George Sitwell (c. 1601–1667), the eldest son of George Sitwell (1569–1607) and Mary Walker, was a 17th-century landowner and

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 ...

who was born at Eckington in Derbyshire and baptized there on 15 March 1601. He built

Renishaw Hall Renishaw Hall is a country house in Renishaw, Derbyshire, Renishaw in the parish of Eckington, Derbyshire, Eckington in Derbyshire, England. It is a Grade I listed building and has been the home of the Sitwell Baronets, Sitwell family for nearly ...

in Derbyshire in 1626. His company mined, forged, and rolled iron for use in Britain and overseas. It exported a complete

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

Life

When George was six, his father died, and later he attended

Derby School Derby School was a school in Derby in the English Midlands from 1160 to 1989. It had an almost continuous history of education of over eight centuries. For most of that time it was a grammar school for boys. The school became co-educational an ...

.The Derby School Register
1570-1901'', ed. Benjamin Tacchella (London, 1902) The Sitwells were freeholders who acquired land in and around Eckington and became gentry. George Sitwell became a JP, served as

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

in 1653 and was granted arms in 1660.''The History and Gazetteer of the County of Derby'' Vol 1 (1831) Stephen Glover. Appendix p 11 Charles I. Google Books

was built for Sitwell in 1626 was the centre of his estate. Sitwell exploited the mineral wealth beneath his estate, some coal but chiefly iron ore, and built a

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

in partnership with his mother's second husband, Henry Wigfall, at Plumbley a mile north west of Eckington in the 1630s. In 1652 Sitwell built a furnace at Foxbrooke close to Renishaw, which became the core of the largest

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 ...

in Derbyshire. Sitwell made saws at Pleasley and in 1656, installed a

rolling Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact ...

and

slitting mill The slitting mill was a watermill for slitting bars of iron into rods. The rods then were passed to nailers who made the rods into nails, by giving them a point and head. The slitting mill was probably invented near Liège in what is now Belg ...

at Renishaw to supply the rod iron used by numerous local nailmakers and

scythe A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor m ...

and sickle makers. Sitwell was closely involved in the operation of his works which produced

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

and

bar iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" t ...

, castings, nails, saws and other goods for sale to tradesmen around Eckington and in London where he sent iron via the

River Idle The River Idle is a river in Nottinghamshire, England whose source is the confluence of the River Maun and River Meden near Markham Moor. The Idle flows north from its source through Retford and Bawtry before entering the River Trent at West St ...

from

Bawtry Bawtry is a market town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It lies between Doncaster, Gainsborough and Retford, on the border with Nottinghamshire and close to Lincolnshire. The town is historically part of ...

and by road. His works built a rolling mill for export to the West Indies. Sitwell regularly visited London to supervise sales of his products.George Sitwell's Letterbook 1662–66
, Derbyshire Record Society, accessed March 2010 Sitwell married Margaret Childers of Carr House, near Doncaster and was buried at Eckington on 2 August 1667. His eldest son continued his business at Renishaw and two other sons became iron merchants. In the 1690s the works were leased and though the Sitwells retained management of their collieries until the mid-18th century they accumulated wealth as landowners from the industrial enterprises on the estate. His memorial is in

St Peter and St Paul's Church, Eckington St Peter and St Paul's Church, Eckington is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England in Eckington, Derbyshire. History The church dates from the 12th century with elements from the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. The south aisle p ...

Legacy

The Sitwell family became

baronets A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

and George Sitwell's descendants,

Osbert Osbert is a male given name and a surname. It may refer to: Osbert , a novel by R.A. Currier Given name *Osbert or Osberht of Northumbria (died 867), King of Northumbria *Osbert or Osbeorn Bulax (died c. 1054), son of Siward, Earl of Northumb ...

Edith Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and vari ...

and

Sacheverell Sitwell Sir Sacheverell Reresby Sitwell, 6th Baronet, (; 15 November 1897 – 1 October 1988) was an English writer, best known as an art critic, music critic (his books on Mozart, Liszt, and Domenico Scarlatti are still consulted), and writer on a ...

were members of the

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the in ...

in the 20th century. The family still own Renishaw Hall, although it is no longer owned by the Sitwell baronet.Resresby Sitwell
Obituary, ''Daily Telegraph'', accessed March 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sitwell, George 1600s births 1667 deaths Year of birth uncertain English ironmasters People from Derbyshire High Sheriffs of Derbyshire People educated at Derby School

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...