I am an attender at Chesterfield Meeting, and have been asked by the Children's meeting to find out more about the BINNS family of Clay Cross. I have found the following from: http://www.binns.dircon.co.uk/binnsnl17.html Charles Binns (1813-1887) was a member of the Liverpool Branch of the Quaker Binns (with a seventeenth century origin at Clough Hey on the moors west of Keighley). His grandfather Jonathan II (1747-1818] practised medicine in Liverpool from 1781-1794, then became Supervisor of Ackworth [Quaker] School in Yorkshire until 1804. Retiring to Lancaster, he died there in 1812 and is buried in the yard of the Friends' Meeting House. Jonathan III (1785-1871), the father of Charles, was a land surveyor, who made a survey of Lancashire published in 1824, and wrote books on agricultural topics. Surveyors, the Quakers and Railways are topics which are closely linked, so that it is not perhaps so surprising that Charles came into contact with George Stephenson, the great railway engineer, and was engaged as his private secretary. Stephenson settled in Chesterfield (Tapton Hall) in 1838 intent on developing the mineral resources of the area. In 1837, together with his son Robert, Joshua Walmsley MP (Charles's father-in-law), George Hudson (The Railway King) and others, he established George Stephenson & Co., and Charles Binns was appointed the General Manager, a post which he held until his retirement on ill-health grounds in 1884. While Charles does not seem to have 'practised' as a Quaker, certainly his family connections with the Friends seem to have made him a 'good' employer, by Victorian standards, being especially keen to develop educational facilities for the Clay Cross area. The reverse of the coin was that in 1872 Charles announced that the assistance the Company gave to the employees and their families would be withdrawn should the men be so presumptuous as to found or join a trade union. During Charles's time as GM, the Clay Cross Company, as it was renamed, flourished, and when he died in 1887, he was a wealthy man. His assets were mainly placed in a trust for the benefit of his wife and three surviving daughters - there had been four daughters originally, but no sons. The trust was still in existence at least as late as 1931, paying out its income as prescribed by Charles in his will. I wonder if anyone can give me any more information on this family? John -- John Rouse -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 265.7.2 - Release Date: 21/01/05