Gabriel de Solages (19 August 1711 – 28 July 1799) was a French soldier and industrialist. After serving in Italy, Germany and Bohemia he began exploiting coal mines on the family property near Carmaux in the Tarn department of southern France.
To make use of surplus coal he opened a glass bottle factory and an iron works, and also opened a factory to make shipbuilding supplies.
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Early years
The Solages family is mentioned in documents from 1028.
In 1724 they gained large landholdings in Carmaux by marriage.
Gabriel Charles, chevalier de Solages, seigneur de Saint-Benott et de Blaye, was born on 19 August 1711 at Vailhauze, Saint-Affrique, Aveyron.
He was the son of François-Paul de Solages, Marquis de Carmaux in Albigeois, and his second wife Isabeau Catherine de Galatrave.
His elder brothers were Antoine-Paulin de Solages (1706–78), Marquis de Carmaux and François-Paul (1707–73), Comte de Solages.
Gabriel de Solages was intelligent and energetic.
He was received as a page of the king on 15 September 1729.
He campaigned in Italy with his brothers as a lieutenant in the Royal-Carabineers regiment, and later fought in Germany and Bohemia.
He rose through the ranks, becoming mestre-de-camp for a brigade of carabineers.
On 13 October 1749 he married Marie de Juillot de Longchamps, daughter of Jean-François de Juillot de Longchamps, equerry, and of Françoise de Guyot.
Coal mines
A royal decree of 14 January 1744 let the government grant concessions to private individuals to exploit the subsoil.
At this time industry was developing in France and coal was an attractive alternative to increasingly scarce wood.
Gabriel's brother, the marquis Antoine Paulin, received a concession in 1747, and again in 1748.
Gabriel recalled that "since the disarray of my brother's affairs made it impossible for him to make better use of this new authorization than he had made of the first, he engaged me to take it over". Gabriel agreed, with the consent of his mother, to become the head of the mining operation.
Gabriel de Solages quickly suspended the work at the existing Mon-Talba mine because air did not reach the bottom of the galleries and started a new mine.
The 1744 regulation stated that mine shafts could be no more than 8 feet (2.4 m) wide at their opening, which was inadequate.
Gabriel asked for permission to make wider shafts with a rectangular cross-section with ladders attached to the walls for use by the miners and a separate chimney through which air could be blown into all the galleries.
He braced the galleries with wood and cement structures to prevent collapses, and took precautions to prevent flooding.
He encountered a layer of high quality coal in the new mine at a depth of 320 feet (98 m).
He suspended work and, with government permission, visited coal mines in the north to obtain further knowledge, and brought back a colony of experienced Flemish miners.
Glass works
To make use of the coal Solages established a glass factory, and sent for glass workers from Bohemia and Saxony.
The factory was licensed by a decree of 2 May 1751.
It was opened in a ceremony on 20 April 1754 with the assistance of the curé of Carmaux, who lit the first fire, and two other priests.
The glassworks were in a building beside the chateau with two furnaces, only one of which operated at any time.
There were four store-rooms for the bottles, a room for the ashes, one for sand and one for earth.
There were other shops for grinding stones, for blacksmiths and for carpenters.
The workers were housed in a separate building.
The constituents of the glass were placed in crucibles in openings in the furnace and melted by the coal fire.
A team of four glassworkers stood at each opening making the bottles.
At first there were five teams, including one to replace sick or absent workers.
In 1758 the 20 workers made 200,000 bottles, which were sold in Montauban, Toulouse and Bourdeaux.
He had planned to also make windows, but after three years he abandoned this attempt due to competition from factories in the Lyonnais.
By 1789 the glassworks employed 62 workmen and produced 500,000 English-style brown bottles annually.
Other activities
Solages had a brick factory built near the glassworks and started an iron smelting furnace, to be supplied by the mines at Alban.
Solages also operated a factory for shipbuilding materials.
Gabriel de Solages was made a brigadier of cavalry on 16 March 1767.
He was appointed the king's commanding officer in Albigeois on 15 November 1770.
He was promoted to maréchal de camp on 1 March 1780.
Gabriel de Solages died on 28 July 1799 at the Château de La Verrerie, Carmaux, at the age of 87.
His son Francois-Gabriel de Solages (1752–1834), took over the family business.
His wife died in October 1827 at 103 years of age.