1. Homepage
2. Life of Henry Cort
3. Cort's processes in iron manufacture
4. Cort's patents
5. Refutation of allegations of conspiracies against Cort
6. Adam Jellicoe's death
7. Henry Cort's birth
8. A navy agent's business
9. Early life of John Becher
10. Attwick & Burges families
11. "Cortship" of second wife
12. Thomas Morgan
13. Henry Cort's hoops contract
14. 1856 Accolade
15. Generosity of friends 1789-94
16. James Watson
17. Illness of Cort's son
18. Main sources of information
19. Contemporary sources
20. Navy sources
21. Chancery files
22. Publications about Cort
23. Assessment of Cort's character
24. Images of Henry Cort

25. Impeach-tranferred to 05

26. Parliamentary inquiry 1811-2
27. The furore of the 1850s
28. Society of Arts
29. Cort's first marriage
30. Henry Cort's children
31. Cort family pensions
32. Henry Cort's Hertfordshire property
33. 1791 signatories
34. Guiana and the Cort-Gladstone connection
35. Cort's twilight years
36. Memorials to Henry Cort


37. Smelting of iron
38. Fining before Cort
39. Shropshire & Staffordshire ironmasters
40. Cumbrians: Wilkinson etc
41. Early works at Merthyr Tydfil
42. The Crowley business
43. London ironmongers
44. Scottish iron
45. Cort's promotion efforts 1783-6
46. Later Merthyr connections
47. Puddling after Henry Cort


48. Gosport in Cort's day
49. Gosport administration
50. Gosport worthies
51. The Amherst-Porter network
52. James Hackman, murderer
53. Samuel Marshall
54. Samuel Jellicoe's legacy
55. Links with Titchfield
56. Links with Fareham


57. Fact, error and conjecture
58. 18th century politics
59. Law in the 18th century
60. 18th century finance
61. Religion and sexual mores
62. Calendar change of 1752
63. Shelburne, Parry and associates
64. John Becher's family
65. The Becher-Thackeray lineage
66. Thomas Lyttelton: a fantastic narrative
67. Eighteenth-century London
68. Abolition and the Corts
69. The Burges will tangle


70. Navy connections
71. Navy agent's business
72. Cort's clients
73. Ships' pursers
74. History of Adam Jellicoe
75. Dundas & Trotter
76. Cort's navy office associates
77. Toulmin & other agents
78. Sandwich & Middleton
79. The Arethusa
80. John Becher's war
81. Thomas Morgan's war
82. The 1782 Jamaica convoy
83. Sinking of the Royal George

84. Rickman & Scott: two contrasting naval careers-Missing



85. Visitors 2006-2009
86. Developement of the site 2006-2009

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87. Daniel Guion and family
88. Extremely bad academic work and extremely bad journalism

A NAVY AGENT'S BUSINESS

The earliest records mentioning Henry Cort by name are found in pension books for Navy widows at the National Archives (ADM22/75 et seq).

Widow's remittances are paid once a year, each year's remittances being recorded in a separate book (sometimes two).

Some widows delegate collection of their remittances to an attorney. One column in the book is reserved for the names of these attorneys.

In October 1757, aged 16 or 17, Cort is cited collecting widows' remittances on behalf of attorney T Bell & Co.

Such records are not suspected by earlier commentators, who rely on London trade directories. They cite 1765 for the start of Cort's career as a navy agent.

You can trace Henry Cort's rise from clerk to agent through PRO half-pay records (ADM25).

Officers, and those in special posts such as surgeons, go on "half pay" (not always half of full pay) between spells of service on ship. Once retired, they are permanently on half pay.

Those on half pay receive remittances twice a year. Each half-pay book covers one six-month period.

You find that half-pay clients of Thomas Bell move to Thomas Batty by 1761. Full-pay (ADM33) clients are then with "Batty & Cort". Later Cort describes himself as Batty's "copartner" during this period.

Though no evidence has been found, it is probable that Cort has paid for his advancement, or someone has paid on his behalf. By 1763 he is sole proprietor of the agency.

This year marks the end of The Seven Years War, when many ships are laid off and officers put on half pay. Half-pay rolls rise rapidly to around 1200.

The number of Cort's half-pay clients rises from 19 to 91. For the next ten years of peace it remains above 70; in some it exceeds 100.

It is apparent from the Navy's pay records that he is collecting pay on behalf of ships' officers and some other ranks.

It is also apparent from chancery files that he is acting as a banker. He keeps accounts for his clients and honours their "bills of exchange" (effectively cheques).

The pages on this site are copied from the original site of Eric Alexander (henrycort.net) with his allowance.
Eric passed away abt 2012
If you use/copy information from this site, please include a link to the page where you found the information.