-----Original Message-----
From: Keith Ramsey <[log in to unmask]>
To: INTERNET:[log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 19 July 1999 22:34
Subject: COALMINES - North of Bristol/ Handel Cossham
>The Childrens' Employment Commission report of 1842 ("Appendix to the First
>Report of the Commissioners. Mines. Part II. Reports and Evidence from
>Sub-Commissioners," PP 1842, Vol XVII (HMSO, 1842), p 40) has a couple of
>paragraphs about Long & Co's three pits on Yate Common, managed by John
>Wilks. The pits employed about 50 men and boys, the shafts were about 60
>fathoms deep and there was a 40hp steam engine which was able to drain the
>pits in 3 to 7 hours per day. The rest of the evidence relates to the
>condition of the workers.
>
>Handel Cossham had a varied career. He is claimed to have been the son of a
>carpenter from Thornbury and eventually became mayor of Bath and later an
>MP for Bristol. Following his death in 1890 and than of his wife about ten
>years later, his will provided for the sale of his collieries, with the
>proceeds being used to build Cossham hospital. The pits were bought by the
>Bennett family of Bedminster who had already acquired those belonging to
>Leonard, Boult & Co. The Bennetts' company went into liquidation in about
>1914 when the remaining pits were bought by Frank Beauchamp.
>My main interest in all this is to try to analyse the financial side of
>these businesses (productivity, profits, etc), but few records seem to have
>survived. One of the main questions about Cossham is where his initial
>capital came from. In about 1851 he went into partnership with his wife's
>father and brothers whose name was Wethered (possibly part of the brewing
>family?), but despite having apparently only been a clerk before this he
>still had a relatively large sum to invest himself.
>
>Keith Ramsey
Those being observant will have noticed that Keith Ramsey’s message of 19
July 1999 referred to Handel Cossham going into partnership with his
father-in-law named “Wethered” whilst mine of 23d July 1999 included the
extract from the 1851 census showing Cossham living in Wickwar with
“WETHERHEAD Edwin BinL 35 Merchant Little Marlow “
Does anybody know anything about the Wetherhead (Wethered) family from
Little Marlow ???
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