| Description | Sheets of accounts relating to Minera Mine, Denbighshire, from 1794 to 1799. Late in 1796, Robert Burton was replaced as agent of the Minera lead mines by one William Jones. While Jones was agent the concern began to show a loss. A dispute began among the proprietors, with Burton and his supporters beginning a Chancery action against the John and William Wilkinson, Thomas Jones and others, alleging that they had tried to ruin the mine. William Wilkinson, although a defendant against Burton’s action, had doubts about his brother’s conduct which he frequently confided to Boulton & Watt. Boulton & Watt were interested parties because of the premiums on the two engines that had been erected on the mines, and they had close links with the Wilkinsons. In February 1797 Chancery ordered that Boulton & Watt should appoint a new mine agent, and yhey chose one John Jones of Coedŷglyn. The two sides continued to argue over various issues, including who had the right to remove ore from the site, and John Jones’ refusal to restart the engines in Spring 1798. William Wilkinson was now concerned about his brother’s undue influence over John Jones, and the conduct of the underground agent, William Jones (not the same man who had been mine agent) was also called into question. The mine was thus virtually at a standstill. William Wilkinson again asked Boulton & Watt for their intervention, claiming that John Jones would only act on his brother’s orders, and repeating his assertion that his brother was trying to ruin the mine.
In May 1799 James Watt Jr. and James Lawson made a report on the mine and reviewed the accounts, making various recommendations including restarting the engines and appointing a skilled underground agent. At a meeting on 1 July 1799, John Jones resigned and William Wilkinson supported Burton’s move to become mine agent again. John Wilkinson, Thomas Jones and their supporters protested at this. Boulton & Watt were by now urging that the mine be stopped completely while differences were settled, while John Wilkinson was risking being found in contempt of the Chancery Court, as he had not yet produced the mine’s books, despite an order to do so. Subsequent events are unclear, as documents between July 1799 and January 1801 are wanting, but the mine passed to the control of William Wilkinson and Robert Burton.
The items in this bundle are accounts of the expenses of working the mine, such as wages, stores, administrative costs, costs of the mine’s Boulton & Watt engines etc. James Watt Jr. had these drawn up retrospectively when he looked into the mine’s finances during May 1799. Most are quarterly accounts titled “Expense of carrying on the Works at Maesyfynnon Wen &c.” and have been docketed as “Methodised Statement of Minera Account.”
For papers relating to this dispute, see the next bundle, 3/514, which includes a copy of Watt Jr.’s report. Also many of William Wilkinson’s letters from 1794 to 1799 (3/537) cover this dispute. For papers relating to an earlier dispute over the engine premiums, see 3/512, and for later correspondence, see 3/515. For drawings of the engines, see Portfolio 5/552. See also 3/415/83 for a letter from Thomas Lovett declining the manager’s post, and see also 3/413/33 and 34 for a transcript of Matthew Boulton and James Watt’s letter appointing John Jones as manager on 1 March 1797 and a letter from Jones about a new boiler, 11 May 1797. |