William Reynolds (1758 - 1803)

Born 14 Apr 1758 in Ketley Bank, Shropshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Hannah (Ball) Reynolds — married 3 Nov 1789 in Bridgwater, Somerset, England

Died 3 Jun 1803 at age 45 in Broseley, Shropshire, England, United Kingdom

Biography

William Reynolds is Notable.

Birth and Parents

William was the son of Richard Reynolds and Hannah Darby. He was born at Ketley Bank, Shropshire on 14 April 1758.^[1][2]

Life and Interests

William studied chemistry with the chemist and physician Joseph Black.^[3] He continued his scientific interests in subsequent life, having a laboratory installed at his home.^[4] They extended into geology, and he collected fossils. Some of his interests were eccentric: in 1795 he expressed the hope of constructing a musical flute 150 foot long, and he showed visitors to his home a bottle able to hold more than seventy gallons.^[3]

From 1777 William work in the ironworks of his father and the Darby family in the Ketley and Coalbrookdale area of Shropshire, becoming a partner in 1781.^[4] He installed steam engines manufactured by Boulton and Watt, the firm of Matthew Boulton and James Watt. He encouraged innovations in the design of steam engines.^[3]

In 1783 he and Joseph Rathbone acquired additional land at Donnington Wood, Shropshire for more furnaces, and he was instrumental in the building of a canal connecting Donnington Wood to the River Severn,^[4][4] and created an interchange with the Severn at what is now Coalport.^[3][5] He continued to have an active involvement in canals. He was responsible for two small canals in Shropshire, one pioneering the use of an included plane. He surveyed, and oversaw the construction of, the Shropshire Canal, which linked different sections of the Shropshire coalfield. He had shares in the Shrewsbury canal, linking the coalfield to Shrewsbury. One aqueduct on the canal, at Longdon-on-Tern, was made at the Kettle ironworks,^[3] and was the first aqueduct made of cast iron.^[6] There was a long tow path on one stretch of the Shrewsbury Canal and it was at William's suggestion that a towpath ran along the full length of this. This was the first canal tunnel with a towpath.^[3][7]

In 1789 William's father retired, and William and his half-brother Joseph took over his business interests. In 1796 the ironworks firm was split between the Reynolds family (William and Joseph) and the Darby family, with William and Joseph running the works at Madeley and Ketley.^[3]

In 1799 William patented a new process for making manganese steel. He was also said that year to be conducting experiments with some form of oil engine.^[3]

In 1802 Richard Trevithick built a high pressure stationary steam engine for the Coalbrookdale ironworks.^[8] William was probably responsible for this.^[3] Richard Trevithick is also thought to have worked at Coalbrookdale on a steam railway locomotive.^[9]

William's wide-ranging engineering interests are demonstrated by a sketchbook now in the collection of the Science Museum, London. He also wrote parts of the content relating to transport and manufactures in Joseph Plymley's General View of the Agriculture of Shropshire, published in 1803.^[3]

Marriage and Children

On 3 November 1789 William married his first cousin Hannah Ball in an Anglican ceremony at Bridgwater, Somerset.^[10][11] She was the daughter of Joseph Ball and William's aunt Susanna Reynolds.^[4] Marriage of first cousins was against Quaker principles, which was why it was not a Quaker wedding. The marriage probably led to William and Hannah being disowned by the Quakers.^[3][4] Quaker records give the following children:

• William, who was born on 28 August 1790,^[12][13] and who died in childhood^[3]
• Richard, born at Ketley Bank, Shropshire on 18 June 1792^[14][15] (not named in his father's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)
• Joseph, who was born at Ketley Bank, Shropshire on 1 June 1793,^[16][17] and who died in childhood^[3]
• Michael, who was born at Ketley Bank, Shropshire on 12 June 1794,^[18][19] and who died in childhood^[3]
• Hannah Mary, who was born at Ketley, Shropshire on 5 July 1798^[20] (not named in her father's entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography)
• Susanna Ball, who was born in August 1799,^[21] and who married a clergyman, John Bartlett:^[3] she was baptised at Wellington, Shropshire on 25 June 1817, and the baptism record gives her birth date as 12 August 1799^[22]

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography also says that a daughter, Hannah, died in 1796 when only a few weeks old.^[3] No trace has yet been found of a birth or death record.

Death

William died at his home near Broseley, Shropshire on 3 June 1803 and was buried on 7 June at Coalbrookdale Quaker burial ground, Shropshire.^[23][24]

Sources

1. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/1002, HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND WALES: Monthly Meeting of Shropshire: Births, FindMyPast
2. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FWLK-123 : 11 December 2014), Hannah Reynolds in entry for William Reynolds, 14 Apr 1758, Birth; citing p. 54, Broseley, Shropshire, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
3. ↑ ^{3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Barrie Grinder for 'Reynolds, William (1758–1803)', print and online 2004, revised online 203
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5} Edward H Milligan. British Quakers in Commerce and Industry 1775-1920, Sessions Book Trust, 2007, p. 359
5. ↑ Wikipedia: Coalport
6. ↑ Wikipedia: Longdon-on-Tern Aqueduct
7. ↑ Wikipedia:Berwick Tunnel
8. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Philip Payton for 'Trevithick, Richard', print and online 2004, revised online 2007
9. ↑ Wikipedia: William Reynolds (industrialist)
10. ↑ Somerset Archives, ref. BW M 2/1/32, p. 9, FindMyPast
11. ↑ "England, Somerset, Church Records, 1501-1999", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6DMK-52LW : 10 August 2022), William Reynolds, 1789
12. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/1002, HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND WALES: Monthly Meeting of Shropshire: Births, FindMyPast
13. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VWZD-5SM : 11 December 2014), Hannah Reynolds in entry for William Reynolds, 28 Aug 1790, Birth; citing p. 43, Shropshire, Montgomeryshire & Merionethshire, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
14. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/1002, HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND WALES: Monthly Meeting of Shropshire: Births, FibdMyPast
15. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VWZH-LCM : 11 December 2014), Hannah Reynolds in entry for Richard Reynolds, 18 Jun 1792, Birth; citing p. 49, Shropshire, Montgomeryshire & Merionethshire, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
16. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/1002, HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND WALES: Monthly Meeting of Shropshire: Births, FindMyPast
17. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F7NB-2H2 : 11 December 2014), Hannah Reynolds in entry for Joseph Reynolds, 01 Jun 1793, Birth; citing p. 49, Shropshire, Montgomeryshire & Merionethshire, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
18. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/1002, HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND WALES: Monthly Meeting of Shropshire: Births, FindMyPast
19. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQ4V-HNT : 11 December 2014), Hannah Reynolds in entry for Michael Reynolds, 12 Jun 1794, Birth; citing p. 50, Shropshire, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
20. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/240, HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND WALES: Monthly Meeting of Shropshire: Births, FindMyPast
21. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FW2D-923 : 11 December 2014), Hannah Reynolds in entry for Susanna Ball Reynolds, 00 Aug 1799, Birth; citing p. 29, Shropshire, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London
22. ↑ Shropshire Baptisms, FindMyPast
23. ↑ The National Archives, ref. RG6/241, HEREFORDSHIRE, WORCESTERSHIRE AND WALES: Monthly Meeting of Shropshire: Burials, FindMyPast
24. ↑ "England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8), 1588-1977," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FQYP-B7Q : 11 December 2014), William Reynolds, 07 Jun 1803, Burial; citing p. 29, Shropshire, record group RG6, Public Record Office, London

• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 48, pp. 69-71, in entry for his father REYNOLDS, RICHARD (1735–1816), Wikisource
• Website of the Science Museum, London, Reynolds, William 1758 - 1803