Abraham Darby was born in
Coalbrookdale,
Shropshire, in 1750, the eldest son of
Abraham Darby the Younger (1711–1763) by his second wife,
Abiah Maude, At age thirteen, Darby inherited his father's shares in the family iron-making businesses in the Severn Valley, and in 1768, aged eighteen, he took over the management of the Coalbrookdale ironworks. He took various measures to improve the conditions of his work force. In times of food shortage he bought up farms to grow food for his workers, he built housing for them, and he offered higher wages than were paid in other local industries, including coal-mining and the potteries. He built the largest
cast iron structure of his era: the first
cast-iron bridge ever built, as a crossing over the
Severn near Coalbrookdale. The bridge made it possible for the village of
Ironbridge to grow up around it, with the area being subsequently named
Ironbridge Gorge. In 1776 Darby married Rebecca Smith of
Doncaster, and they had seven children, of whom four survived to adulthood. He died in
Madeley aged only 39 and was buried in the Quaker burial ground in Coalbrookdale. His sons Francis (1783–1850) and Richard (1788–1860) both worked in the
Coalbrookdale Company. ==Tributes==