| Entry Type | Corporate |
| Corporate Name | Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited |
| Place | Staveley |
| Epithet | iron, coal and chemicals company |
| Dates | 1864-1948 |
| History | There had been an iron forge at Staveley in the 18th century. Walter Mather took over the lease (by the Duke of Devonshire) in 1783 and he set about developing new ironworks. On his death in 1800 the business passed to his daughter, whose second husband George Hodgkinson Barrow who took on the responsibility for the Staveley ironworks. He built a second furnace in 1825 and also took the step of branching into the coal trade, leasing four collieries (Norbriggs New, Staveley Upper Ground, Handley Wood and Netherthorpe) in the 1820s-1830s. A key factor in the future success of the Company was the lease he obtained form the Duke of Devonshire of all the mineral rights in the manor of Staveley in 1840. At around this time the business passed to brother Richard Barrow, who further developed the ironworks, building new furnaces. He also caused more pits to be sunk (Speedwell, Hopewell, Hollingwood, Springwell and Seymour) in the 1840s and 1850s. He worked hard to recruit professional, efficient managers and to establish a loyal workforce, which included the building of his own model community called Barrow Hill. All his developments led to large increases in output of iron and coal, which were regarded as a marvel of the age.
As a bachelor with no immediate heirs, Richard Barrow decided to convert his family's investment into a limited liability company. The Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited was incorporated in 1864. Although Barrow was made first chairman of the company, his death not long afterwards meant that the direction of the company passed to Henry Davis Pochin. It would, however, be Barrow's appointment of Charles Markham as Managing Director and Chief Engineer which inspired the continued growth and expansion of the company. Over the next 25 years his expertise, professionalism and tireless energy guided the company through a programme of improving the performance of the company's furnaces and expanding old pits and leasing new collieries (Campbell, Barlborough and Ireland). It often involved the co-operation of other companies in joint ventures. Markham himself strongly disliked traded union activity, and it remained a characteristic of the company as a whole to resist the the perceived threat of the unions. He opposed the the launch of a union of Derbyshire miners in 1865, leading to a miners' strike at Staveley which ended after 5 months with the capitulation of the workforce, leaving a legacy of bitterness. Charles Markham died in 1888, and his death led a period of improved industrial relations.
His son, Charles Paxton Markham, was appointed as chairman in 1894 (elected permananent in 1903) at a time when Britain saw the effects of increased foreign competiton, as the United States, Germany and France emerged as major iron producers. The company's previous preformance in the production of pipes also came under threat from pipes made by Stanton Ironworks. With regard to coal, there was increased domestic competition from collieries in North East England, Wales and elsewhere. During the period of C.P. Markham's tenure up to 1926, greater emphasis was placed on the development of the coal mining side of the business, resulting in sharp growth in output in the 1900s following the modernising and improved efficiency of the company's pits. Joint ventures with other companies were made to quarry ironstone and to invest capital in deeper coal workings, which included several companies in the South Yorkshire. Following the development of new processes to extract chemicals from coal and coke production, such as tar, sulphate of ammonia, concentrated sulphuric acid and carbolic acid, Markham took on an ambitious programme to build new furnaces in 1908 and a new chemical plant in 1911-1912. The development of the Devonshire Works helped to lead to a period of enormous profits for the company during the First World War, with their collieries, blast furnaces and pipe shops being as modern as any in the country.
With the death of C.P. Markham in 1926, the company lost some of its drive. It did, however, have a large and diversified business which continued to perform during the economic downturn of the Depression era. Its pipe prodction suffered from competition with Stanton Ironworks, but the blast furnaces and collieries still produced high output figures and the chemical works and engineering plant produced good business returns. During the Second World War the company's production lines was geared up to help the war effort. For example, the company was preoccupied with the casting of gun barrels and turrets at Staveley to be produced for the Royal Ordnance Factory at Nottingham.
After the war the company was faced with the dismantling of their coal mining operation, as the company's collieries were transferred as a result of the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947 into the control of the National Coal Board. Coal production had been a massive part of the company's business, but they still had their iron production and chemical ane engineering works.The Staveley Coal and Iron Company became a holding company, later called Staveley Industries Limited. |
| Key Events | 1864: Formation of limited company
1947: Nationalisation of the coal industry |
| Source | ‘Calow Main’, http://www.oldminer.co.uk/calow-main.html
‘Hartington & Ireland Collieries’, http://www.oldminer.co.uk/hartington---ireland.html
‘Palterton Air Shaft’, http://www.oldminer.co.uk/palterton.html
Amos, D. and Braber, N., Bradwell’s Images of Coal Mining in the East Midlands (Sheffield: Bradwell Books, 2017)
Bell, D., Memories of the Derbyshire Coalfields (Newbury: Countryside Books, 2006)
Bridgewater, A. N., The Local Collieries
Chapman, N. A., ‘Notes on 19th Century Coal Mining at Staveley, Derbyshire’, British Mining, No. 28 (1985), pp.37-42 https://www.nmrs.org.uk/assets/pdf/BM28/BM28-37-42-notes.pdf
Chapman, S., The Clay Cross Company, 1837-1987 (Old Woking: Unwin Brothers Ltd, 1987)
Chapman, S.D., Stanton and Staveley: A Business History (Woodhead-Faulkner, Cambridge, 1981)
Finney, M., Men of Iron: A History of the Sheepbridge Company (Old Whittington: Bannister Publications Ltd, 1995)
Griffins, A. R., Mining in the East Midlands, 1550-1947 (London: Frank Cass & Company Limited, 2005)
National Coal Board, Outline of the North Derbyshire Area Coalfield Including Neighbouring Places of Interest (1980)
National Coal Board, Programme for the visit of Sir Donald Maitland and Mr L. J. Mills to Markham Colliery (1981)
National Coal Board, Warsop Main Colliery Proposed Re-organisation, Stage 1 Application
Survey Department, History of Markham Colliery (1967)
Wain, K., The Coal Mining Industry of Sheffield and North Derbyshire (Amberley, 2014) |
| Authorised Form of Name | Staveley; Staveley Coal and Iron Company Limited; 1864-1948; iron, coal and chemicals company |