	In 1842 Ford became the owner of Bryndu Colliery, Glamorgan, after the owner, Charles O'Neill, became bankrupt owing him £6,000. Ford set up a partnership with 2 of his sons – William Augustus Ford and Horace Alfred Ford – to run the colliery. The partnership was dissolved in July 1858 following an explosion in the pit that killed 12 miners. There had been a previous explosion in 1853 when 4 miners had been killed.