I'm a new member, hoping to find out more about the East Cornwall Silver Mining Company, specifically regarding John Connell delarue Bevan (http://www.nmrs.org.uk/publications/pdf/BM43/BM43-5-8-bevan.pdf).

John Connell de la Rue Bevan was my great-great-great grandfather. I’m currently researching my family tree and this publication contains a great deal of very interesting personal information regarding him. I'm hoping someone may be able to give me more details of his connection to the mine, or where the information in the publication may have come from so we can add this to our family records.

Many thanks in advance.

Hi, welcome to AN.

In the absence of Ali Neill I guess this falls within my bailiwick.

Like most of the silver mines in this area the East Cornwall Silver Mines was mares nest of corruption and double dealing too convoluted to go into here (and I don't have my notes to hand).

The mine started life at the beginning of the 19th century as Wheal St Vincent under the auspices of Fox & Williams who were legitimate mining men. (Their main interest in the area was Gunnis Lake mine, an important local copper mine). ECSM was an unsuccessful 1830s reworking of the Wheal St Vincent sett. The most obvious legacy of this period of working is the mine's engine house which has been converted into a dwelling. The house contained an 80" pumping engine by Harveys. The engine was a copy of the 80" designed by West for Fowey Consols. The Fowey Consols engine was the best engine of its day and one of the finest Cornish engines ever built. The ECSM engine did little real work until it was sold to the East London Waterworks Co on the demise of the silver mine. Interestingly Francis Grout was on the board of both companies (which at the very least is suspect). Whilst involved with ECSM Grout seems to have been doing some rather underhand deals regarding the sale of the small amount of ore the mine produced.

The only thing in favour of ECSM was that it was possibly less corrupt than the neighbouring Wheal Brothers and less ineptly managed than Wheal Sisters!

Parts of the sett were later reworked as Wheal Langford and Wheal Mexico.