David Bell (Ghent): Difference between revisions
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David Bell was born in 1794 at Stoneknow[?]. Northern England. He worked as a mechanic in Manchester. | David Bell was born in 1794 at Stoneknow[?]. Northern England. He worked as a mechanic in Manchester. | ||
He worked for [[John Cockerill]] in Seraing, and was hired as managing engineer at Phoenix in 1825. Phoenix had been founded in 1821 by | He worked for [[John Cockerill]] in Seraing, and was hired as managing engineer at Phoenix in 1825. Phoenix had been founded in 1821 by [[Jacques-Joseph Huytens-Kerremans]] in the Brugsepoort in Ghent. In 1837 the Société Générale invested heavily in the company. Director-engineer Bell left to establish Atelier du Vulcain, which was soon popularly nicknamed 'le petit Phoenix'. After that company went bankrupt, Bell (presumably) fled to America. <ref>[https://www.industriecultuur.be/constructeurs/phoenix-gand] Industriecultuur.be: The birth of the metal industry in Ghent, 15 April 2024</ref> | ||
1837 'Oct. 2. The Moniteur of this morning publishes an Ordinance sanctioning The Statutes of the Phoenix Company for the manufacture of machines, under the direction of Mr. David Bell, an able English merchant, who has directed it ever since its foundation. Such an establishment is of the highest importance to the city of Ghent, the centre of the cotton manufactories, which are constantly obliged to have recourse to it, to repair their machinery.'<ref>True Sun - Thursday 5 October 1837</ref> | 1837 'Oct. 2. The Moniteur of this morning publishes an Ordinance sanctioning The Statutes of the Phoenix Company for the manufacture of machines, under the direction of Mr. David Bell, an able English merchant, who has directed it ever since its foundation. Such an establishment is of the highest importance to the city of Ghent, the centre of the cotton manufactories, which are constantly obliged to have recourse to it, to repair their machinery.'<ref>True Sun - Thursday 5 October 1837</ref> | ||
Latest revision as of 14:17, 19 September 2024
of the Atelier du Vulcain, Gent/Ghent/Gand, Belgium
David Bell was born in 1794 at Stoneknow[?]. Northern England. He worked as a mechanic in Manchester. He worked for John Cockerill in Seraing, and was hired as managing engineer at Phoenix in 1825. Phoenix had been founded in 1821 by Jacques-Joseph Huytens-Kerremans in the Brugsepoort in Ghent. In 1837 the Société Générale invested heavily in the company. Director-engineer Bell left to establish Atelier du Vulcain, which was soon popularly nicknamed 'le petit Phoenix'. After that company went bankrupt, Bell (presumably) fled to America. [1]
1837 'Oct. 2. The Moniteur of this morning publishes an Ordinance sanctioning The Statutes of the Phoenix Company for the manufacture of machines, under the direction of Mr. David Bell, an able English merchant, who has directed it ever since its foundation. Such an establishment is of the highest importance to the city of Ghent, the centre of the cotton manufactories, which are constantly obliged to have recourse to it, to repair their machinery.'[2]
1840 'EXPORTATION OF MACHINERY. ... At Ghent Mr. David Bell has been employed a year and a half in making machinery, &c., and employs forty-eight men. There is another establishment here, superintended by a gentleman from Dundee. Large orders have lately been received by this house from Russia. - The Phoenix Company there employ 750 men, only sixty of them Englishmen. We understand that some members of this company are at present in Manchester, anxious to avail themselves of the recent improvements made here in machinery. Such is the enterprise of foreign competitors.'[3]