On 23 May 2003 at 9:18, David Hardwick wrote:
> Haven't come across Liddell before but in looking into W Fairley (mine
> engineer) I came across the several references to G C Greenwell. How well
> they knew each other I do not know but it is clear Fairley worked in the
> Radstock area pits he was involved with include Vobster. In his Glossary of
> terms he includes two sections by Greenwell showing Tyning Pit and Wellsway
> Pit in Radstock Somerset which were part of Greenwell’s paper to the North
> of England Institute of Mining Engineers.
>
> I would be interested in knowing more about who Greenwell was.
George Clementson Greenwell trained as a Viewer in the North-East of England at
Haswell Colliery amongst others. In a long career he published widely on colliery
engineering and was a founder member and also President (1879-1881) of the North of
England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. He was appointed colliery
manager for Lady Waldegrave's Radstock pits in October 1853. He was also involved in
the exploitation of the Westbury iron ore deposits around this time.
During his time at Radstock he was also involved as a consultant reporting on the
condition and prospects for other collieries. This took him in 1856 to Poynton in
Cheshire where he prepared a detailed report for Lord Vernon. Subsequent to this he
was offered the management of the Poynton Collieries at the end of 1862. He
recommended that James McMurtrie, whom he had previously sponsored as viewer for the
Westbury Iron Co's Newbury Colliery, to succeed him at Radstock. Greenwell remained
as consulting viewer at Radstock for several further years.
Greenwell remained in charge at Poynton until 31st December 1876 when he retired as
resident agent at Poynton, whilst retaining the role of consulting engineer, and
subsequently worked as a consulting viewer. He was succeeded at Poynton by his son
G.C Greenwell junior, and later he was succeeded by his son G.H. Greenwell who was
agent until the closure of the collieries in 1935.
His autobiography was published in 1899 for private circulation only. It is rather a
difficult read as it tends to be a diary listing events rather than containing much
in the way of comment. The publisher was The Quarry Publishing Co Ltd, London.
There is a photograph of him taken from his book "A Glossary of Terms used in the
Coal Trade of Northumberland and Durham" at:
http://www.brocross.com/poynton/poyco2.htm
Hope this helps.
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