The early history of the Stanton Ironworks:

“The true origins of the Stanton Ironworks go back to 1846 when Chesterfield man,  Benjamin Smith and his son Josiah, brought three blast-furnaces into production  alongside the banks of the Nutbrook Canal. Between 1865 and 1867,  Benjamin Smith's  original three furnaces were replaced with five new furnaces. This site becoming  known as the Old Works. Smith's furnaces produced about 20 tons of pig iron per  day but the company soon experienced financial difficulties and there followed a  series of take-overs during the middle of the 19th century. During this  period the business was taken over by the Crompton family. This family owned the  company for over eighty years, re-naming the works: The Stanton Iron Company”

(Ilkeston and District Local History Society:  The Stanton Ironworks)

“In 1845 Benjamin Smith and his son Josiah Timmis Smith sold the iron works at Duckmanton after running it with mixed fortunes for around twenty five years. They purchased the run down Stanton iron works at Ilkeston and took on new mineral leases from Earl Stanhope for ironstone, coal and fireclay and proceeded to build new furnaces on site. It would appear that this was a more financially viable transaction than to invest in the Adelphi works. By 1849 Benjamin Smith and Company were declared bankrupt (13th November) at the Stanton ironworks owing some £60,000 and their affairs were taken over by their two Glasgow banks the Western and the Commercial. The works being taken over later as a going concern by Crompton and Company, a creditor, in 1855 when all the legalities and finances had been sorted out by the companies lawyers.”

(A.N. Bridgewater’s history of the Adelphi Ironworks)

Initial share issue:

• Earl of Carnarvon                                                                         150
• John Naylor (Chesterfield)                                                              10
• John Fabling (22 Lincolns Inn, London)                                          12
• William Edward Forster (22 Lincolns Inn, London)                       50
• John Simmonds (5 New Sq. Lincolns Inn, London)                          10
• John Evans (Highfield, Derby)                                                        70
• Joseph Shipton (Chesterfield)                                                        10
• Henry Evans (West Bank, Derby)                                                    60
• Lord Scarsdale (Kedleston)                                                             200
• Charles Schwind (Broomfield, Derby)                                             70
• Lorenzo Kirkpatrick Hall (Hollybush, Sudbury, Derbys.)               65
• John Barlow (Park Hall, Derby)                                                      125
• Samual Rowland Chapman Ward (Neasham Hill, Darlington)    20
• Rev. Alfred Olivier (The Vicarage, Ashbourne)                                65
• William Shipton (Buxton)                                                              10
• John Hickman (Desborough)                                                           200
• Howley Edward Palmer (11 Kings Arms Yard, London)                  200
• Arthur Wentworth Lyon (Abbots Clownholme, Utoxeter)                50
• Cecil Brooke Palmer (Stanton by Dale, Derbys.)                              50
• William Henry Crompton Stansfield (Eshall Hall, nr. Leeds)       100
• Rookes Evelyn Bell Crompton (Mansion House Bldgs, London)     20
• William Clark (Teversal)                                                                 60
• Enok Repton (Stanton Gate, Derbys.)                                                5
• James Barston (Stanton by Dale, Derbys.)                                       10
• Charles Slanley (75 Old Broad St. London)                                      10
• Samual Leech (Derby)                                                                    20
• Charles Nathaniel Curzon (Lockington Hall, Derby)                     100

Shares appropriated to the vendors as per the agreement of 20th Dec 1877:

• John Gilbert Crompton                                                              1371
• George Crompton                                                                        1371
• Charles Edmund Newton                                                          686
• John Thomas Barber                                                                 572