A bit of a long shot, but I wondered if anyone from the north-east has come
across John Dolphin from Hunters House, Riding Mill near Gateshead. He was
born at Helmsley, North Yorks c.1786, by 1841 he was at Edmundbyers, he was
still alive in 1871
My interest is in his mining interests, he wrote a number of articles in the
Mining Journal and local newspapers. More particularly he was involved with
Frederick Hall in Wensleydale, Arkengarthdale and the Derwent Valley mines. He
claimed to have a wealth of information, so I'm hoping that some might have
survived, not least for info on W/dale and A/dale but also about Frederick
Hall, Dolphin wrote the following in 1852 about Hall.
Of Mr. Hall it is not enough to say that he was far beyond the age in which
he lived for scientific and practical knowledge of mines and mining, as well
as for his general attainments as a scholar and a gentleman. I was his eleve
in very early youth, and from his instructions I received the first rudiments
of geology, mineralogy, scientific and practical mining, and mine surveying;
and of him I shall retain, so long as memory holds her seat, the most
grateful remembrance of his extreme kindness in my boyhood, and continued friendship
in after life. He has long been numbered with the dead; but his memory is
still cherished by a numerous body of miners, as one whose liberal disposition
and attention to the welfare of every man under his charge, showed that he
was truly and emphatically the miners’ friend.
Thanks
Ian Spensley
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