THEMES

James Watt and the Industrial Revolution 1774

James Watt
This entry is part [part not set] of 6 in the series Industrial Inventions and Innovations

James Watt and the Industrial Revolution The inventor of the first practical and it should be said, economical steam engine was James Watt, an instrument maker from Glasgow who saw the problems with earlier engines such as Newcomen’s engine. A man with a fastidious eye for details, Watt saw the potential to improve the engine…

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Three Abraham Darby’s

Abraham Darby
This entry is part 4 of 14 in the series Industrial Revolution

Abraham Darby was the first man to use coke in furnaces, his son produced wrought iron and his grandson built the iron bridge at Ironbridge. 3 generations of the same family contributing to the Industrial Revolution.

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John Kay Inventor of the Flying Shuttle

John Kay 1704 - 1779
This entry is part 1 of 14 in the series Industrial Revolution

The costs to John Kay inventor of the flying shuttle were significant, as they were to the workers who lost their jobs as a result of mechanisation but his tenacious approach in the face of adversity is part of what made the inventors, visionaries and entrepreneurs of the Industrial Revolution brilliant.

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St Katherine’s Dock

Why would London’s poor fight to earn a pittance of 4d a day in London’s Docklands? Were your relatives building the docks, living in the slums or competing for the work?

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  1. St Katherines Dock key to understanding life in London’s Docklands 19thC Ancestors who were London dock workers would have been familiar with St Katherine’s Dock…
  2. The Difficult passage across the Thames in C18th & C19th The growth of London in terms of population and trade demanded the need for more crossing points of the River Thames….
  3. Salford and the Industrial Revolution Salford, Manchester in the UK, was, at the end of the C19th, a small cotton, calico and silk weaving town with a population of about 7000 people. The Industrial Revolution brought great factories and mills to the town of Salford and not only did it become one of the most important mill towns in the……
  4. Manchester Ship Canal 1894 The Manchester Ship Canal was opened in 1894 and was the largest river navigation canal in the world. It took six years to build and cost £15 million. It was 58km long and started at the Mersey estuary in Liverpool and terminated at the dock in Manchester. It allowed the newly created Port of Manchester……
  5. Richard Trevithick and the Rotherhithe Tunnel 1807 The Cornish mining engineer, Richard Trevithick, was asked to undertake the incredible engineering feat of digging a tunnel under the River Thames from the Parish of St Mary Rotherhithe to the other side. The growth in docks, wharves, ship builders and a multitude of other manufacturers made it imperative to build some means of crossing……
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