Agricultural History Review, Volume 64 Part 1 (2016), pp. 38–53

The agricultural implement makers were among the most energetic entrepreneurs in Victorian Britain. They combined the traditional trades of iron-founding and blacksmithing with modern production techniques and marketing; the agricultural and industrial revolutions were both epitomized in their work. Recent general surveys of the industry have highlighted their growth and impact as a group. Despite this, very few studies have been made of the individual firms. This article examines the progress of one family of Shropshire implement-makers, the Corbetts, who set up competing firms in Wellington and Shrewsbury. Operating during a period of agricultural depression, the Corbetts had to deploy all the talents of modern industrialists in order to hold their own in a fiercely contested marketplace. 

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