Company of Mineral and Battery Works

The Company of Mineral and Battery Works was, (with the Society of the Mines Royal), one of two mining monopolies created by Elizabeth I. The Company's rights were based on a patent granted to William Humfrey on 17 September 1565. This was replaced on 28 May 1568 by a patent of incorporation, making it an early . The Society of the Mines Royal was incorporated on the same day.

The original shareholders were:

The Company of Mineral and Battery Works had the monopoly right:

Determined to make England less dependent on foreign goods, Elizabeth I in 1568 granted a patent of incorporation to William Humfrey, (a former Assay master of the Royal Mint), who had worked closely with William Cecil in setting up the first British wireworks at Tintern, Monmouthshire in 1567-8.

Humfrey hired and brought to England a German copper maker, Christopher Schutz, along with his entire workshop. Initial goals included the production of brass in addition to the iron wire which was necessary for producing the cards required by the British wool industry, which had previously been imported. Due in part to difficulties with local materials however, the production of brass at the wireworks went poorly, and the more profitable production of iron wire became paramount.

The works were eventually let to 'farmers,' the first being Sir Richard Martyn, and Andrew Palmer, in 1570. Wheler died in 1575 and his widow sold her interest to Richard Hanbury. In the late 1570s, there were conflicts over wood for charcoal for ironworks. In 1583, the wireworks was leased to Martyn and Humfrey Mitchell (surveyor to Windsor Castle) for 15 years and Hanbury agreed to supply osmund iron to them. Conflicts followed over the price to be paid for osmund iron. This ended with Hanbury and his son-in-law Edmond Wheler being imprisoned in February 1598 in the Fleet and their property being sequestrated that July. The latter quickly led them to submit. The farmers were sometimes accused of poor management, and although the import of foreign cards was affirmed to be illegal in 1597, wire was at that time permitted to be imported from abroad, perhaps affirming the complaints of manufacturers of wire goods, who maintained that English wire was often of poor quality and in insufficient supply.

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