John Bedford (c. 1720–1791) was an English iron worker and industrialist.

Life

He was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

to John and Sarah Bedford, and followed his father into the iron trade to become a japanner in 1748. Bedford was perhaps best known for his work in the Mid Glamorgan area of South Wales, but he did not move there directly from his native Birmingham. His career progressed and by 1765 he had moved from Birmingham to

Trostrey Trostrey () is a small hamlet and parish in Monmouthshire, in southeast Wales located about north/northwest of Usk. History Excavations at the castle in 2000 found evidence of burial cairns from the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods. An 11th-cent ...

, in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South East Wales, south east of Wales. It borders Powys to the north; the English counties of Herefordshire and Gloucestershire to the north and east; the Severn Estuary to the s ...

, and was the manager of a

forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to the ...

. His property and business interests in Birmingham were now managed by his father and it was the sale of one of his properties that financed the purchase of a forge at

Rogerstone Rogerstone (, meaning "Black house") is a large village and community (parish) in Newport, Wales. The area is governed by Newport City Council. The village falls within the ancient parish of Bassaleg and historic county of Monmouthshire. ...

, South Wales. He remained there until 1770 when he bought an estate in

Cefn Cribwr Cefn Cribwr is a village and community in Bridgend County Borough in south Wales. The village is located about 5 miles (8 km) from the centre of Bridgend town, and in-between Bridgend and Pyle. Description The village is situated on a rid ...

, near

Bridgend Bridgend (; or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in the Bridgend County Borough of Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the Old Bridge, Bridgend, medieval bridge over the River Og ...

, where he planned to establish not only an iron works, complete with

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being supplied above atmospheric pressure. In a ...

and forge, but also the

collieries Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extrac ...

brickworks A brickworks, also known as a brick factory, is a factory for the manufacturing of bricks, from clay or shale. Usually a brickworks is located on a clay bedrock (the most common material from which bricks are made), often with a clay pit, quar ...

, mines and stone quarries to support it. Bedford, it seems, brought a sum of £36,000 to fund this venture and was possibly attracted to the area by the availability of local raw materials and its proximity to the sea via the harbor town of Porthcawl.Granville, 1980 The venture failed to reach its full potential due to a number of factors, which included John Bedford's own eccentricity, the geographic position of the iron works, his reliance on borrowing and his lack of business acumen. His correspondence indicates that he was more interested in experimentation and development of the iron making techniques than running a viable business. Also apparent through his manuscripts of 1786 was his romantic thoughts about architecture, where he believed aesthetic beauty as important as functionality. Although not renowned for his success on business side of iron making he was recognised for his contributions to the iron industry through the vast amount of correspondence he left, now held at the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

. John Bedford died on 30 September 1791, at

Digbeth Digbeth is an area of central Birmingham, England. Following the remodelling of the Birmingham Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is under ...

, Birmingham, and was buried at Marston Chapel,

Hall Green Hall Green is an area in southeast Birmingham, England, synonymous with the B28 postcode. It is also a council constituency of Birmingham City Council, managed by its own district committee. Historic counties of England, Historically it lay wit ...

, Birmingham. His estate was divided between his wife and children and an area of his Cefn Cribwr estate was name
Bedford Park
as a dedication to him. After his death the iron works and mine were sold off but the iron working continued until 1836. The brick making and coal mining, however, continued. His great-grandson was famed

aeronautics engineer Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is si ...

, Sir

Morien Morgan Sir Morien Bedford Morgan CB FRS (20 December 1912 – 4 April 1978), was a noted Welsh aeronautical engineer, sometimes known as "the Father of Concorde". He spent most of his career at the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), before moving t ...

References

* Granville, Neville "Cefn Cribwr - Chronicle of a Village", Stuart Williams Publishers, 1980 John Bedford and the Ironworks at Cefn Cribwr

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford, John 1720s births 1791 deaths English industrialists Businesspeople from Birmingham, West Midlands