Britain Unlimited covers 250 Great British people and what made them famous

Who was Abraham Darby? First Successful Smelter of Iron with Coke. Date and Place of Birth: 1678, Wren's Nest, Sedgley, Dudley, West Midlands, England. Family Background: Son of a Farmer. Education: Within the family by Quakers and self-taught. Apprenticed as a metal worker. Chronology: 1700: Founded the Baptist Mills Brass works near Temple Meads in Bristol and over the next few years turned Britain into a major producer and exporter of brass. Using sand moulds made the process continuous. 1708: Founded the Bristol Iron Company. 1709: First successful manufacture of good quality iron in furnaces fired with Coke at his new premises in Coalbrookdale, Shropshire, on the banks of the River Severn. Charcoal was becoming too scarce and could not achieve fires for furnaces of the right temperature and coal contained many impurities including Sulphur which made inferior quality iron. 1712: 250 tons of coal were being used per week at the Baptist Mills Brass Works.The advent of the new Newcomen steam engine created major new market for iron. (1779): His grandson Abraham Darby the Third created the world's first cast iron bridge at Iron Bridge Coalbrookdale, which still crosses the River Severn today. Marriage: 1. 18th September 1699 to Mary Sarjeant. 2. To woman called Abiah. Places of Interest: SHROPSHIRE: Iron Bridge Gorge Museums, Coalbrookdale. His grandson Abraham Darby the Third cast and erected the world's first iron bridge at Coalbrookdale, Shropshire. Date and Place of Death: 8th March 1717, Madeley Court, Worcestershire, England. Age at Death: 39. Site of Grave: All Saint’s Church, Broseley, Shropshire, England.