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Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87370-3 - Heroes of Invention: Technology, Liberalism and British Identity, 1750-1914 Christine MacLeod Frontmatter More information

Heroes of Invention

This innovative study adopts a completely new perspective on both the industrial revolution and nineteenth-century British culture. It investi- gates why inventors rose to heroic stature and popular acclaim in Victorian Britain, attested by numerous monuments, biographies and honours, and contends there was no decline in the industrial nation’s self-esteem before 1914. In a period notorious for hero-worship, the veneration of inventors might seem unremarkable, were it not for their previous disparagement and the relative neglect suffered by their twentieth-century successors. Christine MacLeod argues that inventors became figureheads for various nineteenth-century factions, from economic and political liberals to impoverished scientists and radical artisans, who deployed their heroic reputation to challenge the aristocracy’s hold on power and the militaristic national identity that bolstered it. Although this was a challenge that ultimately failed, its legacy for present-day ideas about invention, inventors and the history of the industrial revolution remains highly influential.

CHRISTINE MACLEOD is Professor of History in the School of Humanities, University of Bristol. She is the author of Inventing the Industrial Revolution: The English Patent System, 1660–1800 (1988).

© Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-87370-3 - Heroes of Invention: Technology, Liberalism and British Identity, 1750-1914 Christine MacLeod Frontmatter More information

Cambridge Studies in Economic History

Editorial Board Paul Johnson London School of Economics and Political Science Sheilagh Ogilvie University of Cambridge Avner Offer All Souls College, Oxford Gianni Toniolo Universita¯ di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’ Gavin Wright Stanford University

Cambridge Studies in Economic History comprises stimulating and accessible economic history which actively builds bridges to other disciplines. Books in the series will illuminate why the issues they address are important and interesting, place their findings in a comparative context, and relate their research to wider debates and controversies. The series will combine innovative and exciting new research by younger researchers with new approaches to major issues by senior scholars. It will publish distinguished work regardless of chronological period or geographical location.

Titles in the series include: Robert Millward Private and Public Enterprise in Europe: Energy, Telecommunications and Transport, 1830–1990 S. D. Smith Slavery, Family and Gentry Capitalism in the British Atlantic: The World of the Lascelles, 1648–1834 Stephen Broadberry Market Services and the Productivity Race 1850–2000: British Performance in International Perspective

Heroes of Invention Technology, Liberalism and British Identity, 1750–1914

Christine MacLeod

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sa˜o Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521873703

# Christine MacLeod 2007

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2007

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

A Catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-0-521-87370-3 hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

For My Friends

Contents

Acknowledgements page viii Abbreviations xi List of illustrations xii

1 Introduction: inventors and other heroes 1 2 The new Prometheus 27 3 The inventor’s progress 59 4 The apotheosis of James Watt 91 5 Watt, inventor of the Industrial Revolution 125 6 ‘What’s Watt?’ The radical critique 153 7 The technological pantheon 181 8 Heroes of the Pax Britannica 212 9 Debating the patent system 249 10 The workers’ heroes 280 11 Maintaining the industrial spirit 315 12 Science and the disappearing inventor 351 Epilogue: the Victorian legacy 383

Bibliography 397 Index 440

vii

Acknowledgements

I can claim to share only one feature with the ‘heroes of invention’ who are the subject of this book: the illusion of sole attribution. Like them, I am indebted to a large cast of friends, colleagues and institutions. Not least among the pleasures of reaching the final full stop is the opportunity to record my gratitude for their invaluable help and support. Few things can be more heartening than an unprompted offer to read early drafts of one’s chapters. I am immensely grateful to Patricia Fara, Will Hardy, Alessandro Nuvolari, Kirsty Reid, Lindsay Sharp and A. P. (Tony) Woolrich for their critical engagement with my ideas. Their sound advice, inspired suggestions and unfailing encouragement have manifestly improved this book, as have the comments of the Press’s two anonymous referees. While they have collectively saved me from a multitude of errors, I claim the IPR over any that may remain. It is a great pleasure to recall conversations with friends and colleagues who have shared their ideas and challenged me to rethink my own, in particular, Marco Belfanti, Maxine Berg, Janet Browne, Kristine Bruland, Gill Cookson, Carolyn Cooper, Luisa Dolza, Madge Dresser, Robert Fox, Anna Guagnini, Mark Goldie, Graeme Gooday, Daryl Hafter, Liliane Hilaire-Pe´rez, Ian Inkster, David Jeremy, Ludmilla Jordanova, Pamela Long, Ben Marsden, Christopher May, Joseph Melling, David Miller, Simon Naylor, Claire O’Mahony, Wilf Prest, Philip Richardson, Jennifer Ridden, Jutta Schwarzkopf, Pam Sharpe, Kenneth Sokoloff, Jennifer Tann and Bryan Williams. I have also learned much from partici- pants in seminars and conferences to which I have presented aspects of this work, in Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA, especially from members of the British Academy ‘Patents in History’ European net- work, who are equally adept at debating the history of technology and promoting cosmopolitan sociability. James Andrew, David Bryden, Richard Hills, Thomas Jackson, Melanie Kelly, Richard Sheldon and Jeremy Stein have been generous in supplying me with references. Caroline Williams, Tim Cole, Dorothy Livingston and Patricia Fara went out of their way to photograph monuments for me; Amanda Howe

viii

Acknowledgements ix

magnanimously took me statue-hunting in Barnsley; Eileen Power tacitly improved my grammar, while Charmaine Storer has kept my desk-bound frame from seizing up. The generosity of the research leave schemes offered by the Leverhulme Trust, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the University of Bristol has allowed me the time necessary to research, think and write that is not normally available in the midst of a busy teaching and administrative schedule. I am acutely aware that many technical innovations have facilitated my work to a degree unimaginable when I tentatively began this project in the late 1980s. In particular, I have benefited from the increasing avail- ability of electronic and on-line resources. Without the machine-readable version of Palmer’s Index to The Times, it would have been impossible to discover the extent to which inventors and engineers were commemo- rated and celebrated in Victorian Britain. I am equally grateful to every- one who participated in the production of the magnificent Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004), which has saved me innumerable hours of research. The directors of the ‘Science in the Nineteenth- Century Periodical’ project, at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield, Geoffrey Cantor and Sally Shuttleworth, kindly allowed me access to this invaluable database prior to its publication; associate director, Graeme Gooday, first brought it to my attention, and Jon Topham gave gener- ously of his time to demonstrate its use. In recent months, my task of collecting illustrations has been lightened by access to the web-sites maintained by many museums, libraries and galleries and the help pro- vided by their staff. Closer to home, Ann Pethers’ skills have ensured superb photographs of items in the University of Bristol Library and Bristol Central Library. None of this is to underrate the importance of access to more tradi- tional sources. In addition to the insights and excitement to be had from seeing original documents, books and works of art, I have benefited enormously from the knowledge and advice of many archivists, librarians and curators. I have been especially fortunate to enjoy the efficiency and good humour with which Sheena Carter oversees the historical collections in the University of Bristol Library. At the Courtauld Institute, Philip Ward-Jackson not only guided my expeditions into the photo- graphic collections of the Conway Library, but also shared with me his unrivalled knowledge of Victorian statuary. John Liffen, of the Science Museum, was especially helpful in directing me to archival materials and his own findings on the Patent Office Museum. Thanks are also due to the staff of the Birmingham City Archives, Bodleian Library, Bolton District Archives, Bristol University Library, Bristol Central Library,

x Acknowledgements

British Library, Cambridge University Library, Glasgow University Archives, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Mitchell Library, National Archives, Kew, National Library of Scotland, Science Museum Library and University College London Archives, of whose collections and services I have made extensive use. Together with my mother, Jean MacLeod, and my late father, Roderick MacLeod, close friends have given me the love, support, and encouragement, not to mention the welcome distractions, without which I would never have completed this book. In particular, I should like to thank: Sally Brown, Patrick Chabal and Farzana Shaikh, Marie-Ange Danthois, Rosie Davies, Phoebe Emond, Jane Fowles, Nancy Frankel, Liliane Hilaire-Pe´rez, Sally-Ann Kitts, Jean Marr-Wilkins, Heather Milne, Alison Parry, Hazel Pennington, Chris Rainger, Kirsty Reid, Dee Reynolds, Margaret Sampson, Ron and Margo Santoni, Julia Sheppard, Penny Starns, Sarah Street, Kate Sullivan, Hugh Tulloch, Ian Wei, Caroline and Richard Williams and Nuala Zahedieh. I look forward to having more time to enjoy their company.

Abbreviations

BJHS British Journal for the History of Science BPP British Parliamentary Papers EHR Economic History Review HJ Historical Journal HT History of Technology ILN The Illustrated London News JHI Journal of the History of Ideas JSA Journal of the Society of Arts NPG National Portrait Gallery PD Parliamentary Debates P&P Past and Present T&C Technology and Culture TNS Transactions of the Newcomen Society

Illustrations

2.1 Wenceslaus Hollar, The Patenty, mid-seventeenth century. # Copyright the Trustees of the British Museum. page 34 2.2 Matthew Noble, Samuel Cunliffe Lister, bas-relief on monument, 1875; Lister Park, Bradford, W. Yorks. 43 3.1 Montgolfier in the Clouds, Constructing of Air Balloons for the Grand Monarque, caricature print, 1784. # Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library. 62 3.2 After Joseph Wright of Derby, Richard Arkwright, 1790. # Science Museum Pictorial/Science & Society Picture Library. 76 3.3 P. L. Tassaert after Thomas King, John Harrison, 1768, mezzotint engraving. # Science Museum Pictorial/Science & Society Picture Library. 77 3.4 Carl Fredrik von Breda, James Watt, 1792. # Science Museum Pictorial/Science & Society Picture Library. 78 3.5 James Northcote, Edward Jenner, 1803–23. # National Portrait Gallery, London. 79 3.6 Ridley, Mr Henry Greathead of South Shields, the inventor of the Life Boat, engraving from the European Magazine, 1804. # Science Museum Pictorial/Science & Society Picture Library. 84 3.7 James Gillray, The Cow Pock – or – The Wonderful Effects of the New Inoculation, published by H. Humphrey, 1802. # National Portrait Gallery, London. 86 3.8 Frontispiece of the Mechanic’s Magazine, vol. I, 1823. # University of Bristol Library. 89 4.1 Sir Francis Chantrey, James Watt, monument, 1834; Westminster Abbey, London. Reproduced by permission of English Heritage NMR. 100 4.2 Sir Francis Chantrey, James Watt, monument, 1832; George Square, Glasgow. 114

xii

List of illustrations xiii

7.1 Leighton’s Commemorative Shield of the Great Exhibition,from the Official descriptive and illustrated catalogue of the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London: Spice, 1851), vol. II, p. 538. # University of Bristol Library. 182 7.2 Effects of the Railroad on the Brute Creation, lithographic car- toon, 1831. # Science Museum Pictorial/Science & Society Picture Library. 199 7.3 The Thames Tunnel Company’s medallion of Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, engraving from The Illustrated London News 2 (1 April 1843), 226. # University of Bristol Library. 201 7.4 Thomas Lewis Atkinson after John Lucas, George Stephenson, c. 1830, mezzotint engraving. # Science Museum Pictorial/Science & Society Picture Library. 202 7.5 John Gibson, George Stephenson, 1851, monument; St George’s Hall, Liverpool. # Conway Library, Courtauld Institute of Art. 204 7.6 Edward Baily, George Stephenson, 1854, monument; Euston station, London. # National Railway Museum/Science & Society Picture Library. 205 7.7 John Graham Lough, George Stephenson, 1862, monument; Newcastle upon Tyne; engraving from The Illustrated London News 41 (1 November 1862), 456. # University of Bristol Library. 208 8.1 The International Exhibition, Department of Machinery in Motion, engraving from The Illustrated London News 41 (18 October 1862), 420–1. # University of Bristol Library. 214 8.2 W. Beattie, the Elkington Vase, engraving from The Industry of All Nations: The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue (London: George Vertue, 1851), p. 195. # University of Bristol Library. 218 8.3 Peace, engraving from Punch 42 (3 May 1862), 177. # University of Bristol Library. 223 8.4 Edward Armitage, Peace, engraving from The Illustrated London News 18 (31 May 1851), 478. # University of Bristol Library. 224 8.5 The Distinguished Men of Science of Great Britain Living in A.D. 1807/8, Assembled in the Library of the Royal Institution, engraving by William Walker and George Zobel, 1862. # Science Museum Pictorial/Science & Society Picture Library. 226 8.6 T. J. Barker, The Intellect and Valour of Great Britain, 1863; key plate, engraved by Charles G. Lewis. # Copyright the Trustees of the British Museum. 229

xiv List of illustrations

8.7 Statue of Edward Jenner, lately erected at Boulogne, engraving from The Illustrated London News 47 (30 September 1865), 301. # University of Bristol Library. 235 8.8 Sir William Hamo Thornycroft, William Armstrong, Baron Armstrong of Cragside, 1906, monument; Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne. 238 8.9 Sir William Hamo Thornycroft, William Armstrong, Baron Armstrong of Cragside, 1906, bas-relief on monument; Barras Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne. 239 8.10 Lock and Whitfield, Sir Henry Bessemer, Civil Engineer, FRS, photograph from Men of mark, 5th series (1881), 29. # University of Bristol Library. 243 9.1 Sibley, Bennet Woodcroft, FRS, c. 1840s. # Science Museum Pictorial/Science & Society Picture Library. 252 9.2 Notes at the Patent Museum, South Kensington, engraving from The Graphic 21 (3 January 1880), 1. # Bristol Central Library. 263 10.1 James Sharples, Membership certificate of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, Machinists, Millwrights, Smiths, and Pattern Makers, 1851. # Elton Collection, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust. 287 10.2 William Stewart, The Interior of the first Hunterian Museum with the statue of James Watt, mid-nineteenth century. # Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery, University of Glasgow. 293 10.3 George Stephenson, engraving from the British Workman 49 (January 1859). 295 10.4 William Calder Marshall, Samuel Crompton, 1862, monument; Nelson Square, Bolton. 302 10.5 William Calder Marshall, Samuel Crompton, 1862, bas- relief on monument; Nelson Square, Bolton. 303 10.6 Inauguration of the statue to Samuel Crompton, engraving from The Illustrated London News 41 (4 October 1862), 361. # University of Bristol Library. 304 10.7 Edward Davis, Josiah Wedgwood, 1862, monument; Wilton Square, Stoke-on-Trent. 307 10.8 W. J. and T. Wills, Sir Humphry Davy, 1872, monument; Market House, Penzance. 310 11.1 Lock and Whitfield, Charles William Siemens, DCL, FRS, photograph from Men of mark, 7th series (1883), 34. # University of Bristol Library. 316

List of illustrations xv

11.2 Victorian Men of Achievement, from Her Majesty’s Glorious Jubilee, 1897, The Illustrated London News. # The British Library Board, CUP.1269.d.9. 317 11.3 Robert Stephenson memorial window, 1862, detail; Westminster Abbey, London. # The Dean and Chapter of Westminster. 319 11.4 J. R. G. Exley, George Stephenson, engraved book plate of The Institution of Mechanical Engineers, mid-nineteenth century. # National Portrait Gallery, London. 323 11.5 Richard Trevithick memorial window, 1888, detail; Westminster Abbey, London. # The Dean and Chapter of Westminster. 325 11.6 Matthew Noble, Samuel Cunliffe Lister, 1875, monument; Lister Park, Bradford, W. Yorks. 331 11.7 John Hutchinson, James Carmichael, 1876, engraving from The Illustrated London News 69 (9 September 1876), 245. # University of Bristol Library. 333 11.8 Joseph Edgar Boehm, John Elder, 1888, monument; Elder Park, Govan, Glasgow. 334 11.9 Joseph Simpson, James Watt, advertisement for Dewar’s whisky, The Illustrated London News 41 (12 July 1913), 71. # University of Bristol Library. 348 12.1 The first six statues in the Oxford University Museum, engraving from The Illustrated London News 37 (13 October 1860), 339. # University of Bristol. 354 12.2 Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope, Sir William Henry Perkin, 1906. # National Portrait Gallery, London. 362 12.3 Archibald Macfarlane Shane, William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, 1913, monument; Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow. # Conway Library, Courtauld Institute of Art. 366 13.1 Vincent Woropay, Wattilisk, 1988; Birmingham. 386