William Jenkins (1825-1895)
William Jenkins (1825-1895) of the Consett Iron Co
1895 Obituary [1]
WILLIAM JENKINS, died at Consett Hall on May 14, 1895, at the age of seventy years.
He was for nearly a quarter of a century general manager of the Consett Iron Company, Limited, which position he relinquished in August 1894, when he was elected a director of the company. Mr. Jenkins had been in ill health for some considerable time prior to his death.
He was born at Merthyr Tydfil on February 23, 1825, and occupied various positions at the Dowlais Iron Works for many years, having, at the time of his coming to Consett in 1869, the entire charge of the commercial part of that company's business.
On the formation of the Orconera Iron Ore Company, Limited, by the Consett Iron Company, the Dowlais Iron Company, Fried. Krupp of Essen, and the Messrs Ybarra of Bilbao, Mr. Jenkins was appointed a director. He was also a director of the Consett Spanish Ore Company, Limited. His long and most important services in connection with the Consett Company made for him a widespread reputation, and he was very highly respected throughout the county of Durham, of which he was a Justice of the Peace.
Mr. Jenkins was chairman of the Consett School Board, and on the formation of the County Council was elected a County Alderman. He also filled many other important positions in the county. He was one of the original members of the Iron and Steel Institute, was elected a Member of Council in 1880, and a VicePresident in 1888. On the occasion of the meeting of the Institute at Darlington in 1893, Mr. Jenkins undertook the preparation of an exhaustive description of the Consett Iron Works, a copy of which was presented to each of the 525 members of the Institute who visited the Consett Works on September 28, 1893. After the inspection of the Works the Company entertained the party to a sumptuous luncheon, and in welcoming the Institute to Consett, Mr. David Dale, chairman of the Company, paid a warm and graceful tribute to its general manager.
In 1887 Mr. Jenkins, with characteristic generosity, presented to the Institute a magnificent portrait in oils of the late Edward Williams, one of its Past-Presidents.