Editing Benjamin Outram (section)

==Life==
Born at [[Alfreton]] in Derbyshire, he began his career assisting his father [[Joseph Outram]], who described himself as an "agriculturalist", but was also a land agent, an enclosure commissioner arbitrating in the many disputes which arose from the [[inclosure act]]s, an advisor on land management, a surveyor for new mines and served as a turnpike trustee.

In 1792 his neighbour George Morewood died and left his estates to [[Ellen Morewood]]. She was mining under Outram land. Over the next nine years the Outrams engaged in a legal battle with her. Land had been sold to them by the Morewoods but Ellen believed that she still had the rights to the coal and ironstone beneath them. James and Benjamin Outram disagreed and they appealed and in 1803 the [[Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales|Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench]], [[Lord Ellenborough]] agreed with them.<ref name=ok>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-109611|title=Morewood [née Goodwin], Ellen (bap. 1741, d. 1824), colliery owner and ironstone extractor {{!}} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/109611|access-date=21 March 2020}}</ref>

In 1803 he had a son, [[Sir James Outram, 1st Baronet|James Outram]], who became a general in the Indian Army and was later knighted.

He died of a "brain fever" (a term used for several illnesses including meningitis and encephalitis)<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/317243 |access-date=2024-10-15 |journal=JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association|doi=10.1001/jama.1952.02930330011004 |title=Brain Fever |date=1952 |last1=Casamajor |first1=Louis |volume=149 |issue=16 |pages=1443–1446 |pmid=14945945 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> while visiting London in 1805.  After his death, and some considerable litigation, in 1807 Benjamin Outram and Company was renamed the [[Butterley Company]].<ref>{{cite ODNB| first=Philip| last=Riden| chapter=Outram, Benjamin (bap. 1764, d. 1805)| title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography| year=2004| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/20959| url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/20959| accessdate=14 November 2009}}</ref>

[[File:The grave of Margaret Outram, St Johns, Edinburgh.JPG|thumb|The grave of Margaret Outram, St Johns, Edinburgh]]
After his death, his wife Margaret (1778–1863), daughter of [[James Anderson of Hermiston|James Anderson]], wrote that Outram "was hasty in his temper, feeling his own superiority over others. Accustomed to command, he had little toleration for stupidity and slowness, and none for meanness or littleness of any kind."

In spite of his prowess, Outram's wife and family were for a while reduced to near poverty after his death until his liabilities could be settled through the courts.<ref name="BB">{{cite book |last1=Christian |first1=Roy |title=Butterley Brick: 200 Years in the Making |date=1990 |publisher=Henry Melland |isbn=0907929192 |pages=45–9}}</ref> She died in [[Edinburgh]] and is buried in [[Church of St John the Evangelist, Edinburgh|St John's churchyard]] in one of the lower terraces.