Archibald Kenrick

Archibald Kenrick (1760-1835) of Archibald Kenrick and Co and Archibald Kenrick and Sons

1760 November 12th. Born at Wrexham the son of John Kenrick (1725-1803) and his wife Mary Quarrell (1718-1801)

1780 Moved to Birmingham. Went into business in the buckle trade with a distant relation who was also a Unitarian.

1787 After acquiring a knowledge of plating, and with financial support from his father, Archibald went into partnership with another buckle maker, Thomas Boulton

1790 December 1st. Married Rebecca Smith (1770-1809)

1791 Archibald set up an iron foundry business in West Bromwich which produced cast ironmongery, beginning with coffee mills, door furniture, cast nails, and mole traps, supplying households and the building trade. The finance came from the dowry he received from his father-in-law, Joseph Smith of Staffordshire.

1791 Leased 4,000 sq. yards at the Spon Lane end of the Birmingham Canal

1794 'The Creditors of John Kenrick, of Dodington, in the Parish of Whitchurch, in the County of Salop, Cheese-Factor, Dealer and Chapman, a Bankrupt, are desired to meet the Assignees of the said Bankrupt's Estate and Effects on the 7th Day of April next, at Eleven o'Clock in the Forenoon; at the White Lion in Whitchurch aforesaid, to consult whether the said Assignees shall or shall not compound Debts due from the Estate of Archibald Kenrick, of Birmingham in the County of Warwick, Iron Founder and Plater, to the Estate of the said John Kenrick; and whether the said Assignees shall or shall not request the joint Creditors of the said John Kenrick and Archibald Kenrick to accept the Completion proposed or which may be proposed, by the Assignees of the said Archibald Kenrick, in Part of the relative debts; and (/) to assent or to dissent from the said Assignees commencing, prosecuting or defending, any Suit or Suits at Law or in Equity concerning the said Bankrupt's Estate and Effects; or to the compounding submitting to Arbitration, or otherwise agreeing, any Matter or Thing relating thereto; and on other special Affairs'

1798 Birth of son Archibald Kenrick, Junior

1807 Birth of son Timothy Kenrick

1809 Death of Mrs Kenrick age 88 at West Bromwich, wife of Archibald Kenrick of that place.. Note this may be the right person but the age is wrong.

Kenrick's tinned hollow-ware gained a reputation for being lightweight, attractive, and hygienic cooking utensils, of a quality and at a price to mostly replace "black" hollow-ware and to compete with similar vessels made from copper or brass.

1812 he married his second wife, Mary Eddowes (1763–1854). There were four sons and three daughters from his two marriages.

c.1815 The number of workers employed could be counted in tens

1817 Partnership dissolved. '...the Copartnership heretofore carried on by us, the undersigned, as Timber-Merchants at Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, in the name of the Birmingham Timber Company, was dissolved by mutual consent...Archibald Kenrick' and more than fifty others.

1822 Partnership change. '...the Partnership or joint trade subsisting and carried on by and between William Fawcett, Benjamin Whitehouse, James Hunt, Henry Hunt, Archibald Kenrick, and Joseph Priestley, of the Verteg-Hill Iron-Works, in the County of Monmouth, Iron-Masters, Coal-Masters, and Iron-Manufacturers, under the firm of Fawcett, Whitehouse, Hunt, and Co. was and stands dissolved on and from the 3d day of February last, so far as respects the said Benjamin Whitehouse....'

1827 "NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between the undersigned, Archibald Kenrick, the elder, Samuel Kenrick, and Archibald Kenrick the younger, as Ironfounders, carrying on business at West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, was dissolved on the 29th day of September 1827. — Dated the 23d day of July 1832"

1835 By the time of Archibald's death, the number of employees was several hundred.

See Also

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Sources of Information

• Biography of the Kenrick family, ODNB