Jamaica's stolen iron innovation

Rewriting history - 7th August 2023

New research suggests that Jamaican metalworkers were important innovators. They played an essential role in Great Britain’s iron trade success in the late 18th century.

The 76 metalworkers borrowed a technique from the sugar mills in Jamaica. They developed a new ironmaking process. It replaced hammering scrap metal by hand. They could crush waste metal for reuse faster and easier. Dr Jenny Bulstrode is a historian of technology. She described the process as taking, "rubbish and turning it into something of very high value."

The metalworkers were slaves from Central and West Africa. These regions had successful ironworking industries. They combined their ironmaking knowledge with sugar mill machines to develop this new technique. However, an English businessman named Henry Cort patented the technique in the 1780s. He’d learned about it during a visit to the iron factory in Jamaica.

Following Cort's visit, Jamaica was placed under military law and the iron factory was destroyed. British rulers feared that it could be used to support a rebellion against colonial rule.

Cort transported the equipment from the Jamaican iron factory to England. He had great success with the technique. After his death, he got the title "father of the iron trade".

The true starters of the iron trade were the 76 metal workers in Jamaica. Only a few of their names — Devonshire, Mingo, Friday and others — survived history

Dr Bulstrode stresses the importance of challenging the traditional image of innovators. Bulstrode said that people, "don’t think of black people, enslaved, in Jamaica in the 18th century."