Melfort Argyll Powder factory

[melody]

Hello there,
I have managed to get back to John Campbell born about 1780, married in Shoreditch London about 1818 to Eliza Hamilton Darby or Harrison (exact dates at home in my file) and died Paisley Renfrew 1838 aged 58. The burial record says he was born in Argyll. In the late 1861 census some of his now adult children are living in Kilninver and working at the powder factory. I can't find out too much about the powder factory but I was under the impression that as part of the deal in selling the company the land for the factory, that they had to give hiring preference to locals. Could that mean that they had a local connection through their father John Campbell? I know he was born around 1780 in Argyll, but no idea where. I was hoping perhaps they needed a Kilninver/Melfort connection to work there and that may be a clue. Anyone ever hear of this?

Thanks for any help,
Melody

[emanday]

Hi Melody,

There is a bit of information here...

http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index. ... erIndustry

[Currie]

Hello Melody,

I had a good look around but couldn’t find anything suggesting there was a condition of local employment put on the sale of the land. I didn’t think land owners of the time would have been that benevolent. If there was such a condition the workers certainly had a long wait from the purchase of the land in 1838 to the establishment of the Works in 1853, although they appear to have used the land as a source of charcoal in the interim.

Maybe there’s something useful in the article “The Powder Mills of Argyll” written by John Robertson, in the “Industrial Archaeology Review”, Volume 12, Number 2, Spring 1990. This one seems a bit expensive for an 11 page download but maybe there’s a cheaper way via a library or whatever.
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/m ... 2/art00007

Here’s a couple of interesting newsletters from the Gunpowder Mills Study Group and the Gunpowder & Explosives History Group that have references to the Melfort Works.

http://www.royalgunpowdermills.com/GEHG ... 4_webp.pdf

http://www.royalgunpowdermills.com/GEHG ... 7_webp.pdf

All the best,
Alan

[melody]

Thank you so much for your kind and informative replies. I will look into these!
Melody