Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Co
of Whitehaven
See John Vivian
1871 On 17 Dec, a diamond rock-borer (Mr Beaumont’s patent), worked by the Machine Tunnelling Company, London, was brought into use at Lindal Cote, near Ulverston, at Messers Brogden’s property (John Brogden and Sons), to prospect for haematite iron ore. The work was under the supervision of John Vivian.[1]
1872 Reported that in October, a diamond rock borer had been used by John Vivian to take cores at Lindal-in-Furnace and had continued to drill since.[2] Another report tells us the land at Lindal was leased to Brogden and Sons and that iron ore had been found.[3].
1872 An exclusive license had been granted by the patent holders (presumably the Machine Tunnelling Co, but possibly Beaumont and Appleby) to John Brogden and Sons to use their patent boring system in North Lancashire and Cumberland. Fixed royalties per machine used. Date of agreement not stated.[4] This was unusual as in a later paper, delivered in Liege, Beaumont stated that “The patents for the Diamond Drill are extensively worked by the Diamond Rock Boring Company...... As a rule, the Company neither sells machines nor lets them out on royalty...”[5]
1874 In June, seven boring machines belonging to John Brogden and Sons, under superintendence of John Vivian C.E. were reported to have been at work in the Cumberland and Furness region, surveying for coal. 7 boreholes were sunk, at Stainton, Gleaston, Rampside, Winder, Winder Ghyll, Shaw and St Bees.[6] However, a slightly earlier report shows a borehole sunk at St Bees for Lord Lowther by the Cumberland Diamond Boring Company under the management of John Vivian C.E.[7] As the 1876 notice below shows, the partners in Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Company, to give it its full name, were Alexander Brogen, MP, senior partner of John Brogen and Sons and the three partners in Wadham, Turner and Strongitharm, civil and mining engineers of Barrow. So, it seems likely that the company was formed in 1874. Since John Brogden and Sons owned the exclusive license for Beaumont’s patent, we must assume that it was transferred to the new partnership, but no record has been found.
1874 An article in The Engineer reporting a paper presented by Alexander Brogden erroneously names the company as Cumberland Diamond Rock-Boring Company, in describing the borehole sunk at St Bees under John Vivian’s supervision.[8].
1876 Partnership change. “Notice is hereby given, that the Co-partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undersigned, Alexander Brogden, Edward Wadham, William Barrow Turner, and Augustus Horace Strongitharm, under the name, style, and firm of the Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Company, at Whitehaven, in the county of Cumberland, has been this day dissolved by mutual consent, so far as regards the said Alexander Brogden.—Dated this 11th day of April, 1876.” [9] It seems likely that John Vivian became a partner around this time.
1878 onwards - Adverts were placed by John Vivian using the abbreviated company name Cumberland Diamond Boring Company, or just his own name. These confirm the company as based in Whitehaven. The service offered was boring of artesian water wells, and covered areas as far away as Scotland and Cheshire, far outside the area for which the original license had been granted.
1881 Partnership change. "Notice is hereby given, that the Co-partnership heretofore subsisting between us the undersigned, Edward Wadham, William Barrow Turner, Augustus Horace Strongitharm, and John Vivian, under the name, style, and firm of the Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Company, at Whitehaven, in the county of Cumberland, has been this day dissolved, by mutual consent, so far as regards the said William Barrow Turner.—Dated this 1st day of January, 1881. William Barrow Turner; Augustus H. Strongitharm; John Vivian; Edward Wadham."[10]
1883 Directory entry - Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Company, 36 Lowther Street, Whitehaven. John Vivian C.E. manager.[11]
1883 Entered into contract with the Newcastle Chemical Works Company (Messrs Allhusen) to drill two wells for salt on the north bank of the River Tees. Though unsuccessful, these were to be the first of many much more successful salt well drillings by the company on Teeside and led to Vivian entering into the salt extraction business himself via the Haverton Hill Salt Company.[12]
1887 March, it was reported that the Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Company had bored 25 of the 28 salt wells made in South Durham and Cleveland and had 5 machines at work there. (Actually they bored 25½, as they was called on the finish one contracted to a Belgian company; the other two had been drilled by the Diamond Rock Boring Company of London).[13] However, around the same time, a new technique was introduced from America. Derived from oil industry practice, this was a percussive technique which was much faster than diamond drilling but produced no cores.[14] It was thus highly suitable for drilling production wells, but less so for exploration. By 1890 the company had constructed 41 wells in the district, and more were in progress. It is not thought that Vivian involved his business in the American drilling method and by the middle of the decade his work here was drawing to a close.
1887 Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Company were contracted to bore for coal on the Isle of Walney, Barrow-in-Furness. The Lord of the Manor was the Duke of Buccleuch, for whom Edward Wadham was minerals agent. Their first hole, at the south end of the island, failed to find coal so they sank a second just south of Biggar which again failed to find coal but struck a hitherto unknown major deposit of rock salt. The three partners created a new partnership to develop this. See Barrow Salt Works.
1889, Vivian's Boring and Exploration Company Limited was incorporated as a public company on 12 April 1889 to take over the Cumberland Diamond Boring and Tunnelling Company.[15]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Ulverston Mirror and Furness Reflector - Sat 10 Feb 1872
- ↑ Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser and General Intelligencer - 19 Feb 1874
- ↑ Ulverston Mirror and Furness Reflector - 3 Feb 1872
- ↑ Railway News - 14 Dec 1872 – Prospectus for the Diamond Rock-Boring Company Limited
- ↑ Darlington & Richmond Herald - 23 Aug 1873
- ↑ Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser and General Intelligencer - 4 Jun 1874
- ↑ Soulby's Ulverston Advertiser and General Intelligencer - 16 Apr 1874
- ↑ Engineer – 11 Sep 1874 page 197
- ↑ The London Gazette Publication date:25 April 1876 Issue:24318 Page:2640
- ↑ The London Gazette Publication date:22 February 1881 Issue:24941 Page:816
- ↑ Bulmer’s Directory of Cumberland 1883
- ↑ Midland & Northern Coal & Iron Trades Gazette - Wednesday 25 April 1883
- ↑ Newcastle Evening Chronicle - 11 Mar 1887
- ↑ The Engineer - 11 Aug 1893, page 156 and “On the Middlesbrough Salt Industry”. Richard Griggs 1893. Proceedings of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers Volume 45 Issue 1
- ↑ West Cumberland Times - 20 Apr 1889