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

 

image002

A NAVY AGENT'S BUSINESS

The earliest records mentioning Henry Cort by name are found in pension books for Navy widows at the National Archives (ADM22/75 et seq).

Widow's remittances are paid once a year, each year's remittances being recorded in a separate book (sometimes two).

Some widows delegate collection of their remittances to an attorney. One column in the book is reserved for the names of these attorneys.

In October 1757, aged 16 or 17, Cort is cited collecting widows' remittances on behalf of attorney T Bell & Co.


Paid to Henry Cort 12 October 1758 for T Bell & Company for son James Administrator.

Admiralty record of last remittance for pension of Ann Hackman, carpenter's widow.

Such records are not suspected by earlier commentators, who rely on London trade directories. They cite 1765 for the start of Cort's career as a navy agent.

You can trace Henry Cort's rise from clerk to agent through PRO half-pay records (ADM25).

Officers, and those in special posts such as surgeons, go on "half pay" (not always half of full pay) between spells of service on ship. Once retired, they are permanently on half pay.

Those on half pay receive remittances twice a year. Each half-pay book covers one six-month period.

image004You find that half-pay clients of Thomas Bell move to Thomas Batty by 1761. Full-pay (ADM33) clients are then with "Batty & Cort". Later Cort describes himself as Batty's "copartner" during this period.

Though no evidence has been found, it is probable that Cort has paid for his advancement, or someone has paid on his behalf. By 1763 he is sole proprietor of the agency.

This year marks the end of The Seven Years War, when many ships are laid off and officers put on half pay. Half-pay rolls rise rapidly to around 1200.

The number of Cort's half-pay clients rises from 19 to 91. For the next ten years of peace it remains above 70; in some it exceeds 100.

It is apparent from the Navy's pay records that he is collecting pay on behalf of ships' officers and some other ranks.

It is also apparent from chancery files that he is acting as a banker. He keeps accounts for his clients and honours their "bills of exchange" (effectively cheques).


Related pages

Navy agent's finances

Toulmin and other agents

Cort's clients

Navy office associates

Ships' pursers

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
If you use/copy information from this site, please include a link to the page where you found the information.

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