Edward Bagnall was baptized at St Leonard’s, Broseley in Shropshire on 22 Mar 1761. He was the third of four sons of John Bagnall and Margaret Dixon. John Bagnall is described as a mining engineer , significant because Broseley was at the very heart of the Industrial Revolution, just a mile or so from Coalbrookdale and the famous Ironbridge, built in 1779. The Bagnall family were to embrace the new technology of the revolution and by the time Edward and his older brother John had reached adulthood their father had established important coal and iron interests in the West Midlands, notably the Golds Hill Iron works and in and around Darlaston and Wednesbury where the pace of industrialization was ever increasing.
The businesses were run as a web of family partnerships and it is difficult sometimes to disentangle each brother’s role from some of the documents that have survived.
Edward married Mary Wilkes on 1 Jan 1783 at St Lawrence, Darlaston. It would appear that the Wilkes family had Iron founding interests in Tipton and it was by a series of judicious marriages that the stretch of the family businesses was extended.
At some point around 1790 Edward Bagnall almost certainly became a Wesleyan – although his children continued to be baptized in the Church of England, those of his brothers John and Daniel were baptized in Darlington Street Methodist Church in Wolverthampton.
Edward died in 1805 at the age of 44 only five years after his father John Bagnall, the elder. He was survived by his elder brother John who lived until 1829 and his younger brother Daniel.
John Bagnall, the younger, had six sons and were the names behind the important nineteenth century iron works in West Bromwich of John Bagnall and Sons. The fortunes of Edward’s own children were more mixed. His two elder sons both married members of the Hinton family. His eldest daughter Jane married Jeremiah Dimmack. His daughter, Martha, married Edward Charles Thorneycroft, the twin brother of Wolverhampton’s first mayor George Benjamin Thorneycroft.
Family of Edward BAGNALL and Mary WILKES
Husband: | Edward BAGNALL (bap.1761, d.1805) |
Wife: | Mary WILKES (c. 1760-1834) |
Children: | Daniel BAGNALL (bap.1783, d.1865) |
| Edward BAGNALL (1786-c. 1854) |
| Jane BAGNALL (bap.1787, bur.1850) |
| John BAGNALL (bap.1789, d.aft1805) |
| Joseph BAGNALL (bap.1791, d.1791) |
| Mary BAGNALL (bap.1792) |
| Martha BAGNALL (bap.1795, d.1866) |
| William BAGNALL (bap.1795, d.1801) |
Marriage | 1 Jan 1783 | St Lawrence, Darlaston |
Husband: Edward BAGNALL
Name: | Edward BAGNALL |
Sex: | Male |
Father: | John BAGNALL (bap.1730, d.1800) |
Mother: | Margaret DIXON (1730-1815) |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 22 Mar 1761 | St Leonard’s Broseley |
Occupation | | Coal Master |
Death | 18 Dec 1805 | Wednesbury |
Burial | 23 Dec 1805 | Darlaston |
Wife: Mary WILKES
Name: | Mary WILKES |
Sex: | Female |
Father: | – |
Mother: | – |
Birth | c. 1760 | Tipton |
Death | 17 Apr 1834 (age 73-74) | West Bromwich |
Child 1: Daniel BAGNALL
Name: | Daniel BAGNALL |
Sex: | Male |
Spouse 1: | Betsy HINTON (1784-1847) |
Spouse 2: | Elizabeth (1799-aft1871) |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 30 Nov 1783 | St Lawrence, Darlaston |
Occupation | | Mine Agent |
Death | 1865 | |
Child 2: Edward BAGNALL
Name: | Edward BAGNALL |
Sex: | Male |
Spouse: | Mary HINTON (1787-aft1851) |
Birth | 1786 | Wednesbury |
Residence | 1824 (age 37-38) | Shireland Hall |
Occupation | 1841 (age 54-55) | Coal Master |
Occupation | 1851 (age 64-65) | Mining Engineer |
Death | c. 1854 (age 67-68) | |
Child 3: Jane BAGNALL
Name: | Jane BAGNALL |
Sex: | Female |
Spouse: | Jeremiah DIMMACK (bap.1781, bur.1848) |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 18 Jul 1787 | St Lawrence, Darlaston |
Death | | |
Burial | 2 Feb 1850 | Wolverhampton Methodists |
Child 4: John BAGNALL
Name: | John BAGNALL |
Sex: | Male |
Baptism | 12 Apr 1789 | St Lawrence, Darlaston |
Death | aft 1805 | |
Child 5: Joseph BAGNALL
Name: | Joseph BAGNALL |
Sex: | Male |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 24 Apr 1791 | St Lawrence, Darlaston |
Death | 9 Dec 1791 | Darlaston |
Occupation | 1861 | Coal Master |
Child 6: Mary BAGNALL
Name: | Mary BAGNALL |
Sex: | Female |
Spouse: | John DAVIS ???? ( – ) |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 11 Nov 1792 | Darlaston |
Child 7: Martha BAGNALL
Name: | Martha BAGNALL |
Sex: | Female |
Spouse: | Edward Charles THORNEYCROFT (1791-1847) |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 5 Apr 1795 | St Lawrence, Darlaston |
Residence | 1861 | Widow living with spinster neice Mary Ann Bagnall Dimmack |
Death | 5 Sep 1866 | Shifnal |
Child 8: William BAGNALL
Name: | William BAGNALL |
Sex: | Male |
Birth | | |
Baptism | 5 Apr 1795 | St Lawrence, Darlaston |
| Same Christening date as Martha – probably twins |
Death | 1801 | |