FURTHER LIGHT ON THE INVENTION OF THE PROCESS FOR SMELTING IRON ORE WITH COKE
A PHOTOGRAPHIC FACSIMILE of the letter given in full below is to be found in the National Library of Wales,' and was written by the Quaker ironmaster, Abraham Darby I of Coalbrookdale, in Shropshire, on I 2 September I 7 I 2, to his friend and co-religionist William Rawlinson of Graythwaite in Furness, North Lancashire, forge-master, and one of the original founders of the Backbarrow Iron Company. Darby (i676-I7I7) is famous for his discovery of the secret of smelting iron ore with coke to make cast iron. That he did this successfully in or shortly before I709 was demonstrated by Professor T. S. Ashton in I924 from the earliest business records of the Coalbrookdale Iron Company, and a letter written about I775 by Abiah Darby, wife of Abraham Darby ILJ2 This further discovery, the only known letter written by Darby, provides important new information about the inventor and his invention, and confirms Professor Ashton's deductions. In I708 Abraham Darby took over a lease of the Coalbrookdale furnaces which had originally been granted to Shadrach Fox by the trustees of the Brooke estate in September I696,3 and in I7I2 it apparently had five years to run. Evidence in the letter also suggests that Darby's death in May I 7I 7 interrupted plans for a wider exploitation of the coke-smelting process. Alfred Fell made an obvious reference to Darby's visit to the Furness district when he wrote: