Robert Hewes was an American businessman and glass-maker. He was also a teacher of the art of fencing to the élite of Boston.
Background
Robert Hewes was born in 1751 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, shortly after his parents’ arrival from London, England. His mother was Ann Rose Frye. Upon settling in America his father took up the trade of tallow-chandler. The business prospered, and upon the death of the elder Hewes Robert inherited $50, 000, a large sum of money for those days.
Education
Robert was well- educated, versatile, ambitious, and had no desire to continue solely with his father’s business.
Career
Looking through an encyclopedia, Robert noticed an account of the history and manufacture of glass, and it appealed to his imagination. Contrary to friendly advice he determined to erect glassworks and spent much time experimenting in the manufacture of glass. The stringent embargo on manufactures before the Revolution prevented him from carrying out his desires until after the war, but by that time the conditions were favorable, and glass was becoming exceedingly scarce. Accompanied by Hesse-Waldeckian impressed deserters from the British force - glass blowers in their native country - Hewes arrived at Temple, New Hampshire, in May 1780. He had selected this location because of cheap land and living conditions, an abundance of wood for fuel, ashes for potash, and near-by sand beds.
The factory was built and the furnace fired but a few times when the plant was destroyed by fire. Hewes immediately erected a new factory, but upon its completion a severe frost cracked the furnace, causing the structure to give way at the initial firing. Having exhausted his ready money, Hewes tried to interest the inhabitants of Temple 10 financing a third venture, appealing to various bodies for aid, but the former catastrophes made the citizens unwilling to assume the risk. He was finally offered a loan, but because of the rigid stipulations involved, he declined it. He next planned a lottery, but the tickets would not sell. The Hewes family then determined to return to Boston, but before they could migrate, smallpox ravaged the Hessians, and thus the precarious experiment was ended.
Hewes was still determined to make glass, however, and in 1787 he helped organize the Essex Glass Works of Boston, the General Court of Massachusetts granting the company exclusive manufacturing privileges in the commonwealth for a period of fifteen years. The buildings stood on Essex Street. Expert artisans were brought from the Duchy of Brunswick and from Glassboro, New Jersey. In 1809 the company reorganized and adopted the trade-name of the Boston Crown Glass Company. Hewes probably withdrew from the concern in 1824. It failed in 1827.
Hewes’s other interests were varied. He was part owner of a glue factory, a soapworks, and a slaughter-house. He compounded liniments and “embrocations for fractures, ’’ and, having a familiarity with surgery, gained a reputation for skilful bone-setting. He was also a teacher of the art of fencing to the élite of Boston. He published the standard Rules and Regulations for Sword Exercise of Cavalry ( 1802) and On the Formation and Movements of Cavalry (1804), and for many years he was an instructor in military tactics. At the age of seventy- five, it was said, he could wield a sword as well as any young Bostonian.
He had a charming house and garden, where he spent many hours among his flowers and peacocks. His grave is in the old burying-ground on the Boston Common.