Abraham Darby IV (30 March 1804 – 28 November 1878) was an English

ironmaster An ironmaster is the manager, and usually owner, of a forge or blast furnace for the processing of iron. It is a term mainly associated with the period of the Industrial Revolution, especially in Great Britain. The ironmaster was usually a large ...

. He was born in Dale House,

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge. This is where iron ore was first ...

, Shropshire the son of Edmund Darby, a member of the Darby ironmaking family and Lucy (née Burlingham) Darby. He was a great-nephew of

Abraham Darby III Abraham Darby III (24 April 1750 – 1789) was an English ironmaster and Quaker. He was the third man of that name in several generations of an English Quaker family that played a pivotal role in the Industrial Revolution. Life Abraham Darby ...

. In 1830, he and his brother

Alfred Alfred may refer to: Arts and entertainment *'' Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series * ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne * ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák *"Alfred (Interl ...

took over the management of the

Horsehay Horsehay is a suburban village on the western outskirts of Dawley, which, along with several other towns and villages, now forms part of the new town of Telford in Shropshire, England. Horsehay lies in the Dawley Hamlets parish, and on the no ...

foundry, one of several foundries owned by the family business, and set about re-establishing the Coalbrookdale Company's reputation by investing in new technology there for the manufacture of wrought iron. In 1844, he became a major shareholder in the

Ebbw Vale Ebbw Vale (; cy, Glynebwy) is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River in Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough. The Ebbw Vale and Brynmawr c ...

ironworks in

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. After a series of family disagreements, he resigned his management of the Coalbrookdale Company in 1849, and, in 1851, bought Stoke Court,

Stoke Poges Stoke Poges () is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is centred north-north-east of Slough, its post town, and southeast of Farnham Common. Etymology In the name Stoke Poges, ''stoke'' means " stockaded (pl ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

, and moved to live there. He also rented property at

Treberfydd Treberfydd House is a Gothic Revival house, built in 1847–50 just south of Llangorse Lake in the Brecon Beacons National Park in South Wales, to the designs of architect John Loughborough Pearson. It remains a private home to the Raikes family ...

in Breconshire, Wales. He acted as a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or '' puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the s ...

in both counties, and, in 1853, was appointed

High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire The High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire, in common with other counties, was originally the King's representative on taxation upholding the law in Saxon times. The word Sheriff evolved from 'shire-reeve'. Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the ...

. He also became a member of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

."Memoirs of members deceased in 1878" in ''Proceedings - Institution of Mechanical Engineers'' (1879), p. 9 Although born into a notable

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belief in each human's abili ...

family, Darby joined the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

and paid for the building of Holy Trinity church in Coalbrookdale between 1850 and 1854. In 1851 a new ecclesiastical parish was formed out of Ironbridge and

Little Dawley Dawley Hamlets is a civil parish in Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. The parish covers Horsehay, Doseley, Little Dawley (also traditionally known as Dawley Parva) and Aqueduct. The name Dawley comes from Old English meaning ''woodland ...

, and Darby became

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of the new

benefice A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

, with the right to nominate the parish priest."Madeley: Churches", in ''A History of the County of Shropshire: Volume 11, Telford'' (

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...

, 1985), pp. 59-66 In 1839 he married his cousin Matilda Frances, a daughter of Francis Darby. He died at Treberfydd on 28 November 1878, aged 74, and was buried at the church he had had built in Coalbrookdale. After his death, his widow became patron of the church benefice and lived until 1902. After that, the patronage remained with the owners of the Sunniside estate until 1959, when it was transferred to the

Bishop of Hereford The Bishop of Hereford is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford in the Province of Canterbury. The episcopal see is centred in the Hereford, City of Hereford where the bishop's seat (''cathedra'') is in the Hereford Cathedr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Darby, Abraham, 04 1804 births 1878 deaths People from Coalbrookdale People of the Industrial Revolution English ironmasters English Quakers High Sheriffs of Buckinghamshire 19th-century English businesspeople