Abraham Darby III
Encyclopedia
Abraham Darby III was an English
ironmaster
and Quaker
. He was the third Abraham Darby in three generations of an English Quaker family that played a role in the Industrial Revolution
.
He was born on Coalbrookdale, Shropshire in 1750, the eldest son of Abraham Darby II
(1711–1763) and his second wife, Abiah (née Maude) Darby and educated at a school in Worcester.
Having inherited at 13 his father's shares in the family iron-making businesses, in 1768 he took over the management of the Coalbrookdale ironworks in the Severn Valley. He took various measures to improve the conditions of his work force. In times of food shortage he bought up farms to grow food for his workers, he built housing for them, and he offered higher wages than were paid in other local industry (such as mining or pottery). He built the largest cast iron
structure of his era: the first iron bridge
ever built. It crossed over the Severn
near Coalbrookdale
. The bridge caused the village of Ironbridge
, Shropshire
, to grow up around it, with the area being subsequently named Ironbridge Gorge
.
He died aged 41 in Madeley, Shropshire, and was buried in the Quaker burial ground in Coalbrookdale. He had married Rebecca Smith of Doncaster in 1776. They had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. His sons Francis (1783–1850) and Richard (1788–1860) were both involved with the Coalbrookdale Company.
A secondary school
in Telford
, UK, is named after Abraham Darby III. The school's name is Abraham Darby Academy.
The two key themes of Darby's life – iron and the Quakers – and the character himself are present in a fantasy
novel
, The Iron Bridge, by David Morse http://fqa.quaker.org/types/t10-iron.html.
In 1985 a rose cultivar bred by David Austin was named after Abraham Darby.
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...
ironmaster
Ironmaster
An ironmaster is the manager – and usually owner – of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain....
and Quaker
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...
. He was the third Abraham Darby in three generations of an English Quaker family that played a role in 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...
.
Abraham Darby II
Abraham Darby II was the second Abraham Darby in three generations of an English Quaker family that played a role in the period leading up to the Industrial Revolution....
(1711–1763) and his second wife, Abiah (née Maude) Darby and educated at a school in Worcester.
Having inherited at 13 his father's shares in the family iron-making businesses, in 1768 he took over the management of the Coalbrookdale ironworks in the Severn Valley. He took various measures to improve the conditions of his work force. In times of food shortage he bought up farms to grow food for his workers, he built housing for them, and he offered higher wages than were paid in other local industry (such as mining or pottery). He built the largest 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...
structure of his era: the first iron bridge
The Iron Bridge
The Iron Bridge crosses the River Severn at the Ironbridge Gorge, by the village of Ironbridge, in Shropshire, England. It was the first arch bridge in the world to be made out of cast iron, a material which was previously far too expensive to use for large structures...
ever built. It crossed over the Severn
River Severn
The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...
near Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale
Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. This is where iron ore was first smelted by Abraham Darby using easily mined "coking coal". The coal was drawn from drift mines in the sides...
. The bridge caused the village of Ironbridge
Ironbridge
Ironbridge is a settlement on the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, in Shropshire, England. It lies in the civil parish of The Gorge, in the borough of Telford and Wrekin...
, Shropshire
Shropshire
Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...
, to grow up around it, with the area being subsequently named Ironbridge Gorge
Ironbridge Gorge
The Ironbridge Gorge is a deep gorge formed by the River Severn in Shropshire, England.Originally called the Severn Gorge, the gorge now takes its name from its famous Iron Bridge, the first iron bridge of its kind in the world, and a monument to the industry that began there...
.
He died aged 41 in Madeley, Shropshire, and was buried in the Quaker burial ground in Coalbrookdale. He had married Rebecca Smith of Doncaster in 1776. They had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. His sons Francis (1783–1850) and Richard (1788–1860) were both involved with the Coalbrookdale Company.
A secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in Telford
Telford
Telford is a large new town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, approximately east of Shrewsbury, and west of Birmingham...
, UK, is named after Abraham Darby III. The school's name is Abraham Darby Academy.
The two key themes of Darby's life – iron and the Quakers – and the character himself are present in a fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
, The Iron Bridge, by David Morse http://fqa.quaker.org/types/t10-iron.html.
In 1985 a rose cultivar bred by David Austin was named after Abraham Darby.
See also
- Abraham Darby IAbraham Darby IAbraham Darby I was the first, and most famous, of three generations with that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the Industrial Revolution. He developed a method of producing pig iron in a blast furnace fuelled by coke rather than charcoal...
- Abraham Darby IIAbraham Darby IIAbraham Darby II was the second Abraham Darby in three generations of an English Quaker family that played a role in the period leading up to the Industrial Revolution....
- Abraham Darby IVAbraham Darby IVAbraham Darby IV was an English ironmaster.He was born in Dale House, Coalbrookdale, Shropshire the son of Edmund Darby, a member of the Darby ironmaking family and Lucy Darby...
- Biography of Abiah Darby in DNB