1 Penny Staffordshire - Bilston / S. Fereday

Samuel Fereday was an important Black Country industrialist. Sir Edward Thomason, in his Memoirs, reckoned him to be the greatest ironmaster in the world and says that he, Thomason, manufactured over two million copper tokens for him. In addition to his industrial and mining activities, he was a partner in the Bilston Bank, which failed in the slump of 1816; but prior to this, due to his natural talent and through successful speculation, he rapidly acquired a considerable fortune. He lived in Ettingshall Park, a large residence, and was lavish in his hospitality. At the height of his prosperity he and his various companies employed around 5,000 workers, the largest number at that time ever to have been employed by one concern. He was keenly interested in technological advances and spent money on exploration of the coal and iron ore fields that were in the vicinity of Bilston and such things as the improvement of colliery ventilation, which was vital not only for the increase of production but the safety of workers too. His coal mines and ironworks flourished due to the war against Napoleon, riding high on the boom produced by government spending, large issues of paper money, a lack of foreign competition and the need for armaments. At the end of the war, however, the economic climate changed, depression came, and by St George's day, 1817, the partnership of Fereday, Smith and Fisher was declared bankrupt.