Anderson, Sir John (1814–1886), inventor of ordnance manufacture machinery and arsenal manager, was born at Woodside, near Aberdeen, on 9 December 1814, the posthumous child of a local merchant, J. Anderson, and his wife, Helen Hosie. His mother remarried and his stepfather, Irvine Kempt...
12
Article
Lionel Alexander Ritchie
Image
Sir Richard Arkwright (1732–1792) by Joseph Wright of Derby, 1789–90 private collection; photograph © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
J. J. Mason
Arkwright, Sir Richard (1732–1792), inventor of cotton-spinning machinery and cotton manufacturer, was born on 23 December 1732 at Preston, Lancashire, the sixth of the seven children of Thomas Arkwright (1691–1753), a tailor, and his wife, Ellen Hodgkinson (1693–1778). The family was rooted in ...
Article
Aveling, Thomas (1824–1882), engineer and manufacturer of steamrollers, was born at Elm, near Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, on 11 September 1824, the eldest of three sons of Thomas Aveling (1801–1835), a landowner, and his wife, Ann Hobson (1802–1873). The obstetric physician ...
Article
Baird, Charles (1766–1843), engineer and manufacturer of steam-driven machinery, was born on 20 December 1766 at Westertown, near Carron, Stirlingshire, and baptized Gascoigne Baird at Bothkennar on 19 January 1767, one of the ten children of Nicol Baird, superintendent of the Firth and Clyde Canal...
Article
Jonathan Brown
Bell, Patrick (1799–1869), Church of Scotland minister and inventor of agricultural machinery, was born in April 1799 at mid-Leoch, in the parish of Auchterhouse, a few miles north-west of Dundee. He was one of at least two sons of George Bell, a tenant farmer at ...
Image
Maker: unknown engraver
Patrick Bell (1799–1869) by unknown engraver, pubd 1868 (after E. Strachan) © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Bell, Thomas (fl. 1783–1784), inventor of cylinder printing in the textile industry, was probably born in Scotland. He became a copperplate-engraver and printer, and by the 1780s he was living at Mosney, then at Walton-le-Dale, near Preston, an important region of calico printing. His move to ...
Image
Samuel Crompton (1753–1827) by Samuel William Reynolds senior, pubd 1828 (after Charles Allingham) © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Crompton, Samuel (1753–1827), inventor of the spinning mule, was born at Firwood Fold, Tonge, near Bolton, Lancashire, on 3 December 1753, the eldest son of George Crompton (1726–1758) and Elizabeth Holt (1725–1799) of nearby Turton. Firwood Farm had been held by Cromptons since Tudor times; ...
Image
Sir William Cubitt (1785–1861) by Samuel Bellin (after Sir William Boxall, exh. RA 1849) © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Hermione Hobhouse
Cubitt, Sir William (1785–1861), civil engineer and millwright, was born at Dilham, Norfolk, the son of Joseph Cubitt, miller, and his wife, Hannah, née Lubbock. He was educated at Dilham village school, and also had access to the libraries of two local clergymen, ...
Article
David Johnson
Davidson, Sir Samuel Cleland (1846–1921), inventor of tea processing machinery and manufacturer, was born on 18 November 1846 at Ballymachan Farm, near Belfast, the youngest of the seven children of James Davidson (1799–1869), corn miller, and his wife, Mary Taylor (1808–1896), also of Irish stock. Until the age of fifteen ...
Article
G. J. Holyoake
revised by Philip S. Bagwell
Edmondson, Thomas (1792–1851), inventor of ticket-printing machinery, was born at Lancaster on 30 June 1792, the son of John Edmondson (1761–1846) and his wife, Jane née Skelton (1763–1832), trunk manufacturers. He was a brother of George Edmondson. His parents were Quakers and he was educated at ...
Article
Gestetner, David (1854–1939), inventor of duplicating machinery and industrialist, was born on 31 March 1854 in Csorna, Hungary, the first son of the four children of Sigmond Gestetner, a small businessman, and his wife, Theresa Figdor. He left school at the age of thirteen and in 1871 moved to ...
Article
Anita McConnell
Hall, Samuel (bap. 1782, d. 1863), cotton spinner and engineer, was baptized on 17 March 1782 at Basford, Nottinghamshire, the second son of Robert Hall (1754–1827), cotton manufacturer and bleacher, and his wife, Ann. Marshall Hall, the physiologist, was his younger brother. In 1813 ...
Article
Christopher Aspin
Hargreaves, James (bap. 1721, d. 1778), inventor of the spinning jenny, was born in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, and baptized at Church Kirk on 8 January 1721. His exact birthplace is unknown, and apart from the fact that he became a hand-loom weaver, little has been discovered of his early life. His parents had one other child, ...
Image
John Heathcoat (1783–1861) by William Holl © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Heathcoat, John (1783–1861), inventor of the bobbin net machine and lace manufacturer, was born at Duffield, near Derby, on 7 August 1783, the son of Francis Heathcote (or Heathcoat), a farmer and grazier, and his wife Elizabeth née Burton. The family moved to ...
Article
Katrina Honeyman
Holden, Sir Isaac, first baronet (1807–1897), inventor of a wool-combing machine, entrepreneur, and politician, was born on 7 May 1807 at Hurlet, near Paisley, the seventh child of Isaac Holden (d. 1826) and his wife, Alice, née Forrest. His father, a native of ...
12
