19 Nov 1808
1820’s
- Education ‘outside Bilston’
- Aug 1822: Bankruptcy of father Jeremiah Dimmack (d 12 Sep 1848)
1830’s
- 1830 Death of Joseph Firmstone (will PCC Probate 10 Jul 1830) – important career partnerships with a number of his five sons. Thomas, Joseph but also George?
- 1831 Marriage to Anne Thompson
- c1834 Collaboration with brother-in-law John Thompson, Iron merchant
- 1836 Partnership with Thomas Firmstone, Newcastle Under Lyne (d 1858 Doddlespool). Firmstone gave up the lease of Apedale Ironworks in 1836
1840’s
- 1839-49: Local newspapers indicate EB Dimmack’s extensive activity in social matters on Board of Health, Workhouse Overseer, Poor Law Guardian etc
- 16 Jun 1840 Moxley School Room debate he leads argument against ‘Socialism’
- 1841 Parliamentary Commission on Child Labour – deposition describes him as ‘Iron Merchant’
- 1845 Bilston Gas Light and Coke Company set up by Act of Parliament – on committee and then director
- 1848 Listed as Patron of the Second Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire Permanent Building Society
- 1848 Trent Valley and Midlands Junction Railway – Board Member
1850’s
- 1851 Dimmack, Thompson and Firmstone sets up/acquires Pontypool Iron Works and Tin plate Co.
- 1851- 1856 heyday of Dimmack, Thompson and Firmstone – Furnaces operating around Bradley Field Wharf, Bilston
- Jun 1851 Bunkers Hill Colliery Bilston explosion at least five killed
- Oct 1852 Thomas Firmstone partnership formally dissolved – replaced eventually by his London based brother Joseph
- Feb 1853 Appointed Deputy Lieutenant for Staffordshire
- 10 Aug 1854 Daughter’s marriage to Wolverhampton Water Engineer, Henry John Marten
- 1855 Parkfield Ironworks Co taken over – a Partnership between Henry Marten and EB Dimmack comprising 5 Blast furnaces (original partners included John Horton and John Kenyon Blackwell)
- 1855 Joins Board of South Staffordshire Water Co
- 1856 Pontypool Iron and Tinplate Co sold marking the end of Dimmack, Thompson and Firmstone partnership.
- 3 Feb 1856 Appointed High Sheriff of Monmouthshire.(one year post) – 30 Jan 1856 attended Buckingham Palace for installation ceremony.
- 1 Sep 1856 Listed as attending Industry leader meeting in London on Bessemer Process
- Sep 1859 Bankruptcy petitions. £400,000 (£65m in today’s money) clears debts
1860’s
- Henry Marten sole charge of Parkfield Ironworks Co
7 Feb 1875
Sources and Notes
- Moxley Schoolroom Meeting motion “it is the opinion of this meeting that socialism is an absurd, immoral and atheistical system and a direct fraud on the working classes” Motion seconded by Mr Dimmack and carried by all but one vote. Staffordshire Gazette 20 Jun 1840.
- Director of Bilston Gas and Light Co – Birmingham Journal 23 Jan 1847
- Second Wolverhampton Building Society – Birmingham Journal 5 Aug 1848
- Appointed Magistrate for Staffordshire – Staffordshire Advertiser 14 Apr 1849
- Staffordshire Advertiser 29 Dec 1849 in a Board of Public Health discussion is the first time Henry Marten, his future son-in-law is mentioned in the same article – about improving water supply.
- It is significant that the Wolverhampton Chronicle (3 Sep 1856) recounts an important meeting held in London on 1 Sep 1856. at which Edward B Dimmack, Henry Marten, Henry Firmstone, SH Blackwell and many others attended. Here the newly patented Bessemer method for processing Steel was presented. This marked the advent of yet more competition for the outdated Bilston furnaces – this time from Sheffield. In time this proved to mark the effective end of the Dimmack businesses
- Morning Post 16 Sep 1859 provides a good summary of the parlous position and history of the various businesses – eg EB Dimmack’s filing for bankruptcy, list of coal and iron works and their sell-off, including the level of indebtedness to amongst others, the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Banking Co.
- Wolverhampton Chronicle 21 Sep 1859 reports the final rescue package at £400,000. The continuing business of Parkfield Iron Works seems to have been left with debts no longer ‘overwhelming’. We can presume from the wording here that the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Bank therefore remained a major creditor to Parkfield and this fact would somehow bring a junior cashier at the bank at the time, Henry Evans into preliminary contact with the Marten family, and eventually for him to marry Henry Marten’s daughter some thirty years later.