Duncan Shaw: Engineer turned religious activist

The British mining legacy in Andalucía has had profound effects on the region, with Duncan Shaw (1819-1885) being one of the main protagonists of this nineteenth century industrial boom.

In 1848, Shaw co-founded the Guadalcanal Silver Mining Association in Seville. After this failed to bring in the profit expected, Shaw turned his attention to Linares, in Jaén. Here, in 1849, he bought the Pozo Ancho lead mines. New infrastructure, especially railways, were built in accordance with the mine's success. In fact, María Soledad Gómez Navarro, from the University of Cordoba, considers Shaw to be the most influential person for the layout of Andalusian railways. The lead smelter at Pozo Ancho was eventually relocated to Cordoba, with Shaw made manager.

He was deeply involved in local life here. He married Concepción Moreno, and to this day, his family remains in Spain. Shaw was one of the co-founders of the Círculo de la Amistad, a cultural centre in Cordoba city, still home to an impressive library and a collection of paintings.

But Shaw's life in Cordoba was not without controversy. At a time where religious freedoms were still limited in Spain, he was an advocate for Protestant rights. An article he penned in a local newspaper in 1869, supporting freedom of religion, sparked local debate which even reached the Pope in Rome.

His defence of Protestantism did not stop there. Shaw's will states his desire for his children to have a Protestant education, and he founded the province's first Protestant cemetery for his British workers. Among the notable people buried here was Francis William Topham, whose art illustrated the works of Charles Dickens and Thomas Moore. This cemetery no longer exists.

Shaw died in 1885. The location of his grave remains a mystery, though it is thought to be either in the cemetery of San Rafael or of La Salud, where his wife lies. In 2008, a roundabout was named in Shaw's honour in the Chinales district of Cordoba city, next to where his smelting plant and the Protestant cemetery once stood.