Henry Cort

		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.

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ADAM JELLICOE'S DEATH

Ever since I have had Public Money in my hands, it has been a constant rule with me to have the value of it in Navy Bills, &c. &c. in the Iron Chest, that in the case of my death, the Balance might be immediately paid in; I have never failed in observing this method, and have always had much more than my Balance by me, till my engagements, about two years ago, with Mr. Cort, which, by degrees has so drained me, and employed so much more of my Money than I expected, that I have been obliged to turn most of my Navy Bills, &c. into Cash, and, at this time, to my great concern, am very deficient in my Balance. This gives me great uneasiness, nor shall I live or die in peace till the whole is restored.

From memorandum of Adam Jellicoe, November 1782; discovered in his strong box after his death.

This document resurfaces in 1804, as an appendix to the Report of a Commission of Naval Enquiry. File TS11/386 at the National Archives includes this report, together with other material covering the run-up to the impeachment of Lord Melville in 1806. A significant proportion of this material relates to the Jellicoe episode, although this episode does not feature in the subsequent trial.

Much has been made of a quotation from Henry Dundas (Viscount Melville) that Jellicoe's "Health, and at last his Life, fell a Sacrifice to the Anxiety and mental Suffering which his unsuccessful Endeavours occasioned." It has been cited as evidence for suicide by Jellicoe, but there are other interpretations.

The cause of his anxiety is easy enough to fathom, particularly if (as both later testify) neither Cort nor his partner, Adam's son Samuel, knows of the misappropriation. But Adam's bosses at the Navy Office have found out by July 1788. According to evidence to the Select Committee in 1805, Paymaster Alexander Trotter quizzes Jellicoe a year or two before his death in August 1789, Treasurer Henry Dundas then being in Scotland. Jellicoe, being "a man of the most upright character", admits his fault. If this is so, the following exchange of letters merely puts matters on a formal footing.

I observe by the monthly accounts that the balance in your hands has remained considerably greater than it used to be formerly. It does not occur to me that there is any circumstance in the order of the Business of the Office to render the change necessary. I would therefore wish an explanation of it, and if it is not necessary, I must suggest to you the necessity of reducing it.

Letter from Navy Treasurer Henry Dundas to Adam Jellicoe, 10 July 1788

I shall take the earliest opportunity of paying in all my Balance, for which there appears to be no immediate demand; but in case you think a security necessary for the responsibility of the Situation which I have the honour to hold under you, I beg leave to offer the inclosed, amounting to a larger sum than I can at any time hope to have in my hands unemployed.

Adam Jellicoe's reply, 10 July 1788.

Apparently Dundas does not accept "the inclosed" (assignments of Cort's patents). Nevertheless he and Trotter agree to give Jellicoe time.

We were both decidedly of opinion, that it would prove most to the advantage of the Public that no severe steps should immediately be taken in order to secure the debt, as we had the greatest confidence in his assurances, that the business in which he was engaged would soon enable him to extricate himself from his difficulties.

Evidence of Alexander Trotter to Select Committee, May 1805.

However, the profits Jellicoe expects to make do not materialise. Plenty of reason for anxiety. His masters at the Navy Office may be getting anxious too, particularly if they find his health is deteriorating.

So what happens in August 1789?

Immediately upon my Father's death, an Extent was issued against his Estate, and his Books and Papers were taken possession of by the Treasurer or Paymaster of the Navy. An Extent was also issued against the Firm of Henry Cort and Samuel Jellicoe, to recover the Debt due from the Partnership to my Father. Upon my being put solely into the possession of the Trade and Effects, I engaged to pay all the Debts of the Firm, which I have done.

From evidence of Samuel Jellicoe to Commission of Naval Enquiry, 10 November 1804.

Now We, being willing to be satisfied the said sum of £36,500 so due to Us with all the speed we can as is just, do command you that you omit not entering any Liberty, & take the said Adam Jellicoe by his body wherever he shall be found in your Bailiwick, & keep him safely & securely in prison, till we shall be fully satisfid the said Debt.

From extent against Adam Jellicoe, 29 August 1789.

To judge from Samuel's statement, the Extent is issued after Adam's death. But other people's recollections suggest otherwise.

Joseph White is the solicitor charged with recovering the debt. He tells the Select Committee he was engaged by Alexander Trotter "on or about the 28th August 1789". This tallies with the issue of the Extent on the 29th.

Alexander Trotter, meanwhile, has told the Commission he thought Adam Jellicoe died on the 30th August, which tallies with the Navy's record for Adam's employment.

So the Extent has been issued before Adam's death, and Samuel is wrong about the timing (no surprise after such a time lapse). And the date of Adam's funeral (6th September) seems to tally with a death on the 30th August. Furthermore, we can assume that the Sheriff of Middlesex receives the Extent shortly after its issue on the 29th: doubtless too late to carry out an arrest the same day. And the next day is a Sunday.

Had it been a Sunday, he could not, by law, have been taken - a situation that gave rise to the phrase 'a Sunday man', meaning someone who could only ever go out and about on a Sunday, for fear of arrest at any other time.

From Simon Winchester's account of William Smith's arrest in The Map That Changed The World.

No arrest, then, on a Sunday. And Monday is too late, because Adam is already dead.

And no wonder there is a rumour of suicide, if he has heard of the Extent against him, which is yet to be acted on!

But there is an alternative scenario.

The Commission also reports: "Mr Jellicoe continued to perform the duties of his office until the 15th of August 1789", while some 70 years later Samuel Smiles quotes newspapers as saying that Adam's death follows a short illness.

Presumably the illness has kept him off work for two weeks before his death. Maybe his employers, aware of the stress he is under, and worried that he may not recover, prepare to take action to ensure his death doesn't complicate the job of recovering the money.

So is the action taken while he is still alive, perhaps helping to precipitate his demise?

Or may they, as his son's evidence suggests, have taken action immediately after his death, then falsified the record?

Joseph White certainly doesn't hesitate to press on to the next stage: initiating extents on 31st August and 1st September to recover the money from the Cort & Jellicoe partnership (£9,000), and from Cort personally (£27,500).

I did not conceive that there was any of Mr Jellicoe's property that could be recovered

Evidence of Joseph White to Select Committee, May 1805.

It is worth noting that, while the solicitor acting to recover the Navy's money is Joseph White, the accountant appointed "to settle Mr Jellicoe's affairs" is George Black.

In due course, Cort applies for bankruptcy and leaves the partnership. With the help of his father's lawyers, Ambrose and James Weston, Adam's son Samuel manages to raise £9,000, and keeps control of the business: an outcome that confuses many subsequent commentators.

Related pages

Career of Adam Jellicoe

Dundas and Trotter

Refutation of allegations of conspiracies against Cort

Navy office personnel

Subsequent career of Samuel Jellicoe

Life of Henry Cort

The pages on this site are copied from the original site of Eric Alexander (henrycort.net) with his allowance.
Eric passed away abt 2012
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