Thomas Gregory
Thomas Gregory was foreman pattern-maker at the Coalbrookdale foundry of Abraham Darby III, and was closely associated with design and production of the cast iron bridge at Ironbridge.
He also made a large scale mahogany model of the bridge for Abraham Darby III in 1784. Darby exhibited the model in London in 1786, and presented it to the Royal Society of Arts in 1787.[1]
The French La Rochefoucauld brothers visited Ironbridge in 1785, and while closely studying the bridge they were approached by two men, 'who looked like superior workmen'. The men were very willing to answer questions, and one of them later met the brothers at their hotel, the nearby Tontine Hotel. This man, who 'seems wonderfully honest and intelligent for a workman' was Thomas Gregory. He took them to Darby's foundry, where he showed them the mahogany model he'd made of the bridge. This is the model referred to above. [2]