloyd, The Quaker Lloyds in the Industrial Revolution (London, 1975), 98–101, 106–9, 138–41; J. A. Ede, op cit, 116–7; Worcs. RO, b899:310 BA 10470/3.

48. R. A. Mott, op cit, 74; J. S. Allen, ‘Introduction of the Newcomen Engine,’ no. 64.

49. Staffs. RO, D 1400/1/4/10-11; Birmingham Archives, Gough 265/15 and 272/38; note also 566464.

50. M. B. Rowlands, op cit; J. S. Allen ‘Some early Newcomen engines,’ 197–201.

51. R. A. Mott, op cit, 81.

52. Wolverhampton Archives, DX 84/1.

53. Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/96, 25 Nov. 1736.

54. Carlisle RO, D/Lons/W2/99, 5 Dec. 1739.