William Sandford - papers, 1880-1932

MLMSS 350

fonds

1880 - 1932

Textual Records, Photographs

402426

2 boxes - 0.34 Meters
Textual Records
Textual Records - (carbon)
Textual Records - (typescript)
Photographs

William Sandford was born in England in 1841; he arrived in Sydney in 1883 to establish a wire-netting plant at Chiswick for John Lysaght Limited, Bristol. In 1886 he was appointed manager of the Eskbank ironworks at Lithgow for which he soon after obtained a seven-year lease. He purchased the entire Esbank Estate in 1892 and, with a government contract to supply railway parts, installed a mill to produce spikes, points and crossings, and a rolling-mill for production of galvanized and corrugated iron. A steel furnace was opened in 1900 and a blast furnace for the production of pig-iron in 1907. Sandford had formed the public company, William Sandford Ltd in 1901, but by the end of 1907 a shortage of capital forced the sale of the works to G.& C. Hoskins.
Sandford was a passionate advocate for protection of the iron and steel industry and was a leader of the Lithgow National Protection Association, active in and sometime chairman of the National Protection Union and a member of the NSW Chamber of Manufactures. He made several trips to Europe and the USA inspecting iron and steel works and was a member of the English Iron and Steel Institute. [Source: ADB, v. 11, article by John A. Perkins]

1. Diaries/notebooks, 1886-1887, 1889-1891, 1894-1901, 1903-1904 (Call No.: MLMSS 350/BOX 1)
2. Correspondence, 1880-1881, 1901-1932: letters received by William Sandford together with drafts and letter book copies of letters sent; correspondents include Sir Joseph Carruthers, James Ryan (editor, Lithgow Mercury), his son John (Jack) Sandford, an engineer living in England, William Thornley (General Manager of Eskbank Iron Works) and various state and federal politicians, newspaper editors, public servants, etc. (Call No.: MLMSS 350/BOX 1)
3. Records of Eskbank Iron Works, Eskbank Estate and William Sandford Ltd, 1886-1907,including: production, financial and employee records (Call No.: MLMSS 350/BOX 2)
4. Photographs, ca.1885-1921: portraits of William Sandford; group portrait of the Directors, William Sandford, Ltd; crowd at Eskbank railway station to welcome home William Sandford from trip overseas (early 1900s?) with Imperial Hotel in background; 'Eskroy Park', the family home at Bowenfels, near Lithgow (Call No.: MLMSS 350/BOX 2)

Ryan, James : editor and publisher (Lithgow Mercury)