Biography:
1. John Smith (2) - Millman - started work as a Labourer in the Corning House on the 11th November 1793, earning 1/6d per day (Supply 5/216) and continued to do so in 1794 (Supply 5/217) and 1795 (Supply 5/217).
2. On the 7th May 1794, he enlisted in the Volunteer Company (Winters, p.42) and this is confirmed in Supply 5/219 dated September 1798, which lists him as a Private who was employed as a Millman.
3. In 1795 he was employed "Setting & Drawing Stoves, etc." (Supply 5/217 dated the 24th June,1795).
4. On the 7th May 1796, Upper 15 Head Mill blew up (having also blown up the previous February), and John Smith, the Millman, "threw himself down, by which he escaped injury." (Winters, p.52). The same Mill blew up again on the 13th February 1798, but without causing injury.
5. On the 5th December 1798 Smith, together with Richard Wright, was involved in another Mill explosion which was caused by putting too much powder on the beds than was allowed.
6. He was still a Private in the Voluntary Company (Supply 5/219, dated September, 1798).
7. A signed document, Supply 5/220 dated the 2nd February 1800, relating to a Petition on Pay, showed that John Sith (2) was illiterate. It confirmed that he was working as a Millman, earning 2/-d per day.
8. Report dated the 8th May 1801 (Supply 5/221) confirmed that he was still a Millman, a married man with no children.
9. A Return of Artificers & Labourers dated the 3rd November 1801 (Supply 5/221) recorded that, although still employed as a Millman, he was cleaning and deepening the river and canals, and performing sundry necessary work.
10 Smith had apparently left the Mills by 1802, since no further entries for him could be found.
NOTE:- This John Smith, presumably, cannot be the one badly burnt when the old Corning House burnt down in June 1801, since he was fit enough to be digging in the river, etc. in November that year.
