Henry Grissell (4 July 1817 – 31 January 1883), sometimes known as "Iron Henry", was an English

foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...

-man who was responsible for the ironwork in a number of prestigious buildings in England, Russia, Austria, and Egypt.

Early life and education

Henry Grissell was born in London to Thomas de la Garde Grissell, who worked with the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. He started work with John Joseph Bramah, of the

Bramah Bramah is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Ernest Bramah (1868–1942), English author * John Joseph Bramah (1798–1846), English ironmaster and engineer * Joseph Bramah (1748–1814), English ironmaster and inventor, uncle ...

company, known for his intricate castings and metal work.

Career

Grissell started his own business in partnership with his brother, Martin De La Garde Grissell, at the Regent's Canal Ironworks, Eagle Wharf Road, as ironfounders and contractors in about 1841. Martin left the partnership in 1858. They worked with the major engineers of the time, including

Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father ...

, Bidder, Walker & Burges, and Sir

William Cubitt Sir William Cubitt FRS (bapt. 9 October 1785 – 13 October 1861) was an eminent English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type o ...

. The company made the ironwork for some major bridges, including at the river Nene, Sutton, Lincolnshire, Great Yarmouth, and the

Nile The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...

in Egypt, as well as works in Portsmouth and Devonport dockyards. Overseas jobs included waterworks at

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, and various lighthouses. They also made ironwork for

Covent Garden Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

, for some of the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

and the new museum at

South Kensington South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...

. He also made the gates for Sir William Tite's Royal Exchange, the gates and railings round Buckingham Palace and at the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. He cast all the Type 2 Coal Tax posts – about 200 of them. Another brother,

Thomas Grissell Thomas Grissell (4 October 1801 – 26 May 1874) was an English public works contractor who was responsible for constructing a number of prestigious buildings in England. Early life and education Thomas Grissell was born in Stockwell, South Lo ...

, was a major public works contractor, with cousin Henry Peto. After the banking crisis of 1866, Henry closed the foundry and developed his interests in Scandinavian timber. He died in 1883 at his home in

Montagu Square Montagu Square is a garden square in Marylebone, London. It is centred 550 metres north of Marble Arch and 440 m east of Edgware Road. Internally it spans by and is oriented on an axis of about NNW, an axis lasting for four block ...

and was interred at

West Norwood Cemetery West Norwood Cemetery is a rural cemetery in West Norwood in London, England. It was also known as the South Metropolitan Cemetery. One of the first private landscaped cemeteries in London, it is one of the " Magnificent Seven" cemeteries of ...

in an elaborate Gothic tomb made of iron, constructed initially for his father.

References

Sources

Institute of Civil Engineers. Minutes of the Proceedings, Volume 73, Issue 1883
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grissell, Henry 1817 births 1883 deaths English civil engineering contractors Burials at West Norwood Cemetery Businesspeople from London 19th-century English businesspeople