John Warren (c. 1837 – 31 October 1910), frequently styled "Captain Warren" or "Captain Jack" after the traditional (esp. Cornish) mining practice, was a mining engineer and mine manager in Australia.

History

Warren was born in

Newton Abbot Newton Abbot is a market town and civil parish on the River Teign in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England. Its 2011 population of 24,029 was estimated to reach 26,655 in 2019. It grew rapidly in the Victorian era as the home of the Sou ...

, England, note: Newton Abbot misspelled and mislocated into Cornwall. and from age thirteen was working in the mining business. He had experience in the

east county East County is a region of San Diego County, California, east of San Diego. Geography East County does not have an official geographic definition, although East County boundaries are unofficially drawn by the County of San Diego for its second ...

mines including

Dolcoath Dolcoath mine ( kw, Bal Dorkoth) was a copper and tin mine in Camborne, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Its name derives from the Cornish for 'Old Ground', and it was also affectionately known as ''The Queen of Cornish Mines''. The site is n ...

and

Tavistock Tavistock ( ) is an ancient stannary and market town within West Devon, England. It is situated on the River Tavy from which its name derives. At the 2011 census the three electoral wards (North, South and South West) had a population of 13,028 ...

and later in America. note: Newton Abbot misspelled and mislocated into Cornwall. He was in

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

by October 1864, when in response to a newspaper advertisement, he succeeded George Vercoe as manager of the Karkarilla mine, Tipara, one of the complex of copper mines at Moonta. The Karkarilla mine became uneconomic and was taken over by another company in 1867 and renamed Hamley, and Warren, while being retained, was also made responsible for the nearby Paramatta mine, and 1869 the Wheal James mine. He resigned from the Paramatta company on 25 November 1876, and for two and a half years was in charge of the

Balade Balade, also written Balaide, is a village located in the north of New Caledonia. It was the site of the establishment of a Catholic mission in 1843. A church still exists in the village. According to New Caledonia Tourism, the bay of Balade is t ...

mine,

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. He returned to South Australia, where he served as manager of the short-lived Bird-in-Hand gold mine near Woodside. That was followed by the Block 10 mine at

Broken Hill Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...

, which he managed for over ten years. He assisted T. J. Greenway in tackling the "sulphide problem". A strike called by the Amalgamated Miners' Association and other unions in Broken Hill was held ?? – November 1892 after the Mineowners' Association cancelled stope workers' contracts and imposed a contract payment system. Warren held fast against the unions by taking on new workers, mostly from Moonta, and still meeting their production targets. In June 1901 Warren resigned from Block 10 after a dispute with assistant manager L. W. Grayson, who also resigned and set up in business as a consulting engineer. A petition signed by most employees of the mine urged Warren to reconsider. He must have relented, as he was reappointed to his old position in July. In 1902 he was both elected president of the

Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers The Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM) provides services to professionals engaged in all facets of the global minerals sector and is based in Carlton, Victoria, Australia. History The Institute had its genesis in 1893 with ...

and appointed

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 sa ...

. In April he again resigned, after he had been obliged to effect a number of economies, including the termination of many jobs. His replacement was V. F. Stanley-Low. He was for a short time in 1903 manager of the Cobar-Chesney mine, and the Broken Hill Junction Mining Company for about a year 1904–05.

Inventions

*Around 1874 Warren and Fred May, chief engineer at Moonta Mines, invented an improved jigging machine (separates heavy crushed ore from the light stuff, using water and a shaking action), which was proven at the Hamley mine and the Lady Alice near Gawler. A copy of the machine, made by

James Martin & Co James Martin & Co was an Australian engineering company which progressed from making agricultural equipment to making railway locomotives. History James Martin & Co. was founded in Gawler, South Australia in around 1848 by James Martin as a ...

. of

Gawler Gawler is the oldest country town on the Australian mainland in the state of South Australia. It was named after the second Governor (British Vice-Regal representative) of the colony of South Australia, George Gawler. It is about north of the ...

, was sent to the Balade mine,

, in 1875. Others to develop jigging machines were Cowlng, Hancock, Petherick. *He invented a vanner or vanning table, of which the Wilfley table is an example *He patented improvements to the magnetic ore separator.

Other interests

*While in Broken Hill, Warren was founder and president of the local

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. *Also while in Broken Hill, he was active in the Horticultural Society.

Recognition

*The Warren vanner, which he developed, was named for him. *In 1893 he was presented by the mine's grateful management with a model of the Block 10 surface workings, crafted in silver by

J. M. Wendt Joachim Matthias "J. M." Wendt (26 June 1830 – 7 September 1917) was a silversmith and manufacturing jeweller in the early days of South Australia. Life and career Wendt was born in Itzehoe, a small town in Holstein, then a Danish province, son ...

Family

Warren had a daughter born 4 December 1866 It is likely both mother and daughter were named Mary Ann or Mary Anne, and one died 1866 and the other 1867. He married again, to Marian Mortimore (c. 1838 – 12 November 1903), date and place not yet found. They had a daughter: *Marian Warren (c. 1873 – 14 July 1923) married Frederick Thomas Collins (c. 1878 – 10 September 1937) in 1906. They had a daughter on 14 May 1906, another on 26 November 1910. John Warren was living at their place, 6 Mackinnon Parade, North Adelaide, when he died; earlier he had a home on Prospect Road, Prospect. Collins married again on 23 November 1925 to Dora Baker. John Warren died in

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. History Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...

on 31 October 1910.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warren, John 1830s births 1910 deaths Colony of South Australia people Australian mine managers Australian mining engineers 19th-century Australian inventors