Newton, Chambers & Company

Newton, Chambers & Co. was one of England's largest industrial companies. It was founded in 1789 by George Newton and Thomas Chambers.

George Newton and Thomas Chamber were partners in the Phoenix foundry at Snow Hill, Sheffield and along with Henry Longden they signed a lease to extract coal and ironstone from the Thorncliffe valley. The 21-year lease was signed in December 1793 and it gave them mining rights to the Thorncliffe valley from the Earl Fitzwilliam and set up their works on the Thorncliffe site near Chapeltown, to the north of Sheffield. The company built The Thorncliffe Ironworks beside the Blackburn Brook above the wooded valley slopes where the mining was to be carried out.

The first blast furnace was completed in April 1795 and the second in 1796. The first had a capacity of 15 tons of metal a week, while the second could produce 20 tons. The two furnaces were in operation for 78 years before being replaced in the 1870s. Around this time - for the first ten years' of the partnership's existence - interest paid on capital was limited to five per cent per annum and the working partners drew only "modest" salaries of £80 per annum. This policy was intended to encourage the growth of the business, and it certainly enabled it to survive some periods of poor trading, but by the early 19th century the practice of mostly leaving accrued profits within the business led to disputes with some sleeping partners.

In 1815 the partners met with William Murdoch, the inventor of coal-gas lighting, this being seen as providing a growth in work for their foundry. Coal, from the company's mines, was provided as charge for beehive coke ovens which were built on the site.

By the end of the 19th century the company were not only mining coal and ironstone but building blast furnaces, coke ovens and chemical plant. Heavy section iron, cast in the foundry was used in two iconic structures: Tower Bridge, crossing the river Thames in London, and the Eddystone Lighthouse.

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