Updated November 2016.
Trained men and apprentices contributed greatly to the Industrial Revolution but it must be remembered that the majority never had never studied at university or enjoyed any significant period in a school education. The majority of these remarkable individuals came through the apprenticeship route, taught themselves or gained their experience in the work place. Many possessed a natural innate ability to solve engineering problems. The Industrial Revolution owed little to education systems or to direct action from the state. It is also interesting to note how many of these individuals were from Scotland.
A good example is the development of machine tools. The key players were Joseph Bramah, Joseph Clements, Henry Maudslay, William Muir, Richard Roberts and Joseph Whitworth . All started as manual workers but made their engineering contribution through the application of geometry, a working knowledge of metals, and the gradual improvement in precision, accuracy and replication of machine tools.
In addition people like Telford and Maudslay also trained many individuals through apprenticeships who then went on to make their own discoveries and inventions including Joseph Clement, Joseph Whitworth, Richard Roberts and James Nasmyth.
The list is by no means complete and some current entries are incomplete but I intend to add more detail as my researches continue.
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Individual
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Dates
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Discoveries/Other Achievements
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Education/Training (if known) and/or occupation
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John Anderson
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1726-1796
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Scottish educator. Established weekly classes for mechanics/artizans basis of the Mechanics’ Institutions. The Andersonian/Anderson Institution created after his death for which he left money in his will. (See biography on this website).
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Educated at Glasgow University.
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John Astbury
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1688-1743
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Pioneering potter and researcher.
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August Applegath
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1788-1871
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Printer improved the steam-powered flat-bed press.
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Richard Arkwright
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1732-92
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Industrialist and inventor. Automatic spinning frame (1769)
Some times referred to as the Father of the Industrial Revolution.
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Apprenticeship but mainly self taught. Started a successful career as a barber specialising in dyeing hair. Became interested in spinning and his frame invention was financially supported by Strutt and Need a Nottingham manufacturer.
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| Henry Edward Armstrong | 1847-1937 | Chemist and strong advocate for improvements to science teaching more focussed on investigation and exploration. | Royal College of Chemistry and Leipzig University. Professor of Chemistry at Finsbury Technical College. |
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William Armstrong
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1810-1900
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Industrialist and inventor. Hydraulic engines, cranes and swing bridges and then ordnance manufacture
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Articled solicitor but turned to engineering
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William Arrol
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1830-1913
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Scottish engineer. Built viaducts and railways.
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Apprenticed blacksmith. Studied mechanics and hydraulics at night school.
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Joseph Aspdin
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1779-1855
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Bricklayer and inventor. patented Portland cement.
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Stonemason by trade.
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William Edward Ayrton
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1847-1908
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Educator, engineer and inventor
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Studied mathematics at University College, London. (see biography on this website).
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Charles Babbage
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1791-1871
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Mathematician/Inventor /writer including calculating machines/founder of Royal Statistical Society, Astronomical Society and the British Association/ophthalmoscope/railway signals
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Cambridge university
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John Fredrick La Trobe
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1810-1989
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Water engineer
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Henry Bell
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1767-1830
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Engineer. Steam boats – first passenger-carrying steamboat in European waters.
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Apprenticeship/millwright/stone mason/carpenter
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Patrick Bell
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1799-1869
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Invented the first successful reaping machine
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Trained as a clergyman.
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Henry Bessemer
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1813-98
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Pioneer metallurgist, military ordnance, inventor and business man. Bessemer steel converter 1756
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Self taught and learnt metallurgy in his father’s foundry
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Edward John Bevan
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1856-1921
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English industrial chemist. Patented the viscose process for rayon manufacture.
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Studied at Owens College, Manchester.
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William Bickford
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1774-1834
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Inventor. Miner’s safety fuse (1831)
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Apprenticeship/leather worker
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J G Bodmer
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1786-1864
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Inventor. Pioneer of the assembly line. Major contributions to a wide range of machines using steam, water to drive textile mills armaments and locomotives. Founded the Chorlton Mills in Manchester
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Swiss born and a skilled mechanical engineer
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Matthew Boulton
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1728-1809
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Inventor. Steam engine technology. Manufactured many metal products including buttons, coins, and clocks. With James Watt opened a steam-engine factory in Birmingham. Developed steam-powered coin minting machine.
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Local grammar school thenan academy in Deritend, Birmingham. Brilliant business person who factory offered many good opportunities to apprentices and employees. Worked closely with James Watt
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Joseph Bramah
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1748-1814
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Inventor. Water closet (1778)/Safety locks (unpickable/hydraulic press/fire engine and a beer machine for use in pubs. Also invented a machine for printing bank notes
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Apprenticeship to village carpenter. Became a cabinetmaker in London. He went on to train many other mechanics and inventors including one of the first proposals to create a screw-propeller.
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Thomas Brassey
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1805-1870
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English engineer. Designed and built viaducts and railways.
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Articled as a land surveyor.
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James Brindley
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1716-72
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Engineer and canal builder e.g. Trent and the Barton aqueduct; discovered the process of puddle clay linings to canals. Mersey canal started in 1766
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Apprenticeship as a millwright and self taught but possessed an instinctive ability for engineering.
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Robert Brown
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1773-1858
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Scottish botanist discovered the ‘Brownian motion effect’ and a plant hunter.
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Educated at Aberdeen and Edinburgh.
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel
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1806-59
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Engineer and inventor. Railway/ship engineering/bridge and tunnel building
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Attended boarding school then to a school in France (College of Caen) and the Lycee Henri Quatre in Paris and gained valuable work experience with Maudslay and Son and Field.
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Henry Brunner
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1838-1916
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Chemist
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Educated at father’s school – then Zurich Polytechnic. Became chief chemist at John Hutchinson’s Works.
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Edwin Beard Budding
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1796-1846
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Inventor of the lawn mower.
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Mary Carpenter
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1807-1877
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English educationalist and reformer. Founded a ragged schools.
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Trained as a teacher.
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Edmund Cartwright
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1743-1823
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Inventor. Power- loom (1787)/Wool-combing machine
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Oxford – trained at Wakefield and Oxford for the church. Became interested in weaving and with other craftsmen developed the power-loom.
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Henry Cavendish
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1731-1810
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Pioneering investigator in electricity, discovered hydrogen. Torsion balance to determine the mean density of the earth
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Cambridge but left without a degree. Conducted research very much alone. Cavendish Laboratory established in 1871 in his honour.
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George Cayley
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1773-1857
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Amateur scientist and aviation pioneer. Developed the first successful glider.
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Tutored privately by George Walker.
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William Chapman
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1749-1832.
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Canal engineer.
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Charles Chubb
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1772-1846
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English locksmith/business man. Improved ‘detector locks’ Ran a hardware business.
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Samuel Clegg
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1781-1861
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English inventor. Worked with William Murdock/Murdoch on gas illuminations systems. Invented a number od appliances for gas fittings e.g. meters, valves etc.
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Apprenticed at Matthew Boulton and James Watt works. Taught by John Dalton.
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Dugald Clerk
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1854-1932
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Scottish Mechanical engineer. Gas engine designer.
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Studied at Anderson’s College, Glasgow and Leeds to because a chemical engineer.
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John Clement
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Invented the metal-plning machine and improved lathe design. Engineer to Charles Babbage
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Attended a local village school for a short period. Apprenticed thatcher and slater.Later worked for Bramah Maudslay
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Joseph Clement
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1779-1844 |
A tool maker. Worked with Joseph Braham at Henry Maudslay’s factory. Improved engineering standards by inventing screw threads e.g. a planning machine patented in 1825. and a constant speed lathe which was patented in 1827.
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Apprenticed tool maker.
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William Congreve
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1772-1828 |
English scientist. Controller at Woolwich Laboratory. Invented the ‘Congreve rocket’.
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Educated at the Woolwich Academy.
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William Cookworthy.
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1705-1780. |
Chemist
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Henry Cort
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1740-1800
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Navy agent and Inventor e.g. the Cort process converting pig iron into wrought iron patented in 1783/84
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Naval agent/clerk where he managed a forge in Gosport Hampshire where is researched processes and invented the puddling process.
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Thomas Russell Crampton
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1816-1888
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English engineer. Designer of locomotives and installed the first cross channel cable.
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Richard Crawshay
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1739-1810
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Introduced Cort’s puddling process.
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Apprenticeship
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James Croll
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1821-1890
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Scottish physicist and geologist. Pioneer in climate science and geology.
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Elementary school-self taught. Millwright, keeper at the museum of Anderson’s College.
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Samuel Crompton
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1753-1827/8
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Improved the Spinning Mule (1779) which was across between Hargreaves spinning jenny and Arkwright’s water frame.
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Well educated but with no mechanical training largely self-taught
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Joseph Crosfield
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1792-1844
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Soap and chemical manufacturer in Warrington.
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Quaker education – then apprenticed as a druggist and chemist in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
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William Cubitt
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1785-1861
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Civil engineer. Canal/railways. Invented the treadmill and involved in the construction of the Great Exhibition Hall 0f 1851.
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Apprenticeship worked as a miller, cabinet- maker and a millwright until 1821 when he went to Ransome’s factory near Ipswich.
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John Curr.
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1756-1823.
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Railway/tram engineer.
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David Dale
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1739-1806
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Scottish industrialist and philanthropist. Successful line business. Employed hundreds of pauper children.
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Apprenticed to a weaver.
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John Dalton
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1766-1844
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Atomic theory (1808), scientific experimenter invented the hygrometer. Tutor at New College Manchester in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy.
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Basic school education (Quaker).
No formal education.
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Abraham Darby
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1678-1717
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English iron master. Founded the Bristol Iron Company. His son A. Darby 2 (1711-1763) and his grandson 3 A. Darby (1750-1791) followed him in the iron industry. Darby 3 built the world’s first iron bridge in 1779. Converts furnace to smelt iron with coke instead of charcoal.
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Erasmus Darwin
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1731-1802
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Physician. Founded the Derby Philosophical Society/Lunar Society member
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Cambridge/Edinburgh
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John Davenport.
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1765-1848.
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Potter and manufacturer.
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Humphry Davy
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1788-1829
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Chemist and physicist. Professor of Chemistry at the Royal Institution. Discovered potassium and sodium and established the science of electro-chemistry.
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Penzance Grammar School then apprenticed to a surgeon-apothecary.
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Henry Deacon
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1822-1876
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Chemist and Industrialist. Invented apparatus for grinding and smoothing glass.
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Quaker education then apprenticed to a local engineering group Galloway and Sons and the Nasmyth, Gaskell and Company.
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James Dewar
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1842-1923
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Scottish chemist/physicist. Invented the Dewar flask and discovered cordite.
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Educated at Edinburgh University.
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Bryan Donkin
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1768-1855
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English engineer and inventor. Developed automated paper making machines. Patented rotary printing machine. Improved food preserving techniques.
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Apprenticed as a mechanic.
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Thomas Drummond
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1797-1840
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Engineer and surveyor. Invented LIMELIGHT known as Drummond light. Improved the heliostat used in surveying.
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George R Elkington.
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1801-1865
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Inventor pioneered electroplating. later opened a copper-smelting works in South Wales.
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Apprenticed at a Birmingham small arms factory
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William Fairburn
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1789-1874
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Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer, railways and shipbuilder. Invented steam excavator and sausage making machines.
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Apprenticed as a millwright in Newcastle upon Tyne. Befriended G. Stephenson.
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Michael Faraday
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1791-1867
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Physicist and chemist. Pioneering electrical engineer; invented amongst other items the electric motor, transformer and the dynamo. Director of Chemical Laboratory Royal Institution.
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Self-taught apprenticed to a book binder. Worked with Humphry Davy and succeeded Davys chair of chemistry at the Royal Institution famous for the Christmas lectures
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Samuel fellows
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1687-1765
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Framework knitter and textile manufacturer and researcher.
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James David Forbes
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1809-1868
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Scottish physicist and glaciologist.
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Self-taught and then entered Edinburgh University.
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William Frankland
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1825-1899
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Brilliant chemist
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Lancaster Royal Grammar School then apprenticed as a druggist in Lancaster – then assistant at the chemical laboratory of the British Geological Society (Lyon Playfair was director (see biography on this website)). Marburg and Giessen.
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Holbrook Gaskell
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1813-1909
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Industrialist
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Educated at private school and then apprenticed clerk in the Yates, Cox Company – an iron merchant and nail makers. Formed a partnership with James Nasmyth.
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Holbrook Gaskell (2)
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1846-1919
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Chemical industry
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Educated at Owen’s College Manchester
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Holbrook Gaskell (3)
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1878-1951
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Chemical industry
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William Gossage
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1799-1877
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Chemical manufacture- soap. Patented an alarm devise which could be attached to a watch or clock
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Apprenticed to his uncle as a druggist and chemist – studied chemistry and French.
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James Henry Greathead
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1844-1894 |
Inventor – born South Africa. Designed the ‘Greathead shield’ used in drilling tunnels and subways.
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Apprenticed as a civil engineer.
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Samuel Greg
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1758-1834 |
Irish man after moving to England built the Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire. He established a small school within the factory complex. The mill is now a fascinating museum. Active in the Mechanics’ Institution movement.
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James Hargreaves/Hargraves
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1719-78
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Inventor. Spinning loom (1764)
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Little formal education/self-taught. Worked as a weaver and carpenter.
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Thomas Hancock.
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1786-1865.
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Rubber engineer and researcher.
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| Joseph Hall | 1789-1862. | Iron founder and experimenter. | |
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John Harrison
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1693-1776
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Inventor and horologist. Clocks/Chronometer. Invented the gridiron pendulum and the remontoir escapement.
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Little formal education/self-taught
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Thomas Hawksley
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1807-1893.
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Water engineer.
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Apprenticed to an architect.
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William Hedley.
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1779-1843.
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Railway engineer.
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John Heathcoat
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1783-1861
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Inventor of a lace, ribbon and net –making machine
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Apprenticeship (Knitting machines)
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Alfred Holt
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1829-1911
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Engineer, ship owner and merchant.
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Robert Hunt
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1807-1887.
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Government School of Mines and Experimental Physics . |
No formal education. Apprenticed to doctor in London. |
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John Hutchinson
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1825-1865
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Chemist and Industrialist.
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Educated in Paris.
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William Jessop
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1745-1814
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English civil engineer. Canal and railways
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Pupil of John Smeaton.
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James Prescott Joule
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1818-1889.
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Physicist and researcher . Thermodynamics.
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Private tutor and self-taught.
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John Kay
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1704-1764
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Inventor of machines including the fly or flying shuttle. Reed-maker for the weaving industry. Invented a number of machines to improve the weaving processes. Fly/Flying shuttle (1738).
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Educated in France
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James Keir
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1735-1820
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Assisted Priestley in experiments/Chemical research. Lunar Society member.
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Edinburgh High School and University where he studied medicine.
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William Lever
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1851-1925
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Industrialist and politician. Founded a soap and cleaning manufacturer Lever Brothers.
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Educated in Bolton at Bolton Church Institute then worked in family grocery business.
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Joseph Locke
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1805-1860
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English railway engineer.
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Articled to George Stephenson.
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Charles Macintoch
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1766-1843
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Scottish industrial chemist and inventor. Patented processes for waterproofing rubber.
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Educated in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
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Kirkpatrick Macmillan
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1813-1878
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Scottish inventor. Credited with the first tricycle and bicycle – pedal driven.
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Farm worker, coachman and blacksmith.
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William Mather
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1838-1920
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Industrialist and politician. Great advocate for education Chairman of Mather and Platt (Ironworking).
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Educated privately then at Owen’s College/Manchester University
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John McAdam
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1756-1836
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Pioneer road designer and builder
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Wealthy individual who invested his own money in improving road design and building – process he invent named after him ‘roads were macadamised’
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William McNaught
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1813-81
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Mechanical engineer and inventor. Compound steam engine (1845).
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Trained as a marine engineer/Attended Andersonian/Anderson’s Institution
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Robert Mallet
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1810-1881
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A brilliant and versatile Irish geophysicist, civil engineer and inventor. See as the founder of the science of seismology. Editor of the ‘Practical Mechanics Journal’ between 1861 and 1867, contributor to ‘The Engineer’ and has many patents to his name.
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Attended Trinity College Dublin
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John Marshall
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1765-1846.
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Improved linen manufacturing techniques
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Henry Maudslay
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1771-1831
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Engineer and inventor. Machine tools e.g. table-engine 1807. Patents for calico printing, small steam engines and the differential for lathes. Trained a number of brilliant toolmakers including Joseph Clement, Richard Roberts and Joseph Whitworth.
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Apprenticeship (Blacksmiths) but did not serve the full 7 years but was taken on by Joseph Bramah for 9 years gaining valuable experience of engineering and manufacturing processes.
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John Mercer
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1791-1866
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English chemist specialised in dyes. Discovered processes associated with such materials as cotton and calico.
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Self taught.
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Jack Metcalf
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1717-1810
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Engineer. Pioneer road-building
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No formal training. A truly remarkable individual totally blind since the age of 6 Possessed an inexplicable 6th sense and talent. He went on to design and build roads in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Derbyshire e.g. Macclesfield-Chapel-en-le-Frith and Buxton -Whaley Bridge. Over 180 miles of roads stand to his genius
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William Murdock/Murdoch
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1754-1839
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Engineer. Gas lighting/steam coach/Lunar Society
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Initially worked with father as a millwright. Gained further experience with Boulton and Watts factory i.e. learnt on the job
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Matthew Murray
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1765-1826
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Mechanical engineer and inventor. Yarn manufacture. Improved the design of the steam engine and flax-spinning machine.
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Apprenticeship (Blacksmith). Improved the design of the steam engine as well as developing textile machinery
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David Mushet
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1772-1847
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Scottish iron master. Improved the efficiency of iron/steel smelting processes.
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James Muspratt
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1793-1886
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Chemist and industrialist. Chemical industries alkali manufacturer using the Leblanc process for the first time in England.
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Apprenticeship (Druggist). Established a chemical factory with Thomas Abbott.
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Robert Napier
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1791-1876
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A brilliant marine engineer established an engineering business in Glasgow in 1815. Designed engines for boats including for one called the Leven. Developed the ship building yard at Govan and continued to build hips for companies such as P and O and the navy.
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James Nasmyth
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1808-90
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Engineer. Machine tools e.g. steam hammer 1839 and the steam pile driver which revolutionised the construction of bridges. Also a planning machine and a hydraulic punching machine. Founded the Bridgewater Foundry at Patricroft.
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Attended Edinburgh High School for 3 years but left at 12. Attended evening classes at Edinburgh School of Arts (really a technical college) his father also helped with his education. In addition he continued to teach himself. He went to work with Maudslay and Sons and Field and gained valuable experience.
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James Neilson
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1792-1865
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Engineer. Blast furnace in steel manufacture/Founded the Glasgow Gas Workmen’s Institution (1821)
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Little formal education/self taught
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Thomas Newcomen
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1663-1729
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Inventor. Steam engine design/First efficient atmospheric steam engine. Worked with Thomas Savery.
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Blacksmith/Ironmonger worked with Thomas Savery
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Thomas Percival
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1740-1804
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Significant figure in the Manchester Lit and Phil movement
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Warrington Dissenting Academy/Edinburgh and Leyden gaining a MD.
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William Perkin
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1838-1907
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Chemist. Initially researched synthesising coal-tar but then moved to textile dyes creating a number of synthetic dyes. Discoverer of aniline dyes.
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City of London School. Royal College of Chemistry studied and worked with August Hofmann
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William Pilkington
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1800-72
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Industrialist. Glass making
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Left school at 18
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Lyon Playfair
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1818-98
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Chemist/technical education advocate and served on many committees including those on scientific and technical education. Professor of Chemistry Royal Institution and Professor of Chemistry applied to Arts and Agriculture at the School of Mines.
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St Andrews; Andersonian Institute: Giessen University Germany
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Joseph Priestley
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1773-1804
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Chemist and clergyman. Discovered oxygen and researched electrical science/Lunar Society member. Tutor at Warrington Academy and New College Hackney.
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Grammar school/home tuition/Daventry Dissenting Academy
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William Radcliffe
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1760-1841
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Cotton manufacturer and inventor.
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Jesse Ramsden
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1735-1800
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Instrument maker e.g. screw cutting lathe 1770/dividing engine 1775. Instruments used in mathematics and astronomical research
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Apprenticeship in instrument making.
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Robert Ransome
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1753-1830
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Opened a small iron works in Norwich and obtained a patent for tempering cast-iron ploughshares. Helped to standardise the parts of ploughs and other agricultural machines. He went on to open a factory in Ipswich which still continues today.
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John Urpeth Restrick
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1780-1856.
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Engineer and inventor.
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Richard Roberts
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1789-1864
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Mechanical engineer and inventor. Invented a screw-cutting machine, gas meter and planning machines used in spinning machinery. Invented a number of spinning machines and railway locomotives.
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Worked initially in a quarry as a labourer. Apprenticed and pupil of Henry Maudslay after running away from recruiting sergeants
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John Roebuck
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1718-1794
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English inventor. Improved refining methods of precious metals. Founded the Carron Foundry.
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Educated at Edinburgh and Leyden.
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Benjamin Rumford
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1753-1814
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Scientist and administrator. Investigator of energy/Invented the shadow photometer and introduced the concept of the standard candle/Technical education/Royal Institution
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School/Apprenticeship/Harvard University
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John Scott Russell
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1808-1882.
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Canal engineer
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Titus Salt.
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1809-1876.
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Wool manufacturer and business person.
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Thomas Savery
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1650-1715
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Inventor and military engineer. Invented the paddle system on boats. Invented the first practical steam engine in 1698 which was improved by Thomas Newcomen.
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Military engineer
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Samuel Seaward
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1800-42
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Cranes, dredgers, swing bridges and many other inventions
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A pupil of Henry Maudslay
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John Smeaton
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1724-92
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Civil engineer. Researched the mechanics of waterwheels and windmills. Lighthouse design e.g. Eddystone. Improved the Newcomen atmospheric steam engine. Founder of civil engineering profession.
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School/Apprenticeship. Worked as a mathematical-instrument maker.
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Josiah Spode
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1733-1797
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A master potter and managed factory in Stoke-on Trent. Researched methods of making porcelain. A pioneer in the pottery industry.
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George Stephenson
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1781-1848
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Railway engineer. Steam locomotives
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Evening classes three nights a week paying 4 pence a week. Began as a colliery engine-wright. Gained direct work experience in mining engineering /Apprenticeship
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Robert Stephenson
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1803-59
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Mechanical and structural engineer. Steam locomotive design/bridges
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Self-taught with help from his father George. Attended a village school and then his father sent him to a private school and then apprenticed at Killingworth Colliery which he did not complete but then gained valuable experience in railway engineering.
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Jedediah Strutt
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1726-97
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Knitting machines worked with Richard Arkwright. Established a hosiery business in Derby. Built a number of mills and provided homes for his workers.
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Apprenticed millwright . largely self taught.
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Joseph Wilson Swan
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1828-1914.
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Chemist and physicist. Inventor of improved electric lights.
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Apprenticed to druggist
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William Symington
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1763-1831
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Scottish engineer and inventor. Patented engines for road locomotion and steam boats.
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Mechanic at Wanlockhead mine.
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Thomas Telford
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1757-1834
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Civil engineer. Canal/road engineer e.g. Caledonian canal started in 1804. Innovative Aqueduct and bridge design and construction.
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Attended a local parish school. Apprenticeship (Stonemason) Langholm and self taught.
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Charles Tennant
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1768-1838
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Chemist and industrialist. Textiles/Dying/bleaching
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Studied at a local school then apprenticeship as a silk weaver
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Sidney Gilchrist Thomas
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1850-1885
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Inventor discovered how to separate phosphorus from iron in the Bessemer Converter.
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Self-taught and attended Birkbeck Institute.
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Robert Wilson Thomson
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1822-1873
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Scottish inventor of the pneumatic tyre. Also made solid tyres for road steamers.
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Richard Trevithick
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1771-1833
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Engineer and inventor. Steam engine (High-pressure steam engine 1800
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Attended a local school but largely self taught and became a mining engineer
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Jethro Tull
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1674-1741
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Agriculturalist. Seed drill (1701)/Introduction of improved farming methods
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Oxford university
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James Watt
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1736-1819
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Engineer and inventor. Steam engine design/Lunar Society. Carried out surveys for canals and harbours.
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Taught by mother then some formal schooling-Greenock Grammar School and eventually gained experience as an instrument maker at Glasgow University. A mechanical genius who was very versatile.
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Josiah Wedgewood
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1730-95
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Chemist specialising in pottery/Lunar Society
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Self educated/Apprenticeship (Pottery/thrower) but because of ill health broke the indenture and experimented with decorations, clay types and furnace technology.
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Charles Wheatstone
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1802-1875.
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Physicist involved in telegraphy with William Cooke (1806-1879).
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Joseph Whitworth
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1803-87
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Engineer and inventor. Machine tools/Screw threads. Planing machines, a power- driven self-acting machine and measuring machines. Established the Whitworth scholarships.
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Attended his father’s school then as a boarder at a private school at Idle near Leeds but left at 14. Apprenticeship (Cotton spinning) and gained valuable work experience in Manchester and London engineering companies including the Maudslay workshops
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John Wilkinson
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1728-1808
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Ironworker and inventor. Boring machine
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Learnt working at his father’s side.
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Arthur Woolfe
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1766-1837 .
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Improved the Watt steam engine
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