Henry Winter Burbury was born on February 6, 1855, at 33 Bishop Street, Coventry, Warwickshire, the son of Gilbert Burbury and Julia Emma Foy.
His father had been a mining engineer who had been working to establish mines in northern Spain, and Henry followed in his father's footsteps and also became a mining engineer and entrepreneur. The mining industry which grew up in the region extending from Galicia to the País Vasco was based largely on British capital, because at this time Great Britain needed strategic minerals which were used to raise the quality of steel for both military and non-military purposes. Entrepreneurs such as Henry had an enormous influence on Spain's entrance into the Industrial Revolution, and by using new technologies and applying new ways of entreprenurial organisation, they contributed greatly to the development of culture and industry in Northern Spain.
Henry went to Spain for the first time in 1883. He owned and managed several mining operations, mainly in the areas of Santander and La Coruña, and was co-owner of several mining companies such as San Finx Mines, in the town of Noia, where his father Gilbert lived for a period of time. The operations at this particular mine started in 1884.
In the decade from 1880 to 1890 Henry settled his residence at the San Finx Mine, where he built a house (known as Burbury House) that no longer exists, and it was while living here that he met Josefa Rois, whom he later married.
In 1888 he filed for a concession at Carbia (Pontevedra) for another tin and wolfram bed, and this concession later became the Fontao Mine.
In 1896 he sold the San Finx and Fontao mines to San Finx Tin Mines Co., Ltd.
Henry died on 20 August 1919 in the town of Arriondas in Asturias while on a trip back to England.
(My grateful thanks to Ivon Garcia Martinez for supplying me with the above information on her ancestor.)
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