Richard Darby, like his brother Francis, did not adhere to the Quaker style of dress, either in the cut of his coat or the shape of his hat, the latter being usually a white one of the most approved fashion. He was a popular public man; one whose services were sought, and whose sympathies were readily enlisted in public movements of the day, such as the emancipation of the slaves, and others relating to questions of civil and religious progress. His name was well known through the length and breadth of the borough, and we have seen small farmers and labourers around the Clee Hills brighten up at the mention of his name. William Henry and Charles Darby, the sons of Richard, are proprietors of the Brymbo iron works, and their sister, Miss Rebecca Darby, who resides at the house her father lived in, is the only one of the name now living in the Dale.
The late Abraham and Alfred Darby, sons of Edmund, and cousins of Francis and Richard, were young when their father died. We have elsewhere said that they became managers of the extensive and important works of Coalbrookdale, Horsehay, Lighmnoor, and the Castle, at critical periods of their history, and when, to maintain their existence, it was essential to do battle with lax discipline, old customs, and deep-rooted prejudices. They found men resting on their oars, trusting to the prestige of a fame won by a former generation, and standing still while others around them were advancing. They determined to prove themselves worthy of their predecessors by advancing to the front of the foremost in the rise. Surrounding themselves by energetic agents, intelligent operatives, and introducing new modes of manufacture, they succeeded. With clear views of political economy, they zealously aided in battering down barriers to a free exchange of the world’s productions, which misconceived interest had erected. Penetrated with a lofty sense of duty, and comprehending their positions rightly, they pursued the even tenor of their way, sowing seed and scattering blessings which refreshed and brightened the scenes of their labours. They worked harmoniously together, in their studies, in the laboratory, in their works, and at their books, making themselves acquainted with every detail and minutiæ of their great undertakings. Order and regularity everywhere were observable, others under them being embued with the spirit of their employers. The church on the hill side, and its sweet and silvery bells as their music floats along the valley and over the wooded boundaries of the Dale, tell of their large-hearted benevolence and open handed munificence, and that of their sister, Miss Mary Darby, and their mother, Mrs. Lucy Darby.
Abraham, the elder, married his cousin, Miss Darby, daughter of Francis Darby, on the 8th of August, 1839, on which occasion a kindly demonstration was made, and 1,000 work-people dined at his expense. He removed from the Dale to Stoke Court, near Slough; and afterwards to South Wales, to be near the extensive works of Ebbw Vale, which he, and some of his partners, purchased for the sum of £360,000. He died, was brought to the Dale and buried in the cemetery of the church which he chiefly had built and endowed, amid deep demonstrations of feeling on the part of thousands of spectators.
Alfred, the younger brother, married Miss Christy, sister to the well-known collector of pre-historic relics of man in an uncivilized state, with which he stored his mansion at Westminster, and afterwards bequeathed to the British Museum. Alfred died in the golden meridian of age and usefulness, and his loss was deeply felt by all who knew him. He left issue, and his son Alfred, of Ness, to which place his mother removed from Stanley Hall, is a magistrate, and is now old enough to discharge the duties of a country gentleman.
Of other partners in the works we may mention Mr. Henry Dickinson, who married a sister of Abraham and Alfred Darby, for some years chairman of the Shropshire Banking Company, and who in a most distinguished and disinterested way lent (but on such terms as amounted to a gift) the princely sum of £100,000 at a critical period of its existence, to save it from falling, and numbers dependent upon it from ruin. But for extending our remarks too far, we might say something of men like Mr. Thomas Graham, a former cashier in the works, of Mr. William Norris, who succeeded him in that office; men useful in their day and generation, being foremost in good works and words, as many now living will remember. For the same reason we refrain from speaking of the late Mr. C. Crookes, formerly the enterprising manager of these works; and of the gentleman who has succeeded him, and is himself a proprietor of these extensive works, and in the commission of the peace for the borough. For similar reasons, but much more because of the difficulty of rightly discriminating and equally awarding a just meed of praise where so much is due, we find ourselves prevented from speaking of many trustworthy and clever men now engaged in various departments of these important works, whose names occur to our minds, but whose merits we commend not less heartily to some future local historian, for whose labours the present work will, we flatter ourselves, smooth the way.
It would be unpardonable not to say something here of the means of education and mental culture provided by the proprietors of the Coalbrookdale works for their workpeople. Before the present system of national education was established, and whilst hostile sects and parties were indulging in bitter feuds [300] as to the kind of education to be given, this Company under the direction of Abraham and Alfred Darby in the most noble and generous way came forward and at great cost erected roomy and capacious Schools here and at Horsehay, with every convenience and appliance possible to further education.
We purpose speaking of education, with respect to the schools, in connection with others at Madeley, Ironbridge, and Madeley Wood; and will only add here a word or two on the subject of other and more advanced institutions provided for the use of the men and inhabitants generally of the Dale. First and foremost amongst them comes, of course, the Literary and Scientific Institute, with its library, its reading room, its school of art, its high class lectures and entertainments, so judiciously arranged and carried on under the management of Mr. E. L. Squire, Hon. Secretary, and Mr. Isaac Dunbar, the librarian. The School of Art too, of which Mr. Squires is also Hon. Secretary, and Mr. Gibbons master, is admirably adapted for developing and furthering a taste for drawing and decoration, so essential among artizans engaged in the more ornamental and decorative portions of the company’s productions. Nor are the benefits of this admirable institution limited either to the works or to the Dale: the day classes are attended by ladies of the neighbourhood, desirous of pursuing an æsthetic course of study, and who, following the examples of ladies whose works merit such high approval in the Art Galleries of London and Paris, have really achieved great success in painting birds, flowers, and figures, in enamel colours, on plaques, tazzas, &c., both for use and for drawing room decoration.
Nor must we omit, whilst on the subject of this institution, to mention the splendid collection of British and foreign birds lent by Mrs. Alfred Darby, which have adorned the lecture room for so many years; or the very fine collection of coal-measure fossils, which the late Dean Buckland pronounced in his time the finest private collection of the kind in England, and so liberally given by the late John Anstice, Esq.
Recently a “British Workman” has been added to other institutions, at the room formerly occupied as a British School, under the patronage of Mrs. Norris, who is ever active in promoting similar works, and the present incumbent, the Rev. H. S. Wood, who, it is only justice to say, spares no pains to make himself useful to the inhabitants of the Dale.