Burgan’s Bubbles: The Cornish and the Silver-Lead Mines of Glentogher, Kilrean, Fintown and Loughagannon

 

Burgan’s Bubbles: The Cornish and the Silver-Lead Mines of Glentogher, Kilrean, Fintown and Loughagannon

 

Donegal is not a county noted for its metalliferous mines, but even in this remote part of North West Ireland, dubbed “Ireland’s Forgotten County,” the Cornish were actively involved in deep lode mining in the mid-nineteenth century.

The opening of silver-lead mines was a cause for some celebration for a country just emerging from the shadow of An Gorta Mór (the famine), as captured in a letter that appeared in the Londonderry Sentinel in December 1853:

“We have always had much pleasure in recording every effort, whether made by individuals or by public companies, to develop the resources of our country… When the energies of our people shall have been directed to their proper purpose, and when they are made to see what they can accomplish by their own exertions, we can scarcely calculate on the improvement that will take place in their character and comforts.”

The newspaper was referring to a letter penned by Captain William Burgan (also spelled Burgen, Burgoin, Burgoyne and variants) from the ‘Kilraine Mining Office’ and dated the 7th of December 1853. It was entitled The Mines of Donegal and was intended to canvas local support for investment in three mining ventures.

Burgan was acting Mine Agent for three small interconnected private London companies mentioned in the letter, on the generous salary of £10 a month. The mines were each divided into 20,000 shares.

A fourth mine was worked by another private London Company with Burgan as agent, and a letter seeking to attract capital investment in it appeared in the Derry Journal in May 1854.

Burgan was a Cornishman, the son of Robert Burgan and Mary Buckingham. He was born in Gwennap in about 1826, one of at least six children. His father was a copper miner and the family had spent some time living at the mining village of Latchley, Calstock, before his birth.

Burgan’s father Robert was killed aged 39 after being buried under a run of attle in the 150 fm level of the Consols Mine in Gwennap. When he did not return home after his shift, his wife ran to the mine and sounded the alarm. He was located and extricated from the fall, but expired of his injuries not long after being brought home (Penzance Gazette, 11 October 1843). 

Burgan followed his father into mining and on the 1841 census, he is shown as a 15-year old copper miner resident at Baldhu with his mother Mary and older brother John. Another brother Robert, also a miner, was already married and lived close by with his wife Susannah and their children.

In his December 1853 letter, Burgan noted that the London companies had secured the rights to work three mines: “I have at present a mine working at Kilraine [Kilrean], within a few miles of Ardara, another at Fintown, near the town of Glenties; and one at Glentogher, Quigley’s Point, near Derry.”

The fourth mine, Loughagannon, lay within two miles of Letterkenny and was opened by Burgan at the beginning of 1854. Donegal is a large county and as the mines lay some distance apart, Burgan would had to have travelled considerable distances to inspect them.

 

The mine at Fintown (also known as Glenaboghil) and Kilrean commenced work under Burgan in March of 1853. The Fintown Mine was allegedly at the south western end of a small lake, in a hollow about a mile north of Fintown, and was approached by a small track from the south east turning off the main road near Mill Bridge. It had been worked “by some English miners” prior to 1826, when it was reported on by Sir C. Giesecke. He thought it looked very promising.

Kilrean Mine is situated on the southern side of the N56 between Ardara and Glenties in a townland called Kilrean Lower.

It was reported that at the Glentoghter Mine, situated on the road between Carndonagh and Carrowkeel, shafts had been sunk as early as 1790 by an English syndicate. However, owing to the fact that the miners were allegedly intimidated by the local people, the business was abandoned and the workings were closed up. Burgan commenced to rework it in July 1853.

The Loughagannon Mine appears not to have been worked prior to the mid-1850s and lay on the southwest slope of Carn Hill near Letterkenny.

Not all Cornish mining endeavours overseas were attended with honesty, as illustrated by Burgan’s exploits in Donegal. The mines all failed and one has to suspect that the companies were largely ‘bubbles’ or scams to extract money from gullible adventurers.

Indeed, it is likely that the very remote location of the mines in a county with scant experience of metalliferous mining was deliberate, as it made it easier to perpetrate such scams. All the evidence points toward Burgan being a decidedly shady character but he found himself in the eye of a storm when he was accused of, and arrested for, financial improprieties by one of the companies.

Many of the small group of Cornishmen, named Burgan, Northey, Gray, Williams and Buckingham who worked at these remote Donegal mines, were bound together by close ties of kinship, beautifully illustrating the Cousin Jack network. And holding fast to their motto “One and All”, they appeared to close ranks to protect one of their own.

 

 

Getting There

Ships left Cornish ports for the east coast ports of Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford in Ireland, and to Liverpool where passage to Belfast or Derry was possible. The railway network in Ireland in the early 1850s was still in its infancy. Transportation would have been mainly, if not wholly, by carriage from either Belfast, Derry or one of the east coast ports.

 

 

Cornish Involvement in the Mines

In his 1853 letter, Burgan states “In the Kilraine mine we have driven a level, in mining called an ‘adit level’’ for thirty-five fathoms, on the course of the lode—(‘lode’ is what in this country is called a vein of ore) — and the lode for this distance will average four feet wide, and will yield three tons of silver lead ore per fathom, worth, at the lowest calculation, £18 per ton, or £54 per fathom. We have also sunk a shaft, ten fathoms in depth, on the course of this lode.

In sinking this shaft we discovered another lode, which was, when first seen, two and a-half feet wide, and when it was again intersected in the bottom of the shaft, that is, at a depth of twenty yards below the adit level, it was eight feet wide, and all worth £20 per fathom. We have also opened on the back of our principal lode at 100 fathoms further west, and there it appears as favourable as where we have our principal workings.”

Burgan loftily claimed the mine had every chance of future success, which might have raised eyebrows among more wily investors: 

“Now, Sir, to give your readers some idea of the value of this mine, I will just inform you that, calculating the 35 fathoms of ore we have laid open in the adit by the 10 fathoms we have sunk the shaft, it will give 350 fathoms; and this at 3 tons of ore per fathom, will produce upwards of 1,000 tons; and this, at £18 per ton, will give £18,000, for only the small extent of ground we have now laid open. I have no hesitation in stating that this mine will pay to the proprietary 100 per cent per annum on their outlay.”

The company was in the process of erecting a steam-engine of 36-inch cylinder and had built a smithy, carpenters’ shop and a Count House (mine office) for the general business of all the mines. These were reported to have been up and running.

Kilraine Mine was held under lease of 21 years from the Rev. George N. Tredennick [1796 – 1880] of Ballyshannon, subject to a royalty of one-twentieth. Burgan noted:

“I must remark that all those who may be benefitted by it are under debt of gratitude to the rev. gentleman, as only for the liberal manner in which he met the adventurers, it never would have been commenced.”

The Reverend George Nesbitt Tredennick was the Church of Ireland Rector of Kilbarron parish from 1839 until his death in 1877. He resided in the Glebe house in Kildoney close to Kilbarron Castle and also owned Woodhill House in Ardara which he willed to his younger brother, Major General James Richard Knox Tredennick.

The Tredennick’s were a Cornish family who came to Ireland at the end of the seventeenth century and established themselves at Camlin, near Ballyshannon, County Donegal. They were prominent landowners, particularly associated with Camlin Castle and Fortwilliam.

Burgan continued:
“The proprietors of the mine are W. Law, Esq., Regent’s Park, London; H. Bleckly, Esq., do; Major Roper, do; William Burgan, (formerly of Cornwall, but now of Kilraine, Ardara;) and R. R. Michell, Esq., Cornwall. The Committee, Messrs. Law, Bleckly, Roper, Watson, and Ennor. The Secretary, J. H. Minchin, Esq., and the office, 25, Token house Yard, London.

The mine was conducted on the cost-book system which Burgan noted (probably tongue in cheek) “… affords all adventurers every facility of knowing how the property stands at any moment he may wish for such information.”

The Michell referred to is undoubtedly Richard Rooke Michell of Cliff House, Marazion, a prominent Cornish merchant, tin smelter and mine owner.

Ennor is the redoubtable Captain Nicholas Hitchens Ennor, born at Perranzabuloe on the 28th of December 1796. He married a woman from Calstock in 1822, where he undoubtedly became acquainted with Robert and Mary Burgan and their family who were living at Latchley. 

Captain Ennor was a celebrated and controversial mining consultant, promoter and correspondent who was involved in mines in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and abroad, and who produced an annual investment list of mines in the press.

He spent many years living in Somerset and retired to an estate at St Teath, Cornwall. He was described as ‘a cat with nine lives’, having survived many serious mining accidents. He was a regular contributor to the West Briton and Mining Journal and held some very outlandish views on geology.

William Henry Gray was the Cornish engineer at Kilrean. He was the son of an engineer born in St Agnes in 1835. In 1850, John Burgan, William’s brother, married William Henry’s sister, Elizabeth Jane Rosalina Gray, at St Austell. Gray stated that he had known Burgan for ten years (from c1843) and spoke in the highest possible terms of him, as he was his brother-in-law.

Burgan continues in his 1853 letter:

“In the Fintown mine [Glenaboghil], we have opened an adit to take the lode in the hill for 40 fathoms in length, and have intersected the lode at that point, where it averages 1 foot wide, and produces 2 tons of lead ore per fathom, and is worth £35 per fathom. We have not worked this mine so extensively as Kilraine, in consequence of it being open at surface, and from the very inclement weather which we have had all this year; but I feel great pleasure in being in a position in which we have 20 tons of good ore at surface, which will be dressed in a few days for market, and will then cover the whole expenditure of the mine, and leave a profit to the adventurers; and there are all appearances of far greater returns, as the mine never looked as well as just now. We have erected a smithy on this mine also.”

The proprietors, committee, etc. were generally the same as in Kilraine. Fintown was held under lease from James Hamilton, Esq., of Brownhall, Ballintra, for a period of 21 years, at one-twentieth royalty. Again Burgan politely noted “I feel the greatest pleasure in thus publicly recording the liberal and kindly manner in which that gentleman has always met us.”

The final mine up in Inishowen was then described by Burgan: “It is an old mine, and was worked some 70 years ago. There have been several shafts sank [sic], and a large adit (to drain the mine) from the level of the brook to the intersection of the lode, at a point which is 25 fathoms from surface. We have cleared this up, also a good many of the shafts, and have commenced working in new ground, on new and improved methods to those previously used. At present we have a very favourable improvement in our deep adit level. The lode, in the end going north, and is three feet wide, worth £50 per fathom; in the same level, going south, we have driven through good and productive ground.”

 

 

Naturally, he gave it a glowing report:

“I have inspected and set to work very many old mines, but I never, in all my experience, saw one which had the favourable appearances this one now has; and I am certain that in six months from this date, it will be paying 50 per cent. on all outlay.”

To sound like an honest broker, he noted “It may be asked, when this mine is so good, why was it discontinued? But just think of the disadvantages it had then to labour under. The art of mining had not then arrived at that perfection it is now at. There was no public road, or proper means of conveyance, and the ore had to be carried on horses’ backs to the port of embarking, which was a distance of fourteen miles; now it is but three.”

The proprietors of the mine were W. Hunter, Esq., Newcastle-on-Tyne; W. Hoyle, ditto; W. Law, Esq., London; W. Burgan, Glenties; H. Bleckly, London; and H. Roper, Esq., county Mayo. The committee: W. Law, H. Bleckly, Major Roper, and J. H. Minchin; H. Bleckly, treasurer and secretary. It was held under lease, from the time work commenced, for 21 years from Lord Donegal.

The captain of Glentogher was another Cornishman, Elijah Northey. He was born in 1832 to Joseph Northey and Catherine Burgan, born at Calstock in 1812. She was William Burgan’s sister and Elijah was therefore his nephew.

 

 

 

Elijah grew up at Kerley Downs near Chacewater. On the 1851 Census of Population for England and Wales, he is shown as a lead miner resident at Wheal Whidden with four teenage brothers, all lead miners, and a younger brother and sister.

He moved from Cornwall to Donegal in 1853 to work at Glentogher Mine. In 1854, the Londonderry Sentinel records his marriage on 18th April at the Presbyterian Church, Carndonagh, to Isabella Kirkpatrick, the only daughter of Mr. Robert Kirkpatrick of Glentogher House. Elijah is described as a ‘Mining Captain, Silver Mines, Glentogher.’

The Loughagannon Mine was started several months after the other concerns, for in his letter to the Derry Journal in May 1854, Burgan noted it had commenced only four months previously.

The property was held under a lease for fifty-one years with dues or royalty of £1 15s, which Burgan stressed was considered very reasonable. The landlords of the property on which the mine was situated were J.D. Wood Esq. Castle Grove near Letterkenny; and William Wray Esq. of Oak Park near Letterkenny.

Wray permitted work at another silver-lead mine named Eighterross close to his house, the lease of which had been taken by one of Ireland’s most reputable mining companies, the Mining Company of Ireland, in 1851. This might have led Wray to believe that Burgan would be equally trustworthy.

In his letter, Burgan reported that the shaft at Loughagannon had been sunk about nine fathoms below the surface on the course of the lode or vein. An engine (a horse whim) was in course of erection which he claimed would would be ready within a week. He reported that the amount of expenses incurred in sinking the shaft would not exceed £100:

“I feel great pleasure in stating that we have raised silver-lead ore to the value of £400, which is now at surface. Your readers will please bear in mind that there is £300 profit in sinking this single shaft to the depth of nine fathoms. Now, if this profit is made in opening the ground in such a way as this, how much may we expect when we commence stoping or taking away each end of the said shaft? and I further state for the same amount of expenses, put in stoping or taking away each end of the said shaft, would leave a profit of £600. Now, I should very much like to know how any persons of capital could obtain better percentage for their capital than this.”

According to Burgan, the appearance of the lode in the shaft was very favourable and was 3 feet wide and worth “at the very least £20 per fathom for silver-lead.” He claimed to have laid open the course of the lode 100 fathoms in length and states that it gave every indication of being as good as that in the shaft. Moreover, preparations were in hand for dressing the ore and preparing it for market.

The potential investor gains an impression of a thriving development with every chance of great success and therefore worthy of capitalisation.

“I do not hesitate to state, without fear of contradiction, that from the present appearance of the ground laid open, the mine will pay 100 per cent. for the next ten years for the capital laid out hitherto.”

Moreover, the integrity of the enterprise was hinted at when he wrote “The proprietors of this mine have received every facility and kindness from these gentlemen; and I cannot omit to remark that there is great credit and praise due to them for the active part they have taken in carrying out the interests of the company.”

However, he also cautioned prospective investors:

“You must be aware that mining business is like every other; first, it requires a small capital; secondly, it requires time to erect the necessary machinery for pumping and other purposes; thirdly, there is a plant required for dressing and cleansing the ores raised.”

 

Burgan’s Progress

Captain Burgan boldly trumpeted at the annual meeting of shareholders of the Kilraine Mining Company in July 1854, that

“… There was not a more valuable mine to be found in Great Britain or Ireland for the small outlay which would be incurred in thoroughly developing its resources.”

A 36-inch cylinder engine “all complete” with three boilers was on its way to the mine, which ate up a significant chunk of the company’s capital. But Burgan justified this by telling the shareholders of his conviction that just three months after its operation, the company would be in the market with their ore.

It is not clear whether this was a vertical Cornish pumping engine or a horizontal one, although it was probably built to be suitable for pumping and winding (and even stamping by running an axle from it). Its provenance is currently unknown.

Four lodes had been discovered and Burgan claims that the two then working were extremely productive. Besides the Engine Shaft, there was another named Wilson’s (named for George Venables Wilson, the chairman). Labour was plentiful and men could be got for 1s 6d a day.

Burgan noted that the Great Donegal Mining Company, which was working close on the borders of the Kilrean Mine, was going on very satisfactorily. It was superintended by Francis Lisabe C.E. and captained by a Cornishman named Stephens. Burgan gave the directors and shareholders the impression that the mine was a most wonderful prospect.

In July 1854, a report in the Royal Cornwall Gazette noted that at the Kilraine Mine meeting, the accounts showed a balance in favour of the adventurers of £2842. 4s. 5d, but a call was made of 1s. per share, presumably to offset the cost of the engine and to further aid its development.

Glentogher did not deploy a steam engine, using waterpower for pumping and hoisting, but a Cornish rolls crusher house was erected on the dressing floors. This was again, a significant investment.

 

In January 1854 Burgan reported favourably on the mine in the Mining Journal:

“We commenced making our floors in order to proceed with dressing the ores, but owing to the severity of the weather all surface operations have been suspended for the last fortnight, and I am afraid with every appearance of its continuing, but I am happy to say it does not interfere with our underground working, and the consequence will be, that when we do begin to dress ores there will be a large accumulation of stuff—that which we are now raising, and that left by the old workers (which will well pay for dressing), and to facilitate which I recommend putting up a crusher as rapidly as we can, as we have plenty of water-power to work it.”

And another report was included in the same publication in March of that year:

“In the 20, north from Wilson’s shaft, the lode was 3 ft. wide, producing good work for lead; the stopes in the back were worth 1½ ton of lead ore per fm. In the 20, south from same shaft the lode is 4 ft. wide, yielding 2 tons of lead ore per fathom. They had commenced clearing up Roper’s shaft again, but they had not reached the bottom. In bringing up the water course to the wheel-pit, they had cut two new lodes; one was first-rate, the kindliest he had ever seen; it had beautiful prian, spar, and flookan by the side.”

In October Burgan reported “We have now on the mine about 30 tons of good lead ore, which I hope to be able to sample in about a month, as our dressing-floors will soon be ready.”

By December 1854, the engine house had been erected at Kilrean and the works were being pushed on, as a correspondent to the Mining Journal affirmed. But this was not under Burgan’s management, an extract from a letter of Mr Wilson, the chairman, noted:

“I have visited Kilraine twice within the last fortnight, and the work appears to be progressing. Captain Rogers has not yet returned. I was yesterday down the shaft again, and I am glad to inform you that they are now stoping a very nice lode, which appears to improve every fathom that is got out; it is running south towards Glenties, as you leave the mine. The man in charge says it will yield better than 1 ton per fm: he has likewise discovered another lode, away to the north-west of engine-house.”

And at Glentogher, Elijah Northey’s was the last report to appear in the Mining Journal, dated the 12th of May 1854:

“In the deep adit level, going north, the lode is 3 ft. wide, and producing 1 ton of lead ore per fathom. At present the lode in the stopes south of Wilson’s shaft is producing 3 tons of lead ore per fathom. The lode in the stopes south of Roper’s shaft is 6 ft. wide, and will turn out at present 3 tons of lead ore per fm. The quantity of lead ore that we have got on the mine is about 70 tons, and we can raise 50 tons per month, at present.”

Of Fintown, nothing much was reported. Indeed, a letter that appeared in the Mining Journal in 1855 probably gives a clue as to its fate:

“Can any of your readers give me any information respecting a mining company named Fintown, in Ireland, and who the directors and bankers are?—A Subscriber: March 28.”

Two reports describing activities at Loughagannon appear in the Mining Journal from the mining captain, a Cornishman named J. Williams. In December 1854 he reported that there were at least seven men at work stoping and developing the mine. There were nine tons of lead at the surface prepared for market and around seven tons more to dress.

On the first of January 1855 he reported:

“We have cut through the slide in this stope, and find the lode continues good as before, running in a north and south direction, which is of great importance to the mine, as we can open on the course of the lode at any distance, which will enable us to raise a much larger quantity of lead than before, if the lode continues productive, Our dressing operations look well.”

Devious Doings in Donegal

However, just four months later, the Loughagannon Mine was in trouble and seemed to have stopped. Its fate was to be shared by Burgan’s other concerns.

The company secretary, Fred J. Padley, announced that a special general meeting of the shareholders was to be held in London on the 30th of May to consider two reports that had been commissioned by the company and to determine whether the mine should be continued.

It had been inspected firstly on the 22nd of March by Captain Silas Evans, the well-respected Cornish mine manager of the thriving Newtownards Mines in County Down and secondly on the 20th of April 1855 by Cornishman, Edward Rogers of Kilraine Mine (about which more below). It immediately become apparent that little had been done on the mine since Burgan’s letter.

Captain Evans noted that the engine shaft was not in fork (it had been allowed to flood), and that he could not therefore examine the deepest workings. The shaft had been sunk ten fathoms from surface and the lode opened a short distance from it. The portion of the ground opened had produced from 10-12 tons of lead ore, which he supposed was still on the mine. His report entirely contradicted Burgan’s letter to the Derry Journal the previous year:

“From the whole, I entertain a very unfavourable opinion of the Mine, and I do not consider that the strata or the lode is likely to produce lead in any great quantity, or sufficient to pay the expenses of working… Holding these views respecting the concern, it only remains for me to say that I cannot recommend you to expend any more money in resuming operations; my advice is to abandon the concern. I consider it has had a fair trial, as I don’t consider the prospects warrant any further outlay. The mine may produce small quantities of lead; but the lode is not of that nature that in my opinion is likely ever to make a paying mine.”

It seems the company sought a second opinion before pulling the plug on the enterprise, and Edward Rogers came up from Kilraine with the company’s chairman, George Venables Wilson, on the day that the mining captain, J. Williams, left. Apparently, the mine had been stopped “as the agent was drinking instead of looking after the men who were working by the day.”

Rogers’s report was equally damning. He noted the presence of a whim engine on a shaft sunk nine fathoms which had been commenced on a small deposit of ore at a spot where several bunches formed a junction. However, the geology was unfavourable, for after about six fathoms in length, the mineralisation “dwindled away so small that scarcely any sign of a lode can be found.” At the surface several trials had been made but “nothing worth following had been found.” Burgan, as a miner of experience, must surely have known this.

“In conclusion I would recommend you not to spend any more money on the concern, as I do not see the least chance of any success.”

Captains Evans and Rogers had no skin in the game and gave the full unvarnished truth of the matter. Undoubtedly the shareholders who had been gullible enough to believe Burgan’s hyperbole, decided to cut their losses and wind up the concern, for we hear no more of Loughagannon Mine.

Indeed, all was not well with the other three mining companies either. As early as 1853, a farmer named John McGeehan of the Parish of Inishkeel had taken Burgan to court for non-payment of £1.5s wages, and in February of 1854, Maurice Early of the same parish did likewise, seeking to recover £1 16s incurred by driving Burgan in a horse and cart.

The court found for the plaintiffs in both cases and Burgan was ordered to pay costs. In April 1854, rather suspiciously, Burgan withdrew his money from the Bank of Ulster in Strabane and closed his account.

Potential malpractice in the Kilraine Mining Company was raised by a shareholder in Alfred Consols in Cornwall, who claims Watson and Ennor [who were on the mine’s committee], wrote him the following letter which was published in the prestigious Mining Journal in June 1855:

“London, June 14.—Sir: We hear very unsatisfactory accounts of Alfred Consols Mine, and fear that the property is rapidly declining. We, therefore, strongly recommend an exchange thereof, at 11½, which is the present market value, in favour of Kilraine, at 8s. per share. Kilraine is turning out one of the finest properties in the country, and, taking into consideration the favourable terms upon which it is held—viz., 20 years, at 1-20th royalty, together with the facility with which the ore is obtained, and the small amount of labour required, it will, in our opinion, become a most lucrative investment. For your satisfaction, Dr. Daly, of 82, Stephen’s-green, Dublin, will answer as to our responsibility and respectability.”

The letter writer signing himself ‘An Old Subscriber,’ claims he had never heard of the Kilraine Mine. Ennor and Watson were shamelessly trying to ‘puff up’ the concern by selling shares.

Burgan’s place at Kilrean was filled by a Cornishman, Edward Rogers, who was making out the reports for Kilraine Mine by March 1855, including this, dated the 6th of March, recording that the steam engine had been started:

“The engine-shaft has been sunk within the last fortnight 1fm 0ft 6in, and is now down 4 fms. 1 ft. 6 in. below the 8-fathom level, the lode in which is large, and occasionally producing good stones of ore. In the winze rising in the back of this level we are discovering the lode; I do not intend to have any lode broken until we hole and commence stoping. We have worked the engine a few strokes; all the joints appear to be right, and the different parts properly fixed. I shall begin immediately to prepare for dressing the ore.”

Captain Burgan had fallen spectacularly foul of the Kilraine company directors. On his return to Ireland from Cornwall in 1855, he was consequently arrested and in July was brought before the Hon. Baron Richard Pennefeather at Donegal Crown Court in Lifford. The accusations were fraud and theft. The full and detailed report of the two court proceedings was published in the Londonderry Standard (26 July 1855).

From this we learn that Burgan left the mines to return to Cornwall in September 1854 and the company secretary, Robert Daly, noted that the company was paying the expenses of the prosecution in the first case. He did not know of any money the company owned to Burgan, whom he was aware was claiming upwards of one hundred pounds, presumably for the advancement of several sums of money for the use of the mine, or for non-payment of wages. Moreover, he denied that the company had threatened the prisoner with a prosecution if he did not pay three hundred pounds.

In the first case, Burgan was indicted for having, on the 20th of April 1854, forged a certain quittance in the name of Daniel McDevitt, for £5 10s with intent to defraud the Kilraine Mining Company. His defence lawyer Mr Norman, claimed that the writing in the body of the cost-sheet and pay-sheet was that of the company clerk, Samuel Crawford Pearson. Burgan was in Ireland when the cost-sheet was made out, but the same could not be said as to the pay-sheet. Burgan pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Daniel McDevitt was a prominent and well-respected local businessman; the owner of a cloth company, the proprietor of McDevitt’s Hotel in Glenties and the first Master of the Workhouse. His son would become the Bishop of Raphoe. McDevitt was one of the adventurers in the mining company, having purchased over £50 of shares. He had furnished carts for Burgan’s use and had supplied various articles for the business of the mine.

In Burgan’s capacity as Mine Captain, he was required to forward the “cost-sheet” detailing the expenditure for each month to the head office of the company in London. When approved, the amount was forwarded to Burgan. After paying the money to the various parties, Burgan was bound to send a “pay-sheet” containing a signed receipt opposite every man’s name for the amount received.

It was alleged that in the cost-sheet of July, 1854, the name of “Daniel McDevitt” had been returned as having supplied lime (presumably for mortar) to the value of £5 10s and that amount had been forwarded from London to Burgan for payment. The latter had then sent back the pay-sheet, with what purported to be the name of Daniel McDevitt written across a receipt stamp in the column allotted for that purpose.

From subsequent information, the company had investigated the matter and found that no lime had been supplied by McDevitt in that month—that no money had been then paid him—and that the signature was a forgery. It was alleged that Burgan had drawn the money, signed the name, and put the cash in his pocket.

When questioned, McDevitt claimed that there had been an arrangement between he and Burgan to the effect that he was to get no money till the outstanding account for the purchase of his shares was paid in lime, etc. He alleged that some time ago, two or three gentlemen connected with the mining company had inquired whether the signature on the pay-sheet was real. He claimed he had never seen any of the pay-sheets before and could not say whether he owed the £5 10s. He swore that he never received the money and that his son Patrick kept the accounts. If Patrick said he had received the money, he would believe him.

Patrick McDevitt took the stand and attested that in July 1854, his father was indebted to Burgan in the sum of £58 10s for shares. The two had entered upon an arrangement by which Burgan was to take up the payments for lime, &c., till the outstanding amount was cleared off. He never knew his father to sign his own initials on the pay-sheet and could not say whether Burgan was in the habit of signing his father’s initials, but he confirmed that the sum had been entered erroneously as payment for lime when it was in fact for car hire, and this mistake had been pointed out to Burgan by him.

The company was due his father the £5 10s returned in the cost-sheet of July, and the sum was paid his father by Captain Burgan’s directions in December 1854. The account between his father and Burgan was finally settled during 1855.

Robert Daly, the secretary of the Kilraine Mining Company stated that the cost-sheet of July 1854 contained £5 10s as due to Daniel McDevitt for the supply of lime. The money to pay this was sent, and the pay-sheet returned, apparently with the signature of Daniel McDevitt, as having received the money.

Daly was somewhat cagey, stating that he was served with notice to produce all the pay-sheets the company had, but that he knew that these were not given up by the company when requested. Moreover, he was unable to affirm whether any of the previous pay-sheets contained a similar signature and would not say whether it was the custom of some mining captains to write the initials of men’s names to the receipts.

He believed that the signature had been made by Samuel Crawford Pearson, the clerk employed at the mines, who informed him by letter that the lime for which the £5 10s had been paid was never supplied. Daly then wrote him a letter on the 12th of September 1854, asking for the vouchers of those of the July payments not receipted in the paysheet. Samuel Crawford Pearson denied he was the one who had forged McDevitt’s signature and accused Burgan of doing it.

Burgan’s defence lawyer Mr Norman claimed that Pearson knew of the running account between McDevitt and Burgan and was ordered to put the £5 10s into the paysheet. He frequently filled the cost-sheets, and, if Captain Burgan was not at home, forwarded it for his signature. It frequently happened that one person received the payment for several, and signed opposite the name of each. He identified Burgan’s receipt for the delivery of the lime.

Norman described the case as one of the most and mysterious which had ever come under his observation. He said it was not difficult to detect the spirit which actuated those by whom the prosecution had been brought; and ridiculed the idea that a person occupying Burgan’s position would commit forgery for the paltry sum of £5 10s. It had been sworn in evidence that it was quite a usual thing for one party to sign for several on the pay-sheet. The heading of the column was simply “To whom paid,” and it was quite a common thing to sign in the way stated in Cornish mines.

Kilraine’s engineer, William Henry Gray, who spoke of his brother-in-law in the highest possible terms, confirmed the cost-book practice on Cornish mines:

“The captain of the mine usually gives the workmen orders for whatever articles they may require, in the way of groceries, &c., and stops the money at the end of the month, signing the names of the various parties.”

Norman argued that the whole thing was a wonderful piece of chicanery, but not from his client:

“It was possible that the company thought a man in the position of Captain Burgan would pay a sound sum sooner than appear in court to answer such a charge. It was foolish to think he intended forgery. There had been no effort at concealment—no imitation of McDevitt’s handwriting; and the sum was so small as to make it no object to the Prisoner to obtain it.”

Norman noted that Burgan had since left Glenties and had returned to Cornwall where he was working in a respectable mine. He was a man of means, and at the time of the incident in July 1854, had £546 4s 1d in the Ulster Bank in Strabane and therefore had no need to defraud anyone for such a ‘paltry’ sum. Burgan was quickly acquitted by the jury and left the dock without injury to his character.

The second charge of forgery was heard on the 21st of July. This time Burgan was accused of having obtained, under false pretences, the sum of £2 4s from the Kilraine Mining Company. It was alleged that he had misrepresented on the cost-sheet for July 1854 that a stonemason, George Scott, had performed a quantity of masonry work for the company in the month of July 1854. It was alleged that this work had never been executed. Scott was responsible for building the engine house at Kilrean Mine and had completed his task by May 1854, for which he was paid the final time in August. No monies were due him in July.

Robert Daly claimed to have seen George Scott’s name entered on the July cost for £2 4s and stated that the money was remitted to Burgan by cheque on the Ulster Bank, Donegal. He handed in a letter acknowledging the receipt of the money. He believed the handwriting was not Burgan’s. Burgan swore that he never saw that cheque.

When cross-examined, Daly told the court that he thought Mr. Wilson, a grand juror and a shareholder in the mines who represented Scott’s affair, had helped to find the bills in this case. The body of the cost-sheet was in Pearson’s handwriting. He claimed not to know where Burgan’s letter was. He thought that it might be in Strabane. He also claimed that the letter acknowledging the cheque was in Pearson’s handwriting and that Burgan might have been absent from the mines at the time the cheque arrived there.

When he took the stand, Pearson confirmed that he remembered preparing the cost-sheet for May and July, 1854. He saw Scott’s name entered in the July cost-sheet for £2 4s. Scott might have worked in July and he had not known about it, but thought it very unlikely. He claimed that he had only followed Burgan’s instructions and that the captain’s name appeared at the bottom. He was ordered to divide the cost-sheet among a number of parties in order to come up to the sum of £11 12s. 7d. for lime supplied by McDevitt in May.

He believed the letter acknowledging the cheque was in Captain William Burgan’s handwriting. He did not know whether Burgan received the cheque for the July costs, but he made the July sheet from an account in Captain Buckingham’s handwriting, who was “a friend of Burgan.” This was probably Cornishman, Captain William Buckingham, another relative.

Pearson ended his deposition by stating that he entered the whole of the cost-sheet by Burgan’s orders and “never told the company that Burgan had robbed them.”

Burgan’s nephew, Elijah Northey, was then called to give evidence. He deposed that Burgan was at his mine on 21 July and remained with him some days, after which he went to Londonderry and returned to him on 3 August 1854. He was handed the July cost-sheet which he swore he had seen at Glentogher, as it had been sent there for Captain Burgan.

As before, his brother-in-law, William Henry Gray, gave Burgan a good character. Another of Burgan’s nephews, John William Burgan (1836-1892) deposed that he was at the Kilraine mines in the month of July, and he saw Scott working at the engine house.

He was the son of Robert Burgan and Susannah Williams, born on 13 September 1832 and baptised at Hicks Mill Bible Christian Chapel, Gwennap. While in Donegal, he had married Ellen McHarries at Aghanunshin near Letterkenny in 1854. He later migrated to Scotland, divorced his wife on the grounds of adultery in 1868 and then married his cousin, Rosa Louisa Burgan, John Burgan’s daughter, in London in 1874. He died in Argentina in May 1892.

Burgan was quickly acquitted by the jury, despite the late and inadmissible arrival of a letter which Daly had brought from Strabane, seemingly acknowledging Burgan’s receipt of a cheque for the disputed amount. His kinsmen had wittingly or unwittingly lied on his behalf.

Unsurprisingly, with such shameful shenanigans, the London mining concerns collapsed by 1856, and Burgan and most of his kin returned to Cornwall. The Great Donegal Mining Company had also foundered by mid-1855.

The Mining Company of Ireland took on the Kilraine mine in the 1860s, but little was done. The Captain was C. Clemes, another Cornishman, but by then the Cornish involvement in the mines was at an end.

In August 1863, a commentator to the Londonderry Sentinel recalled the two previous periods of the working at Glentogher, noting that the silver-lead that was obtained was productive enough to pay for its working. During its first working, the uncrushed matter consisting of stone and all other refuse, had to be carted seven miles and then shipped by small boats on board the vessels sailing from the Foyle. The next English company planned to remedy this.

“The inconvenience and great expense of this mode of exporting the ore led to the erection of a crushing mill and they purposed to add other needful appliances, when payment of the workmen ceased, and since then the work has been abandoned. It is but justice to the county to state that faintheartedness caused the cessation of the concern in 1790, and the evil of an ill-assorted and absentee proprietary and directory led to the abandonment of the undertaking in 1855. In neither ease was it the unprofitableness of the mineral found, nor the unskilfulness of the local managers or workmen.”

Local people recalled that during the previous working, the wages of the men were not forthcoming. The Belfast Evening Telegraph reported:

“Three shafts were sunk and a crushing mill erected. Work went on for two years, but the capital of the company being slender, operations at the end of that period were suspended.”

Apparently, the workers sued the company and on foot of certain decrees machinery was seized, which was subsequently installed in the neighbourhood in connection with milling enterprises. This relates to the Cornish rolls crusher. What became of the 36-inch steam engine at Kilrean is unknown.

Elijah Northey, who had married a local girl, remained in Inishowen. But he left behind the mining industry for good, perhaps jaundiced by the dubious conduct of the mining company and his uncle’s part in it.

He settled down to a “simple quiet life” as a highly respected farmer at Glentogher House, where he raised his family. He died at Mosaphir, Belfast, of a heart complaint while visiting his son, the Rev. Joseph Northey, at the ripe old age of 82.

His body, enclosed in a handsome oak coffin, was brought by rail to Londonderry, and thence to Inishowen by carriage for interment in the burying-ground attached to Carndonagh Church, of which he was a valuable member. When the funeral party reached the district where he had spent the greater part of his long life, a cortege was formed:

“Every mark of respect was shown as it passed through the ‘Glen,’ where Northey was such a familiar figure, and on nearing Carndonagh the dimensions of the procession increased to a very large extent, comprising parishioners from all parts of Inishowen.” Londonderry Sentinel, 19 February 1914.

Caught for Fraud

It looks increasingly like Burgan had got away with fraud and theft in Donegal, never mind the shameful practice of ‘puffing’ mining companies which he must have known did not stand a realistic chance of success. Kilraine was noted to have produced a paltry 13 tons of lead ore. None of the shareholders ever received a dividend in any of his Irish mining ventures, but he had made a tidy sum as agent, over £500 (about £48,000 at 2025 value), which he squirreled away in the Bank of Ulster.

In 1856 he was up to his old tricks again, this time back home in Cornwall. On his return, he had the management of Pennance Consols Mine in Gwennap, and had been involved with Wheal Kitty at St Agnes. He had also set up a company to deal mine shares with Messrs C.H.J. Geddes at 60 Grace-Church Street in London.

 

 

The partnership did not last long, for a notice dated March the 28th 1856 published in the Mining Journal by Geddes, noted that as from that day his partnership with William Burgan alias Burgoin, had ceased. The Pennance Consols Mines, of which he was agent, also dispensed with his services due to ‘unenviable conduct’ on the 26 March, stating they would not be answerable to any debt he had incurred.

This reversal of fortune was undoubtedly on foot of another court case which tarnished his reputation and which was reported in the Royal Cornwall Gazette, (27 June, 1856).

Burgan appeared in the Court of Queen’s Bench in Westminster on the 18th of June 1856 where he attempted to sue Mr. R. Emerson, mining agent, for the sum of £20 3s and 6d, claiming that this was the amount of a bill of exchange accepted by him, and given to him for 200 shares in the Perran Wheal Mary Ann lead mine, which appeared to be yet another elaborate bubble venture.

Emerson pleaded that the bill was obtained and procured by fraud practised on him by the plaintiff. It appeared from the evidence adduced on the part of the defendant that on the 3rd of November, Burgan, by letter, engaged Mr. R. B. Lewis to sell 200 shares in the mine on his behalf, at 15s per share. On the 31st of December he again wrote to Lewis directing him to sell all his shares in the mine for £50, out of which he would pay the call of ls. per share.

Accordingly, Lewis called on Emerson with that object telling him that the mine was valuable, and strongly urged him to take up the shares. On the faith of these and other representations and particularly since the mine was then working, the defendant ultimately agreed to give £40 for the 200 shares, the same to be paid by three bills, one of £20, and two of £10 each. The bill for £20 in part payment was then handed by Lewis to Burgan, from whom he obtained a transfer of the 200 shares to Emerson who then resisted the payment of the bill on the ground of fraud.

On being examined, Emerson stated that after he bought the shares, that he had been informed that the company abandoned the mine prior to his purchase and that no work had been going on there on the credit of the company since the previous November. Indeed, he discovered that the ‘license’ to search from the mineral lord had actually expired on the 7th of January, just 16 days before he agreed to buy the shares. He believed the whole thing was ‘a perfect bubble.’

Mr. Fuller (the secretary) was called by Emerson, and produced the cost-book and cost-sheet of the mine. He proved that the original promoters of the company were Captain Clymo, Burgan, Samuel Weatherley, and himself. They had only held one meeting, on the 17th of September 1855. He had received one cost-sheet that included two months’ working to the end of November, when the concern was abandoned on the grounds of worthlessness. He had not heard of any working authorised by the company going on at the mine since, nor had a single share been transferred in the cost-book.

In his judgment, it was a worthless concern after November, and the expired license had not been renewed by the company. To his knowledge, Burgan had not paid the call made upon his shares, nor had any other shareholder.

Burgan claimed that the mine was still working, and that there had been numerous enquiries for shares at his office, some of which had been sold. He stated that he had visited the mine in January 1856, and found four men working. He had heard there was a new cost-book, but had not seen it. He had paid Captain Clymo two guineas towards the labour cost, and had given up a further sum of five guineas, which the company owed him for inspecting the mine.

This time the jury was not buying it and after a few minutes’ deliberation, returned a verdict in favour of Emerson. Captain Burgan continued to speculate in mining ventures and was based partially in London. What happened to him thereafter is not clear.

 

Postscript

By the turn of the twentieth century, Bishop Patrick O’Donnell’s public exhortations to capitalise on Donegal’s mineral wealth were echoed by politicians, as a means to bring people out of poverty.

Hugh McDevitt of Glenties referenced the closed mines at Kilrean and Fintown. In 1901, J.D. Cassidy, writing in the Derry Journal on foot of the interest in Donegal’s mineral potential and gathering specimens for a forthcoming mineral exhibition in Glasgow, noted that there was one sealed shaft on site. About twenty yards east of it, better specimens of ore lying about the surface could be found.

He noted how he had lately seen a specimen of the ore from the Kilrean mine. This was in the possession of Mr. P. J. McNelis, of the Nesbitt Arms Hotel, which he said was given to him by General Tredennick, the landlord of the townland in which the mine is situated. “I think the object was for analysis, or something of that kind… But bearing in mind that this was paying concern some forty-five years ago, when the cost of transit was enormous and tedious compared with the present, it follows that the ore must be of excellent quality.”

It was recorded in 1908 that the silver and lead mine at Glenaboghil had been let down by “defective management”. A request was made that the Congested Districts Board take it over, and that an English company “would take it.” The witness, Major James Hamilton, giving this evidence to the Royal Commission on Congestion in Ireland, added that the lead and silver ore had been carted back in the day some forty miles to Derry. The plan to reopen the mine came to nothing.

Today, the site is deeply vegetated with trees and scrub and there is no obvious footprint of the engine house or other buildings. What is marked as a “well” on the 25″ to one mile scale map, c.1900-1905, is probably one of the shafts.

Renewed interest in Glentogher came in 1905-06 when it was unsuccessfully reworked for gold, and smelting machinery was erected (see header image). The proprietors were M & J Johnson, Belfast, who mined ore with 24% lead and 9oz silver per tonne of concentrate. In 1905, 400 tonnes of lead ore and 4000 ounces of silver were extracted. In 1906, 1400 tonnes of ore were mined, containing some gold and silver.

 

 

The main adit remains open and there is a winze down to lower workings. The site contains spoil heaps and the extant remains of the Cornish rolls crusher house can be seen on the opposite side of the road from the main adit.

At Fintown all that remains on the moorland are spoil heaps and flooded surface workings.

The site of the Loughagannon Mine is concealed in forestry and there is nothing to see on the ground.

Visit the Mines

The extant remains of the mines are all on private property and permission should be requested of the relevant landowner before entering.

 

© Sharron P. Schwartz, 2025.