Darby, Abraham

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Darby, Abraham (1677–1717). The founder of the great Shropshire iron industry, using local supplies of coal and iron. He was born in Worcestershire of a quaker family, apprenticed in Birmingham, and set up as a brass founder in Bristol. In 1708 he patented a process for casting cheap iron pots in sand and the following year leased a furnace in Coalbrookdale. Two successive Abraham Darbys developed the business and in 1779 the Iron Bridge at Broseley advertised the company to the world.

J. A. Cannon

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