Goldney family

[2] A 17th-century ancestor, also named Gabriel and a noted Freemason, left bequests in his will to provide "greatcoats for six poor inhabitants".

In the same year, Thomas married Mary Clements, set himself up as a grocer, and moved to a property on the High Street near Bristol Bridge.

From 1688 he took over the family grocery business, but also invested in other ventures, including: merchant ships; farmland at Elberton; as well as acting as an agent for the Collector of Customs for the Port of Bristol.

[5] Thomas became the principal shareholder for Captain Woodes Rogers' voyage on the Duke and her sister ship Dutchess.

Rogers' crew rescued the real-life Robinson Crusoe, Alexander Selkirk, from Juan Fernandez island.

In 1711, Woodes Rogers returned to Bristol, and for an initial investment of £3,726 Thomas received payments £6,800, a huge amount by today's standards.

[6][better source needed] From 1723, Thomas began to retire, initially developing Goldney House and surrounding lands, and then from 1725 taking a two-month tour of Europe, from which he returned afresh to make more adjustments to his property.

His father trained him in accounts, enabling him to become an assistant bookkeeper at Coalbrookdale after the death of Abraham Darby I. Thomas III resultantly became involved as an investor in a number of businesses, including: the Willey furnace, across the River Severn from Coalbrookdale; the Bersham furnace near Wrexham; and the Warmley Works of William Champion, which produced copper, brass, spelter and utensils.

A successful venture, it led to Thomas investing in other mines at Kellyn, Whitford, Devon, Cornwall and Ireland.

After the opening of a second furnace on the same site, and a third at Ketley, Thomas III and Darby II agreed to integrate their works through development of a wagonway.

In 1724 the earlier house was partially demolished to be replaced by a grander building, possibly built by George Tully.