Joseph Treffry
Joseph Austen Treffry | |
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Born | 1782 Par Harbour Treffry Viaduct |
Joseph Austen Treffry (1782 – 29 January 1850) was an engineer, mining adventurer, and industrialist who became a significant landowner in Cornwall, England.
Biography
Born in Plymouth, Devon as Joseph Thomas Austen, to Joseph Austen (d 1786), a former Mayor of Plymouth and Susanna née Treffry (d 1842). He changed his name by deed poll, after the death of his mother’s brother William Esco Treffry of Fowey in 1808, when he inherited the family estate at Place House, Fowey. He did not complete his education at Exeter College, Oxford and returned to Fowey and started to rebuild the ancestral home, Place.[1]
Mining
Trained in civil engineering, Treffry built a new quay in Fowey to take larger vessels for the export of tin, the major industry of Cornwall. As a result, he became a partner in the Wheal Regent copper mine at Crinnis near Par. He then became a partner in Fowey Consols mine at Tywardreath and manager of Lanscroft mine. After he amalgamated the two mines in 1822 and took full control, Fowey Consols became the most productive mine in Cornwall and employed 1,680 workers.
Par harbour
However, as Cornwall was geographically isolated from the industries of London and the Northwest, and as there were minimal port facilities through the narrow streets of Fowey, Treffry needed to find new means of distributing his tin ore. In 1828 he drew up plans for a new safe harbour at
Transport
When the harbour opened, Treffry opened Par Consuls on the mount behind Par and build a double incline tramway to link it to Par harbour. This became his first venture into land transport, constructing inclines and
Treffry viaduct
Treffry bought
Treffry served as vice-president of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society from 1849 until his death of pneumonia in 1850.[2] He was also High Sheriff of Cornwall from 1839–1840.[2]
See also
- Fowey Consols mine – a successful mine near St Blazey
- Par harbour – built to export the production of Fowey Consols
- Newquay – the harbour was bought and developed to provide a facility on the north coast of Cornwall
- East Wheal Rose – a lead mine near Newquay
- Treffry Tramways
- Treffry Viaduct – combined viaduct and aqueduct for the Par Tramway
- Cornwall Railway – he was the first chairman
References
- ISBN 9780906720509.
- ^ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 Retrieved 16 Nov 2007
Further reading
- Keast, John (1982). The King of Mid-Cornwall. Redruth: Dyllansow Truran. ISBN 978-0-907566-29-8.
- Vaughan, John (1991). The Newquay Branch and its Branches. Sparkford: Haynes/Oxford Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-86093-470-7.