Henry Cort
Inventor - Creator of puddled iron - Father of iron trade
This page is part of a website based on the life and achievements of eighteenth-century inventor Henry Cort.
The creator and owner of the site was Eric Alexander who passed away. The site is now hosted by Hans Weebers
Please contact me with any comments or queries.
Pages
  1. Homepage
  2. Life of Henry Cort
  3. Cort's processes in iron manufacture
  4. Cort's patents
  5. Refutation of allegations of conspiracies against Cort
  6. Adam Jellicoe's death
  7. Henry Cort's birth
  8. A navy agent's business
  9. Early life of John Becher
  10. Attwick & Burges families
  11. "Cortship" of second wife
  12. Thomas Morgan
  13. Henry Cort's hoops contract
  14. 1856 Accolade
  15. Generosity of friends 1789-94
  16. James Watson
  17. Illness of Cort's son
  18. Main sources of information
  19. Contemporary sources
  20. Navy sources
  21. Chancery files
  22. Publications about Cort
  23. Assessment of Cort's character
  24. Images of Henry Cort

  25. Impeach-tranferred to 05

  26. Parliamentary inquiry 1811-2
  27. The furore of the 1850s
  28. Society of Arts
  29. Cort's first marriage
  30. Henry Cort's children
  31. Cort family pensions
  32. Henry Cort's Hertfordshire property
  33. 1791 signatories
  34. Guiana and the Cort-Gladstone connection
  35. Cort's twilight years
  36. Memorials to Henry Cort

  37. Smelting of iron
  38. Fining before Cort
  39. Shropshire & Staffordshire ironmasters
  40. Cumbrians: Wilkinson etc
  41. Early works at Merthyr Tydfil
  42. The Crowley business
  43. London ironmongers
  44. Scottish iron
  45. Cort's promotion efforts 1783-6
  46. Later Merthyr connections
  47. Puddling after Henry Cort

  48. Gosport in Cort's day
  49. Gosport administration
  50. Gosport worthies
  51. The Amherst-Porter network
  52. James Hackman, murderer
  53. Samuel Marshall
  54. Samuel Jellicoe's legacy
  55. Links with Titchfield
  56. Links with Fareham

  57. Fact, error and conjecture
  58. 18th century politics
  59. Law in the 18th century
  60. 18th century finance
  61. Religion and sexual mores
  62. Calendar change of 1752
  63. Shelburne, Parry and associates
  64. John Becher's family
  65. The Becher-Thackeray lineage
  66. Thomas Lyttelton: a fantastic narrative
  67. Eighteenth-century London
  68. Abolition and the Corts
  69. The Burges will tangle

  70. Navy connections
  71. Navy agent's business
  72. Cort's clients
  73. Ships' pursers
  74. History of Adam Jellicoe
  75. Dundas & Trotter
  76. Cort's navy office associates
  77. Toulmin & other agents
  78. Sandwich & Middleton
  79. The Arethusa
  80. John Becher's war
  81. Thomas Morgan's war
  82. The 1782 Jamaica convoy
  83. Sinking of the Royal George

  84. Rickman & Scott: two contrasting naval careers-Missing


  85. Visitors 2006-2009
  86. Developement of the site 2006-2009

    87. ****************
  87. Daniel Guion and family

    88. ****************
  88. Other publications

 

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Henry Cort:
eight years research by Eric Alexander,
this site contains the most reliable and up-to-date information on the British inventor. Please email us with any comments or queries.

Who was Henry Cort?

Cort's ironmaking processes were key to the great expansion of the industry in the early nineteenth century, thus providing an essential ingredient for the railways, bridges and machinery of the industrial revolution.

Cort's story also has a controversial element, because of allegations that his downfall resulted from a conspiracy involving Government ministers. One purpose of this website (modified September 2008 after the crucial evidence was discovered) is to dispel this myth.
Past attempts to discover more about Cort's life have been hampered by difficulties in gaining access to the evidence. This task is much easier now that many archive catalogues are computerised. It nevertheless requires information from a wide variety of sources. Winchester, Aberystwyth and Edinburgh are among places visited to get the information on this website, although a large proportion has been found at the National Archives.

Development of website

The site was launched on 29th July 2006 (150th anniversary of a Times leader describing Cort as "father of the iron trade"), and pages have been added periodically to cover a wide spectrum of background events and attitudes, as well as the essentials of the Cort story.
Details of development and visitor monitoring are covered on other pages. 		Pages of immediate interest
Life of Henry Cort
The British iron industry
Henry Cort's naval interests
Cort's base in Gosport
Historical background

Links to other sites

National sites
Newcomen Society
Institution of Civil Engineers
Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Royal Society of Arts
Institute of Materials
Association for Industrial Archaeology
Historical Metallurgy Society
Ironbridge Gorge Museum
Library houses Mott collection
British Artist Blacksmiths Association

Local sites

Fareham Borough Council
Commemorated Cort, 2000
Henry Cort Community College, Fareham
Hampshire Industrial Archaeological Society
Titchfield History Society
Gosport - local information
Broseley Local History Society
Information on Shropshire ironmasters
Industrial figures, Sheffield area

WebArchive

The pages on this site are copied from the original site of Eric Alexander (henrycort.net) with his allowance.
Eric passed away abt 2012
If you use/copy information from this site, please include a link to the page where you found the information.

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