William Humfrey

William Humfrey was an English goldsmith and assay master of the Royal Mint who is noteworthy for his attempt to introduce brass production to England and contribute to the development of the English mining industry.

Little is known about his early life before 1560 when he was officially registered as a member of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in London. In 1561 he was appointed Assay Master at the Royal Mint responsible for the weight of silver and for production standards.

In 1563 he obtained a patent from the Queen for the mining of various ores and the extraction from their ores in partnership with Christoph Schütz, the German expert in brass manufacture originally from Saxony. They exploited copper and silver ore and manufactured cannons and household wore from copper, in addition to which they produced iron wire. In 1564 built England's first blast furnace at Tintern. In 1566 they brought specialists in the manufacture of brass to England, but they faced technical difficulties and eventually had to limit themselves to production of iron wire.

These rights for the “manufacture of brass, brass and iron wire, battery (the hammering of metal into plates and utensils), and introduction of new mining and smelting technology” were transferred to the Company of Mineral and Battery Works in which he and Schütz were leading shareholder.
At the beginning of the 17th century, the activity of company declined as the yield of the mines was much more less than was expected actually.