Henry Schneider

Henry William Schneider (12 May 1817 – 11 November 1887) was a British industrialist, and politician, who played a leading role in the development of the new town of Barrow-in-Furness. Biography Henry Schneider was the son of John Henry Powell Schneider, of Swiss background. He arrived in Barrow-in-Furness in 1839 as a speculator and dealer in iron. He took over the Whiteriggs iron mine and other ore deposits. His breakthrough in Furness was the discovery of the massive Burlington iron ore mine near Askam in 1851. He and other investors including James Ramsden founded the Furness Railway, the first section of which opened in 1846. He decided to build furnaces in the town, in partnership with John Hannay. Schneider's iron company later merged with one founded by Ramsden to form the Barrow Hematite Steel Company and the two magnates oversaw the construction in 1859 of what was then the largest Bessemer process steelworks in the world, employing more than 5,000 workers.