A year before this accident John had reached a turning point in his career. He was out of his apprenticeship but finding it very difficult to get a clear answer from his employers about any future he might have with the firm.
On 28 May 1846 he wrote a long chatty letter to his mother, who was away from home visiting his sister Ellen Tubbs, giving her the news from home and all about the latest developments at work
Well now, dearest Mother, since you went away I have been very anxiously trying a new move respecting business.
He had seen an advertisement for a manager for extensive slate quarries but on finding out that the quarries were in Ireland, that there had been a great number of applicants and that he had no real hope of getting the post, he had decided to drop the plan. But it had proved useful in another way. Needing a referee, he had given the name of Mr Thomas Eskrigge (1800-58), the managing partner at Kershaw & Leese – he must have come to know him pretty well during the work on the India Mills.
Naturally, he had to tell Mr Eskrigge of this and so, as he told his mother, he explained to him that it was
no longer worth while to remain with W. and B. He expressed the utmost surprise that I should wish to leave or that they should allow me to go and said "Have you tried the old folks hard up?" I told him I had gone as far as my delicacy would permit. In the course of a long conversation he showed considerable interest in my position, said that he should himself tell Mr Wren that it would be unwise to part with me, and I could perceive that he knows much better than I supposed the state of affairs between Wren and Bennett.
John decided to write to Mr Wren
and submit some definite proposition to him in which I hope to get a decisive answer which I find I can never get in conversation.
He thought Henry Wren junior was in favour of him staying with the firm and he knew that
It is Mr Bennett who stands most directly in my way – at the same time that he likes me better than the others do. in fact Mr Wren has never expressed a word of satisfaction at anything I have ever done. I told Henry plainly that I was looking out for another situation or rather that I had one in view and that I certainly would not stop unless they put me on a different footing, both as regards position and pay.
I tell you all this, dearest Mother, because I know how much interested you ever have been and ever will be in every concern of mine and it is not the first time we have talked over such matters. I feel the necessity for seeking Divine direction and council and doubt not that whatever the result may be, whether agreeable or adverse, that it will be for good ultimately.
So John wrote a careful letter on 10 June 1846 to Mr Wren senior, who had indicated in the past that a future partnership was possible but that, while Mr Bennett stayed in the business, no definite plan could be made. John stated plainly and politely that he was willing to wait on that chance but that in the meantime he expected to be paid, pointing out that
You will see that, in giving a premium of £100 and receiving no wages for above five years, my position is at least £45 a year worse than that of an apprentice who is bound on the usual terms with the expectation of ultimately becoming a journeyman. Besides which, it seems that, with the education I have received and my acquaintance with your business connection, I might be much more usefully employed and with more satisfaction to all parties than to continue working as a journeyman millwright.
Within weeks, he had an interview with Mr Wren and Mr Bennett and matters were arranged. Eighteen months later, in January 1848, John used his inheritance from his father John Lomax to buy a share in the partnership of the firm.
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