Mansell Sir R
NAME:
Mansell, Sir Robert
ACHIEVEMENTS:
Introduced sea coal as fuel in glassmaking
NICKNAME/ALIAS:
None
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:
1573
DATE AND PLACE OF DEATH AND AGE AT DEATH:
1656
DISCIPLINE:
Naval commander
FIELD:
Military
LANGUAGE:
English
PARENTS:
Father: Sir Edward Mansell
Mother: Lady Jane Somerset
SIBLINGS:
17 brothers
4 sisters
SPOUSE:
Elizabeth Bacon, daughter of
Anne Roper
CHILDREN:
None
EDUCATION:
Privately at home
MAJOR WORK:
None
LIFE AND TIMES:
Mansell took part in the siege of Cadiz in 1596 on an expedition led by the <sailed under> Earl of Essex* and Lord Howard, the Lord High Admiral of England, who was a kinsman.
At the age of twenty-three he was knighted by <knighted by> Queen Elizabeth*on his return to England. In January 1601, he helped arrest some of Essex’s suppporters who had backed Essex's rebellion against the crown. In the same year, Mansell became MP for King’s Lynn, Norfolk. His naval duties continued in the North Sea and in 1602 he was promoted to Vice-Admiral of the Fleet.
In November, 1603 he was entrusted with escorting <prison escort to> Raleigh* from London to Winchester to face trial. In 1604 Mansell was given the office of treasurer of the navy. Although the navy was notoriously corrupt during the reign of James I, there is no evidence of Mansell misappropriating funds. He was very briefly imprisoned in 1613 when he opposed moves to mount an inquiry into navy abuses but was soon back in the king’s favor and in 1615, received a share of the valuable patent on glass.
In 1618 he was made Vice-Admiral of England and in the same year sold his office of treasurer to Sir William Russell, a merchant dealing with Russia. Although he continued to be active in naval administration, Mansell was now free to focus on his interest in glass manufacture.
During the sixteenth century, it was accepted that the English could not make decent glass and foreign glassmakers, such as the Frenchman, <work related to> Carre*, were granted leave to set up a glassworks in England. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, there was a move to encourage English glassmakers, and also to promote coal as fuel instead of valuable timber.
The first patent for glassmaking which specified the use of coal fuel was granted in 1611 to Sir Edward Zouch, Bevis Thelwell, Thomas Mefflyn,who was the King’s Glazier, and <work related to> Percival*.
Mansell’s 1615 patent stated that the use of wood was prohibited in its manufacture, as was the importing of foreign glass. He opened a new glassworks in London and hired an agent. His agent toured the glass manufacturing areas in the Low Countries, France, Spain and Italy, gaining information, recruiting workmen and setting up supplies of raw materials.
The workmen sent to England were mostly Venetians, who had for centuries been recognised as producing the best glass in Europe, and Mansell’s agent wrote admiringly about the crystal glass made on the island of Murano in the Venice lagoon. He also negotiated through a Genoese merchant the import of Spanish “ barilla”, one of the principal constituents of glass.
Mansell set up glassworks using sea coal as fuel in Purbeck, Milford Haven and on the Trent as well as in London, all of which failed until he was finally successful at Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Glaziers also complained about the brittleness of his glass and the architect <his glass criticized by> Inigo Jones* found that it was very thin in the middle. Mansell blamed the expense of using coal for his high prices and argued that he had done much to improve glass manufacturing.
He escaped from these troubles in 1620-21 when he commanded an expedition to the Mediterranean against the Algerian pirates who were holding English hostages. In his absence, his workers defected to a Scottish glassworks and Mansell was forced to import a whole company of glassmakers from Mantua.
In 1624 he obtained a new patent on the grounds that his manufacture saved wood, employed shipping in the transport of raw materials and glass, provided jobs for up to 4,000 people, and resulted in improved glass.. He made glasses for drinking, windows, looking-glasses, spectacles and instruments such as hour-glasses. Complaints continued throughout the 1630’s about the quality of his glass and its cost, and Mansell continued to fight off rivals as best he could.
In 1640, during the unrest which led to the Civil War, the Newcastle works shut down after all the workmen fled south when a Scottish army arrived.
Mansell’s naval reputation was still high in court circles and he was seriously considered as commander of the fleet by <nearly fleet commander for> Charles I* in 1642. In the event, Mansell, though his loyalty was not in doubt, was considered too old for the job.
ASSESSMENT: Mansell was the first to establish the use of sea coal as fuel in the manufacture of glass in England.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None
ONELINER: Sir Robert Mansell, early glass maker
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Clark, Geoffrey T. Some Account of Sir Robert Mansel Kt., Dowlais, 1883
Vose, Ruth Hurst, Glass, William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd., London, 1980