154 CORT. 



and numerous contracts for licenses were entered into with Cort 

 and his partner, by the manufacturers of bar-iron throughout the 

 country, and licenses were taken at royalties estimated to yield 

 27,500/L to the owners of the patent. Cort himself made arrange- 

 ments for carrying on the manufacture on a large scale, and with 

 that object entered upon the possession of a wharf at Gosport 

 belonging to Adam Jellicoe, his partner's father, where he succeeded 

 in obtaining considerable government orders for iron made under 

 his patents. This period, apparently the crowning point of Cort's 

 fortunes, was but the commencement of his ruin. In August, 1789, 

 Adam Jellicoe died, and defalcations were found in his public 

 accounts to the extent of 39,6762. His papers and books were at 

 once seized by Government, and on examination it was found that 

 a sum of 54,853Z. was owing to Jellicoe by the Cort partnership for 

 moneys advanced by him at different times to enable Cort to pursue 

 his experiments, which were necessarily of a very expensive cha- 

 racter. Among the sums advanced by Jellicoe to Cort was found 

 one of 27,500Z. entrusted to Jellicoe for the payment of seamen 

 and officers' wages. As Jellicoe had the reputation of being a rich 

 man, Cort had not the slightest suspicion of the source from which 

 the advances made to the firm were derived, nor has any conni- 

 vance whatever on the part of Cort been suggested. The Govern- 

 ment, however, bound to act with promptitude in such a case, at 

 once adopted extraordinary measures to recover their money. The 

 assignments of Cort's patents, which had been made to Jellicoe in 

 consideration of his advances, were taken possession of, but, strange 

 to say, Samuel Jellicoe, the son of the defaulter, was put in posses- 

 sion of the properties at Fonltey and Gosport and continued to 

 enjoy them, to Cort's exclusion for a period of fourteen years. Not- 

 withstanding this, the patent rights seem never to have been levied 

 by the assignees, and the result was that the whole benefit of Cort's 

 inventions was made over to the ironmasters and to the public, 

 although there seems little reason to doubt, that had they been duly 

 levied, the whole of the debt due to the government would have 

 been paid in the course of a few years. As for Cort himself, on the 

 death of Jellicoe he left his iron works a ruined man. He subse- 

 quently made many appeals to Government for the restoration of 

 his patents, and offered to find security for payment of the debt due 

 by his firm to the Crown, but in vain. In 1794 an appeal was made 

 to Mr. Pitt by a number of influential members of parliament, on 

 behalf of the inventor and his destitute family of twelve eliildren, 

 when a pension of 200/. was granted to him, which he enjoyed until 

 the year 1800, when, broken in health and spirit, lie died at tli<' 

 of sixty. He was buried in Ilumpstead Church, where a si 

 marks the date of his death and is still to be seen ; a few years a^o 

 it was illegible, but it has been restored by his surviving son 

 Kichard Cort. 



