Now! Then! Thomas Paine writes to Thomas Jefferson telling of the “revolutionary” iron bridge being built to his design by the Walkers of Masbrough (Rotherham)

16 February 1789: Thomas Paine writes to Thomas Jefferson telling of the “revolutionary” iron bridge being built to his design by the Walkers of Masbrough (Rotherham)

Thomas Paine. 1894. The Writings of Thomas Paine, Vol. 2 (1779-92). Ed. Moncure Daniel Conway. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons. Get it:

Excerpt

I went to the iron works the latter end of October. My intention at the time of writing to you was to construct an experiment arch of 250 feet, but in the first place the season was too far advanced to work out of doors, and an arch of that extent could not be worked within doors, and nextly, there was a prospect of a real bridge being wanted on the spot, of 90 feet extent. The person who appeared disposed to erect a bridge was Mr Foljambe, nephew to the late Sir George Savile, and Member in the last parliament for Yorkshire. He lives about three miles from the works, and the River Don runs in front of his house, over which there is an old ill-constructed bridge which he wants to remove. These circumstances determined me to begin an arch of 90 feet, with an elevation of five feet. The foreman of the works [Billy Yates] is a relative of the proprietors, an excellent mechanic, who fell in with all my ideas with great ease and penetration. I stayed at the works till one half of the rib, 45 feet, was completed and framed horizontally together, and came up to London at the meeting of parliament on the 4th of December. The foreman, whom, as I told him, I should appoint President of the Board of Works in my absence, wrote me word that he has got the other half together with much less trouble than the first. He is now preparing for erecting and I for returning. Feb. 26. A few days ago I received a letter from Mr Foljambe in which he says, “I saw the rib of your bridge. In point of elegance and beauty it far exceeded my expectations, and is certainly beyond anything I ever saw.” My model and myself had many visitors while I was at the works. A few days after I got there, Lord Fitzwilliam, heir to the Marquis of Rockingham, came with Mr Burke. The former gave the workmen five guineas and invited me to Wentworth House, a few miles distant from the works, where I went, and stayed a few days. This bridge I expect will bring forth something greater, but in the meantime I feel like a bird from its nest [i.e. America], and wishing most anxiously to return; therefore as soon as I can bring anything to bear I shall dispose of the contract and bid adieu. I can very truly say that my mind is not at home.

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To facilitate reading, the spelling and punctuation of elderly excerpts have generally been modernised, and distracting excision scars concealed. My selections, translations, and editions are copyright.

Abbreviations

Comment

John Keane:

Whether the bridge was ever erected over the Don is unknown. During April 1789, Paine and Yates supervised the erection of a three-ton rib arch, which was framed with wood and, Paine later told John Hall, test-loaded for twelve months with six tons of scrap iron. He wrote long preliminary accounts, which have been newly discovered, of the erection and test and forwarded them on May 25, 1789, to Sir Joseph Banks for submission to the Royal Society and to Sir George Staunton for submission to the Society of Arts. In June, Banks informed him that his report had been read and accepted by the Royal Society, but for some reason Staunton, an Irish baronet with diplomatic experience in Indian and Chinese affairs, delayed sending his copy to the Society of Arts until April 1790. The completed section of the bridge remained on display at Masborough. The last recorded viewing of it was by John Byng, whose journal entry for June 11, 1789, reads simply, “In Mr. Walker’s work-yard we survey’d an arch of an iron bridge just cast.” (Keane 1995)

Paine’s contemporary, John Adolphus:

Paine now employed himself with great assiduity building his bridge. For this end, he made a journey to Rotherham in Yorkshire, in order to superintend the casting of the iron by Mr Walker. While thus occupied at Rotherham, his French familiarity is said not to have much pleased the English ladies, and their displeasure induced Mr Walker to turn Paine out of his house. The bridge, however, was at length erected in a close at [Lisson Green, London]; being an arch constructed of iron, one hundred and ten feet in the span, five feet from the spring, and twenty two feet in breadth. It was erected chiefly at the charge of Mr. Walker; but the project had cost the projector a large sum, which was mostly furnished by Mr Whiteside. The bridge was shown for some time at the Yorkshire Stingo [a London pub], for a shilling. As this was not the first iron bridge which was known to the English, it is not easy to discover why the projector, who had a model, should incur so great an expense, merely to make a show (Adolphus 1799).

The Walkers probably made more money working for Paine’s enemies:

The Walker companies made a variety of iron and steel products, including household items such as kettles, irons and fireplaces. They were particularly renowned for making cannon. They secured a contract from local landowner the Marquis of Rockingham [!!!!] who was Prime Minister (1765-1766 and 1782), to supply cannon to the British during the American Wars of Independence, and the wars against France. Between 1774 and 1815 they made 13,000 tons of cannon, including 80 of the 105 cannon on board HMS Victory, Nelson’s flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar.

The fuller version of Paine’s letter cited by Foner includes the following technical detail, which may be more interesting in some ways than my excerpt, and which I suspect is plagiarised from Billy Yates, just as some of Paine’s big bridge design concepts were plagiarised from the French (as was, it seems, part of The Rights of Man):

These circumstances determined me to begin an arch of 90 feet with an elevation of 5 feet. This extent I could manage within doors by working half the arch at a time. Having found a short wall suited to my purpose, I set off a center and five feet for the height of the arch, and forty five feet each way for the extent, then suspended a cord and left it to stretch itself for a day, then took off the ordinates at every foot (for one half the arch only). Having already calculated the ordinates of an arch of a circle of the same extent I compared them together and found scarcely any certain distinguishable difference, the reason of this is that however considerable the difference may be when the segment is a semi-circle that difference is contained between the 1st and 60th is 70 degrees reckoning from the bases of the arch, and above that the catenary appears to me to unite with the arch of the circle or exceedingly nearly thereto so that I conclude that the treatises on catenarian arches apply to the semi-circle or a very large portion of it. I annex a sketch to help out my meaning. [See diagram on p. 1039.]

Having taken my measurements I transferred them to the working floor. 1st I set off half the line divided into feet; 2d the ordinates upon it; 3rd drove nails at the extremity of every ordinate; 4th bent a bar of wood over them corresponding to the swinging cord on the wall, above this first bar, and at the distance the blocks would occupy, I set off all the other bars and struck the radii through the whole number; which marked the places where the holes were to be cut and consequently the wooden bars became patterns for the iron bars.

I had calculated on drilling the holes for which I had allowed 8 sterling each in my private estimation, but I found, when at the works, that I could punch a square, or oblong square hole for 1 or 1 4 each. This was gratifying to me, not only because it was under my estimation, but because it took away less of the bar in breadth than a round hole of the same capacity would do, and made the work in every respect stronger and firmer. I was very unwilling to cut the bar longitudinally, and for the same reasons you mention therefore did not do it, yet I was apprehensive of difficulty in getting the work together owing to diverging of the bolts, but this I think I have completely got over by putting the work together with wood bolts, and then driving them out with the iron ones.

Having made all my patterns of bars, and a pattern for my blocks, and chosen my iron 3 inches by ¾ we began punching the holes. To do this it is necessary the iron bar be treated hot. When this was mentioned to me I pondered a little on the effects of heat, and instead of marking the iron bar when cold from the wood pattern, I first treated it and then marked and punched it, and that only one hole at a time; by this method the changes of atmospherical heat and cold are prevented operating on the bars while they are under the operation, as it is always the same season to the bar whether the season of the year be summer or winter, and as the wood patterns is laid to the bar for every fresh hole, there can be no accumulation of error, if any, would happen, and the square hole I I can be corrected by a file whereas the round one could not.

A great part of our time, as you will naturally suppose was taken up in preparations, but after we began to work we went on rapidly, and that without any mistake, or anything to alter or amend. The foreman of the works is a relation to the proprietors, an excellent mechanic, and who fell into all my ideas with great ease and penetration. I stayed at the works till one half the rib, 45 feet, was completed and framed horizontally together, and came up to London at the meeting of Parliament on the 4th of December. The foreman, whom, as I told him, I should appoint “President of the Board of Works in my absence,” wrote me word that he has got the other half together with much less trouble than the first. He is now preparing for erecting, and I for returning.
(Paine 1945)

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Original

LETTER TO JEFFERSON IN PARIS.

No. 13 BROAD STREET BUILDINGS, LONDON, Feb. 16, 1789.

“DEAR SIR :-Your favour of the 23d Dec’r continued to the ____ of Jan’y came safe to hand; for which I thank you. I begin this without knowing of any opportunity of conveyance, and shall follow the method of your letter by writing on till an opportunity offers. I thank you for the many and judicious observations about my bridge. I am exactly in your Ideas, as you will perceive by the following account. -I went to the Iron Works [Yorkshire] the latter end of Oct’r. My intention at the time of writing to you was to construct an experiment arch of 250 feet [an iron Bridge], but in the first place the season was too far advanced to work out of doors, and an arch of that extent could not be worked within doors; and nextly, there was a prospect of a real Bridge being wanted on the spot, of 90 feet extent. The person who appeared disposed to erect a Bridge was Mr. Foljambe, nephew to the late Sir George Saville, and Member in the last Parliament for Yorkshire. He lives about three miles from the Works, and the river Don runs in front of his house, over which there is an old ill-constructed Bridge which he wants to remove. These circumstances determined me to begin an arch of 90 feet, with an elevation of five feet. The foreman of the Works is a relative of the Proprietors [Messrs. Walker], an excellent mechanic, who fell in with all my Ideas with great ease and penetration. I staid at the Works till one-half of the Rib, 45 feet, was compleated and framed horizontally together, and came up to London at the meeting of Parliament on the 4th of December. The foreman, whom, as I told him, I should appoint ‘President of the Board of Works’ in my absence, wrote me word that he has got the other half together with much less trouble than the first. He is now preparing for erecting and I for returning.
“Feb. 26. A few days ago I received a letter from Mr. Foljambe in which he says, ‘I saw the Rib of your Bridge. In point of elegance and beauty it far exceeded my expectations, and is certainly beyond anything I ever saw.’
“My Model and myself had many visitors while I was at the Works. A few days after I got there, Lord Fitz William, heir to the Marquis of Rockingham, came with Mr. [Edmund] Burke. The former gave the workmen five guineas and invited me to Wentworth House, a few miles distant from the Works, where I went, and staid a few days.
“This Bridge I expect will bring forth something greater, but in the meantime I feel like a bird from its nest [America], and wishing most anxiously to return; therefore as soon as I can bring anything to bear I shall dispose of the contract and bid adieu. I can very truly say that my mind is not at home.

520 words.