Moses Teague
Born c.1788
In 1818 or 1819 he built a cupola for experimentation at Dark Hill, where a year or two later Moses Teague found a way to make good iron with the coke of local coal. In 1824, to exploit his discovery, Teague formed the Forest of Dean Iron Co with William Montague of Gloucester, Benjamin Whitehouse of Monmouth and Redbrook, and, later, John James of Lydney. The company reopened the Parkend furnace and later Teague revived smelting operations at Cinderford. Teague's enterprise established Parkend and Cinderford as the main centres, with Lydbrook, of Dean's iron industry, which developed to manufacture tinplate, wire, and metal castings.[1]
'The first practical attempt at utilizing the gases from iron furnaces appears to have been made by Robert Gardner, in 1788, although John Payne, in 1728, referred to it in a vague manner. The next claimant was Moses Teague, in 1832, who proposed to use the flame and heated gases usually discharged into the open air, for heating the charge before it was introduced into the furnace.'[2]
In 1834 Teague, William Allaway and John Pearce, trading as the Cinderford Coal and Iron Co leased Oakwood Mill Upper Mine from David Mushet.[3]
1840 Death Notice: 'Feb. 8, very suddenly, Mr. Moses Teague, of Park End in this county, engineer, aged 52, deeply regretted.'[4]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ British History Online
- ↑ Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 31 March 1857, quoting from The Mining Journal
- ↑ 'The Industrial History of Dean' by Cyril Hart: David & Charles, 1971
- ↑ Gloucestershire Chronicle - Saturday 22 February 1840