CHAP. V. AS ENGINEEH OF THE ELLESMERE CANAL. 



337 



(juire great labour and exertions, but it is worthy of 

 them all." 1 



Telford's appointment was duly confirmed by the 

 next general meeting of the shareholders of the Elles- 

 mere Canal. An attempt was made to get up a party 

 against him, but it failed. " I am fortunate," he said, 

 " in being on good terms with most of the leading men, 

 both of property and abilities ; and on this occasion I 

 had the decided support of the great John Wilkinson, 

 king of the ironmasters, himself a host. I travelled in 

 his carriage to the meeting, and found him much dis- 

 posed to be friendly." The salary at which Telford 



1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, 

 Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, 29th 

 September, 1793. 



* flohn Wilkinson was the first of 

 the great ironmasters, of whom there 

 arc, iKiw so many. His father was a 

 small farmer in Cumberland, who 

 afterwards went to work at the iron 

 furnace and forge at Blackbarrow, in 

 Carnnel, where he became foreman of 

 the works. His two sons, John and 

 William, were employed there. The 

 first iron furnace and forge erected by 

 John was at a place called Wilson 

 House, in the same neighbourhood, 

 for the purpose of smelting the haema- 

 tite iron ore of Furness. The patent 

 which he took out for the manufac- 

 ture of box smoothing irons proved 

 very successful, and he gradually ex- 

 tended his operations. The two bro- 

 thers erected iron forges at Bersham, 

 near Chester, at Bradley, Brimbo, 

 Merthyr Tydvil, and other places ; 

 and became by far the largest iron 

 manufacturers of their day. John was 

 particularly celebrated for his cast- 

 ings and borings. Watt never could 

 get cylinders east true for his con- 

 densing steam-engines until Wilkinson 

 supplied them. He himself invented 

 and introduced a new boring machine, 

 since become common, which was a 

 great improvement on that formerly 

 in use. The Wilkinsons cast the 

 whole of the tubes, pipes, cylinders, 

 and ironwork required for the great 

 Paris waterworks the most formid- 



VOL, II. 



able undertaking of the kind at that 

 day. The first iron vessel ever built 

 was erected by them at Willey in 

 South Wales, and traded upon the 

 Severn before the year 1790. John 

 Wilkinson retired late in life to his 

 native county with a handsome for- 

 tune, and he built the mansion of 

 Castlehead, in the parish of Cartmel, 

 where he died. When the brothers 

 gave up business, labourers were em- 



ployed to break up the machinery at 

 the Welsh works with sledge-ham- 

 mers, in order that the materials might 

 be equally divided between them. 

 Many thought this an exceedingly 

 insane act ; yet it was not entirely so. 

 Both were extremely stubborn men, 

 and knew each other's temper; and 

 perhaps they concluded that, though 

 sledge-hammers might be veiy de- 

 structive when wielded by labourers 

 amongst their fine machinery, the 

 corrosive though more tedious process 

 of a Chancery suit, managed by skilful 

 lawyers, might be still more damaging 



