Iron Men

On this blog, you get to read my genealogical research, mostly in the order in which I have uncovered it. An advantage of this is a certain freshness, even some suspense. But this comes with the cost of being hard to follow. Soon I hope to post some pages that list the various family names and where they fit into my genealogy, maybe even links to the various blog posts. In the meantime, I continue with the Young siblings, starting with the business of my 3xgreat grandfather James Denoon Young. I can also report Charles Denoon and William Denoon Young as his brothers. They were all ironworkers, all inventors, and all experienced bankruptcies.

In the various documents bearing his occupation, James Denoon Young is described as Gentleman, Engineer, Civil Engineer, Ironmonger (1841 Scotland Census), Iron Founder and Engineer (1851 England Census), Wireworker and Comm[ercial?] Agent (1861 Scotland Census). In 1861, the rest of his family are in England with their mother/step-mother Charlotte, and this Scottish census seems to be the most likely record for him; the name recorded here is for James D Young, age 48, staying at a lodging house. It gives his place of birth as Portobello, Midlothian, a suburb of Edinburgh.

All these occupational descriptions conceal a genius for invention. The London Gazette records the following patents for James Denoon Young:
     24 October 1853 patent no. 2450
          Improvements in casting
     7 November 1864 patent no. 2747
          Construction of rolled iron railway bars or metals, girders, beams,
          joists and angle irons.
Of the latter, Abebooks.co.uk has an original unbound copy for 100 pound sterling.

For all this, his business life appears to have been precarious. There are two sets of bankruptcy records in the London and Edinburgh Gazettes for James Denoon Young. Each of them was resolved relatively quickly. The first occurred before his marriage to Charlotte Taylor, while he was still living in Scotland. The Edinburgh Gazette records that "The Estates of James Denoon Young, Manufacturing Ironmonger in Glasgow, were sequestrated on the 9th August 1849." However, by 5 November 1849, we hear of a meeting to be held the 27th of that month "for the purpose of deciding upon an offer of composition made by the bankrupt." I found no further announcements concerning this episode, so it appears that the creditors accepted his offer.

At some unknown time until 23 March 1861, James Denoon Young was in business with Edward Way, under the name "James D Young, Son, and Co., as Engineers and Buyers and Sellers of Engineering Works, Machinery, Iron, and Wire Manufacturers, and Wrought and Cast Iron in Bars, Pigs, and Castings, and other things of like nature, at No. 2, Upper Charles-street, Westminster..." On this date, The London Gazette records the dissolution of their co-partnery, the books going with Edward Way. It is immediately after this, that we see James D Young in Edinburgh for the 1861 Scotland Census, described as Wireworker and Comm Agent.

The second set of bankruptcy records for James Denoon Young appears in the London Gazette in 1863.
     "James Denoon Young, of No. 3, Rolls-terrace, Chelsea, in the county of
     Middlesex, Contractor, having been adjudged bankrupt under a Petition for
     adjudication of Bankruptcy, filed in Her Majesty's Court of Bankruptcy, in
     London, on the 19th of October 1863, is hereby required to surrender
     himself..."

This occasion was even more brief, since "An Order of Discharge was granted by the Court of Bankruptcy, London, on the 2nd day of December, 1863." Alas, not all bankrupts fared so well.

He died 19 April 1868, aged 55. The National Probate Calendar records that he died with effects less than 1500 pounds sterling. Even so, his widow, with no income and five children, felt compelled to petition Christ's Hospital School for her son's education.

When I first found records naming William and Charles Denoon Young, I suspected that both were brothers of James Denoon Young. And now, I believe I can link William Denoon Young as son of the Revd. James Young. For the latter, we so far had only the 1841 Scotland Census return, where we find him staying with his daughter Catherine Ponsonby. In looking for evidence that William Young was also his son, I found this 1851 Scotland Census for 22 Rutland Square, Edinburgh:
     William D Young     Head         35  Manufacturer of Ironwork    
                                                                                             Edinburgh, Midlothian
     James Young          Father        62  Retired Minister of the Free Church
                                                                                             Falkirk, Stirlingshire
     William D M Young Son              4  Scholar at Home    Edinburgh, Midlothian
     Mary Ann Murray    Governess 14 Governess               St Cyrus, Kincardine
     Isabella Scotland     Servant     34 House Servant         Dollar, Clackmannanshire

The Church of Scotland suffered a major schism in 1843, called the Great Disruption, in which nearly 400 ministers of the Established Church of Scotland (out of about 1200) walked out of the General Assembly in protest of what they saw as establishment interference in the affairs of the Church. They met at a separate site in Edinburgh to set about building the Free Church of Scotland. And this return tells us on which side of the schism the Revd. James Young was to be found. A monumental painting of the signing of the Act of Separation and Deed of Demission was completed by David Octavius Hill in 1867, based on photographs taken of the separating ministers. I wonder whether Revd. James Young is depicted here, and whether his photographic portrait has survived.

For a link between William and Charles Denoon Young, I have the 1841 Scotland Census return for 38 Rankeillor Street, Edinburgh. William is 25, described as Ironmonger J[?], born in Edinburgh. Charles D is 20, described as Wire Merchant, born in Scotland (not Midlothian). In addition, the Edinburgh Gazette records the Dissolution of Co-Partnery of "William & Charles Young, or W.& C. Young, Manufacturing Ironmongers, High Street, Edinburgh, and St. Enoch Square, Glasgow." Charles Denoon Young was to receive the books.

Another family and business link I found in both the London and Edinburgh Gazettes is between William D. Young and Robert Peddie who dissolved their "Co-Partnery" known as "William Denoon Young & Company, and thereafter... Young, Peddie & Company... Manufacturers of Iron and Wire Work in Edinburgh and Glasgow." Peddie would be Young's brother-in-law, marrying his sister Maria.

Out of this dissolving partnership, William Denoon Young took over the accounts, and the premises at "No. 77, George Street, Edinburgh, and 24, West Nile Street, Glasgow [to] carry on business in all the branches of Iron and Wire Fences, and other Iron and Wire Work... under the name of W.D. Young and Company." Peddie would be in the same business, but at No. 132, George Street, Edinburgh, "in his own name and for his own behoof."

The London Gazette 20 November 1858 records patent 3288 to William Denoon Young, for "improvements in making tiles or plates of iron, zinc, or other metal sheets to be used for roofing, and for iron houses and other structures."

William Denoon Young had his own brushes with bankruptcy, first from 1870 to 1873, and then again, 1875-76, both in connection with his business W D Young and Company. His business had considerably down-sized between the 1861 (20 Gilmore Place, Edinburgh) and 1871 (19 West Preston Street) censuses, from "Ironwork Manufacturer Employing 75 Men &c" to "Iron Wire Work Manufacturer Emploing 7 Men". By 1881, he was living in Cheetham, Lancashire, employed as a Civil Engineer.

According to LDS Scotland Marriages 1561-1910, William Denoon Young married Christina MacKenzie at Edinburgh on 17 June 1845. They had one son before she died in 1849. William remarried to Eliza Mackay Murray also in Edinburgh on 3 June 1852. From census returns, I have identified an additional 4 sons and 5 daughters. He died in 1882 (BMD Death Index William Denoon Young Dec1882 Barton upon Irwell 8c 377 Age:67).

Charles Denoon Young and his businesses have left quite a footprint in the legal, and now digital, world. He went bankrupt three times and spent 7 months in Perth Prison as a debtor. All the following dates are from the Edinburgh Gazette. The estates of C D Young and Company were sequestrated 25 June 1858. From the legal notice, we learn that he carried on business as "Engineer, Ironworker, and Contractor in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Liverpool." The fourth and final dividend on this episode was paid 26 June 1862. But on 14 August 1862, the "estates of C D Young and Company, Iron Founders, Engineers and Contractors, at Saint Leonard's Iron works, Perth [and of Charles Denoon young as an individual], were sequestrated. The funds of the estate having been distributed, the Trustee in charge called a meeting of creditors on 6 July 1865 to consider the bankrupt's discharge. There are no further immediate records, and I assume discharge was granted.

For some reason, news of this bankruptcy was printed in the South Australian Advertiser 20 October 1858, a scan and transcript of which are available at the National Library of Australia. This is an account of the examination by his creditors of Charles Denoon Young, republished from The European Times, republished from The Scotsman in an article titled "Autobiography of a Bankrupt."

This confirms that the brothers William and Charles were in business together from 1840 to 1847, and that Charles Denoon Young went off on his own account thereafter. The partnership had been quite profitable, and C D Young and company even more so, growing from 6,000 pounds sterling of capital in 1847 to 11,528 pounds 15 shillings and 8 pence by 1850. By his own calculation he was 58,615 pounds clear by 1856, an incredible amount for the time. The measuring worth calculator, rates this amount at 4.5 million pounds compared to the current cost of living, and over 50 million pounds in terms of economic status. However, the business had begun to feel cash-flow problems and had to operate with a bank overdraft. It turned out that Charles Denoon Young's accounting practices were somewhat lax and over-optimistic - not accounting for unrecoverable debts, for example - and his house of cards came undone.

I wonder if his sister, Mrs. Catherine Ponsonby, who went bankrupt about the same time, was caught up in all this. We last left her (Lays of the Lakes and More) awaiting a (presumably positive) decision from her creditors in 1859. The Australian National Library a Sydney Morning Herald announcement from 6 April 1860 of her marriage to John Benjamin Smith. This also raises the possibility of another sister, she being described in the article as the third daughter of the late Rev. James Young of Edinburgh.

Charles Denoon Young is associated with two patents reported in the London Gazette. There is his own patent no. 943, dated 4 April 1865, for "improvements in double acting life and force pumps." There is also, no. 2332, recorded 5 July 1873, communicated to him by John Ryle, junior, engineer, for "improvements in ice boxes for the artificial production of solid and transparent ice."

A third bankruptcy of Charles Denoon Young is recorded in the Edinburgh Gazette between 1874 and 1876, beginning with a sequestration 28 April 1874 of the "Estates of C. D. Young and Company, Engineers, Boiler Makers, and Contractors, Saint Leonard's Works, Perth." By 13 October the same year, he had presented a "Petition for Liberation, Interim Protection, and Decree of Cessio Bonorum." At this time he was "Prisoner in the Prison of Perth", a condition that lasted a total of seven months.

The Journal of Jurisprudence, Vol. 21, pp.353-355 reports that Cessio Bonorum was denied on account of only two creditors and he was released on bail. It appears that this minority of creditors (2 out of 105, and owed 6,559 pounds out of 34,787) held out for three years against his discharge, finally granted 1 March 1877. The judge noted Young's "very considerable talent, ingenuity and enterprise" and that "at his more mature age, it may reasonably be expected he may act with greater sobriety and discretion than in former years, when his creditors assuredly showed no disposition to mistrust him, and therefore were accessories somewhat to his speculations." That is, they extended too easy credit, perhaps, and were happy for him to take the risk. Besides, the judge remarked, he had a large family to support, and being free on bail, was not likely to obtain profitable employment. However, his census returns show no dependents who would have been under 16 years old in 1877, although maybe he was referring to his wife several adult unmarried daughters.

As with his brother, William, we can see his economic fortunes mirrored in occupational data on his census returns. In 1851, his occupation was listed as "Ironfounder and Wire Work Manufacturer and Master Employing 300 Men and 70 Women". By 1861 (around the time of his first bankruptcy), he was "Engineer Master Employing 22 Men 22 Women." By 1871, just before his final bankruptcy, he is "Engineer Master Employs 6 Men." In 1881, we find him in lodgings with his wife, and one daughter at 18 Summerfield Road, Hornsey Rise, Middlesex, employed as a Civil Engineer.

According to LDS Scotland Marriages 1561-1910, Charles Denoon Young married Hannah Cupples at St Cuthbert Edinburgh on 4 July 1844. From their various census returns, I can identify 7 daughters and 2 sons. He died in 1887 (BMD Death Index Charles Denson Young [sic] Dec1887 Islington 1b 171 Age:65).

So, three iron men, my 3xgreat grandfather and two 4xgreat uncles, their inventions and some business disappointments.