Hazledine and Company (or Hazeldine and Company) was an

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 ...

Bridgnorth Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right bank and the lower on the left bank of the River Severn. The population at the 2011 Census was 12,079. History B ...

, Shropshire, England. It was set up about 1792 by three brothers: John Hazledine (1760–1810), Robert Hazledine (1768–1837) and Thomas Hazledine (1771–1842). Sources differ about the partnership - ''Discover Shropshire'' claims that the partners were John Hazledine, William Hallen and John Wheeler.

The company

The company built up a good reputation for the quality of its castings but, in 1797, John Hazledine was declared bankrupt. It seems that some accommodation was made with his creditors because the company remained in business. From 1802,

Richard Trevithick Richard Trevithick (13 April 1771 – 22 April 1833) was a British inventor and mining engineer. The son of a mining captain, and born in the mining heartland of Cornwall, Trevithick was immersed in mining and engineering from an early age. He w ...

placed several orders with the company for the construction of

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

s, including the locomotive ''

Catch Me Who Can ''Catch Me Who Can'' was the fourth and last steam locomotive, steam railway locomotive created by the inventor and mining engineer Richard Trevithick. It was an evolution of three earlier locomotives which had been built for Coalbrookdale, Pe ...

'', built in 1808. In 1807, John Hazledine entered into partnership with

John Urpeth Rastrick John Urpeth Rastrick (26 January 1780 – 1 November 1856) was one of the first English steam locomotive builders. In partnership with James Foster, he formed Foster, Rastrick and Company, the locomotive construction company that built the ''S ...

, to form the company Hazeldine and Rastrick but the partnership was a troubled one. John Hazledine died in 1810 and Rastrick left the company in 1817. In 1819, Rastrick formed a partnership with James Foster to form

Foster, Rastrick and Company Foster, Rastrick and Company was one of the pioneering steam locomotive manufacturing companies of England. It was based in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, now West Midlands. James Foster, an ironmaster, and John Urpeth Rastrick, an engineer, becam ...

. In 1823 the company, now under Robert Hazledine, went bankrupt. However, it re-emerged on a smaller scale in 1824, supplying goods for the local market. In 1829–30, the creditors forced a sale and the property was sold in two tranches in 1834 and 1835. Even so, John Hazledine (Robert's son) was still in business as an ironfounder in 1840/41 but at a different address. When John died, in 1843, the Hazledine business finally came to an end.

The Hazledine family

William Hazledine (1734–1818) was a millwright at

Shawbury Shawbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire. The village is northeast of the town of Shrewsbury, northwest of Telford and northwest of London. The village straddles the A53 between Shrewsbury and Market Drayt ...

, Shropshire. He married Mary Morgan and they had four sons: John, William, Robert and Thomas. ;John John Hazledine was born in 1760. In 1774 he was apprenticed, either to his uncle or his father. In 1782 he married Ann Davies of

Eardington Eardington is a small village and civil parish in Shropshire, England. It is near the A442 road and is two kilometres south of the town of Bridgnorth, along the B4555 road. The population taken at the 2011 Census is shown under Bridgnorth. The Se ...

. He set up the ironworks, with brothers Robert and Thomas, about 1792. He died in October 1810. and has an iron tombstone. ;William

William Hazledine William Hazledine (1763 – 26 October 1840) was an English ironmaster. Establishing large foundries, he was a pioneer in casting structural ironwork, most notably for canal aqueducts and early suspension bridges. Many of these projects were c ...

was born in 1763. He became a pioneering

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 ...

and died in 1840. ;Robert Robert Hazledine was born in 1768. He married in 1794 and had a son, John (1796-1843). Robert died in 1837. ;Thomas Thomas Hazledine was born in 1771 and died in 1842.{{cite web, url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Thomas_Hazledine_(1771-1842), title=Thomas Hazledine (1771-1842) - Graces Guide, website=www.gracesguide.co.uk Little else is known about him.

References

British companies established in 1792 1843 disestablishments in England Companies based in Shropshire History of Shropshire Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom British companies disestablished in 1843 1792 establishments in England Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1843 Manufacturing companies established in 1792