The Société de Commentry, Fourchambault et Decazeville was an integrated coal, iron and steel company in France.
Background
In 1817 Jean-Georges Dufaud Père, director of the Grossouvre foundry in
Cher
Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female ...
, visited Wales on a commercial visit and noted the iron-making technology in use there.
That year the Trezi foundry at Grossouvre was adapted to manufacturing iron using Welsh techniques, and delivered the first products in 1818.
In 1819 the leases of the Grossouvre site and factories were ceded to Boigues & Fils, iron merchant in Paris, and M. Labbé.
They decided to find a new site on the Loire to which it would be easier to transport coal, and decided on Fourchambault in Nièvre.
A dock was built for cargo boats, and the Loire provided water for the steam engines.
Construction of the factory at Fourchambault began in 1821.
The Charbonnières Raveaux and Cramain furnaces became annexes to the new building, and Boigues & Fils collected several furnaces from Nivernais and Berry.
Manufacturing began in 1822.
Almost 3,000 workers from the surrounding countryside were employed in the cast iron foundry.
In the crisis year of 1848
Charles de Wendel
Charles de Wendel (13 December 1809 – 15 April 1870) was a French steel manufacturer in Lorraine and a deputy in the French legislative assembly.
Origins
The de Wendel family can be traced back to Jean Wendel of Bruges, who married Marie de Wan ...
The Société de Commentry, Fourchambault et Decazeville was formed in 1853 through a merger of the Fourchambault foundry,
Imphy
Imphy () is a commune in the Nièvre department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France.
Industrial history
Imphy is known in particular for its steel-works, renowned for their special steels which were useful in particular for the north foot of the ...
(Nièvre) steelworks,
Montluçon
Montluçon (; oc, Montleçon ) is a commune in central France on the river Cher. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's prefecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known as ...
(Allier) foundry and Commentry (Allier) colliery.
The Imphy steelworks was detached from the company and combined with the Saint-Seurin steelworks.
They were adapted to use the Bessemer process.
In 1869 the two steelworks were reunited with the company.
Henri Fayol (1841–1925) was a mining engineer who graduated in 1860.
Henri Fayol was engineer at the Commentry coal mines from 1860 to 1866 and director of these mines from 1866 to 1872.
He was director of the Commentry, Montvicq and Berry mines from 1872 to 1888.
In the Commentry municipal elections of 21 January 1881
Christophe Thivrier
Christophe Thivrier (16 May 1841 – 8 August 1895) was a French politician of working class origins who was the first Socialist mayor in France, and deputy of Allier from 1889 to 1895.
At this time the industrialists of France were using dismiss ...
was elected to the council with the entire list of workers and socialists.
It was the first town hall in France to be captured by the workers party and the socialists.
Thivrier defeated
Stéphane Mony
Stéphane Christophe Mony (or Stéphane Flachat, or Mony-Flachat, 14 February 1800 – 10 March 1884) was a French railway engineer, company president and politician.
He was involved in the Saint-Simonian movement when a young man.
He was trained ...
, the director of the Commentry, Fourchambault, and a former mayor and deputy.
A list was prepared of everyone who had spread socialist propaganda during the elections, including 135 miners.
On 4 June 1881 they were all dismissed, and the workers went on strike.
Another 300 were added to the list of "agitators" during the strike, and had to pass interviews to get their jobs back after the strike.
60 failed these interviews, and 67 were told they needed certificates of good conduct from their new employers before they could work again at the mines.
Miners who had been elected to the local council could not find work and had to leave the district.
In 1888 Henri Fayol became director-general of the company, holding office until 1918.
In 1890 another strike broke out in Commentry due to the dismissal of 300 miners chosen from the most active socialists.
Thivrier, now a deputy, spoke out against the interventions and provocations of the army and gendarmerie in support of the mining company.
In 1891 the company acquired the Brassac (Puy-de-Dôme) iron ore mines and in 1892 absorbed the Société des forges et fonderies de l'Aveyron.
The Aveyron works, founded in 1826 and reorganized in 1868, was one of the first large integrated metallurgical factories in the country.
In 1900 Fayol became a member of the
Central Committee of Coalowners of France
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...
, member of the board of the
Comité des forges
The Comité des forges (Foundry Committee) was an organization of leaders of the French iron and steel industry from 1864 to 1940, when it was dissolved by the Vichy government.
It typically took a protectionist attitude on trade issues, and was o ...
and administrator of the Société de Commentry Fourchambault et Decazeville.
20th century
In 1900 the Société de Commentry, Fourchambault et Decazeville included the Commentry, Montvicq, Brassac and
Decazeville
Decazeville ( oc, La Sala) is a commune in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie region in southern France.
The commune was created in the 19th century because of the Industrial Revolution and was named after the Duke of Decazes (1780–186 ...
(Aveyron) collieries, and the blast furnaces, foundries, forges and steelworks of Fourchambault, Imphy, Montluçon and Decazeville.
The company extracted iron ore from the Berry mines and from its concessions in Aveyron.
Various smaller establishments were absorbed between 1900 and 1950.
In 1900 the company began to exploit the Joudreville concession.
In 1910 the company bought the Mines de Campagnac.
The factories of
Mazières
Mazières () is a former commune in the Charente department in southwestern France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the new commune Terres-de-Haute-Charente.Pamiers (Ariège) were acquired in 1930.
In 1931 the company bought the Société Métallurgique de l'Ariège and the Société des Mines de Manganèse de Las Cabessas.
In 1942 the company bought the Charbonnages du Centre.
In 1954 the company was renamed the Société métallurgique d'Imphy.
In 1968 it was merged with the Société des forges et aciéries du Creusot, which in 1971 became
Creusot-Loire
Creusot-Loire was a French engineering conglomerate, formed from factories in Le Creusot and Châteauneuf, Loire. The Creusot-Loire subsidiary of ArcelorMittal also includes an Innovation, Research and Development centre for the group.
History
The ...
.
The combined company was in turn absorbed by Creusot-Loire (Saône-et-Loire) in 1971.
The Creusot-Loire group was liquidated in December 1984.