George Pearce Baldwin (17 May 1789 – 1 October 1840) came from

Broseley Broseley is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first The Iron Bridge, iron bridge in the world was built in 17 ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

and moved to

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

at the start of the 19th Century, becoming an

iron founder An iron founder (also iron-founder or ironfounder) in its more general sense is a worker in molten ferrous metal, generally working within an iron foundry. However, the term 'iron founder' is usually reserved for the owner or manager of an iron foun ...

Stourport-on-Severn Stourport-on-Severn, often shortened to Stourport, is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District of North Worcestershire, England, a few miles to the south of Kidderminster and downstream on the River Severn from Bewdley. At the 2011 ce ...

. He was the son of Thomas Baldwin and Mary Gough. He had 12 children, the youngest of whom,

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 (Interlu ...

, father of the future prime minister

Stanley Baldwin Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, (3 August 186714 December 1947) was a British Conservative Party politician who dominated the government of the United Kingdom between the world wars, serving as prime minister on three occasions, ...

, was born in 1841, the year after George died. He was married to Anne Hill on 16 April 1812; together they had two children: *Pearce Baldwin (born 20 July 1813; died 6 April 1861) *William Hill Baldwin (born 8 March 1817, died 11 May 1863). He then married Sarah Chalkley Stanley, daughter of Reverend Jacob Stanley, on 4 October 1822. His children by his second wife were: *George Baldwin (8 April 1824 – 17 October 1824), died in infancy *George Baldwin (16 March 1826 – 5 March 1881) *Stanley Baldwin (4 February 1828 – 21 September 1907) *Sarah Anne Baldwin (19 April 1830 – 15 December 1919) *Edward Baldwin (26 May 1832 – 26 April 1848) *Mary Jane Baldwin (16 January 1834 – 18 January 1908) *Lucilla Baldwin (16 March 1836 – November 1916) *Eliza Baldwin (2 September 1837 – July 1914) *

Alfred Baldwin Alfred Baldwin may refer to: * Alfred Baldwin (politician) (1841–1908), English businessman and Conservative MP, father of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin * Alfred C. Baldwin III (1936–2020), "shadow man" in the 1972 Watergate break-in *Alfr ...

(4 June 1841 – 13 February 1908), father of Prime Minister

After George Pearce Baldwin's death, his sons Pearce and William took over the

Wilden Ironworks {{Use dmy dates, date=April 2022 The Wilden Ironworks was an ironworks in Wilden, Worcestershire, England. It operated for many years and was acquired by the Baldwin family, ancestors of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. Wilden Mill Wilde ...

in 1849 with their uncle, Enoch Baldwin. This

ironworks An ironworks or iron works is an industrial plant where iron is smelted and where heavy iron and steel products are made. The term is both singular and plural, i.e. the singular of ''ironworks'' is ''ironworks''. Ironworks succeeded bloomeri ...

incorporated Wilden

Forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

(which had been built in 1647 by

Thomas Foley (1616-1677) Thomas Foley (1617–1677) was an English ironmaster and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1659 and 1677. Life Foley was the eldest son of Richard Foley and his second wife Alice Brindley, herself the daugh ...

. It had usually been operated by (or for) members of the Foley family until 1776, and after that by various tenants (see

for details). The Wilden Works were taken over in 1870 by the youngest half-brother of Pearce and William, Alfred. It became the basis for the subsequent fortune of the Baldwin family.

External links

History of Wilden Industrial Estates

The Baldwin Family and Wilden
Foundrymen British ironmasters 1789 births 1840 deaths People from Broseley People from Stourport-on-Severn 19th-century British businesspeople {{UK-business-bio-stub

See also

External links