Edwin James Grice
Edwin (Edward) James Grice (1834-1889) of Weston and Grice and the Patent Nut and Bolt Co
1834 Born in West Bromwich, son of James and Elizabeth Grice[1]
1866 Edwin James Grice, Stour Valley Works, Spon Lane, West Bromwich.[2]
1889 March 9th. Died.[3]
1889 Obituary [4]
EDWIN JAMES GRICE was born in Westbromwich in 1834, and died at his residence, Beechwood, Reigate, on 9th March 1889, at the age of fifty-five.
His father was a manufacturer of screws and gun implements at Overend Works, Westbromwich; and early in 1852, when fish-plates for railway joints came into general use, he commenced the manufacture of fish-bolts and other railway accessories. The son very early in life showed great mechanical aptitude, and with his elder brother, the late Mr. Frederick Groom Grice, invented valuable machinery for the manufacture of bolts and nuts.
In 1855 their father entered into partnership with Mr. Joseph D. Weston, under the style of Weston and Grice, and erected large new works at Spon Lane, called the Stour Valley Works, of which the two brothers took the management. Under their superintendence improved machinery was introduced whereby considerable economy was effected in the manufacture of bolts and nuts and other railway fastenings; and the business increased so rapidly that further extensions of the works became necessary.
In 1862 therefore the firm purchased the Cwm Bran Works, Newport, Monmouthshire, which have since been largely extended and developed. About that time both brothers were taken into partnership, and Mr. Edwin James Grice became manager of the Stour Valley Works, and his brother of the Cwm Bran Works.
In 1864 the whole of the works were taken over by the Patent Nut and Bolt Company, of which the brothers were appointed managing directors.
Upon the death of Mr. F. G. Grice in 1881 (Proceedings 1882 page 8), Mr. Edwin J. Grice was appointed managing director of the Cwm Bran works, collieries, and furnaces, which office he continued to hold until the end of 1887, when he was obliged to retire on account of ill health, but still retained his position as director of the company.
He was a magistrate for the county of Monmouth and for the borough of Newport for several years. In 1884 he was elected mayor of Newport, and in the same year he was appointed High Sheriff and Deputy Lieutenant of the county of Monmouth.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1866.
1889 Obituary [5]
EDWARD JAMES GRICE was born at West Bromwich, on the 28th of February, 1834.
He served an apprenticeship of seven years to his father, who was a member of the firm of Weston and Grice, of the Stour Valley Works in Staffordshire, thus acquiring a practical knowledge of the business, which included a rolling-mill and bolt-works, and he subsequently became manager. This business afterwards became merged in the important undertaking of the Patent Bolt and Nut Co, and in 1872 Mr. Grice took up his residence at Newport, in Monmouthshire, as Managing- Director of the well-known Cwmn Bran Works of the Company.
Here he almost entirely remodelled the works, designing new and improved machinery, and laying down railways and tramways in and about the shops, inc1uding a full-guage railway to the adjoining collieries.
He also in 1875, acting under the advice of R. C. May, constructed a tunnel 18 mile long, to win coal previously inaccessible. Mr. Grice was one of the Board of Examiners for the South Wales district, under the Mines Regulation Act; and was likewise Director and Chairman of several important undertakings in the neighbourhood, such as the Newport Slipway and Drydock Co, the Patent Enamel Co, &c. . . . . [more]
1889 Obituary [6]
EDWARD JAMES GRICE was born at West Bromwich, on the 28th February 1834. His father was a member of the firm of Weston and Grice, of the Stour Valley Works, Staffordshire, where the son served an apprenticeship of seven years, thereby acquiring a practical knowledge of the manufacture of iron.
In 1872, after the works of Weston & Grice had become merged in the Patent Nut and Bolt Company, Mr. Grice became managing director of the Cwm Bran Works, belonging to that company, at Newport, in Monmouthshire. At Cwm Bran Mr. Grice remodelled the works, and, among other improvements and additions, constructed a tunnel of a mile and a half in length, in order to win coal that had been previously inaccessible.
Mr. Grice was chairman and director of several undertakings in the neighbourhood of Newport, including the Newport Slipway and Dry Dock Company. He was also one of the Board of Examiners for the South Wales district under the Coal Regulation Act. He was a J.P. for the county of Monmouth, and acted as Mayor of Newport in 1885. In the latter year he also acted as high sheriff and deputy-lieutenant for his county.
Mr. Grice was a member of the Institutions of Civil and Mechanical Engineers, as well as of the Iron and Steel Institute.