John "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson (1728 – 14 July 1808) was an English businessperson who started making cast iron and using cast-iron products during the Industrial Revolution. He created a method to make cannons more accurate and reliable than before. He also developed a way to precisely shape large steam engine cylinders, which were needed for the engines made by James Watt. For this invention, he received a special agreement. His boring machine is known as the first machine tool. He also made a device for blast furnaces that allowed them to reach higher temperatures, improving their efficiency. He helped build the first iron bridge in Coalbrookdale. In addition to managing several iron foundries (Bersham, New and Old Willey, Bradley, and Brymbo), he owned lead mines, coal mines, a lead smelter, a lead pipe factory in London, and had shares in copper mines in Wales and Cornwall. He built the first iron commercial barge, invested in canal construction, and was involved in banking. He also made coins for his workers, called "Willeys."

Biography

John Wilkinson was born in Little Clifton, Bridgefoot, Cumberland (now part of Cumbria), as the oldest son of Isaac Wilkinson and Mary Johnson. At the time, Isaac worked as a potfounder at a blast furnace, one of the first to use coke instead of charcoal, a method first tested by Abraham Darby.

John and his half-brother William, who was 17 years younger, were raised in a family that followed a different religious tradition. John attended a school in Kendal, Westmorland (now part of Cumbria), which was run by Dr. Caleb Rotherham. His sister, Mary, married Joseph Priestley in 1762. Priestley also helped educate John’s younger brother, William.

In 1745, when John was 17, he began an apprenticeship with a merchant in Liverpool for five years. After completing his training, he joined his father in business.

When his father moved to Bersham furnace near Wrexham, north Wales, in 1753, John stayed in Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland, where he married Ann Maudesley on June 12, 1755.

After working with his father in the foundry, John became a partner in the Bersham operation in 1755. In 1757, he and his partners built a blast furnace at Willey, near Broseley in Shropshire. Later, he constructed another furnace and works at New Willey. He lived in Broseley in a house called "The Lawns," which became his main home for many years. He built houses on either side of "The Lawns" for administrative work. One of these houses, named "The Mint," was used to distribute thousands of small coins, each worth the same as a halfpenny. In east Shropshire, he also developed ironworks at Snedshill, Hollinswood, Hadley, and Hampton Loade. He and Edward Blakeway leased land to build another works at Bradley in Bilston parish, near Wolverhampton. John became known as the "Father" of the large South Staffordshire iron industry, with Bilston marking the beginning of the Black Country. In 1761, he took over Bersham Ironworks. Bradley became his largest and most successful business, where experiments were conducted to use raw coal instead of coke to make cast iron. At its height, Bradley included several blast furnaces, a brickworks, potteries, glassworks, and rolling mills. The Birmingham Canal was later built near the Bradley works.

In 1792, Wilkinson purchased the Brymbo Hall estate in Denbighshire, near Bersham, where furnaces and other equipment were installed. After his death and the decline of his industrial empire, the ironworks remained unused for several years until 1842. They then became an important site again and eventually became Brymbo Steelworks, which operated until 1990.

Inventions

John Wilkinson was a very productive inventor who created many new products and methods, especially those involving cast iron and wrought iron. He developed a machine tool that bored cast iron cannons, which helped lead to the accurate boring of cylinders for the first Watt steam engines. He also improved the air supply for blast furnaces by designing a new type of bellows. He was the first to use wrought iron in canal barges. He supported the building of the first important cast iron bridge at Coalbrookdale.

Bersham became known for making high-quality cast iron products, including guns and cannons. Historically, cannons were cast with a core and then bored to remove imperfections, but in 1774, Wilkinson patented a method to bore iron guns from a solid piece by rotating the gun barrel instead of the boring tool. This made the guns more accurate because the inside of the barrel was uniform in size and less likely to explode. While bronze cannons had already been bored from solid pieces, this method for large iron naval cannons was new. The patent was later cancelled in 1779 because the Royal Navy considered it a monopoly and tried to stop it. However, Wilkinson remained a major manufacturer.

It had been a known idea since the 16th century that spiral grooves in a gun barrel could spin a projectile, improving accuracy. In 1789, John Wilkinson created and patented a method to machine rifling into the inside of cannons. However, this technique was not widely used until the mid-19th century, likely because it was hard to load ammunition quickly while using rifling.

James Watt had struggled for years to get accurately bored cylinders for his steam engines and had to use hammered iron, which was not perfectly round and caused leaks around the piston. In 1774, John Wilkinson invented a boring machine where the cutting tool was held at both ends of the cylinder, unlike the cantilevered machines used before. With this machine, he bored the cylinder for Boulton & Watt’s first commercial engine. He received an exclusive contract to provide cylinders because the smaller gap between the piston and cylinder reduced steam loss and improved engine efficiency. Before this time, advancements in drilling and boring were mainly used for gun barrels. Wilkinson’s work marked a major step in the expansion of boring technology into engines, pumps, and other industrial uses.

Although steam engines were mostly used to pump water out of mines, Wilkinson saw more potential for them in powering machinery in ironworks, such as blowing engines, forge hammers, and rolling mills. The first rotary action steam engine was installed at Bradley in 1783. Among his inventions was a reversing rolling mill with two steam cylinders, which made the process more efficient (UK Patent 1857 of 1792).

John Wilkinson focused on getting orders for these more efficient steam engines and other uses of cast iron from owners of Cornish copper mines. To support this, he bought shares in eight of the mines to help provide funding.

He patented a method for making lead pipes by casting them, inserting an iron rod, and rolling them through grooved rollers that gradually reduced their size until the desired shape was achieved. To use the patent, he built a lead pipe factory in Rotherhithe, London. This factory operated for many years and eventually produced solder filler alloys used in the car factory at Dagenham.

Iron Bridge

In 1775, John Wilkinson was the main person behind the building of the Iron Bridge, which connected the important industrial town of Broseley to the other side of the River Severn. His friend Thomas Farnolls Pritchard sent him plans for the bridge. A group of people from Broseley, mostly businessmen, formed a committee to decide to use iron instead of wood or stone, get price quotes, and obtain permission from Parliament.

Wilkinson’s efforts kept the group together despite challenges during the parliamentary process. If Wilkinson had not succeeded in this and gained support from important members of Parliament, the bridge might not have been built or might have used other materials. As a result, the name "Ironbridge" might not have been used for the district in Madeley, and the area might not have become a World Heritage Site. Abraham Darby III was chosen to build the bridge for £3,150. When construction began, Wilkinson sold his shares to Abraham Darby III in 1777, allowing him to complete the project successfully by 1779 and open it in 1781.

In 1787, Wilkinson built the first barge made of wrought iron in Broseley. This development became common in later years and was used in large ships in the next century. He also patented several other inventions.

Copper interests

John Wilkinson became wealthy by selling high-quality iron products and reached the limit of how much he could invest in expanding his business. His knowledge helped him invest in copper-related projects. In 1761, the Royal Navy covered the hull of the frigate HMS Alarm with copper sheets to stop the growth of sea life and protect the ship from damage by the Teredo shipworm. The growth on the hull slowed the ship’s speed, and the shipworm caused serious damage, especially in warm waters. After this success, the Navy required all ships to be covered with copper, creating a high demand for copper that Wilkinson noticed during his visits to shipyards. He purchased shares in eight Cornish copper mines and met Thomas Williams, known as the "Copper King" of the Parys Mountain mines in Anglesey. In addition to supplying Williams with large amounts of copper plates and equipment, Wilkinson also provided iron scrap for a method called cementation to recover copper from solution. Wilkinson bought a 1/16th share in the Mona Mine at Parys Mountain and shares in Williams’ industries in Holywell, Flintshire, St Helens near Liverpool, and Swansea, South Wales. Wilkinson and Williams worked together on several projects. They were among the first to create trade tokens ("Willys" and "Druids") to address the shortage of small coins. Together, they established the Cornish Metal Company in 1785 to sell copper. The company aimed to ensure fair profits for Cornish miners and stable prices for copper buyers. Warehouses were built in Birmingham, London, Bristol, and Liverpool. To support his business and help manage the trade tokens, Wilkinson joined partnerships with banks in Birmingham, Bilston, Bradley, Brymbo, and Shrewsbury.

Lead mines and works

Wilkinson invested in lead mines at Minera in Wrexham, five miles from Bersham, Llyn Pandy at Soughton (now Sychdyn), and Mold, also in Flintshire. He installed steam pumping engines to help these mines work again. At the Maesffynnon Wen mine in Minera, where he became the main partner in 1783, he placed a steam pumping engine there in 1784. This mine continued to operate after his death as a shared project between Mr. Kirk and John Wilkinson's business managers. Workers found valuable ore between the Cabin and Harrison shafts in 1817. In the 1790s, he built a lead smelter on his Brymbo Estate. His lead was sent out from the port of Chester. He invented a method for making lead pipes (UK Patent No. 1735 of 1790) and built a lead pipe factory at Rotherhithe, London, to use this invention. This factory remained active for many years and eventually produced special metal mixtures used in the car factory at Dagenham.

Philanthropy

Wilkinson was known for being a fair employer. When new workplaces were created, he built cottages to provide homes for workers and their families. He gave a lot of money to his brother-in-law, the well-known chemist Dr. Joseph Priestley. He served as a church warden in Broseley and was later chosen to be the High Sheriff of Denbighshire. In schools that did not have slates, he provided iron troughs to hold sand for writing and math practice. He also donated a cast-iron pulpit for the church in Bilston.

Family life, and death

John married Ann Mawdsley in 1755. She died in Wrexham on November 17, 1756, at the age of 23, after giving birth to their first child, Mary, on April 13, 1756. A memorial designed by Thomas Farnolls Pritchard honors her in Wrexham church. Her family was wealthy, and her money helped fund a share in the New Willey Company in 1757. His second marriage, when he was 35, was to Mary Lee, who was 43 years old. Her money helped him buy out his business partners, but the couple had no children. In his seventies, he had a relationship with Mary Ann Lewis, a maid at his estate in Brymbo Hall, who had three children: one boy and two girls.

By 1796, when he was 68 years old, he was producing about one-eighth of Britain’s cast iron. He became very wealthy and somewhat unusual in his habits. His interest in iron reached its peak in the 1790s, when he made almost everything around him from iron, including several coffins and a large obelisk to mark his grave. This obelisk still stands in the village of Lindale-in-Cartmel, Lancashire, now in Cumbria. He was appointed Sheriff of Denbighshire for 1799.

He died on July 14, 1808, at his works in Bradley, likely from diabetes. He was first buried at his Castlehead estate in Grange-over-Sands, which he had improved by draining and farming the nearby moss lands since 1778.

In his will, he left a large estate worth more than £130,000 (about £9,930,000 in today’s money) to his three children, with executors to manage the estate for them. However, his nephew, Thomas Jones, challenged the will in the Court of Chancery. By 1828, the estate had been largely lost due to lawsuits and poor management. His body, placed in a unique iron coffin, was moved several times over the following decades, but its current location is unknown.