{{Short description|Ironworks and steelworks near Merthyr Tydfil, Wales}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}} {{Use British English|date=August 2015}} [[File:George Childs Dowlais Ironworks 1840.jpg|right|thumbnail|250px|''Dowlais Ironworks'' by George Childs (1840)]] 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. Dowlais Ironworks was the first business to license the [[Bessemer process]], using it to produce steel in 1865.<ref>Franks, Julian, Mayer, Colin & Rossi, Stefano: ''The Origination and Evolution of Ownership and Control'', [[London Business School]], December 2002, p.19 [http://www.rieti.go.jp/en/events/03010801/pdf/Mayer.pdf]</ref> Dowlais Ironworks was one of the four principal ironworks in Merthyr. The other three were [[Cyfarthfa Ironworks|Cyfarthfa]], [[Plymouth Ironworks|Plymouth]], and [[Penydarren Ironworks]]. In 1936 Dowlais played a part in the events leading to the [[abdication crisis]] of [[Edward VIII]], when the King visited the steelworks and was reported as saying that "these works brought these men here. Something must be done to get them back to work", a statement which was seen as political interference. The steelworks closed in 1987.
==Beginnings (1759–1807)== The works was founded on 19 September 1759 as a [[partnership]] of nine partners with a capital of £4,000.<ref name="Rees 1965, p. 133">Rees 1965, p. 133.</ref> The partners were: [[Thomas Lewis (industrialist)|Thomas Lewis]], Thomas Price, Richard Jenkins, Thomas Harris, John Curtis, Nathaniel Webb, John Jones, [[Isaac Wilkinson]] and Edward Blakeway.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Jones |first1=Edgar |title=A history of GKN Volume 1 Innovation and enterprise, 1759-1918 |date=1987 |publisher=The Macmillan Press |location=Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire |isbn=0-333-34594-0 |page=3}}</ref> The purpose of the partnership was the:
{{blockquote | '... art misterry, and business of an iron master and iron manufacturer, and for that purpose to build a certain ffurnace or ffurnaces for smelting of iron ore or mine or stone into pig iron in the parish of Merthyr Tidvil for a term of 99 years, and that with the joint stock of £4,000 which the said partners hav agreed to bring in, advance and deliver in and before the first day of January AD 1760.'<ref name="owen10">Owen (1977) ''p.''10</ref>}}
Lewis brought to the partnership a complex system of [[lease]]s that allowed the erection of a [[Metallurgical furnace|furnace]] and the right to mine [[iron ore]], [[coal]] and [[limestone]] at Dowlais, Pantyrwayn and Tor-y-Fan. Wilkinson brought in his [[patent]]ed machine for [[Blast furnace|blowing furnaces]] and his experience of having acquired the iron-works at [[Bersham]], near [[Wrexham County Borough|Wrexham]] six years previously.<ref name="Rees 1965, p. 133"/> The other partners brought in [[capital (economics)|capital]] and various other leases and [[mineral rights]].<ref name="owen10"/>
The furnace was established on the hillside above Merthyr. It was not an ideal location. But all the elements for production were at hand. However, the enterprise struggled because its management was too thinly spread among the partners. In 1765, Nathaniel Webb, Thomas Price and William Lewis had become or were appointed executive partners. However, either because they 'could no longer give the expanding business their full attention, or because they felt that the enterprise needed the direction of an expert hand, on 30 April 1767 they offered John Guest the post of works manager.'<ref>Jones, 1987: 11.</ref>
In 1781, Guest purchased 7 of the 16 shares in the works and a second furnace was built. In 1786, he was succeeded by his son, Thomas Guest, who formed the ''Dowlais Iron Company'' with his son-in-law William Taitt. Guest introduced many innovations and the works prospered.<ref name="owen15n6">Owen (1977) ''pp''15–16</ref>
==The era of John Josiah Guest (1807–1852)== [[File:Josiah John Guest.jpg|thumbnail|left|150px|Sir Josiah John Guest]] Thomas Guest died in 1807 and his son [[John Josiah Guest]] became sole manager, by 1815 owning nine of the sixteen shares. His brother Thomas Revel Guest owned one and Whyndham Lewis, the remaining six. Guest established the works in the vanguard of the [[Industrial Revolution]] and the application of [[science]] to industry,<ref name="owen22">Owen (1977) ''p.''22</ref> the works being honoured by a visit from [[Michael Faraday]] in 1819.<ref name="owen24">Owen (1977) ''p.''24</ref> Under Guest's leadership, alongside his manager John Evans, the Dowlais Ironworks gained the reputation of being "one of the World's great industrial concerns".<ref name="clark">James (2004)</ref>
In 1821, the works supplied [[iron]] for the [[railway track]]s of the [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]], the world's first passenger railway. Over the next three decades, iron was needed in ever greater quantities to build the [[History of rail transport in Great Britain 1830 - 1922|rapidly expanding railways]].<ref name="owen25">Owen (1977) ''p.''25</ref> Dowlais had many foreign orders for railways in 1835–1836 such as the [[Berlin and Leipzig Railway]] and the [[St. Petersburg-Pauloffsky Railway]].<ref name="owen29n30">Owen (1977) ''pp''29–30</ref>
Sometime during 1835, Guest made the acquaintance of engineer [[G. T. Clark]]. Both had been involved in the [[Taff Vale Railway]]. In 1850, Clark married Ann Price Lewis (died 1885), a descendant of Thomas Lewis. Ann's brother had sold her family's last remaining interests in the firm that year, to Guest.<ref name="clark" />
At its peak in 1845, the works operated 18 [[blast furnace]]s, employed 7,300 people and produced 88,400 [[ton]]s of iron each year.<ref name="owen35n6">Owen (1977) ''pp''35–36</ref>
==Reconstruction—Clark and Menelaus (1852–1899)== [[File:Bessemer converter.jpg|thumb|right|Bessemer converter]] John Josiah Guest died in 1852, having become sole owner in 1851, and was buried at St. John's church in Dowlais. Guest named Clark, his widow [[Lady Charlotte Guest]] and Edward Divett as [[executor]]s and [[trustee]]s. Lady Guest would be sole trustee while a widow but she remarried in 1855 and ''[[de facto]]'' control fell to Clark.<ref name="clark"/> [[Henry Bruce, 1st Baron Aberdare|Henry Bruce]], later to become [[Lord Aberdare]], replaced Divett.<ref name="owen47">Owen (1977) ''p.''47</ref>
The works had been, for a while, in some decline and Clark took rapid steps to improve [[management control]]s, bringing in [[William Menelaus]] as [[general manager]]. The pair worked closely together and Dowlais again became a centre of innovation. Though the [[Bessemer process]] was [[license]]d in 1856, nine years of detailed planning and project management were needed before the first [[steel]] was produced. The company thrived with its new cost-effective production methods, forming alliances with the [[Consett Iron Company]] and [[Krupp]].<ref name="clark"/> By 1857 Clark and Menelaus had constructed the "Goat Mill", the world's most powerful [[rolling mill]].<ref name="owen57n8">Owen (1977) ''pp''57–58</ref>
In 1863, the Company had recovered from a business slump but had no [[cash]] to invest for a new [[blast furnace]], despite having made a profit. To explain why there were no funds to invest, the manager made a new financial statement that was called a ''comparison balance sheet'', which showed that the company was holding too much [[inventory]]. This new financial statement was the genesis of the [[cash flow statement]] that is used today.<ref>Watanabe, Izumi: ''The evolution of Income Accounting in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Britain'', [[Osaka University of Economics]], Vol.57, No. 5, January 2007, p.27-30 [http://www.osaka-ue.ac.jp/gakkai/pdf/ronshu/2006/5705_ronko_watanabe.pdf]</ref>
By the mid-1860s, Clark's reforms had born fruit in renewed [[Profit (economics)|profitability]]. Clark delegated day-to-day management to Menelaus, his trusteeship terminating in 1864 when ownership passed to [[Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne|Sir Ivor Guest]]. However, Clark continued to direct policy, in particular, building a new plant at the docks at [[Cardiff]] and vetoing a [[joint-stock company]]. He formally retired in 1897.<ref name="clark"/>
==The era of GKN (1899–1973)== {{main|GKN}} Sir Ivor was distracted by other interests and, in 1899, sold the works to [[Arthur Keen (businessman)|Arthur Keen]] who formed '''Guest, Keen & Co. Ltd'''. In 1902, Keen purchased [[Nettlefolds Limited]] to create '''Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds'''.<ref name="owen90n2">Owen (1977) ''pp''90–92</ref>
In 1912, King [[George V of the United Kingdom]] and [[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] made an official visit to the ironworks as part of a tour of south Wales. They entered through a specially-constructed arch of coal, and left through an arch of steel. During their shared visit, two of the GK&N Class D locomotive's numbered 40 and 42 respectively were on display. Before leaving both engines would be named after the king and queen <ref name="owen97n9">Owen (1977) ''pp''97–99</ref>
Unlike the [[Cyfarthfa Ironworks]], the Dowlais Works' early conversion to [[steel]] production allowed it to survive into the 1930s.{{Citation needed|date=September 2007}} However, largely as a result of the [[Great Depression]], the main works ceased production in 1936, the company having built a new iron and steel works at East Moors, adjacent to the docks at [[Cardiff]] in the late 19th century.
===Visit by King Edward VIII=== On 18 November 1936 Dowlais Ironworks was visited by King [[Edward VIII]], which at the time was closed, putting thousands out of work. The King was reported as saying that "these works brought these men here. Something must be done to get them back to work", a statement which was seen as political interference, and contributed to the [[Edward VIII abdication crisis]].<ref>[https://digitalcommons.salve.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1119&context=pell_theses https://digitalcommons.salve.edu] Retrieved 23 January 2020</ref><ref>[http://www.artwarefineart.com/gallery/caricature-prince-wales-edward-viii-1894-1972 www.artwarefineart.com] Retrieved 23 January 2020</ref>
The iron foundry and engineering works in Dowlais, still known locally as the "Ifor Works" after John Josiah's son, continued to operate and new facilities were built after 1945.<ref name="owen105n8">Owen (1977) ''pp''105–108</ref>
==British Steel—managing the decline (1973–1987)== It continued for some years under the name of the '''Dowlais Foundry and Engineering Company''', but was transferred to the [[nationalisation|nationalised]] [[British Steel Corporation]] in 1973, along with £20 million in cash (equivalent to £153 million in 2003<ref>{{cite journal | title=Consumer Price Inflation since 1750 | author=O‘Donoghue, J. | journal=Economic Trends | volume=604 | year=2004 | pages=38–46, March | url=http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?ID=726 | display-authors=1 | author2=<Please add first missing authors to populate metadata.> }}</ref>) in return for the previously nationalised [[Brymbo Steelworks]].<ref>''[[The Times]]'' Wednesday 8 August 1973, 17, col.A</ref> It closed in 1987.<ref>"[http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=SPN.SP00 News Digest: Dowlais iron foundry to shut]" ''[[Sunday Times]]'', 25 January 1987, [[InfoTrac]] Full Text Newspaper Database. Gale. Cheshire Libraries. 12 September 2007</ref>
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==Bibliography== *{{cite journal |author1=Edwards, J. R. |author2=Baber, C. | year=1979 | title=Dowlais Iron Company: accounting policies and procedures for profit measurement and reporting purposes | journal=Accounting and Business Research | volume=9 | pages=139–151 | issue=34 | doi=10.1080/00014788.1979.9729149}} *{{cite book | title=Iron in the Making. Dowlais Iron Company Letters 1782–1860 | author=Elsas, M. | year=1960 | location=Glamorgan | publisher=County Records Committee }} *James, B. Ll. (2004) "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/5461 Clark, George Thomas (1809–1898)]", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, accessed 21 August 2007 {{ODNBsub}} *{{cite book | author=Jones, E. | title=A History of GKN, 1: Innovation and Enterprise, 1759–1918 | year=1987 | isbn=0-333-34594-0 | publisher=MacMillan | location=Basingstoke }} *Lewis, M. J. (1983) "G. T. Clark and the Dowlais Iron Company: an entrepreneurial study", MSc Econ diss., U. Wales *{{cite book | author=Owen, J. A. | year=1977 | title=The History of the Dowlais Iron Works, 1759–1970 | location=Newport | publisher=Starling Press | isbn=0-903434-27-X }} *{{cite book |last1=Rees |first1=J.F. |title=Studies in Welsh History |date=1965 |publisher=University of Wales Press |location=Cardiff |edition=Second}} *{{cite book | author=Vaughan, C. Maxwell | year=1975 | title=Pioneers of Welsh Steel: Dowlais to Llanwern | location=Newport | publisher=Starling Press | isbn=0-903434-08-3 }} *Williams, J. (2004) "[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/48056 Menelaus, William (1818–1882)]", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, accessed 3 September 2007 {{ODNBsub}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book | last = Owens | first = Victoria | year = 2022 | title = Lady Charlotte Guest: The Exceptional Life of a Female Industrialist | location = Barnsley | publisher = Pen & Sword | isbn = 9781526768810 }}
==External links== {{Commons category|Dowlais Ironworks}} * [http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/Dowlais_Ironworks.htm Old Merthyr Tydfil: Dowlais Ironworks] - Historical Photographs of Dowlais Ironworks, Merthyr Tydfil.
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{{GKN}} {{Steel plants in the United Kingdom}}
[[Category:Ironworks and steelworks in Wales]] [[Category:Industrial history of the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1759]] [[Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1987]] [[Category:1987 disestablishments in Wales]] [[Category:1759 establishments in Wales]] [[Category:British companies established in 1759]]