James Ashwell

Last updated April 10, 2019

James Ashwell (1799-1881) was an engineer and director, working in the coal, iron, and railway industries. In 1836 he helped in the formation of the Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company and was appointed resident managing director.

Early life

James Ashwell was born in 1799 in Nottingham. He attended Nottingham Grammar School and later Edinburgh University. As a school boy he showed an interest in his father's businesses in iron and coal. A visit to Manchester and Leeds in 1816, where he was fascinated by steam mills and machinery, particularly steam locomotives, led to his decision to be an engineer.^[1]

Training

He trained as an engineer with Bryan Donkin, and became friends with Henry Robinson Palmer, who was often employed by Thomas Telford to make surveys. Ashwell assisted Palmer on surveys in East Anglia. While still training he was involved in starting what is now the Institution of Civil Engineers.^[1]

Bryan Donkin FRS FRAS (22 March 1768 – 27 February 1855) developed the first paper making machine and created the world's first commercial canning factory. These were the basis for large industries that continue to flourish today. Bryan Donkin was involved with Thomas Telford’s Caledonian Canal, Marc and Isambard Brunel's Thames Tunnel, and Charles Babbage’s computer. He was an advisor to the government and held in high esteem by his peers.

Henry Robinson Palmer British civil engineer

Henry Robinson Palmer (1795–1844) was a British civil engineer who designed the world's second monorail and the first elevated railway.

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Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE was a Scottish civil engineer, architect and stonemason, and road, bridge and canal builder. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotland, as well as harbours and tunnels. Such was his reputation as a prolific designer of highways and related bridges, he was dubbed The Colossus of Roads, and, reflecting his command of all types of civil engineering in the early 19th century, he was elected as the first President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held for 14 years until his death.

Work

After completing his training Ashwell worked at ironworks in Derbyshire and Scotland. In 1836 he helped in the formation of the Blaenavon Iron and Coal Company and was appointed resident managing director. Ashwell started to build a new ironworks, to be called Forgeside, on a pocket of freehold land, so that the new company would be free of the rents, royalties, and insecurity of the leasehold of the old ironworks. Foundations were built for blast furnaces, forges and rolling mills.^[2]

Forge Side was the site of an ironworks started in 1836. The development was soon abandoned, but resumed in 1859. A settlement of houses was built for the workers.

While at Blaenavon Ashwell was responsible for the magnificent water balance tower (known locally as the guillotine because of the sight of two cages passing the oval openings) at Blaenavon Ironworks, which is now a Grade I listed building. He was also responsible for other water balance lifts at coal pits and quarries associated with the company.^[3]^[4]

Within a few years there was a downturn in the industry, Ashwell was forced to resign in 1841, and the new works at Forgeside abandoned (although it was later restarted in 1859).^[2] Ashwell moved to Cambridge, where his sons studied, and himself studied for an MA and BA.^[5]

His health deteriorated and his doctor, Benjamin Brodie, advised him not to return to his studies but to travel abroad.^[1] When travelling he was commissioned to report on the Great Luxembourg Railway Company and became Managing Director and Engineer in Chief of the company from 1847 to 1852.^[5] The company was embroiled in a dispute with the Belgian government resulting in a lawsuit. The company was acquitted but Ashwell suffered financially and his health deteriorated.^[5]

Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, 1st Baronet, was an English physiologist and surgeon who pioneered research into bone and joint disease.

Retirement

Ashwell returned to England to study Hebrew and harmony and died on 2 July 1881 at his home, Mildway Lodge, in Weston-super-Mare ^[5]

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References

1 2 3 "James Ashwell". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
1 2 Wakelin, Peter (2011) [2006]. Blaenavon Ironworks and World Heritage Landscape. Design by Ceri Staziker, Photography by Paul Highman (2nd ed.). Cardiff: Cadw. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-85760-293-7. OCLC 858824245.
↑ Evans, J.A.H. (Spring 2000). "Big Pit, Blaenavon - A New Chronology?". Gwent Local History (88): 58–9. Retrieved 26 March 2018– via Welsh Journals Online at the National Library of Wales.
↑ "Balance Tower". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 9 February 1995. Cadw Building ID 15292. Retrieved 30 April 2016– via Historic Wales.
1 2 3 4 Canfield, Tess (2002). Skempton, Alec, ed. Ashwell, James. Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers . Volume I: 1500-1830. London: Thomas Telford on behalf of the Institution of Civil Engineers. p. 23. ISBN 0-7277-2939-X . Retrieved 30 April 2016.

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[Grace_James_Ashwell-1] 1 2 3 "James Ashwell". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 30 April 2016.

[Wakelin_Blaenavon_Ironworks-2] 1 2 Wakelin, Peter (2011) [2006]. Blaenavon Ironworks and World Heritage Landscape. Design by Ceri Staziker, Photography by Paul Highman (2nd ed.). Cardiff: Cadw. p. 15. ISBN 978-1-85760-293-7. OCLC 858824245.

[GLH_Big_Pit-3] Evans, J.A.H. (Spring 2000). "Big Pit, Blaenavon - A New Chronology?". Gwent Local History (88): 58–9. Retrieved 26 March 2018– via Welsh Journals Online at the National Library of Wales.

[Cadw_Balance_Tower-4] "Balance Tower". Statutory List of Buildings . Cadw. 9 February 1995. Cadw Building ID 15292. Retrieved 30 April 2016– via Historic Wales.

[BDCE_James_Ashwell-5] 1 2 3 4 Canfield, Tess (2002). Skempton, Alec, ed. Ashwell, James. Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers . Volume I: 1500-1830. London: Thomas Telford on behalf of the Institution of Civil Engineers. p. 23. ISBN 0-7277-2939-X . Retrieved 30 April 2016.