Friday 10 February 2017

The King of Mid Cornwall- The Life of Joseph Thomas Treffry by John Keast


My research for  Luxuylan Valley talk gave me the reason I needed to fill in some gaps in the William West story by learning a bit more about J.T. Treffry ( Austen), an industrialists whose life intertwined with that of the last great Cornish Engineer. This is the definitive book on Treffry.


J.T. Treffry


"Joseph Thomas Treffry (1782-1850) has been aptly described as "a Captain of industry, master of his own economic fate, an assertive, individualist sole who pioneered the development of transportation to facilitate the exploration of his mines and marketing of the ores they produced"

His legacy includes the magnificent Treffry viaduct, Par docks, the Cornish mainline railway and the spectacular remains of 'Austen's 'engine house at Fowey Consols, a mine he developed into one of the largest copper producers in Cornwall.


The Book

This paperback of about 200 pages by John Keast was published in 1982 by Dyllansow, It is the definitive biography of the industrialist, and as such is a 'must' for anyone starting to study his life. Unfortunately the book has been out of print for some time, and its price can be ridiculously high. So it is well worth keeping an eye on the prices, and grab a copy when one turns up at a sensible price,  
 This is defiantly a book to grab if you spot a cheap copy in your local second hand bookshop.


The book on Amazon



No comments:

Post a Comment