Notes at/on
start date ,14 October 2002
A TENTATIVE FIRST
CHRONOLOGY OF THE ACTIVITIES OF JW.
References are, for the
present, limited to : the Wright Thesis as [WT], Owen coalfield book as
[CO] neither extended pro
tem to the listed primary sources.
It may be possible to put
the facts in chronological order in a series of columns which will
represent facets of JW’s life – rather like the sundial hopefully
will. Meanwhile putative segregations have been made eg Coal
= C : Canal = Ca :
F = Family : M = Mining preJW :
B = Banking : Fctr =
Factoring : T = Transport excl. Canal :
1729 A Newcomen engine
is at work at Measham Colls
M
1730s} Measham parish records show fire
engines continue to be in use
1740s} - and cause accidents
M
1733 Joseph born
(?) Overseal
F [WT]
1740s Fire
engine accident Oakthorpe Coll
M [WT]
1755 Cheese factor with
warehouse in B o T selling to London
Fctr [CO]
1760
With father and b John becomes Trustee for Burton-Hinckley
Turnpike
Fctr,T [WT]
1761/2
Uses cheese profits to buy into syndicate to acquire assets of
Trent Navgtn
Co.with bro John. Meets
Hawkins, Nat. Curzon, Wyatt, the Lloyds
T
[CO]
1763 Build
Measham-Burton turnpike thro’ O’seal & Cs Grsly
T [CO]
1767
(Start of serous coal interest) With Wm Burslem (an estb coll owner) and
Nat. Curzon takes on lease of Measham coalmines ex Wm Wollaston
Mainly, the ex-Oakthorpe pit is wrkd and Measham less so.
1769
JW involved in textiles via (prob) cottage industry but
Arkwright’s
invnttn of water frame nullifies opposition by patents
applying
until at least 1781
Text. [WT]
1775
JW and bro Thms are operating as bankers ashby, L’bro Athrst
B [CO]
1764-68
Earl of Huntingdon opposes atempts to enclose Ashny Woulds by an
Act
for Enclosure
1776 JW Father dies.
JW gets greater freedom in decsions
All
[CO]
1777
JW and bros Thomas & John purchase Manor of Measham
for Ł56,000 ex Wollaston family
F
[CO]
1780 (?) JW is convinced of the importance of the new canal
system
of water trnsport. Proposes a canal Griff-A/Woulds thro (NB)
Ashby. (ref to in 1791
xtrct ex Leics Jrnl)
Ca
[ CO]
1782 An intended
canal Parl Bill fails to get on to the statute book
Ca [
CO]
1780s The canal scheme lay dead
in the water for nearly a decade due to opposition
from other mining interests but JW appears never to have abandoned the
idea that by this single enterprise carried out to link it with the
outside world,
the potential of the Woulds area could be realised. Until
the revival of wider
support for the Ashby Canal late in the decade, JW busied himself in
other
facets of his emerging industrial empire. (NB This is a perioid
where facts
seem to be in short supply. )
1783
W and bros build new four storey ctn mill , 3000 spindle, water
powered
with a 21 ft dia. wheel and using
fire engine to recycle (pump back ?)
water.
Txt [
WT]
1785 JW & Thms
had banks open at Measham, Ashby & Burton
B [CO]
1786 New
rtry stm powered corn mill built some way off ex cttn mills
F [WT]
1780s (late)
Builds three story carding mill, poss rotary steam driven.
Txt
[WT]
By this date, W was using steam directly to .1 wind coal at his
Oakthorpe
Coll., .2 to grind
corn, and .3 in combntn with water to spin cttn
Bakewell reports JW as having “five steam engines at work..”
Txt,C [ WT]
1780s (late) (early 1790s)
JW had allied himself with Robert Peel (the elder)
& together they developed a textile industry at Tamworth and
Fazeley
which
included cotton spinning, calico printing and bleaching and the
construction of the Castle Mill.
Tx [WT]
1790
With Robert Peel jointly buys Drayton Manor for Ł123,000 ex
Earl of Bath via a Ł50K mortgage and by establishing the bank
Peel, Wilkes, Dickinson and Goodall .
Makes agrticlt. Impr.to
Estate - poss as a
spec.
1790 John Wilkes, brother, died
F
[WT]
1786-1791
Into commercial banking eg loans ex Isac Hawkins, B oT attorney
[CO]
1794
Assumes treasurership of Props of A C Company
1796
Thomas Wilkes, brother, died
F [WT]
1805
Joseph dies at Croydon, is buried there. He made will – was it
attested,
tho many of its provisions were later carried out.
F [CO]
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