George Insole

George Insole was baptised in Worcester on 5 December 1790, the fifth of six children of William Insole and Phoebe Insole (née Stinton). During Insole's childhood his father was a tenant farmer in Wichenford, near Worcester. In 1819 he married Mary Finch in Worcester and by 1820 was working there as a carpenter and cabinet maker. They had six children, two sons and four daughters. The two older children were baptised at St Helen's Church, Worcester, but from 1823 to 1827 Insole was associated with the Angel Street Independent (Congregational) Meeting House in Worcester.{{Cite journal|last=Ollerton|first=Richard L.|date=2012|title=Hereford cider, Worcester leather, Birmingham iron, Rhondda coal: Foundations of a Welsh coal mining dynasty|journal=Morgannwg|volume=56|pages=62–83}}

Insole moved to Cardiff in 1828, and by late 1829 was in partnership with Richard Biddle as Insole & Biddle, brick, timber and coal merchants. The move and partnership were supported by family loans and inheritances. Biddle was one of the first agents in Cardiff for Robert Thomas's Waun Wyllt "smokeless" steam coal, sent by barge down the Glamorganshire Canal from Merthyr Tydfil, and had established a customer base in Cardiff prior to partnering with Insole. In 1830 Insole & Biddle had premises at the Wharf on the Glamorganshire Canal at Cardiff.{{Cite web|url=http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DXCV%2f1&pos=24|title=Biddle & Biddle, Biddle, and Insole & Biddle, timber, brick and coal merchants, Cardiff|website=Glamorgan Archives|access-date=2 December 2019}}{{Cite web|url=http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DXCV|title=Insole and Biddle, Brick, Timber and Coal Merchants Records|website=Glamorgan Archives|access-date=14 December 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3120273/3120276/37/|title=Pioneers of the Industry|date=14 February 1901|work=Tarian Y Gweithiwr|access-date=4 December 2019|page=3}}

The Insole & Biddle day book for 1830 records a shipment of 414 tons of Waun Wyllt steam coal to London. This consignment was later claimed to have been the largest cargo of coal ever shipped at the Glamorganshire Canal.{{Cite news|title=Cardiff and South Wales|date=21 February 1901|work=Shipping Gazette and Lloyd's List|page=3}} The shipment did not make a profit but the quality of the coal eventually made it very popular for both household and Royal Navy use. Insole also developed markets for coal along the Severn Estuary and in Ireland.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3274786/3274789/21/|title=Pioneers of the Welsh Coal Trade|date=24 March 1898|work=Evening Express|access-date=8 December 2019|page=3}}

File:Coal staiths Cardiff (Alexander Wilson) 1833 detail.jpgs at Cardiff on the River Taff,{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924091779227/page/n525|title=Cardiff Records; Being Materials for a History of the County Borough from the Earliest Times|publisher=By Order of the Corporation and Sold by Henry Sotheran & Co.|year=1903|editor-last=Matthews|editor-first=John Hobson|volume=IV|location=Cardiff|page=464 (back to page)}} 1833, used by Insole to ship his coal from Cardiff|left]]

The Insole & Biddle partnership was bankrupted in early 1831.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/18777/page/327|title=Commission of Bankrupt|date=18 February 1831|work=The London Gazette|access-date=10 December 2019|issue=18777|page=327}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3327460/3327462/7/|title=To be Sold by Auction|date=9 April 1831|work=The Cambrian|access-date=11 December 2019|page=2}} Insole was able to recover his financial position within a few months, and was also left a substantial inheritance that year.{{Cite news|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/18794/page/753|title=Commission of Bankrupt|date=19 April 1831|work=The London Gazette|access-date=10 December 2019|issue=18794|page=753}} From his offices in Cardiff at the mouth of the Glamorganshire Canal, he continued as agent for Waun Wyllt coal, and contracts were written to supply London-based coal merchants.{{Cite book|title=Cymmer Steam Coal|last=Geo. Insole & Son|publisher=The Gresham Press, Unwin Brothers|year=1880|location=London}}{{Cite web|url=http://calmview.cardiff.gov.uk/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=DXCV/2|title=George Insole's accounts (for coal) with Mrs Lucy Thomas|website=Glamorgan Archives|access-date=6 December 2019}} These contracts helped establish the reputation of Welsh coal in the London markets, and were the basis on which Lucy Thomas (widow of Robert) became known as "the mother of the Welsh steam coal trade".{{Cite journal|last1=Morris|first1=J. H.|last2=Williams|first2=L. J.|date=1957|title=R. J. Nevill and the Early Welsh Coal Trade|url= https://journals.library.wales/view/1277425/1280682/71| journal=National Library of Wales Journal| volume=10| issue=1|pages=59–64|access-date=4 January 2020}}{{Cite journal|last=Morgan|first=W. T.|date=1958|title=A Note on Lucy Thomas of Waunwyllt|url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1277425/1281037/89|journal=The National Library of Wales Journal|volume=10|issue=4|page=416|access-date=20 January 2020}}{{Cite book|last1=Morris|first1=J. H.|url=https://archive.org/details/southwalescoalin0000morr/page/n5|title=The South Wales Coal Industry 1841–1875|last2=Williams|first2=L. J.|publisher=University of Wales Press|year=1958|location=Cardiff}}{{Rp|19–20}} Although Thomas has been credited with these ventures, much of the success was due to Insole.{{Cite web|url= https://biography.wales/article/s-LEWI-THO-1837|title=Lewis, Sir William Thomas (1837–1914)| website=Dictionary of Welsh Biography|access-date=12 December 2019}}{{Cite ODNB|id=47974|title=Lucy Thomas|first=John|last= Williams|year=2004}} Retrieved 4 January 2020.

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| quote = If the beginnings of Cardiff's trade in bituminous coal were due to the entrepreneurial flair of Walter Coffin, without question the pioneer of the port's trade in steam coal was George Insole. ... it was Insole who, in the 'thirties and 'forties of the last [19th] century, for the first time exported steam coal from Cardiff to London, to scattered overseas markets from Malta to Alexandria, and who supplied the British Admiralty.

| source = E. D. Lewis, "Pioneers of the Cardiff Coal Trade"{{Rp|37–38}}

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While their assertions were not universally accepted, the Insoles claimed to have been the first to supply the London market (in 1830), the international market (Malta, in 1831), and the Royal Navy (in 1831) with South Wales steam coal.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3475356/3475360/64/|title=Death of Mr J. H. Insole. A Pioneer of Cardiff's Trade|date=21 January 1901|work=Evening Express|access-date=10 December 2019|page=4}}{{Cite book|title=Contemporary Portraits: Men and Women of South Wales and Monmouthshire; Cardiff Section|publisher=Western Mail Ltd|year=1896|location=Cardiff|page=xxii}}

File:Pierhead Cardiff (Alexander Wilson) 1840.png

In 1832 Insole leased the Maesmawr pit (Llantwit Fardre) to become a coal producer and shipper in his own right. He was one of the first to open offices at the Cardiff Docks when the Bute West Dock was opened in 1839. When his son James Harvey Insole came of age in 1842, Insole took him into partnership as George Insole & Son.{{Cite journal|last=Lewis|first=E. D.|date=1976|title=Pioneers of the Cardiff Coal Trade|url=http://www.culturalecology.info/baywatch/baywatch1/lac1/baywtch4/projects/people/lewis.htm|journal=Glamorgan Historian|volume=11|pages=22–52|access-date=4 January 2020}}

In 1844, as the Maesmawr seam was becoming depleted, they leased and revived collieries at Cymmer and in 1848 opened 36 coking ovens to supply the Taff Vale Railway Company, of which Insole was a principal promoter.{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3328615/3328618/9/|title=At a Meeting of the Proprietors of Iron Works, Collieries, ...|date=17 October 1835|work=The Cambrian|access-date=9 January 2020|page=3}}{{Cite book|title=The Rhondda Valleys|last=Lewis|first=E. D.|publisher=Phoenix House|year=1959|location=London}} Up to 1847 the Insoles mainly supplied the coastal markets of the Bristol Channel (Bristol, Gloucester), the Cornish ports (St. Ives, Penzance, Fowey), and the Irish markets (Limerick, Dublin, Youghal, Waterford, Cork) with steam coal. Insole continued to develop his international trade and afterwards supplied markets in France, the Mediterranean, Southeast Asia and South America and became the largest shipper of steam coal at Cardiff.

In Cardiff, Insole was associated with St John's Church in 1830 (where his daughter was baptised) and afterwards with the independent meetings at the Bethany Baptist Chapel (where his infant son was buried in 1837) and the New Trinity Congregational Chapel (making significant contributions to its rebuilding in 1846). Insole was involved in the introduction of British Schools in Cardiff and served as a town councillor for the South Ward of Cardiff.{{Cite journal|last=Ollerton|first=Richard L.|date=2019|title=Recalling some old Cardiff families|journal=Morgannwg|volume=63|pages=to appear (March 2020)}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3088713/3088715|title=Cardiff British Schools|date=6 June 1846|work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian|access-date=11 January 2020|pages=2–3}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3089910/3089913/30/|title=Deaths|date=4 January 1851|work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian|access-date=11 December 2019|page=3}}

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| quote = Mr Insole was an enterprising and extensive coal proprietor; and was mainly instrumental in developing the resources of one of the most important mineral districts in this county.

| source = The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian, 4 January 1851

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Insole died on 1 January 1851, aged 60, at his residence in Crockherbtown, Cardiff. The cause of death was "Disease of Heart many years. Paralysis 1 week".Death Certificate. General Register Office for England and Wales, 1851 March Quarter, Cardiff, vol. 26, p. 287. He was buried at St Margaret's Church, Roath on 7 January 1851.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924091779219/page/n597|title=Cardiff Records; Being Materials for a History of the County Borough from the Earliest Times|publisher=By Order of the Corporation and Sold by Henry Sotheran & Co.|year=1901|editor-last=Matthews|editor-first=John Hobson|volume=III|location=Cardiff|pages=548|access-date=4 January 2020}}{{Cite book|title=Burial Register|publisher=St Margaret's Church, Roath|year=1851|page=53}}

The high regard in which he was held is indicated in the two prize-winning elegies on Insole presented at the 1851 Cymmer Eisteddfod.{{Cite book|title=The Two Successful Marwnadua (or Elegies) of the Late George Insole Esq which Obtained the Chief Prizes at the Cymmer Eisteddfod|last=Eisteddfod Committee |year=1851|location=Cardiff}}{{Cite news|url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/3090170/3090172/25/|title=Tribute of Respect|date=3 January 1852|work=The Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian|access-date=12 December 2019|page=2}} Insole can be credited with much of the early success of South Wales steam coal in the London and international markets. The firm established by Insole continued in business until 1940.

The following accounts present Insole as a pioneering entrepreneur of South Wales steam coal, although each is unreliable in various details, especially regarding his origins and early years as a merchant in Cardiff. They also overlook Biddle's earlier, independent sourcing of Waun Wyllt steam coal and its introduction by him to the Cardiff market prior to the Insole & Biddle partnership.

• Wilkins, Charles (1888). [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001343799 The South Wales Coal Trade and Its Allied Industries, from the Earliest Days to the Present Time]. Cardiff.
• Contemporary Portraits: Men and Women of South Wales and Monmouthshire; Cardiff Section. Cardiff: Western Mail Ltd. 1896. p. xxii.
• Phillips, Elizabeth. "Pioneers of the Welsh Coalfield". Western Mail. 30 December 1924. p. 7.
• Phillips, Elizabeth (1925). A History of the Pioneers of the Welsh Coalfield. Cardiff.
• Morris, J. H.; Williams, L. J. (1957). [https://journals.library.wales/view/1277425/1280682/71 "R. J. Nevill and the Early Welsh Coal Trade"]. National Library of Wales Journal. 10 (1): 59–64.
• Morris, J. H.; Williams, L. J. (1958). The South Wales Coal Industry 1841–1875. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
• Lewis, E. D. (1976). [http://www.culturalecology.info/baywatch/baywatch1/lac1/baywtch4/projects/people/lewis.htm "Pioneers of the Cardiff Coal Trade"], Glamorgan Historian. 11: 22–52.
• Watson, Richard C. (1997). Rhondda Coal, Cardiff Gold: The Insoles of Llandaff, Coal Owners and Shippers. Cardiff: Merton Priory Press.{{Cite journal|last=Boyns|first=Trevor|date=1998|title=Rhondda Coal, Cardiff Gold: The Insoles of Llandaff, Coal Owners and Shippers (Book Review)|url=https://journals.library.wales/view/1169834/1174654/99|journal=Morgannwg|volume=42|pages=98–101|access-date=4 January 2020}}

{{Reflist}}

• [https://biography.wales/article/s12-INSO-GEO-1790 Dictionary of Welsh Biography: George Insole]
• [https://insolecourt.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=insolecourt&view=0&pid=24 Family of George Insole]
• [https://archive.org/search.php?query=%22George%20Insole%22&sin=TXT Works by or about George Insole] at Internet Archive
• [https://journals.library.wales/search?query=%22george+insole%22 Works by or about George Insole] at The National Library of Wales ([https://journals.library.wales/home Welsh Journals])
• [http://www.welshcoalmines.co.uk Welsh Coal Mines]

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Category:1790 births

Category:1851 deaths

Category:19th-century British businesspeople

Category:British mining businesspeople

Category:British businesspeople in the coal industry

Category:Councillors in Cardiff

Category:History of the Vale of Glamorgan

Category:Businesspeople from Worcestershire

Category:Businesspeople from Cardiff

Category:19th-century Welsh businesspeople